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Articles
 | These articles : Building a fan Base &
Effective Post Card Mailings
came from:
Bard Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards has helped 1000's of musicians make money with their musical groups through the Bards Crier Music Marketing and Promotion Ezine and the Texas Musicians' Texas Music Biz Tips. Now you can get personal advice by visiting http://www.bardscrier.com for FREE "how-to" music marketing assistance. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the BardsCrier.com distributed weekly for Free. Just email subscribe@bardscrier.com Building a Fan Base
As Easy as 1-2-3by John Wilmott forward by Bard Marc Gunn Originally, I was planning on publishing an article by John Wilmott of Celtic Ways. But the "article" was actually a promotional piece designed specifically for the Celtic Ways roster, and was less of an article than I anticipated. So instead, I'm going to lay out the main promotional idea presented in the article. John was writing about putting on a Celtic version of Club MP3.com, called Ceilidh 2001. For those not familiar with Club MP3.com, it is an MP3.com-sponsored tour of 50 US cities by mainstream MP3.com. Celtic musicians were excluded, so we would do our own. But in order to make a successful event, we need larger regional followings. Here's the advice John has on building a fan base. "For those of you who have not built up a substantial fan base I will try to work with you to make this happen and the best route to this is through newsletters. With some of you, you'll need help getting people to subscribe to the newsletters in the first place. If you are gigging that's the easiest way. Make sure you make it easy for people to leave email addresses on the way in or out of the gig. Even bolder would be to get people to give you the email in the middle of the gig. You might make up an "Email Song" and add a traditional tune to the lyrics and then have someone pass around a guest book where everyone leaves their email address. If you are not gigging your only option is to visit chat rooms and forums and talk to people and collect email addresses. You could hold a yard sale and have your music playing and collect email addresses from visitors. Best Buy & others are clearing out old 74 mins CDRs right now very cheap. Put 3, 4, 5 of your tracks on each one and use the paper folders instead of jewelcases. There is a way you can print regular paper and fold to hold a CD too - try it out !!!! Then go to somewhere where these is people and hand them out free in exchange for their email address. You'll get 100 subscribers for under $20.00 cheaper than placing ads, doing flea markets and paying record stores to promote your CD." Andrew went online and found a website (http://blankcdmedia.com/) that sells inserts and CD labels in bulk for pennies each. Sure it may cost a small bit to start, but this is one tip that I'm jumping all over. John Willmott is a former Celtic and English folk song, dance and story performer who now commits to producing and promoting Celtic and Folk Music for the net. Visit his Celtic Ways Jukebox. Effective Post Card Mailings - Direct Mail
by Marc Gunn, Bard
January 9, 2001 We all know that off-line promotion is just as vital as on-line promotion. But what other means of "off-line" promotion can you do other than mailing out your Flyer or Newsletter? Alot. We could go into Media, Radio, Television and others but that is another topic in itself. Postcards are the "new" wave of off-line promotion, or direct mailings. The costs incurred are far much less than those of traditional direct mailings. Postcards, leave out the extra extra’s sorta speak, no envelopes, no envelope stuffing, and the postage is half the cost of first class postage on a standard letter, while still obtaining first class handling through the US Postal Service. I myself, have had rather good results from my postcards mailings, and wanted to share some tips with you on how you can successfully promote your website, CD, or event effectively with Post Cards. Don’t do what many postcard mailers do: They put a terrific design and/or headline on the picture side of the card and nothing but the address on the address side, and many people never see the eye-catching design or headline. All they see is the address side - the side that’s facing up when the mail carrier delivers it. Because people always look at the address side of a postcard to see whether it’s for them, they may decide to throw the card away without turning it over. That’s why BOTH sides of a postcard should sell. The address side is where you want to put your headline or attention