Tag: folk music

Folk Concert 2014 – Cantar! Concert Roundup

On Saturday evening, we had our annual Folk Music Concert. This year, in honour of our tour last summer to Spain, we featured Spanish folk songs! We were thrilled to have Anastassiia Moussatova perform some amazing flamenco dance for us, and we were also very excited to have Brent Van Dusen on percussion, Michael Boyle on flamenco guitar, and our very own CCC alum Jessica Lutzak as a guest soloist! The evening was emceed by our wonderful Creative Consultant, Kat Long.

We began our day with a 10:00 dress rehearsal at the Rozsa Centre.

We came back at 6:00 that evening for a dress rehearsal, and then it was time for the concert!

(photography by Brieannah Mollison-Read)

We had so much fun at our Folk Music Concert! Thank-you so much to every one who came out to see us!

Tell us, what was your favourite part of the concert?

March 10, 2014
Flamenco!

As our Spanish folk concert approaches, we are getting very excited about many of the interesting elements of Spanish culture that our touring choir experienced on our recent trip to Spain. One of those elements was the Spanish tradition of Flamenco!

Many people associate Flamenco with a style of dance, but that’s just one aspect of it. Flamenco comes from the Andalusian region of Spain and it incorporates singing, dancing, guitar playing, and hand-clapping! It is a form of Spanish folk music, that is often associated with the Romani people of Spain.

Stylistic features of the dance aspect of Flamenco include, stamping of feet, hand-clapping, and great use of both the arms and feet. It is a very passionate and exciting form of dance!

The musical aspect of Flamenco is very interesting, because it is modal. Flamenco generally uses the Phrygian mode. The music is often structured as a set of verses, interspersed with guitar solos. In Flamenco recitals, these solos can also be accompanied by the Flamenco dance. Thus, there is a great deal of room for variety, and improvisation in Flamenco!

Have you ever seen Flamenco? What did you think?

February 24, 2014
A Brief History of Folk Music

Come and check out our annual Folk Concert on March 8th, 2014 at the Rozsa Centre, and hear some great examples of Spanish folk songs!

Folk music has a long history, and because of the nature of the music, it has no definitive historical date of origin. It is widely considered to be the ‘music of the common people’ . In the latter part of the 16th Century, only a small, elite portion of society was taught to read, and practice traditional music. The peasants, although almost all illiterate, still played, and enjoyed music. But because they could not read or write, they had to learn music using alternate methods, primarily through oral transmission.

Thus folk music is largely music that was not written down, but passed from person to person by listening and performing the songs many times. It is usually quite specific to the region and culture that it comes from. For example, many Canadian songs from the Maritimes discuss the fishing industry, because it was such an important aspect of Maritime culture.

Since there are no definitive dates for folk music, stylistic characteristics are the common determinant of music belonging to this genre.

– music acquired through oral transmission

– folk music is generally very regionally and culturally specific

– the composer for pieces of folk music is usually unknown

– there are many different versions of the same song

What are some of your favourite folk song? Tell us in the comments below!

February 3, 2014