New Mexico Folk Music & Dance Society

FolkMADS Calendar and Notes

March - April 2003 Volume 6, 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.

FolkMADS sponsors Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos contra dances, concerts, camps, and other special events. "Contra" dances include contras, squares, mixers, and couple dances. Unless noted on the calendar otherwise, admission is $5 for members, $6 for nonmembers, $3 for children. You need not come with a partner. Free instruction for beginners starts at 7:30 p.m. Most dances begin at 8 p.m. and are smoke-free and alcohol-free. Children and teens are encouraged to participate if supervised by an adult.

Albuquerque Dances 1st and 3rd Saturdays.
Heights Community Center, 823 Buena Vista SE, Albuquerque.

Occasionally dances are held at the Lloyd Shaw Dance Center; watch the calendar for details.
The Lloyd Shaw Dance Center is located at 5506 Coal SE in Albuquerque (2 blocks south of Central and 2 blocks east of San Mateo).

Santa Fe Dances 2nd and 4th Saturdays. Odd Fellows Hall, 1125 Cerrillos Road (south of Cordova Drive on the western side of Cerrillos).

Megaband Practices All musicians welcome. Albuquerque Megaband practice is held at the Blue Dragon Coffee House, 1517 Girard NE,Albuquerque, the Tuesday before the 3rd Saturday dance. Bruce Thomson, 277-4729, or email Jane Phillips to be added to the listserv.

Acoustic Jam 7 p.m. before the Albuquerque dances. All acoustic musicians are welcome and all types of music are played. Call Jay Cutts for more information, 281-0684.

10 Commandments of Jamming

•Arrange yourselves in a circle so that you can see and hear as many of the other musicians as possible. Always pay attention to what's going on.

•Keep the beat, do not rush, do not drag.

•Keep your instrument in tune and play in tune.

•Play extra softly if someone is singing.

•The musician who starts a tune is generally the one who decides when to end it, usually with a vocal cue or with some type of body language such as a raised foot. Refer to first Commandment.

•Be mindful of the banjo section, and do not change keys more often than necessary.

•Do not practice licks on your instrument between tunes. This is especially important at dances where the caller needs minimal distraction to teach each dance.

•Jam sessions are opportunities to share tunes, songs and good times. Do not come to a jam session expecting to impress others with your virtuosity.

•Be sure to play some tunes at jam sessions that everybody knows.

•It is never a sin to play too softly.

Caller's Class Update

Eight brave students have signed up for the beginning caller's class taught by Merri Rudd. Students will attend workshops such as "Calling in Time to the Music," "Teaching with Brevity and Clarity," "Communicating with Live Musicians (as opposed to dead ones)," and "Programming an Evening's Dance." However, they need live dancer bodies to practice their skills.

We have tentatively scheduled a practice dance for April, possibly Friday evening, April 4 or April 18 at the Lloyd Shaw Dance Center. Each student will call a dance or two, using live bands and the sound system. After the student calls, we would ask dancers and musicians to give the students feedback about their calling. $2 admission, donations of snacks welcome. If you would like to be a dance angel, please email Merri Rudd or leave a message at 268-3318. She'll let you know the final dance schedule.

Alan Jabbour & Tommy Thompson  

Two notable events in the music world happened in February. The first was the death of Tommy Thompson, one of the truly great frailing banjo players, exceptional song writer, and founding member of the Red Clay Ramblers. The second was the visit of Alan Jabbour and Ken Perlman for a house concert in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Back in 1972 Tommy and Alan, together with Jim Watson on guitar, recorded an album (one of those black plastic round things with a hole in the middle and scratches all across the surface) of fiddle tunes as the Hollow Rock String Band (Rounder 0024) that is one of my favorite collections of old time tunes. The trio format is especially good for learning fiddle tunes as you can hear each of the instruments so well. "Billy in the Low Land" has pretty much the same chord progression as "Billy in the Low Ground" but transposed to the key of G from C. I've included it here as a tribute to Tommy and as thanks to Alan for playing for us.  

ABC Notation

X:25

T:Billy in the Low Land

R:Reel

M:4/4

L:1/8

N:Transcribed by Bruce Thomson

K:G

|z6D2|:G3AG2A2|B2ded2B2|d2edBAG2|AGE2E2D2|

G3AG2A2|B2d2g2bg|agef gage|[1dBAFG2D2:|][2dBAFG2ef|]

|:gabag2d2|egedBd3|e3dBAG2|AGE2E2ef|gabag2d2|

egedBd3|e3fgage|[1dBAFG2ef:|][2dBAFG4|]

French Fiddle Workshops in Silver City and Corrales

FRENCH DANCE MUSIC on the FIDDLE with AGNES GUERRY

of "Le Loup Qui Danse"

Intermediate level

Bring a tape recorder. All tunes will be taught by ear. Agnes is a very accomplished fiddler and will talk about the different rhythms like the bourree, the rondo, the mazurka, the rigodon and the schottish. And she will teach as much as time allows.

