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Aleksander Hauge's music, poetry and stories reflect the experiences of Norwegian immigrants from Karmøy. His material is unique and authentic. He has a lot to say and communicates with authority and artistic passion, preserving memories and knowledge of the recent past.
Hauge's warm voice and inclusive stage appearance and his ability to create recognition and touch the minds of his audience explain why he is frequently invited to perform in the United States. He links the last emigrant generation from Karmøy with their homeland. In a way he writes the last chapter in a saga which is nearing the end.
Both as a man of action and as a cultural entrepreneur Aleksander Hauge has made his mark. Audiences will see how important our recent history is - and how far and strange the recent past suddenly can become without an inspired troubadour and storyteller to care for it and carry it on.
Ana Vinagre was born in the small fishing village of Figueira Da Foz, Portugal. Following in the footsteps of her sister, mother, and grandmother, she began singing fado professionally at the age of 13 as a member of her local folk dance group, Cantarinhas de Buarcos. Vinagre toured extensively with this group throughout Europe, until immigrating to the United States with her husband and singing partner Jose in 1972. Today, she is one of the area's best known and most respected fadistas. Vinagre performs regularly in the Portuguese community for various community and private events, as well as at festivals and other events for a wider audience. She has appearanced at the 2002 National Folk Festival, the Northwest Folklife Festival in 2003 and 2004, and the Lowell Folk Festival in 2006.
A tradition dating back hundreds of years, fado singing is "the soul of the Portuguese people", as described by Vinagre. The emotional core of the fado is saudade, an indefinable yearning or nostalgia for love, times past, or a lost home. Accompanied by a twelve string Portuguese guitar and a bass guitar, the voice of a true fadista embodies and expresses the soulfulness of this music tradition. The traditional fadista dresses in black and uses a shawl as a prop to accentuate the passion of her voice and words. The genre developed in the port city of Lisbon where it was performed at waterfront clubs and bars frequented by sailors and seamen.
Based in New Bedford, The Beans (Jim and Cindy Bean, and Steve Sullwold) have an innate feel for shanties and other songs of the sea, both traditional and contemporary. However, it is their close vocal harmonies for which they are best known; be it a rousing shanty, love song, or Gospel tune. They perform both a cappella and accompanied, playing a variety of instruments including guitar, Appalachian dulcimer, four and five string banjos, mandolin and concertina. No matter what the style, The Beans work with a song, blending their harmonies with it, but they never lose sight of the tradition. Most of all, their music reveals the pleasure they have singing together and the close friendship which parallels their harmonies.
The Black Brook Singers represent the vibrant singing traditions of the Aquinnah Wampanoag people. Singers are members of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe, the indigenous people of Noepe, a.k.a., Martha's Vineyard. Group members have been sharing their songs and culture for over 20 years at community events, powwows, in classrooms and at other forums to raise awareness of the singing and cultural traditions of the Wampanoag and other indigenous communities. The group's focus is on the southern style of powwow singing and also many of the more traditional (non-powwow) songs of the Wampanoag and other eastern woodlands indigenous peoples.
Born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, vocal artist "Candida Rose" captivates and amazes her audiences with her diverse vocal performances. Her 10-song debut CD entitled "KabuMerikana: The Sum of Me", combines her Cape Verdean musical roots with her American influences. No matter what style of music she is performing, she reaches out with her voice, her heart and her soul sharing the gift of music with everyone in her presence
Charlotte Enoksen's father emigrated from Norway's Loften Islands and pursued the work of generations before him, owning two fishing vessels, F/V Porpoise and F/V Louise. Once married to a fisherman, Enoksen's poetry often reflects the lives of those left on shore. Her work is both creative and cathartic, a "song without accompaniment." Currently a social worker, Charlotte has also worked in journalism, advertising, public relations and fundraising.
Colin Williams doesn't know exactly where he found his way with words. It may have been the grandfather of Cambridge and the coast of Maine; it may have been the several years listening to the speech of Carolinians; or, it may have been talking with speakers of English as a second language.
Having lived in the City of New Bedford long enough for it to become a village, Colin uses visits to fishing ports in between Alaska and Norway, Florida and Newfoundland for perspective on self and fellow man. He is the wholesale sales representative for F&B Rubber, the fishing gear manufacturer.
