Bluegrass Rules!
10:39 p.m.
The evening began with the sweet strains of a couple from Upper New York State and Montreal respectively. I guess they live in the former place where the man is from, but the woman is from the latter locale. He plays mandolin, she plays guitar, and they both sing. They were pretty good, actually. I would put them both in their early 60�s, and they did a mix of traditional, gospel and some of the mandolin player�s own compositions. I actually thought they were the best stuff in their repertoire, and I wouldn�t have minded a set of just those songs. The traditional stuff is too strophic for my taste, and gets kind of dull and predictable, whereas the gospel just bothers me because it�s all Jesus this and hallelujah that. But his own songs were really fine lyric-wise and melodically.
After a brief intermission, where I drew pictures in my programme, the Wind River Band took the stage and played bluegrass music. They were really very good. The bassist was solid (the only concession to the modern age was the electric bass, but it was very tastefully played), and the three other guys: guitar, mandolin and banjo respectively, all sang with nice voices and really tight harmonies. What I found very funny though was that they are all from the area, French-Canadians with very strongly accented English, and they sang all their material in that language. Not only was it hard to understand, but they didn�t always get the right nuancing in terms of where to divide a sentence up for a breath. But, as I said, their harmonies were really good, their voices were pleasant, and I could put up with their funny pronunciations. The audience really liked them. There were lots of friends and family present, and a few whistlers�the kind who put two fingers in the mouth and let out a piercing sound that sends my hyperaccusis around the bend. If it weren�t for them, I would have had a much better time.
You are probably wondering: Bluegrass, Elgan? Well, let me explain. Before I became a classically-trained soprano diva type, I was a folkie. I played my guitar in coffee houses and knew all the words to all of Bob Dylan�s songs, and that part of me kind of became dormant when I started studying classical music seriously. It revived a little bit when I was at Western and would hang out at Change of Pace, a coffee house which no longer exists, participating in hoot nights and going to concerts. I saw Stan Rogers there, believe it or not boys and girls. And they had bluegrass nights there. Some of the bands I saw were fabulous. A lot of people think that bluegrass is like country & western music, but they are worlds apart, at least in my mind. Bluegrass is always acoustic, the pace is always lively, and it�s feel-good music. Country just annoys me. Seriously.
Anyway, I have been trying to gather up the parts of me that shrivelled up and fell off along the way and infuse them with life again. That�s why I took the fine arts courses and now why I go to the Church Street Caf� when I can. It�s difficult, since their concerts are always on the first Friday of every month, and our university series is always on Friday as well. So there are only a couple per term that I can get to, if that many. I know certain members of my family think I�m nuts, but tough noogies, as my brother used to say.
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