What Non-ITM TM do you listen to?

Jeff Guevin · Post by **Jeff Guevin** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:54 pm

In the weeks since I got back from my first trip to Ireland, I've been inhaling as much ITM as possible. I was so taken by what I heard in the pubs (particularly in Dingle), it was like an instant addiction. It's odd, though, because I'd always had a fair amount of Irish music played in the house when I was growing up, and it never "took." But in between hearing my mom play Irish Rovers LPs and now, I'd fallen in love with certain folk musics of Scandinavia, and I think there's a certain similarity to ITM that made that transition pretty natural for me.

So that led me to wonder: do you have any favorites of Non-Irish Traditional Music to share? Are there similarities to ITM, or is it the differences that you love? (If I can get some recommendations, my wife will stop being so annoyed that all I listen to is ITM!)

I'll go first! One of my favorite groups in any genre is Väsen, a Swedish nyckelharpa-led trio/quartet (nyckelharpa, viola, guitar, sometimes drums or bass). I predict a high proportion of ITM aficionados will like this group. The group specializes in contemporary compositions with a traditional "flavor", with a lot of rhythmic play and careful orchestration. No whistle, though.

A compilation CD that gets lots of listening in my house is Nordisk Sang, featuring, among other things, the wonderful singers Kirsten Braten-Berg and Pernille Anker, as well as the heavenly/hellish sound of the hardanger fiddle.

Linkies
Väsen: http://www.drone.se/english/vasen.html
Nordisk Sang: http://www.newalbion.com/NA031/ (more samples at amazon)

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 1:59 pm

Have you ever listened to the stuff on TVFolk.net?

There is another Swedish band called Swap that I really like. To me, they sound alot like Altan, and I've heard they have toured with Lunasa.

Another good one (this time with whistle) is Markamot from the Faroe Islands. In fact, all of the Faroese videos are great.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:20 pm

Belcanto (of course).

Kar · Post by **Kar** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:21 pm

As a bellydancer, I listen to lots of Middle Eastern and Eastern European music: Egyptian, Algerian, Tunsian, Turkish, gypsy music, etc. It's GREAT stuff.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:24 pm

We listen to lots of stuff at our house, but our favorite non-ITM TM is also perhaps the most unusual -- Newfoundland trad. For my money, their songs are among the most interesting TM songs, and since they haven't been done by every two-bit pub band around the world, they are a lot fresher than your typical (English language) ITM song. Their tunes are these gloriously insane things -- lots of great singles (polkas) and doubles (single jigs, kind of, only faster, and frequently with an extra beat or two), plus a good handful of really nice reels.

My favorite Newfoundland group is A Crowd of Bold Sharemen, which combines the best songs in TM (IMO!) with smoking tune sets (sort of what Lunasa would sound like if they dumped the bass and swapped pipes for accordion). There's also some great recordings from members of the group -- an album of songs by Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne, and an album of tunes called Island to Island which is half-ITM and half-NTM, and features the band's fiddler and accordion-player.

If you're more into the Corrs, there's Great Big Sea, who play NTM-based pop, and are very popular in Canada. And if you prefer pure-drop, there are great recordings by two of the old fiddlers there, Rufus Guinchard and Emile Benoit. (Alas, their best recordings do not seem to be out on CD.)

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 3:21 pm

Johnny Clegg and Jaluka, Savuka.

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 3:55 pm

Bloomfield has waaay more class then me.

BELA FLECK BABY!!!!!!

Also
Sam Bush, David Grisman, Bryan Bowers, Howard Levy, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, The Stanley Bros., Asleep at the Wheel, Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King, Oscar Pederson, Ella, Satchmo, Weather Report, Jean Luc Ponty, Mark O'Connor, Jethro Tull, Yes, Kansas (whatever happened to them?), Sonny Terry and Browny McGee, Little Walter and the guy who recorded "Police and the High Sherriff" and "Sloppy Drunk Blues".
Herbie Mann, David Sanborn, Earl Kluge (???), Tom Lehrer...(pause for breath)....

And of course: Bob and Tom. OK, so they're not music or TM but there are some pretty funny songs on their show.

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:00 pm

geek4music wrote: Kansas (whatever happened to them?)

Still alive and kickin'!

http://www.kansasband.com/tour.html

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:08 pm

Thanks Brassblower! They were one of my favorites back "in the day".

Did you happen to see their "Point of No Return" tour? I caught it in Chicago, '77. Wow. Their stage crew were as talented as the band.

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:19 pm

Non-ITM? How about a little AC/DC brother? Strap on your SG, crank up the Marshall, put on that old school boy uniform and rock out with Angus

Yeah, I've been getting back to my roots lately (Insert hair joke here).

Sorry, I can't think of anything particularly esoteric or high brow right now, I've got a bad case of power chords on the brain.

Loren
P.S. Yeah, I'm down with Kansas too, and I didn't realize any one else still listened to J-LP, he always had the most kick *ss backing bands live.

energy · Post by **energy** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:29 pm

geek4music wrote: BELA FLECK BABY!!!!!!

Also
Sam Bush, David Grisman, Bryan Bowers, Howard Levy, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, The Stanley Bros., Asleep at the Wheel, Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King, Oscar Pederson, Ella, Satchmo, Weather Report, Jean Luc Ponty, Mark O'Connor, Jethro Tull, Yes, Kansas (whatever happened to them?), Sonny Terry and Browny McGee, Little Walter and the guy who recorded "Police and the High Sherriff" and "Sloppy Drunk Blues".
Herbie Mann, David Sanborn, Earl Kluge (???), Tom Lehrer...(pause for breath)....

How about Chris Thile?

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:44 pm

Whoops, forgot to mention that I've been living on the Gary Moore "Blues Alive" CD for some time now, not that anyone cares.

(Anyone have a nice Les Paul they wanna get rid of cheap

)

So, any other Gary Moore fans out there?

Lots of Albert King too, but that's nothing new (for me.)

Loren

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 6:19 pm

I like a lot of the Nordic stuff. We have a great CD, Nordic Roots 3 which has Vasen, Gjallahorn and others on it...great stuff.

Cajun is great too. As I type, I'm listening to a compilation called Evangeline Made. It's loads of fun.

Hawaiian music like Iz Israel.

Does ragtime count? I love Scott Joplin.

Finally, lots of Bluegrass and modern American folk like Arlo Gutherie, etc.

Eric

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 7:28 pm

Non-ITM?

The Beatles, Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, the Limelighters, the Kingston Trio, Tom Lear, the Poxy Boggards (local Renfair group), Manhatten Transfer, Elvis (my wife's favorite), assorted classical (Beethoven, JS Bach, Mozart . . . basically 19th century and earlier).

I'm sure I'm leaving lots out - this is off the top of my head while I'm away from home.

fiddlecrazy · Post by **fiddlecrazy** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:52 pm

Cape Breton Music!!! Oooh, I love it! I'm surprised nobody's mentioned that already. I've seen the Cottars, the Barra McNeils and David Greenberg live, and loved them all! ITM takes first though.

as well as the heavenly/hellish sound of the hardanger fiddle.

At a fiddle demonstration I went to recently, there was someone playing a hardanger fiddle. He said that if you've been playing for ten years, you've spent five of them tuning it, and the other five playing out of tune!

Max