This poet's works are brief, non-metric, non-fiction, and salted with question. Interpreted with music, his titles include Silo Tapes, True Stories, and Every Other Sunday.
Dave grew up in Alaska, in several Aleutian villages, with Kodiak being home town. He's been a lifelong fisherman, earning a full share on a Kodiak seiner by the time he was twelve and purchasing his first boat soon after. He skippered his first Bering Sea King crabber at 23, the youngest Bering Sea king crab skipper, at that time. He has trolled the west coast for salmon and Albacore, otter trawled for bottom fish, and fished Alaska for Black Cod and Halibut, King Crab, Tanner and Dungeness Crab. He currently fishes salmon out of Kodiak AK, and is gearing up for crab.
Dave started writing poetry in the late 70's "long before I heard anyone else write anything about commercial fishing." He's been published in numerous trade papers, magazines and newspapers and has a byline in a quarterly, the Columbia River Gillnetter. He was featured in the documentary Fisherpoets and on Good Morning America. A regular at the Astoria Fisherpoet's Gathering, Dave has also performed in Elko Nevada at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and at events from fish fries to a sculpture dedication for the world renowned artist Mia Lin.
GeraSons is a traditional Portuguese folk music group, based in Fall River, Massachusetts and founded in 1994 by a group of singers and musicians from the Azores. GeraSons is composed of four men and four women. The men sing and play such instruments as the Viola da Terra (traditional Azorean folk guitar), the cavaquinho (a small four string instrument), the Mandolin, the Viola Braguesa and the accordion. The women sing and play a variety of percussion instruments. GeraSons repertoire includes traditional Azorean, Madeiran and mainland Portuguese music as well as original compositions. GeraSons has performed cultural events from Massachusetts to California. The group was featured on an international Portuguese television show that was broadcast worldwide and appeared on the well-known television program "An American Moment" hosted by James Earl Jones. A true local treasure, GeraSons may very well be considered one of the most colorful and popular ambassadors of traditional Portuguese music performing in New England at this time.
Jeff Warner is among the nation's foremost performer/interpreters of traditional music. His songs from the lumber camps, fishing villages and mountain tops of America connect 21st century audiences with the everyday lives-and artistry-of 19th century Americans. "Providing more than just rich entertainment, Jeff will leave you with a deeper appreciation of the land you live in" (Caffé Lena, Saratoga, NY). His songs, rich in local history and a sense of place, bring us the latest news from the distant past.
Jeff grew up listening to the songs and stories of his father Frank Warner and the traditional singers his parents met during their folksong collecting trips through rural America. Jeff has performed widely, from large festivals in the UK, to clubs, festivals and schools across America. He plays concertina, banjo, guitar and several "pocket" instruments, including bones and spoons. A native of New York City, Jeff has lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire since the late 1990s.
Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
Two of Newfoundland's most respected performers combine their passion for traditional music and song, as well as their instrumental prowess and humorous repartee, to cover a broad spectrum of Newfoundland folk culture, including songs, stories and dance tunes. Their repertoire includes rousing sea shanties and work songs, poignant ballads, comic ditties, folk tales and recitations, and toe-tapping jigs, reels and polkas on a variety of instruments.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Fergus O'Byrne immigrated to Canada in 1967 where he became a founding member of the Irish folk band Ryan's Fancy. In 1971 the trio moved to St. John's, Newfoundland and for the next fourteen years toured extensively throughout North America and Ireland. Since Ryan's Fancy disbanded in 1983, Fergus has followed a busy solo and freelance career, touring provincially, nationally and internationally. He can be heard on recent recordings by Newfoundland artists, Great Big Sea, and he has contributed to several anthologies of Newfoundland music. Fergus has also developed a curriculum-based school production that he tours throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. Together with Jim Payne, he provided the official entertainment for the 2009 Ports Program in conjunction with the Celebrating Bartlett exhibit and events.
