Manoratha

HSBFest 2009 - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Where else can you find an Italian bluegrass band - "Red Wine" singing a bluegrass tune about Ireland! Listen to this on their MySpace or web page : Il Cielo D'Irlanda - one of my favorite tunes - great instrumentation.  Sang along to John Prine, danced along to Dry Branch Fire Squad, Ricky Skaggs and topped off Saturday with Steve Earle playing with the Bluegrass Dukes as fine a set of tunes as you've ever heard.

 

Windy but sunny, crisp and cool in Northern California...two beautiful days in Golden Gate Park.  Festival was likely oversubscribed this year - the crowds were crushing.  Mary Tilson on KPFA mentioned this afternoon that the estimates came in at around 700,000.  Sound on the Banjo stage was a little weak as you got towards the back.  Nonetheless, it was a wonderful celebration of music and the spirit of the Bay Area.  I took the long lens along for the ride and shot another series of "Festival Faces" that are now posted on my flickr stream as a set.

As always, the setting sun at twilight in Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park is a magical hour of light and shadow - add music and it sometimes has seemed like something out of A Mid Summer Night's Dream.

Ali Farka Toure passes away

Ali Farka Toure passed away today of bone cancer.  A hard death for someone who gave so much joy to those around him.   If you like string instruments, blues or West African music, you have to listen to his music.  He was one of the progenitors of the African Blues sound. "Soukora" from his album with Ry Cooder "Talking Timbuktu" is on my all-time favorite list of music.. 

To get a taste of the music try NPR (with context and commentary) or Amazon.com.  Heart of the Moon, his last album with Toumani Diabate is a great album as well.

For a remembrance of the man see this fond recollection from the former BBC correspondent in Bamako, Mali (only the Beeb), as well as an obituary.
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