“… to the boisterous and almost faultless takes of British group Monster Ceilidh Band that played the violin, accordion and mandocello.” (John Tiong, New Strait Times)

“Monster Ceilidh Band provided [...]]]> Here are some quotes that came in the press about Monster Ceilidh Band participation at the 13th Rainforest World Music Festival, in Sarawak, Malaysia:

“… to the boisterous and almost faultless takes of British group Monster Ceilidh Band that played the violin, accordion and mandocello.” (John Tiong, New Strait Times)

“Monster Ceilidh Band provided new vibes to what we all call ‘old folks tunes’ nowadays” (cyrildason, Sarawak Bloggers)

“Monster Ceilidh Band, who aimed to show the “old, bearded men back home that ceilidh can be fun” enchanted the crowd with their energetic, quirky tunes” (Nazreen Tajul Arif, virtualmalaysia.com)

“Monster Ceilidh Band bring their brand of footstomping ceilidh music to Borneo’s very own rainforest world music festival” (eventful.com)

‎”Rave party energy: Monster Ceilidh Band, hailing from Newcastle, England, is a zany folk dance quartet with a difference” (ecentral.my)

‎”Hailing from Newcastle, England, is the Monster Ceilidh Band, a twisted folk-driven quartet that is built to fuel the good vibes and stomping mayhem. Renowned for rave party energy and heavy metal chord progressions, Monster Ceilidh Band has also been championed by influential British-based fRoots magazine and concert dates with The Levellers and Eliza Carthy have edged the group closer to mainstream visibility.” (e-borneo.com)

‎”As the sun set, the time came for everyone to converge at areas around the main stage as well as the tree stage. Many others took their places at the Dewan Lagenda, ready to partake in a night of enchanting and energetic music performed by groups from seven different countries, namely Shanbehzadeh Ensemble of Iran, Kimura Ono Duo (Japan), Minuit Guibolles (France), Braagas (Czech Republic), Leila Negrau (Reunion Islands), Monster Ceilidh Band (United Kingdom) and Farafina (Burkina Faso).” (The Sarawak Tribune)

“Aside from dancing to the beat of world music from heavyweights like Farafina (Burkina Faso), Monster Ceilidh Band (UK) and Novalima (Peru), it’s the festival vibe that bring loyal followers back for more and attract newcomers to the event.” (Jean Goon, MSN Entertainment)

‎”In the ‘Fiddling Around’ workshop, bowed instruments took centre stage as musicians from Monster Ceilidh Band, Bisserov Sisters, BraAgas, De Temps Antan, Debu, Reelroad’b and Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan shared their gems of information. Led by Carly Blain of the UK-based Monster Ceilidh Band, it was a session of furious fiddling, showcasing the versatility of bowed instruments from around the world.” (“RWMF workshops a hit with music fans”, Borneo Post)

“Newcastle-based Monster Ceilidh kept the vibes going with quirky arrangements of folk music” (Madanmohan Rao, music.techsparks.com)

‎”This year, the Festival will see headlining acts like Farafina from Burkina Faso, Monster Ceilidh Band from the United Kingdom, and Novalima from Peru, rocking the stage.” (about the Rainforest World Music Festival, klue.com.my)

“The performers for the second night of RWMF2010 were not that bad, which we could see bands like Ensemble Shanbehzadeh from Iran, Kimura-Ono-Dua from Japan, Minuit Guibolles from France, Braagas from Czech Republic, Leila Negrau fron Reunion Island, Monster Ceilidh Band from United Kingdom and Farafina from Burkina Faso. All of them were awesome! They made the party gone wild with their instruments and musics.” (amieyalen.com)

“For the four member 20-something-year-olds in the Monster Ceilidh Band from the United Kingdom, this has been a year of discovery, for music and travel. This is the first year we have been off the leash,” enthuses Kieran Szifris, the mandocello player in the group. “I had to ask someone where Borneo was first of all, laughs Amy Thatcher. We’re still not quite sure where we are!” On stage, in front of thousands, their music inspired dancing as the crowd kicked it up in the rain soaked mud of the arena.” (Maria Bakkalapulo, National Geographic)

‎”Monster Ceilidh Band from the UK had beautiful tunes as they try their best to diminish the idea that folk tunes are only meant for old men with long beard” (cyrildason.com)

‎”The Monsters were a great addition to the fest, and did a great job” (Randy Raine-Reusch, Rainforest World Music Festival)

“Thank you so much for an amazing concert. I hope I will soon have to see you again on a stage somewhere in the world” (Jutta Skau)

“And once again, AWESOME stuff back in the Rainforest World Music Fest!” (Amresh ‘Moose’ Jessy)

Tanya Tagaq may well be the most exciting aboriginal artist yet to emerge from North America. Her art is unclassifiably idiosyncratic yet in demand from an ever-widening audience. In early 2010 alone, she appeared in concert with Kronos Quartet, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and a brace of electronic [...]]]> Tanya Tagaq: “Auk” (Jericho Beach Records)

Tanya Tagaq may well be the most exciting aboriginal artist yet to emerge from North America. Her art is unclassifiably idiosyncratic yet in demand from an ever-widening audience. In early 2010 alone, she appeared in concert with Kronos Quartet, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and a brace of electronic musicians, including the inimitable Deadbeat. She´s made a movie that will appear at Sundance and she´s an accomplished painter, combining near-photo realism with bold colour and abstraction reminiscent of Norval Morrisseau. And yes, of course she´s worked with Björk.

