Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday October 3, 2023: Conversation and Songs with Alan Bern of The Semer Ensemble; “I’ll sing you this October Song.”

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/62102.html

Themes: Part 1 – Conversation and Songs with Alan Bern of The Semer Ensemble; Part 2 – “I’ll sing you this October Song.”

Part 1 – Conversation and Songs with Alan Bern of The Semer Ensemble.

The conversation with Alan Bern, artistic director of The Semer Ensemble, was recorded on September 14 via Zoom. 

The Semer Ensemble’s Ottawa concert – sponsored by the Embassy of Germany – takes place on Wednesday, October 4, 7 pm, at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre. Tickets are free of charge but must be reserved in advance at this link. https://sogerman.ca/events/the-semer-ensemble-live-in-concert-ottawa/

The conversation with Alan Bern was punctuated by these three songs.

Semer Ensemble featuring Lorin Sklamberg- Ich Tanz’ Und Mein Herz Weint

Rescued Treasure: Live at Gorki Berlin (Pirhana)

Semer Ensemble- Simchu Bi Jeruschalajm/E’ise Pele

Rescued Treasure: Live at Gorki Berlin (Pirhana)

Semer Ensemble featuring Sasha Lurje- Vorbei

Rescued Treasure: Live at Gorki Berlin (Pirhana)

Part 2 – “I’ll sing you this October Song.”

Gordon Bok & Cindy Kallet- October Song

Neighbors (Timberhead)

Tommy Makem & Liam Clancy- White Swans and Black/Grey October Clouds

Two for the Early Dew (Shanachie)

Nanci Griffith- October Reasons

Poet In My Window (Philo)

Mike Regenstreif & Bill Staines (1993)

Bill Staines- October Winds

The First Million Miles (Rounder)

Anne Hills- Rondi’s Birthday

October Child (Flying Fish)

Chris Rawlings & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Chris Rawlings- The Wild Goose

Autumn Gold (Cookingfat Music)

Cindy Church- This October Day

Love on the Range (Stony Plain)

Malcolm Holcombe- October Mornin’

Come Hell or High Water (Gypsy Eyes)

Mama's Broke- October’s Lament

Narrow Line (Free Dirt)

Tom Russell- October in the Railroad Earth

October in the Railroad Earth (Frontera)

Amy Speace- There Used to Be Horses Here

There Used to Be Horses Here (Windbone)

Lucy Wainwright Roche & Suzzy Roche- Cold October Day

Mud & Apples (Lucy Wainwright Roche & Suzzy Roche)

Cindy Mangsen- October Roses

Songs of Experience (Redwing Music)

Short Sisters- Turning Toward the Morning

A Planet Dancing Slow (Black Socks Press)

Dave Clarke- October

GuitarSongs (Crossties)

Next week: Songs of Tom Waits.

--Mike Regenstreif

The Other Europeans - Splendor

THE OTHER EUROPEANS

Splendor

Kikiyon

other-europeans-band.eu

(This review is from the April 23, 2012 issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.)

The Other Europeans are 14 musicians from eight different countries in Europe and North America – eight of whom form a klezmer ensemble and six of whom comprise a lautar ensemble. Lautar is the music of Eastern European Roma (Gypsies). Some of the selections on Splendor, a splendid two-CD set recorded live at the Yiddish Summer Weimar in Germany in 2009, feature one or the other of the two ensembles, or parts thereof, while much of the album has all 14 of the musicians playing together.

The Other Europeans project has been spearheaded by pianist and accordionist Alan Bern, perhaps best known for his work as a member of Brave Old World, a band at the forefront of the creation of new Jewish music over the past couple of decades. Other members of the Klezmer Ensemble include clarinet and saxophone player Christian Dawid; Matt Darriau of the Klezmatics on kaval, piccolo, clarinet and saxophone; and Mark Rubin, who started his career as a member of the alt-country duo Bad Livers, on tuba and bass.

Among the members of the Lautar Ensemble are cimbalom player Kalman Balogh; accordionist Petar Ralchev; and trumpeter Adam Stinga.

Historically, as Walter Zev Feldman, mentions in his liner notes, Jewish and Roma musicians had little, if any, interaction in most areas of Eastern Europe except in Greater Hungary, primarily in the 18th century, and in Moldova, particularly in the province of Bessarabia, from the 18th century until the Holocaust. The music also crossed over to North America with Jewish immigrants in the late-19th and early-20th centuries but declined in both America and Moldova by the 1950s – in America due to assimilationist tendencies, and in Moldova due to the Soviet policy of creating a Moldovan ethnic music that was, as Feldman notes, “free from Jewish influence.”

The repertoire which the Other Europeans explore on Splendor – and which they perform brilliantly – is the klezmer and lautar music played in Bessarabia before the Second World War. Whether in the smaller klezmer and lautar groupings, or in the combined forces of the full ensemble, the music is compelling, exciting and beautiful.

Among my favourite selections from the klezmer repertoire are “Khaiterma,” a delightful classic which features Darriau on clarinet bouncing his notes off Rubin’s slap-bass playing; and the two-part “Klezmer Suite #1,” particularly the wild second part.

My favourite lautar selection is the two-part “Lautar Clarinet Suite #1,” which begins with a in a slow, contemplative mode before picking up steam. The piece almost seems classical.

And, of course, the tracks featuring all of the Other Europeans are a constant delight. Among the most beautiful and exciting pieces is the album-ending concert encore of “Sârba de la nord.”

The similarities and contrasts of the Jewish and Roma influences in this music are fascinating. Alan Bern has done a sensational job of tying it all together in the Other Europeans.

I'm now on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

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--Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (June 15-June 21)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007 (and around the world via the web for most of those years). Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued for some time as occasional features on CKUT, and is now a blog. Here’s the 42nd instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly look back continuing through next August at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

June 16, 1994: Extended feature- Rosalie Sorrels.
June 15, 1995: Guests- Dave Clarke & Ellen Shizgal of Steel Rail.
June 20, 1996: Extended feature- Tamarack.
June 19, 1997: Guest- Laura Smith.
June 17, 1999: Guest- Jesse Winchester.
June 21, 2001: Guests- Alan Bern of Brave Old World; Judy Frankel.
June 19, 2003: Guests- Solon & Jeremiah McDade of the McDades.
June 17, 2004: Extended feature- Tribute to the late Ray Charles.
June 15, 2006: Guests- Les Tireux d’Roches.
June 21, 2007: Guest- Clay Eals.

Pictured: Jesse Winchester and Mike Regenstreif at the 2000 Champlain Valley Folk Festival.

--Mike Regenstreif