New Mexico Folk Music & Dance Society Calendar and Notes

March - Arpil 2002 Volume 5, Issue 2

P.O. Box 40421, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87196-0421

The FolkMADS Calendar and Notes are published bimonthly by the New Mexico Folk Music and Dance Society, a nonprofit organization.

2002 FolkMADness Music and Dance Camp

FolkMADness Dance and Music Camp is celebrating its 10th anniversary with an exciting lineup of talent!

More info here.

Keep FolkMADS up to date so you'll continue to receive the newsletter and we can contact you. Call John Arthur, 831-8096.

2002 Officers/Directors

Ongoing Events

Meet the Bands

Coming Attractions: Bayou Seco and Homemade Jam

by Will McDonald

Bayou Seco and Homemade Jam take different routes to the same goal of making great music for dancing.

Seventeen years ago Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie of Bayou Seco were part of a small circle of musicians who founded the New Mexico Folk Music Society. A few years later the Folk Music Society began sponsoring contra dances and added "and Dance" to the name, thus FolkMADS. This pair has played in various groupings for dances since the beginning and will once again provide the tunes for a dance in Santa Fe March 9th. Long-time residents of Albuquerque, Ken and Jeanie moved to Silver City a few years ago, so their appearance at one of our dances is a rarer treat than it used to be.

In recent times Mark Mueller has joined Bayou Seco. Mark is a former member of the String Beings of North Carolina, a wonderful dance band that passed through Santa Fe a number of years ago for a wild evening of dancing. The dancing was hot and in the end the hall was evacuated by the Santa Fe Fire Department. We danced beside the building until it was safe to come back in. (This is a true story; ask the old-timers for details). All three musicians play fiddle and guitar, and Ken also plays button accordion. Each tune has a different sound depending on who plays what. Bayou Seco travels the world performing an eclectic repertoire of traditional music that ranges from the Appalachian and New England fiddle tunes familiar to our dancer's ears to Mexican, New Mexican, and their trademark Cajun sound. "I like playing for any kind of dancing," Ken says, "because the energy is circular. The better they dance the better we play and the better they dance. We're not big medley people" he says, referring to the common practice of stringing a number of different tunes together in one dance. "We like to play one tune, keep playing it until we get inside the tune, until we become the tune. Then the musicians disappear and all that's left is the music". These musicians focus on subtle variations to lift the energy rather than overt changes to make the dancers shriek.

"I like to use a variety in bowing (the fiddle)" says Jeanie, "to change the way people move their feet." This band focuses on high energy and bedrock rhythms where at the end of the evening you say, "Dang, that's was good dancing." Jeanie grew up in Martha's Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast in the 1950s when contra dancing was confined mostly to Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. It was old-time squares with accordion and fiddle music with no contras." That formed my feelings about dancing" says Jeanie.

At the opposite end of the country Ken was growing up in East LA with a strong dose of the Latino influence in the music he heard and began to play. Concerning newly composed tunes Ken says "Every now and then a tune comes out. But mostly we like to play the old tunes: Soldiers Joy, Golden Slippers."

"We take the music we like," says Jeanie, "and fit it to the contra dance so it isn't typical at all." You may hear a cajun or New Mexican tune in the middle of a contra. Something to listen for is the rhythms of the tunes that come from beyond the contra realm. Ken described a type of tune from Mexico called a huapango. Bayou Seco will begin playing it in 6/8 time so it sounds like an Irish jig in its movement. But then they play the tune in its tradition with rhythms in 9/8 and 3/4 (waltz) played in the accompaniment and harmonies changing the feel of the dance without changing the basic steps.

Perhaps the best way to enjoy Bayou Seco is to get right on into the music with them and disappear when they do so there is nothing but music.

Three other fine musicians make up a band of a different stripe: Homemade Jam. They will play in Santa Fe March 23 and in Albuquerque April 6. Karl Von Hoynigen-Huene plays bass and cello, Robin Brown plays fiddle, and Della O'Keefe is all over the piano creating rich and energetic textures for dancing. Except for a few Appalachian tunes most of this band's repertoire is northern. Della takes delight in the complex variations in accompaniment that Celtic, French Canadian, and New England tunes seem to call out for. All three have played classical music, but their energy and love of the music is right in the tradition. This band formed several years ago and is very keyed into the dance. From the salty to the sweet, from the smooth to hot and spicy, Homemade Jam has a well stocked pantry for the diverse tastes for an evening of dancing.

"We like to play with lots of energy so the dancers can dance with lots of energy," says Robin. Using carefully chosen medleys, by playing louder and softer, bringing the different instruments forward this band draws the dancers into the music and makes you listen to what's happening. The more this happens the more the dancers are all in the same groove.

While everyone puts it in different words Della says the same thing all musicians say about what makes playing for dances special. "You get instant and exciting feedback when playing for dances."

Robin says "I love the interaction between musicians and dancers. It makes the music better and makes the dance go well. The synergistic thing is really wonderful."

To any dancer that reads this the message is strong and persistent. You matter to the musicians. Your presence is not incidental. Your dancing and your enthusiasm is a gift to the musicians just as their music is a gift to you.

MegaBand Tune of the Month

Bruce Thomson (bthomson@unm.edu)

MegaBand Tunes of the Moment: Sweet Nell II On the next pages are two more tunes from Tom Adler's CD "Sweet Nell" featuring original tunes by Tom, David Margolin, Jim Mullany, and Rob Pine. Enough said. P.S. If anybody can show me how to capture Gary Ashkin's incredible fiddle playing on Napster's Retreat onto a piece of paper I will gladly buy them a beer (or other beverage of their choice)! X:17 T:Napster's Retreat R:Reel M:4/4 L:1/8 N:Tom Adler H:Sweet Nell, Coal Holler CD 0246 K:G |z4D2F2|:G6B2|d2B2GB3|c4-cdc2|D8|A2B2A2B2|c2B2AGD2| G2D3EF2|[1G2D3EF2:|2 G2G2F2=F2|]|E4G4|c3cd2c2|DDD2GGG2|B3Bc2B2| AAA2FFF2|DDD2FFF2|G6A2|[B3G3]Bc2B2|E4G4|c3cd2c2|DDD2GGG2| B3Bc2B2|AAA2BBB2|ccc2^ccc2|d8|d2z6||G2G2EDED|G2G2ED3| _B6BB|_B2BB BBBB|ggg2aaa2|bbb2gfe2|_B6BB|_B2BB BBBB|B2gagfg2| c2gagfg2|ggg2fgf2|efe2d2AB|c4B4|A4G4|D8|D2z2D2F2||         X:16 T:Kerry Shuffle R:Reel M:4/4 L:1/8 N:Rob Pine H:Sweet Nell, Coal Holler CD 0246 K:A |z6ef|:[=g2A2][g2A2][gA][fA][eA][fA]|[=gA][fA][gA][fA][gA][a3A3]|[f6A6][fA][fA]|[=g2A2][f2A2] [eA][fA][a2A2]| [a6A6][eA][fA]|[=g2A2][f2A2][eA][fA][gA][eA]|[a2A2][=g2A2][eA][fA][eA][dA]| [1cABcA4:|2cABcA2EF|] |:=G2E2dBA2|=G2ABAGEF|=G4F3E|DEFDE4|=G2E2dBA2| =G2ABA3=g|[a2A2][=g2A2][eA][fA][eA][dA]|[1cABcA2EF:|2cABcA4|]

FolkMADS thanks The Blue Dragon Coffeehouse, 1517 Girard NE, Albuquerque, for generously hosting the Albuquerque Megaband practices.
**for more information, contact Bruce Thomson, 277-4729**

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