Wednesday, March 5 at Fiddle Hill (Bayou Seco) 1616 Pacific Rd in Silver City, 7-9 PM

Call 534-0298 to reserve a spot - $15.00

Saturday, March 8 in Corrales, home of Jane and Laurie Phillips, 2-4 PM

Call 898-2565 to reserve a spot - $15.00

Mar 1 or 2 in Tucson (tentative)  

Southwest Picker's Concert Schedule

Saturday, March 1

John McCutcheon at the Kimo, 8pm Tickets $15 at Ticketmaster 883-7800 or the Kimo 764-1700. www.folkmusic.com

Balkan Dance Party! 

with Goddess of Arno, Balkan-Roma (Gypsy) Dance Band

Saturday, March 15th

7:30PM beginner's dance session, 8PM Party begins

at R.B. Winning Coffee Co.,

111 Harvard SE (just south of Central Avenue) in ABQ

$5.00 at the door - kids under 12 are free

Kitchen open with limited menu

Information: (505) 243-6276 (Goddess of Arno)

(505) 266-0000 (R.B. Winning's)

Goddess of Arno, performs hot Balkan-Roma (Gypsy) music from Albania, Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria. This 2002 New Mexico Mic Award winning quartet of women sing and accompany themselves on traditional ethnic string and percussion instruments as well as accordion, violin, guitar and electric bass. Once you hear them, you won't stop dancing. Simple ethnic line dances will be taught by New Mexico's favorite veteran folk dancer, Patsy Gregory. Don't miss this exciting and unique event - Mark your calendars now!  

And a little farther out of town... 

Seventh Annual Encuentro de Dos Tradiciones

A traditional music festival set for the first week of March 2003 offers an opportunity to learn about Mexican music (in particular, the music of Tierra Caliente) and traditional music from other countries. The Seventh Annual Encuentro de Dos Tradiciones will take place in Mexico City, Zitácuaro, Michoacán; and Tlapehuala, Arcelia and Cd. Altamirano, Guerrero between March 3 and 10.

The festival features award-winning, 90-year-old Juan Reynoso, known as Mexico's Paganini of the Hotlands, plus Alan Jabbour and Bertram Levy with Old Time Tunes from Appalachia. Other fine musicians from both Mexico and the United States will participate in 3 days of conferences and workshops in Mexico City and a 6-day trip to provincial Mexico where everyone is welcome to be part of the audience or participate in any of public concerts held in four different towns.

The bus tour from Mexico City to Tierra Caliente will also include a trip to the Monarch Butterfly Reserve, opportunities for jamming with other musicians and dance workshops. Not including airfare to Mexico City, the trip costs US$ 465 (March 6-11) or $540 (March 3-11) in shared accommodations.

El VII Encuentro de Dos Tradiciones: March 3-11, 2002 Musical events in Mexico City, Michoacán and Guerrero

For more information see our web site:

http://www.laneta.apc.org/DosTradiciones

or call Lindajoy Fenley in Mexico City

52 71 34 30

52 73 49 79

cellular: 044 55 54 02 36 30

Special April Performances!

Three unique and exciting ethnic music groups will perform at the Blue Dragon Coffee House in Albuquerque this April. All performances are free and take place at 1517 Girard NE (by Indian School Rd.) Mark your calendars:

Saturday, April 5th, 9:30-11:15pm, catch the late show with Goddess of Arno, performing hot Balkan music from Albania, Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria in the Rom (Gypsy) style. This 2002 New Mexico Mic Award winning quartet of women sing and accompany themselves on traditional ethnic string and percussion instruments as well as accordion, violin, guitar and electric bass.

On Tuesday, April 8th, 7:30-9:15pm, check out E.C.K.: Randy Edmunds - guitar; Beth Cohen - violin & mandolin; and Jack Klintworth - Anglo concertinas (button accordions). They play an eclecktic variety of traditional music : European (Italy, France and Spain), Celtic, English country dance tunes, Klezmer (Poland and Ukraine), Mexican and American.

Monday, April 14th, 7:30-9:15pm , don't miss The Rebbe's Orkestra - an exciting group of musicians who play Judaic music with an international flair. Incorporating the sounds and rhythms of Jewish music from many parts of the world, this 6-piece band brings a unique style to the playing of Klezmer, Eastern European, Israeli, Middle-Eastern and Sephardic (Judeo-Spanish) music.