getting graphic. The disadvantage of a postcard is that space is limited. You must be able to deliver a very concise message that elicits the desired response from the recipient: You need to gain attention, stimulate interest, provoke desire, and make the prospect take action. That’s alot for a little postcard to accomplish. That’s not to say it can’t be done; its just more difficult. Postcards are a good way to build awareness and stimulate interest. You’ve really got to hit the nail on the head. Watch your own mail. You probably get tons of postcards in the mail from magazine publishers, web host companies etc., urging you to subscribe or "try" our service. These postcards are among the best being used today, study them carefully, keep them. Even other Artists Post cards that you pick up here and there, Keep them, study them. Then sit down and ask yourself the following: 1) what about this card do you like? 2) Colors used? 3) What’s written on the address side? 4) What stands out more than anything on the card a graphic, text, or color. Once you have studied the cards you now have, you will have a better idea of what you want your cards to look like. Ask yourself, what am I trying to accomplish? Website traffic? Selling CDs, or announce a event? Take all these into consideration, prior to finding the printer or graphic designer to develop your post card. These are the exact questions they will ask you. Then once your ready, get them designed and printed. Two great companies that I have found and have used are Digitalwork.com and 1800postcards.com/ Both of these companies run specials, so when you see the special snag it you will save money. Bard Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards has helped 1000's of musicians make money with their musical groups through the Bards Crier Music Marketing and Promotion Ezine and the Texas Musicians' Texas Music Biz Tips. Now you can get personal advice by visiting http://www.bardscrier.com for FREE "how-to" music marketing assistance. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the BardsCrier.com distributed weekly for Free. Just email subscribe@bardscrier.com
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The Guitar and its Greek Roots
 | The Guitar And It's Greek Roots
by Eva Fampas
http://www.evafampas.gr
"The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself" said
L.V.Beethoven after hearing the performance of the Italian
virtuoso M. Giuliani .
And yes , this is true. This plucked, string, polyphonic
instrument stands very loveable and human waiting the
performer to hold it and play it with his fingers.!
It is also true that the guitar owes a lot to the
ancient Greece. Mythology and History of that country,
praise the musicians showing the importance of art and
music in the Greek cultural life and development.
Greek archeological materials give abundant depictions of
musical string instruments. One of the most interesting is
a tanbur depicted in an elegant bas-relief dating from 300
b.c and now in the National Archeological Museum in
Athens. This shows an instrument clearly of a tanbur type
played by a young woman of much grace. The lyre,
made from a turtles shell with two horns,(used mainly by
common people), the formix, (a small size lyre), the
varvitos, (a big size lyre), and the kitharis, with a
wooden sound-box ( used by professionals), ancestors of
the today guitar are also among the archeological
founding. And what about the musicians?
Apollon, the Greek God, played the lyre, Hermes played the
guitar, and Fimios, Thamiris, Orfeas, Mousaios, Terpandros
and Arion, were some famous guitarists who earned a
glorious living with their music.
At that time Apollon's Lyre, Hermes' guitar and Marsias'
flute were recognized as sacred insruments.!
In recent years the guitar is still very popular in
Greece, having established a great guitar school ,
possessing an original, very interesting and unique
repertoire and lots of wonderful guitarists. During the
20th century, the Patriarch of the guitar in Greece was
Dimitris Fampas (1922-1996). His artistry reached far
beyond the borders of his country and for over thirty-five
years he has been considered one of the world's leading
performers. A very talented composer, who enriched the
repertoire of the instrument with some wonderful
compositions . A very devoted and enlightened professor
who created some of today most famous guitarists-
professors.
Hopefully this tradition will go on to the next
centuries.
This article courtesy of http://www.bfactormusic.com.
You may freely reprint this article on your website or in
your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author
name and URL remain intact.