Jim Payne is from Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland and has been a professional performing artist and writer for 30 years. He plays guitar, accordion, mandolin, tin whistle and violin, and is a singer, storyteller, actor, writer, stepdancer, and teacher of traditional Newfoundland set and square dances. Long known as a leading performer and collector of Newfoundland traditional music, Jim is also one of the province's most prolific songwriters, creating musical mosaics of life in this province for theatre, documentaries and videos. He has performed extensively on radio and television in Canada and abroad, and has toured throughout Canada, the US, Europe, Japan and Australia. Born in Notre Dame Bay Jim grew up around boats of all kinds and is an experienced zodiac driver, Jim brings a wide knowledge of maritime music and folklore, a keen appreciation of nature and wildlife, a penchant for poking around unusual places by sea, and his passion for life on the salt water to every adventure he undertakes.
At ease with both traditional and popular music of the Cape Verde Islands, Joao Cerilo, accordionist and leader of Pilon Batuku regularly entertains large audiences at festivals and in the more intimate setting of local clubs. Joao grew up on Santiago, one of the Cape Verde islands where he learned to play ferinho (a percussive instrument made of an iron bar) and gaeta (accordion) as a young person. He performs the funana and batuko styles of Cape Verdean music, both of which have strong African roots. Funana is an accordion-based dance form, often employing vocal improvisation to comment on current events and history. Batuko, a call and response form was originally accompanied by rhythms beat out on sacks of flour held between the knees. In 1970, Joao left Cape Verde for Portugal where he studied music in Lisbon, learning guitar and keyboards and combining the traditional music of his homeland with more contemporary forms from around the world. Joao emigrated to Rhode Island in 1982. At the Working Waterfront Festival, he will be joined by several percussionists and two dancers.
We feature Cape Verdean music to honor the many ties Cape Verdean Americans have with the working waterfront. Many Cape Verdeans came to New Bedford aboard whaling ships during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Packet ships such as Schooner Ernestina shipped goods between New England and the Cape Verde islands, keeping these connections strong. As whaling ended, many Cape Verdeans found work as longshoremen, stevedores and merchant mariners.
Jon Campbell owned a workboat before he owned a car. In those days bay scallops, clams, and quahogs, flounder and lobsters were abundant in the coastal ponds and Narragansett Bay. Regulations were few and the commercial fisheries were still represented by independent men in wooden Eastern Rigs.
For the past 25 years Jon has been writing and performing music based on the wide range of experience available to those people living in coastal regions, the tourists, the cuisine, the fisheries, cranky Yankees and an assortment of humorous and poignant characters. Jon has been a recognized Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Folk Artist since 1982, and he has been involved in a large number of recording projects both as performer and producer. He is presently retired from a 25 year career in the motion picture industry, and yes he did work on the Perfect Storm, in addition to many more major releases.
To fill in the blanks, Jon's musical activities in the last year have ranged from Camden Maine to Kodiak Alaska.
Cindy Kallet, Ellen Epstein and Michael Cicone have had the pleasure of performing together in concerts, coffeehouses, and festivals throughout New England since 1981. Their close harmonies have inspired enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics alike. The trio sings both a cappella and accompanied by guitar and hammered dulcimer, drawing material from contemporary and traditional music of the British Isles and North America, with a liberal sprinkling of sea music and occasional forays into other cultures as well. The threesome has just released their third recording together.
Cindy Kallet is a songwriter, singer and guitarist with five solo albums to her credit. Working On Wings To Fly and Cindy Kallet 2 on Folk Legacy Records, and Dreaming Down A Quiet Line, This Way Home, and Leave the Cake in the Mailbox - Songs for Parents and Kids Growing Up (chosen for a 2004 Parents' Choice Gold Award ) on Stone's Throw Music. She has also recorded a collaborative effort with Gordon Bok entitled Neighbors (Timberhead), a duo album with Grey Larsen, Cross the Water, and has extensive performing experience throughout North America. Cindy's love for the natural beauty of the New England coast has been the inspiration for many of her songs.
Ellen Epstein has enjoyed playing guitar and singing with adults and children for more than 40 years. She has lent her harmonies to numerous recording projects, including all of Cindy's solo albums, and to many singing groups, including the Boston-based folk chorus Northern Harmony.