Like many in our postmodern world, Tagaq did not grow up embracing traditional culture in her native Ikaluktuutiak in Nunavut, but rather turned to it and taught herself Inuit throat singing as a cure for homesickness while away at university in Halifax. This relative lateness and distance has the effect of preventing her from getting stuck in merely transmitting tradition and instead dragging it into the contemporary arts, where her interests lie, while retaining a clear connection to her landscape and heritage.

That this is not your traditional, ”anthropological” disc is apparent from the opening. After a mood-setting, ambient introduction, what sounds like traditional throat singing quickly proves to be a duet owing more to Meredith Monk than Inuit tradition, as she trades crazed ”riffs” with guest Mike Patton of Faith No More. On ”Growth”, she delves even deeper into her tradition, psyche and esophagus, in a wild collage of splintering violin, cello and drumkit.

Tagaq sustains admirable tension throughout the fifty-two minutes of Auk, between swirling wisps like ”Tategak” and intensely-focused pieces like ”Force”, a feral duet with Shamik Bilgi which reveals the uncanny family resemblance between throat-singing and beatboxing. In either mode, she appears to simply let the spirit move her, quite literally – she herself speaks of improvising out of possession.

”Hunger” might well be the most raw depiction of female sexuality committed to tape, with increasingly orgasmic moans setting the rhythm for her graphic description of what she wants to do for her lover and what she wants him to do to her.

The inclusion of two tracks featuring rapper Buck 65 might appear a sop to current popular tastes if it weren´t for the fact that she and the Maritimer are close friends and share many of the same concerns.

How much this is ”her” (and producer Juan Hernández´) album becomes startlingly apparent after a glance at the liner notes. While the sound is so full and rich, she is normally accompanied by no more than a violin, cello or electronic treatments.

Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 00:58, 31 May 2010 (sonomu.net)

by David McNamee (guardian.co.uk), Wednesday 2 June 2010 13.02 BST

What is it? A catch-all term covering different disciplines of extreme vocal technique from around the world, often recognised as a low, pulverising, drone-growl that western ears sometimes interpret [...]]]> A droning, pulverising sound of shamanic origin, this is ancient soul music from the east

by David McNamee (guardian.co.uk), Wednesday 2 June 2010 13.02 BST

What is it? A catch-all term covering different disciplines of extreme vocal technique from around the world, often recognised as a low, pulverising, drone-growl that western ears sometimes interpret as “scary”. But the history behind the throat singing traditions of Inuit tribes and the people of Siberia has strong cultural significance, and the overlapping, oscillating vocal tones (several different notes are produced in the mouth of one singer simultaneously) can be transcendent and beautiful.

Who uses it? The Canadian Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq has fashioned a powerful, abstract music all of her own, catching the ears of Mike Patton, Kronos Quartet and Björk. Tuvan exile Sainkho Namtchylak uses elements of throat singing in her challenging Yoko Ono-type music, which melds pop, jazz and avant garde. Huun Huur Tu are perhaps the Ladysmith Black Mambazo of Tuvan throat singing, with a prodigious back catalogue and collaboration credits with everyone from Frank Zappa to Nina Nastasia. Yat-Kha are edgier, covering Motörhead and working with Asian Dub Foundation. Check out our Spotify playlist.

How does it work? The Tuvan overtone technique involves producing a droning note that is raised and lowered by opening and closing the vocal cords until harmonic resonances appear. It is the abrupt open-and-shut of the vocal cords that (through a process known as biofeedback) apparently charges the higher harmonics with increasing energy, resulting in separation between up to six simultaneous tones. Inuit katajjaq (and the now-extinct Japanese rekukkara) throat singing is less dependant on overtones, instead two women will stand holding and facing each other and alternately sing either words, or half-words, or just abstract tones, faster and faster into each others mouths, with the “receiving” woman modulating the incoming stream of sound by adjusting the shape of her open mouth.

Where does it come from? Tuvan throat singing, like the (not dissimilar-sounding) Aboriginal didgeridoo is said to physically connect the singers to the spirituality of the Tuvan mountainside. The singing styles were supposedly modelled on the harmonic resonances herders would find naturally occurring around valleys or waterfalls, with some vocal styles configured to mimic the sounds of animals, wind or water. Inuit tradition doesn’t actually posit throat singing as music in itself, it evolved and continues as a game or competition that Inuit women would play to pass the time, the first woman to lose pace, run out of breath or start laughing is the loser.