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Indian Music
 | Indian Music
by Padmanabha.Bapu
http://www.bapubahaar.freeservers.com
Apart from its aesthetic and artistic value, this
wonderful art of music had always held for the Indian
mind, a clarion call to spiritual development, and had
been widely cultivated and had attained a high level of
perfection in India, at least some three thousand years
ago. It was in fact one of the unmistakable indications
to us of the high state of civilisation which the
people of the land had reached even in those early
times. What distinguished Indian Music, however, from
its prototypes in other climes was its outlook and
tendency: it was never regarded in India as a mere lay
art, as a mere system of pleasing the sensuous part of
man. It was always held to be but an extension and
outward symbolisation of the Omnipresent Pranava Sound
- OM - and utilised only for purposes of God
attainment - a feature it has retained to the present
day, as will be evident from the fact that, up to the
end of the last century, the subject of musical
compositions has rarely been anything but God and His
glories.
Classical music of the Indian subcontinent has a rich
history of being one the most developed expressions of our
cultural heritage. Its foundations pre-cede 5000 years,
going back to the ancient Indus civilisation. Many
instruments such as harps, flutes and percussion
instruments were found during the excavations at Harappa
and Mohenjo Daro, the centres of the Indus valley situated
in present day Sindh, Pakistan.
The earliest form of Indian music was based on chants or
recitation of hymns, found in scriptures or Vedas, the
earliest of which were the Rig Veda and Sama Veda. The
music of the Vedic era was of a simple nature, yet it
retained a systematic order, the basis of which is still in
existence today. The earliest musical treatise, the Natya
Shastra was written 2000 years ago and gave details on
dance, vocal and instrumental music. In this treatise
differentiation between classical music and folk music was
made using the terms Marga and Deshi. The next important
treatises on music of the early period were the Brihaddeshi
and Sangeet Ratnakar.
Developement of Indian music...
Even as it is the case with other arts, the art of Indian
Music too was for a long time confined to its practical and
operative or expressive aspect. As soon as practice reached
a certain height of development and gathered growth and
variety, theoretical expositions of the subject began to
appear. These were, of course, something in the nature of a
necessity, if the practical secrets of the art, garnered by
centuries of experience, were to be preserved from oblivion
and corruption. These treatises on Music were accordingly a
record of the practices up to their respective dates and
functioned naturally as a grammar of rules on that basis
for subsequent guidance. Narada, Bharata, Sarangadeva,
Purandaradasa, Venkatamaki and a host of others, form a
galaxy of musician-grammarians who earned immortal names
for themselves by leaving to posterity rich treasure-troves
of musical knowledge. In the treatises left by them, we
have clear and accurate expositions of the principles
governing musical practice the differentia and genius
of the various Ragas and Melas, the nature and operation
of the distinctive Gamakas and other important points
calculated to give a practitioner a firm and comprehensive
grasp of his chosen field. These, therefore, served both as
a record of the achievements up to their time in the theory
and practice of Indian Music, as well as a stimulant to
further research and progress.
This article courtesy of http://www.bfactormusic.com.
You may freely reprint this article on your website or in
your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author
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Learning to play the Guitar: Getting Started
Getting Started ~ The 3 P's of Guitar
by Kelly Douglas
http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/strynchu
So you're thinking about learning to play guitar,
or maybe you have just recently started playing. You went
out and bought your guitar, signed up for lessons, and you
have even told your buddies that you are going to be the
next guitar god. You have found only one problem~learning
to play isn't as easy as it looks. If you only had a
formula for successful learning. Well let's take a look at
the 3 P's of guitar. Now I can't guarantee that you will
be on the next cover of your favorite guitar magazine, but
if you follow these 3 points, you definitely will speed up
the learning process.
1. PRACTICE
Practice, practice, practice. You have probably heard this
a thousand times over, but it is essential in learning to
play the guitar. If you are just getting started, I would
recommend you spend at least 20 ~ 30 minutes every day
going over the previous lesson your instructor has given
you. After you have advanced a bit, and you have learned
the basic techniques of playing, your practice time should
be a minimum of 30 minutes long. Try to set aside the same
time each day to do this. Don't sit in front of the TV
while practicing -- Why? You will probably end up watching
your favorite show, rather than concentrating on what
you're doing. By focusing on what you're doing, there is
less chance of you developing bad habits and poor technique.