Michael Cicone has been singing and dancing in the Boston area since 1979. He has performed with the Christmas Revels in Cambridge and New Hampshire, and was a member of both the traveling folk festival Green Mountain Crossing, and instrumental trio Filigree Deep. He teaches hammered dulcimer and English country dance, and can also be heard on Cindy's recent albums. His most recent release is an instrumental collaboration with Susan Robbins entitled Sea Change.
Can you imagine the wild soulfulness of Tina Turner and the earthy yet ethereal voice of Neapolitan songstress Teresa De Sio combined? Well imagine that; then think even more vibrancy, more urbanity, in songs that somehow also feel impossibly intimate. No wonder Michela Musolino has such a devoted underground following; full divahood seems scarily within reach.
--Peter Covino, PEN American prizewinning poet.
Michela Musolino is a Sicilian-American singer who makes traditional Sicilian folk songs seem contemporary and turns her modern world fusion music into timeless pieces. She has performed in such noted venues as St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, The Rainbow Room, and Rockefeller Center. In addition to performing throughout the United States, Michela returns to Sicily each year to perform with a wide range of artists and, most importantly, to keep her music true to its roots. Whether performing solo or with the Palermo Art Ensemble, as she has done at the Selinunte Festival in Sicily, Michela infuses her music with the reality of life. A track from her first CD, Songs of Trinacria, was featured on NPR's All Things Considered.
Michela will be joined by world renown guitarist Marco Cappelli who calls on both his classic and traditional artistry to create modern sounds rooted in traditional melodies. While Michela enchants with a voice that seems to float somewhere between the ages, filled with passion and desire, Marco weaves his guitar improvisations around that voice. Thus, Musolino transports audiences to a place both modern and ancient, rooted deeply in tradition, yet mirroring the contemporary.
Moe Bowstern is the editor since 1996 of Xtra Tuf, a zine that chronicles the experiences and adventures of commercial fisher folk in Alaska and beyond. Moe performs annually at the Astoria Oregon Fisher Poets Gathering. She has also appeared at the Sea Music Festival in Mystic Connecticut, the Cowboy Poets Gathering in Elko Nevada and Tony's Bar, "Kodiak's Biggest Navigational Hazard" in Kodiak Alaska. Xtra Tuf #5: The Strike Issue wont he 2007 Lilla Jewel Award. Moe has worked on fishing boats since 1986, when as a miserable 18 year old boat cook she once inadvertently threatened the lives of the crew by serving pasta tossed with shards of glass. Since then she has commercially fished salmon, halibut, herring, cod, shad, shrimp and tanner crab, mostly around Kodiak, though she has ventured as far west as Togiak Bay in the Bering Sea, as far east as the Hudson River and as far south as Dinner Key Marina, Miami. Her newest issue, Xtra Tuf #6: The Greenhorn Issue, features contributions from over 20 other commercial fishing writers, all on the theme of initiation into the rough world of commercial fishing.
Hosted and organized by the Schooner Ernestina, this 43-member chorus was created in 2001, and is made up of some of the Ernestina's most vocal volunteers. The repertoire includes a variety of chanteys and songs that reflect the rich maritime heritage of New Bedford, and the region. Sea Chanteys were traditionally sung as work songs on board sailing ships both as a way to pass the time and as a means of helping establish a rhythm for various types of work aboard the ship.
As a sampler of musical traditions connected to New Bedford Harbor and the New England seafarer, their performances feature the chanteys of the Yankee sailor, along with the ballads and ditties of global mariners and coastwise fisherfolk in North America, the Cape Verde Islands, and the British Isles.
Peter J Arteaga is a Cape Verdean native who imigrated to the United States while still an infant. Peter holds a Bachelor in Music degree from UMass Dartmouth and has focused on Classical/Jazz guitar and Cape Verdean traditional music as a course of study throughout. Currently Peter operates Seven Five Studios, a music lesson/recording studio, in Historic Downtown New Bedford dedicated to the study and education of music as a second language and Cape Verdean heritage.