Why is it classic? Throat singers sound as though they have a whole orchestra of instruments, that could never be invented by human hands, caged inside their bodies. It is ancient soul music.

What’s the best ever throat singing song? It’s not really a “song” medium, so don’t expect it to click with you instantly, but start with Tagaq and Huun Huur Tu.

Five facts and things

Tanya Tagaq admits she was not good at traditional competitive Inuit singing. It was by removing the technique from its role as a game, and imbuing her singing with deep emotion, that she found a new musical language.

There are some examples of overtone singing in European classical music. Stockhausen’s awesome Stimmung, for instance, or Tan Dun’s Water Passion after St Matthew.

The most famous non-traditional throat singer was the American blues musician Paul Pena, who brought self-taught throat singing into his bottleneck blues, and who in the 1999 documentary Genghis Blues travelled to Tuva to compete in throat singing contests.

What is it in the European musical psyche that links overtone singing to the demonic? Tenores is the profane counterpoint to cuncordu, Sardinia’s sacred polyphonic choir music. The styles are differentiated by the use of overtone singing in tenores, which also allocates roles in a four man-choir to each emulate the sounds of wind, sheep and cows.

There are four main disciplines of Tuvan overtone singing: khorekteer (“chest voice”), khomeii (a swirling, wind-like sound), sygyt (piercing, whistling bird noises), and kargyraa (the deep growling sound, said to be a figurative depiction of winter in Tuvan folklore).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jun/02/throat-singing

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tanya Tagaq with Cris Derksen (cello) and Michael Red (DJ) Recorded in Puebla, Mexico, May 1st 2010 Thanks to Festival Barroquisimo and Miguel Angel Valdes Alavez of Nexos Producciones

After a highly successful breakthrough year in 2009 and a critically acclaimed debut album, Make Me A Dancer, the Monster Ceilidh Band will be [...]]]>

The brilliant and exhilarating music of the Monster Ceilidh Band has its roots in tradition; but the combination of their talents has produced something innovative, contemporary, fresh and dynamic.

After a highly successful breakthrough year in 2009 and a critically acclaimed debut album, Make Me A Dancer, the Monster Ceilidh Band will be hitting Grassington with a thrilling folk-dance performance. The music’s up-tempo, happy and energetic – dance music with its feet in the heritage and tradition of the British Isles.

No Ceilidh dancing experience necessary, the Monsters will talk you through all the moves!

Sat 12th June | Town Hall, Grassington | Tickets £16 – Under 16′s £8 | 8pm

“Crónica is very proud to present Ran Slavin’s fourth full-length release in the label, after two CDs, “Tropical Agent / Ears in Water” (009~2004) and “The Wayward Regional Transmissions” (028~2007), and the ground-breaking album in the free-download Unlimited Series “Nocturnal Rainbow Rising” (037~2008), the first in this [...]]]> Ran Slavin: “The Mediterranean Drift” (Crónica 049~2010)

“Crónica is very proud to present Ran Slavin’s fourth full-length release in the label, after two CDs, “Tropical Agent / Ears in Water” (009~2004) and “The Wayward Regional Transmissions” (028~2007), and the ground-breaking album in the free-download Unlimited Series “Nocturnal Rainbow Rising” (037~2008), the first in this series to surpass the mark of the ten thousand downloads.

“The Mediterranean Drift” is composed by six new/old pieces split in two movements. The first three tracks function as establishing shots. They are textural compositions, reflective soundscapes that can be played as loops back to back to form a prolonged meditative audio space. Whereas the first half points to a feeling of nostalgia, positive feelings and a yearning to a “solution” the second half of the release brings us to a more poignant zone and points to uncertainty, threat, fear and the turmoil omnipresent in the middle east and epitomized in Claude-Joseph Vernet’s painting “The Shipwreck” (1772) — set in an unidentified maritime landscape that very much resembles the port of Jaffa in Israel. This scene blends the sublime and the beautiful that can be found in a horror scenario, it is the background and the prime mover of Slavin’s music in these new/old compositions. It is the region’s omnipresent new/old political tension and war that is reflected indirectly in the bittersweetness that flows from “The Mediterranean Drift”, an album that is yet another big step in Ran Slavin’s maturing work as a composer.”

You can download “The Mediterranean Drift” as high-quality MP3 or Apple Lossless files directly from Crónica and free of charge.

TRACKLIST:

01. Losing coordinates in the Mediterranean Drift
02. Some nights when our dreams were scratched away, we tried to remain calm with the Single String Charmer
03. On the Red Sea we drifted on the orange waves, swept calmly into the vast ocean to the point of no return
04. Financial Warfare and Psychological Sedatives
05. Chemical Canaries and Car Alarms
06. Every road leads to the BAD ROAD

www.cronicaelectronica.org

Download for free as Apple Lossless (239.9MB)

Download for free as MP3 (99.2MB)