Spend the first 10 minutes just doing finger exercises to
warm up. Playing the guitar is a very strenuous physical
activity for your hands so don't ignore this point. The
next thing you should do in your practice session is go
over your assignment for the week. Repetition of the
lessons is essential. Finally end off your routine with a
short review of previous material, or spend some time on a
technique or chord that is giving you problems.
2. Patience
One thing to keep in mind while learning the guitar is that
you are asking your fingers and hands to do a number of
very unnatural tasks. There will be times that no matter
what you do; your fingers just will not do what you want
them to. This is where patience is the key. You are
training your fingers to play, and this takes time. This
ties in with the next "P"...
3. Perseverance
Keep at it. If you can't play that chord, note, or exercise
today, you might tomorrow. Remember that every bit of
effort that you put into it will pay off. You will succeed.
So there you have it the 3 P's of learning the guitar. If
you want to have a fourth "P"... it would be without
question passion.
Keep these points in the back of your mind when learning
the guitar and you will be playing your favorite songs
sooner than you think. If you have any questions or
comments, please feel free to email me at:
gtrman@compusmart.ab.ca
About the Author:
Kelly Douglas has been a music educator for over a decade,
and has taught 1000's of students. Visit his website at
http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/strynchu
This article courtesy of http://www.bfactormusic.com.
You may freely reprint this article on your website or in
your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author
name and URL remain intact.
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Improve Your Music By Dancing
Improve Your Music by Dancing
by Philip Seyer
www.ilovemusic.com
Dancing can greatly improve your skill as a musician. I
didn't know that earlier in my career as a music educator.
When I was in third grade. I loved dancing. I started
dancing spontaneously in my little cowboy boots one day and
my parents asked, "Where did you learn to do that?" I had
made up the steps but I was too embarassed to tell them
that, so I made up a story that I had dance lessons at
school.
However, something happend by 6th grade. I was forced to
take dance lessons and I hated it because I couldn't quite
catch on the way they taught it and I was terrified of
girls.
Later when I became a music major in college, I refused to
dance. The band director who was directing the Opera
orchestra needs some background dancers for Mozart's "The
Marriage Of Figero." I refused. He threatened me. I
refused. Needless to say I didn't do well in any of his
classes.
I was terrified of dancing. Only later did I realize how
dancing can help your understanding of music.
With dancing you gain a better understand of musical
phrasing and musical structure. Good dancers learn to
dance "on phrase." To do that you have to develop a keep
sense of when musical phrases start and end. Dancing also
helps because you learn the various types of dance music
and what makes them distinctive. You learn to instantly
identify music that works for, say:
Argentine tango
rumba
hustle
nightclub two step
salsa
cha-cha
Eastern swing
Western swing
If you are a dancer, when composing music, you are aware
that you are or are not composing music that would work for
the different dances.
That about concludes, this article. But before I finish I
thought it would be helpful to give some tips on learning
to dance and asking for dances.
Learning to Dance
=================
If you are shy start with some private lessons. After a few
private lessons, you can graduate to some beginning group
classes. When doing this be patient with the others who may
not know as much as you. Next attend some ballroom dance
parties, ideally find a party that comes with a free dance
lesson before the party. Once you attend your first dance
party, you'll need to either sit politely and wait for
someone to ask you to dance or be assertive and ask for a
dance yourself.
Asking for a Dance
==================
Be sensitive to eye contact. If the person you'd like to
ask is not making eye contact with you as you approach,
consider not asking. Often, there are plenty of others who
will be eager to dance with you.
Use subtle nonverbal asking. For example, As you approach a
person, and make eye contact, smile raise your eyebrows and
subtly nod your head toward the dance floor. This method
seems to be favored a lot in Argentina.