The Rum Soaked Crooks have sailed into many an unsuspecting port with their tuneful mix of sailors' chanteys, ballads and ditties, leaving toes a-tapping and choruses echoing in their wake. Sailing separately or in company with one another, the Crooks have been committing musical and poetic damage for decades - from Woods Hole to Warsaw, from Buzzards Bay to 'Frisco Bay. Accompanied by concertina, guitar, ukulele, banjo and fiddle, their songs and stories commemorate captains and cooks, mermaids and mythical monsters, deckhands and denizens of the deep. The Crooks are Tom Goux, Dan Lanier and Jacek Sulonowski.
SAMspill pronounced 'sahm spill' (Arne Just Holm, Luana Marie Jøsvold, Earl Sven Gingras) is a Boston-based trio which performs traditional Scandinavian vocal and instrumental music as well as classic light rock and pop. The group does concerts, dances, dance instruction, children's programs, and seasonal programs. The word "samspill" means "playing together" in Norwegian.
Earl Sven (the "S" in SAMspill) is a versatile musician who gives scope and depth to the group. He has played with a wide variety of groups over the years--Irish, rock, blues, etc.--and is now rediscovering his Norwegian cultural roots as a member of SAMspill. He plays guitar, bass, mandolin, flute, keyboard, Eb alto horn, and sings with the group.
Arne Just (the "A" in SAMspill) and Luana Marie (the "M" in SAMspill) played together for 20 years as members of Boston Scandinavian Ensemble before joining with Earl to form SAMspill.
Over the years, they have performed at such venues as Epcot Center, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Chautauqua Institution, the Norwegian Seamen's Church in NY, Land of the Vikings in Sherman, PA, and at Scandinavian festivals in Jamestown, NY, Estes Park, CO, Waterloo Village, NJ, and Decorah, IA, and at various libraries, schools, restaurants, and private parties in the Boston area. Just, who hails from Ålesund, Norway, studied music at the Kodaly Institute of Music in Hungary. He plays guitar, Bb baritone horn, and sings with SAMspill. He is the group's children's specialist. Luana grew up in the Norwegian community in Seattle and has been playing accordion since she was six. She spent four years living, teaching, and playing music in Norway. She plays accordion, flute, alto flute, and sings with SAMspill.
The Souls of the Sea Band sings about the lives and experiences of the fishermen of the North Atlantic. The original, musically diverse songs are unique interpretations of life around the working harbor. The group of nationally acclaimed musicians, singers and songwriters are based in America's oldest seaport, Gloucester Massachusetts, and perform throughout the Northeast.
The trio consists of guitarist and lead singer Allen Estes, a long time performer and former songwriter for the Merit Music Corp in Nashville, TN; former Stompers lead guitarist, Sal Baglio, who has opened for The Beach Boys; and fiddle player Matt Leavenworth, whose virtuosity is legend throughout the New England states. Frank Tedesco writes the lyrics.
Sylvia Ann Soares is a graduate of Brown University '95. A poet and SAG/AFTRA/AEA artist from Providence, she has had a long a varied career. Ms. Soares toured Germany for the US State Department with Garrick Players, DC. Nationally, she toured with the Negro Ensemble Company. Her theater appearances include: Boston’s Huntington Theatre Outreach, LA Shakespeare, LA Mark Taper, NY Public and Trinity Repertory Company. Television appearances include: PBS American Playhouse's Three Sovereigns for Sarah, Kojak, Police Story, Baretta, and Good Times. She was a mentor for The Children's Crusade, a volunteer at Amos House Shelter, constructed a school in Nicaragua with Providence-Niquinohomo Sister City Project, and was live-in caregiver for her Mother Dorothy who had Alzheimer's. Sylvia is on the Board of the Mt. Hope Learning Center. In 2003, she wrote and directed a play on slavery in Rhode Island for Rhode Island historical societies. In 2007, she created and produced a Providence Neighborhood Performing Arts Initiative project involving youth and musicians. Sylvia Ann is the daughter of former ILA #1329 President of 16 years, Arthur Sebastian Soares, jazz trumpeter. At the Working Waterfront Festival she will present her most recent work, By The Sweat of Our Brow, a series of first person narratives created from oral histories of Cape Verdean longshoremen.
The Festival features maritime and ethnic music that relates to the commercial fishing industry.
Send press packet and sample recording to:
Working Waterfront Festival
c/o CEDC
PO Box 6553
New Bedford, MA 02742-6553.