Use not so subtle body language. I often smile broadly and
walk toward a potential dance partner with Cuban hip motion
and then beckon or kneel before her and extend my hand. In
away, I'm actually dancing already. For best results, I
suggest using this method first only with good friends who
you know will enjoy your advances!
Timing. Timing is important, especially if the person you
want to dance with is often busy dancing with others.
Usually it is a good idea to wait until your potential
parter has come off the dance floor. But this is not a
hard and fast rule. It used to be quite exceptable for a
man to "cut in" on a dance by tapping a male dancer on the
shoulder and politely asking "May I cut in?" But times
have changned. It is really not up to the man anymore. He
doesn't control his dance partner. If you really want to
dance with someone and that someone is doing dance after
dance with someone else, can can still consider cutting in
politely, although this can be difficult.
One way is to position yourself close to your potential
dance partner and make eye contact. Then when the dance
ends, walk toward the couple that have been dancing
together. If you potential partner avoids eye contact, you
know what to do: just keep walking. However, if your
potential partner makes eye contact and smiles broadly, I
recommend you say "Excuse me," to the partner of your
Potential and then turn toward your Potential and ask, "May
I have this next dance?"
That's it for now. One parting tip for leaders. (Here I
assume the leader is a guy, but these day's that may not
always be true).
The leader's purpose it to give pleasure to the follower.
As a leader, don't use all the steps you know trying to
impress the follower -- that may actually turn her off!
Think about trying to make her look good and you will do
well.
This article courtesy of http://www.bfactormusic.com.
You may freely reprint this article on your website or in
your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author
name and URL remain intact.
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Didjeridu
The Didjeridu
by: Susanna Elisabet Duffy
In Northern Australia the Didjeridu is seen as a phallic symbol and therefore a male instrument. Women are prohibited from playing.
Stories of the Didjeridu vary from place to place among the different language-speaking groups in this large continent.
In the beginning, in the North of Australia, a giant captured two young girls to be his wives. One day they escaped and made their way back to their tribal people.
The tribal elders knew the giant would ccme looking for his brides so they dug a huge pit along the path leading to their home camp as a trap. They waited behind an anthill.
In his anger and haste, the giant came running and fell into the pit. The tribal hunters threw their spears, mortally wounding him. The giant curled into a ball in his death throes. As he curled into himself he began to blow on his penis, making an eerie droning sound. He rolled and roared, thrashing around in the pit, the deep drone of his penis thrummed through the earth and caused the birds to fly high into the heavens.
The men wanted to recapture such a sound of power, so they searched for and found a large hollow log with the centre eaten out by termites. By blowing on one end of this hollow log, they were able to create the sound made by the giant in his death throes.
And from that time, the didjeridu is a sacred instrument to men, for it holds the power of the giant.
In another story from the South-East of Australia, three men were camped in the bush on a cold night in the middle of winter. One of the men, watching the fire, picked up another log to feed the flame which was getting low. As he picked up the log he found it was hollow but thought no more about it until he turned to drop it into the fire and noticed the entire length was covered with termites.
He didn't know what to do for the termites were his totem ! He couldn't throw the branch into the fire, because it would kill the termites but the fire had to be kept burning on such a night.
He carefully removed all the termites from the outside of the log by scooping them into his hand and gently placing them inside the branch. Then he raised the branch to his lips and blew the termites into the air.
And the termites blown into the air became the stars and the first didjeridu was made.
The didjeridu is the world's oldest known musical instrument. Traditionally, it's made from a branch in which white ants eat their way up through the centre towards the sunlight. The outer shell of the branch remains solid and protects the ants. Eventually the branch dies and falls to the ground. After shaping the ends and marking it with personal designs, this becomes the didjeridu.
Many Aboriginal people believe that there is a man's spirit inside the didjeridu - so women may not play it.
And if you listen now to the didjeridu it will go into your ears, open your heart and lift your spirit.
About The Author
Susanna Duffy is a Civil Celebrant, grief counsellor, professional storyteller and a creator and guide of Rites of Passage. Her ceremonies are used in home offices, corporate boardrooms and civic functions. http://celebrant.yarralink.com
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The Human Spirit
National Day Of Appreciation For The Human Spirit
By Geela
Quote of the month: “When you celebrate the human spirit, you heal and enrich your own spirit.” – Geela
The other day I purchased a reference book that lists hundreds of calendar of events and special dates such as holidays. To my surprise, I discovered that while there was a special day for practically everything under the sun, there was nothing about celebrating the human spirit, which is supposed to be so central to our existence. I wondered if that was due to a narrow focus on one sliver of our lives and therefore the inability to see the big picture of life itself, or was it symptomatic of something much deeper. For some people, it’s too overwhelming to think beyond the “one day at a time” mentality - which reminds me of a bumper sticker I once saw which read: “Did you know that one nuclear bomb could ruin your whole day?”
In a time where chaos is the order of the day and insanity is the rule rather than the exception, designating a special National Day of Appreciation For The Human Spirit can actually be highly beneficial and a welcome relief for everyone, and not so much out of a sense of sentimentality, but rather out of necessity. It’s a fact that a free and thriving society is dependent on co-existence, cooperation, acceptance of differences and a solid spiritual foundation. Therefore, promoting positive concepts such as social awareness, a culture of peace and harmony, honoring of all living things, integrity and a wholesome values system, should not be viewed as a luxury but rather as a necessity.
In a fast-paced society that’s driven by a mentality of “more is better,” extreme stress and lack of fulfillment are inevitable. It’s the effect caused by the pursuit of materialism, which is the by-product of the American Dream, which is perpetuated by the media and business advertisers that try to convince us that we must have a certain life style in order to be happy and fulfilled. In the process of pursuing more stuff, we knowingly, or unknowingly, lose that part of our being that is able to experience real joy and fulfillment. Sure, we have more “toys,” but they only produce artificial joy. We’ve all heard the expression “you can’t take it with you,” so what good does it do when there is less and less free time to do what’s really important in life, like connecting with family and friends and making a meaningful difference in people’s lives. Sooner or later it becomes evident that no amount of money or trophies can fill the void created by a malnourished spirit.
The real danger becomes even more obvious when extreme (and continual) stress collides with a lack of a solid spiritual foundation. We then experience a sense of loss in practically every facet of our lives; from loss of clarity and productivity to a lack of security and direction. But most importantly, we experience diminished joy of life, sense of fulfillment and family harmony.
There is another good reason for creating a National Day of Appreciation For The Human Spirit. It would help us gain perspective and reflect on what’s really important in life and on our true identity, which is beyond all artificial boundaries such as religion, race and color. These things function as divisive, rather then uniting forces that ultimately lead to hostility and wars both on the individual and global scale. Instead, on such a day the focus would become to celebrate the human spirit, and excellence in its truest form which is characterized by kindness, acceptance of differences (by recognizing that peace is not so much unity in similarity but rather unity in diversity), and the honoring of all living things.
On that particular day, everyone’s focus would be on accomplishing the most outstanding humanitarian work that could contribute to a positive future for all. Efforts of people with high vision and courage, who can offer innovative solutions to the growing problems of our society, would be supported by influential people and the media, who would be providing them with the proper platform to share their ideas in order to accelerate the process by which change can be affected. For one day even the media would exhibit altruistic actions by doing what’s best for the community and ignore their ratings, with TV shows and programming that celebrate human excellence while promoting positive concepts that contribute to a positive future. The result would be to restore balance, a sense of well-being, a sense of community and a real sense of security. Now that’s real “fair and balanced news.”
Imagine coming together just for one day to recognize and celebrate both the human spirit and human excellence, with a sense of genuine acceptance for our differences. Suddenly we would discover and appreciate the simple pleasures of life, such as making new friendships. But the benefits wouldn’t end there since it’s a fact that true prosperity (from health to wealth) is a by-product of living in harmony with universal laws. Perhaps then we could also see less senseless violence in our schools and on our streets. Perhaps then our kids would once again gain a sense of direction and hope in an increasingly violent and the competitive world. Perhaps then we’d see leaders in government and business who exhibit the power of love (rather than the love of power), doing what’s in the best interest of the community rather then what’s politically correct.
Celebrating a National Day of Appreciation For The Human Spirit would also help restore balance in our hectic lives by simplifying things and reexamining our obsession with “more is better.” It would also inspire us to reconnect with our spiritual roots and nurture our malnourished spirits by recognizing that as spiritual beings experiencing the human experience (and not the other way around), we can’t really experience a life of meaning with purpose and real joy and fulfillment without the element of giving (making a meaningful difference in people’s lives). Perhaps having such a day would stimulate a shift in the American culture from “He with the most toys lives” to “He with the most joy lives” making it possible for everyone to achieve the American Dream, in its truest form, which is based on perspiration, innovation, risk and reward - where the focus would be on a wholesome values system, strong work ethic, integrity and community.
However, for a goal to be achieved it has to be tangible and real enough, otherwise it functions like a picture on the wall (it’s nice but not attainable). Car dealers, for instance, encourage potential customers to take a test drive for that very reason, because it works. Likewise, for positive concepts to stimulate transformation, it must first feel “real” and be experienced at least on some level, particularly for many who have never experienced those concepts and falsely believe that they are unattainable. That’s why celebrating a National Day of Appreciation For Human Spirit can provide a golden opportunity for the mind to be stretched to a new dimension, and as such the mind can never go back to its original state.
But why wait for some artificial date to motivate you to do the right thing anyway? As long as you let your conscious guide you, you know you can never go wrong. So go ahead and be the change you wish to see in the world today and, who knows, perhaps through inner change we can finally experience an outer change as well. Now that’s good news for the heart too.
About the Author
Copyright © 2004-2005, Geela
Author of “The American Dream”
http://www.Geela.com
Geela is an award winning singer/songwriter/composer, columnist, and author of the best-selling book “THE AMERICAN DREAM,” her true- life story of how she came to America as a young immigrant with nothing and overcame incredible obstacles to achieve mega-success. She founded ONE SPIRIT, ONE WORLD to help children and promote a culture of peace and harmony. Get a free sample of her music and her book at http://www.Geela.com
"Article reprinted from http://www.simplysearch4it.com Articles Directory"
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Can folk get off its high horse? - folk music
 | When people talk about folk music today, I don't think they're talking about the long night around the campfire Bob Dylan spent with the ghosts of old American music on last year's Time Out of Mind, or the ruined country music of Palace and Wilco, which in moments comes from as deep a mine. ("You sound like a hillbilly," sang Dylan in 1962, repeating a booker's response to his first attempts to get work in New York coffeehouses. "We want folksingers here.") The folk music you can trip over just about anywhere now is not trying to get you lost, as that other stuff is. It's trying to convince you of something: to get you to agree with it. It may want your money, but most of all it wants your vote.
This music comes in a rattling basket of styles. There are Patti Smith's sermons and elegies, and Ani DiFranco's hectoring confessionals and secret handshakes, all orchestrated as a high-concept celebration of authenticity and autonomy - she's put out eleven albums in nine years on her own Righteous Babe label and won't sign with a major! There are the burgeoning revivals and tributes organized around Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, from a pile of reissues on Smithsonian Folkways to Mermaid Avenue - a hard-nosed Billy Bragg-Wilco workup of unfinished Guthrie songs - to Steve Earle's putrid where-have-all-the-lefties-gone lament "Christmas in Washington" to Bruce Springsteen's often heart-stopping The Ghost of Tom Joad.
There are Dan Bern's dogged attempts to embody both Bob Dylan and Mother Teresa, the Indigo Girls actually mixing sex, humor, rhythm, and politics in a convincing manner with their hit "Shame on You," and the James Taylor-soundalike radio commercials for Lucky Supermarkets. There's something for everybody. But before one takes the possibly risky step of, say, listening to Nanci Griffith sing "If I Had a Hammer" on Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger (Appleseed), or Bern suffer over Monica Lewinsky and the Oklahoma City bombing, it's worth casting back to a scene from Animal House.
It's toga night at the lowest fraternity on campus, somewhere on the East Coast sometime during the Kennedy administration, and John Belushi, dressed as a Roman senator and already drunk, descends from his room to join the festivities. On the staircase he encounters a neatly dressed preppie (Stephen Bishop, more or less playing himself) charming several steps worth of sorority sisters with his rendition of "I Gave My Love a Cherry." Belushi pauses. A quizzical expression falls over his face, as if he's contemplating a fundamental question of ontology, or about to deliver an address on the destruction of Carthage. His face darkens. You begin to hear this innocent little folk ditty as he does: as a contradiction of all that is vital and true in the history of mankind. Thus Belushi calls upon the spirit of "Louie Louie": He grabs Bishop's guitar from his hands and smashes it with a single blow. "Sorry," he says, handing back the wreckage. Sometimes, he seems to be telling us as he stumbles down the stairs, you just have to do what's right.
There are thirty-nine performances in the opera of sententiousness, sentimentality, condescension, and children's choruses that is Where Have All the Flowers Gone, and not all of them are bad, any more than all protest songs are bad. Roger McGuinn couldn't do a bad version of "The Bells of Rhymney," which is a great protest song, and John Stewart couldn't harm "Old Riley," which is about playing the banjo. But the purity of heart, the certainty of righteousness, the inexplicability of doubt, and the smooth, genteel, utterly harmless surfaces of the music, whatever the style, is like a disease. As one wades across this double CD - which has a lot less to say about the indomitability of the human soul than the recently released four CD set Bird Call! The Twin City Stomp of the Trashmen, a band known only for its single hit, 1963's "Surfin' Bird" - one realizes that Pete Seeger's songs, whether sung by him or by Judy Collins, Richie Havens, Billy Bragg, Tim Robbins, Odetta, Ani DiFranco, Bruce Cockburn, or any number of others, really are about one world: his. "So I ask the killers, do you sleep at night?" Kim and Reggie Harris sing with deep concern and insufferable piety on "Those Three Are on My Mind," Seeger's tribute to civil rights workers murdered by police and Klansmen in Mississippi in 1964, and in the real world there is a simple answer: "Yes."
Dan Bern isn't obvious about the fact that he belongs in this company; for that matter, he comes on as a sort of folkie John Belushi. A Midwesterner who knows he's going to be pegged as a New Dylan and figures he'll live through it, he wears his sense of humor on his sleeve. He has an exuberant grasp of broken rhythms that translates as an affirmation of radical individualism: A song is what he says it is, even if it sounds like a collection of mistakes. He wants desperately to be annoying: class clown, practical joker, fart champion, arsonist. Whatever it takes, he's game. He kicks off his second full-length album, Fifty Eggs (Work), with a half-crazed rant about how big his balls are; it's stupid and it's funny. But halfway through, even if you're laughing, the insistence that this is a satire of male bragging takes over. Bern doesn't want you to think he thinks his balls are as big as Jupiter. Call him an asshole, no problem; on the wrong side, never. It's the same with "Cure for AIDS," "Chick Singers," "Different Worlds," about sexual freedom, sexism, and racism; they aren't bad songs, they're fun to listen to, for a while, but they want so badly to please while pretending they want to get under your skin that before long you may not trust a sound out of Bern's mouth. He might be wonderful in concert; on record he sings and plays, he acts, as if he'd be the last guy on earth you'd want cornering you at a party.
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