Ale Carr - great Swedish cittern player

[Niall Anderson]

I hope to go to your gig in Inverness on Saturday.

I'm going to the Edinburgh gig tomorrow evening - will try to get a chance to say hi to Ale if possible. It should be great - really top group of musicians, so I'm really interested to see what they have come up with.

[kmmando]

When and where Niall?

[Niall Anderson]

When and where Niall?

Queens Hall, 8pm, Friday 17th... Be there or be square... :-)

I'll be passing your door, so taxi service available if you're free and would like to head up...

[kmmando]

Need to consult the good lady, she's been in London all week so I suspect I'll be on call to soothe her aching head ... enjoy the gig and thanks for the kind offer!

[zoukboy]

Well, normally we use 5 steps for each note - so for example with an F:
1: F natural
2: slightly sharp F natural
3: F quarter note (exactly between F natural and F sharp)
3: slightly flat F sharp
4: F sharp

But it's not nearly as picky as it is in for example turkish classical music. Our music is traditionally performed solo, so you were free to improvise as you wish. Regarding mandolas and extra frets - Scandinavians have only used the 3rd example from above. I do not use quarter notes in my music, though, as my tradition is from southern Sweden, where quarter notes are quite uncommon nowadays.

Thanks for the info, Ale!

[Dagger Gordon]

The Inverness gig was fantastic. Really inspired. Best thing I've seen for ages, actually.
Thanks to everybody involved.

[Niall Anderson]

The Inverness gig was fantastic. Really inspired. Best thing I've seen for ages, actually.
Thanks to everybody involved.

Yes, tremendous effort to pull that together. I particularly enjoyed Ale's composition and his solo starting off the encore - fantastic playing. The whole programme was excellent though and really very inspiring!

[Dagger Gordon]

Anyone go to the Glasgow Celtic Connections gig?

I must say we're still slightly buzzing from the Inverness gig. It really was terrific, and the more I think about it the more remarkable I think it was.

[Dagger Gordon]

You might like to know that a live album from those great gigs has been released.

http://www.thesecretnorth.com/

[Niall Anderson]

Have just ordered this - will report back once I have listened to it. They seem to be playing in Glasgow in January again and possibly doing some more touring, so hope to catch up with them at some point.

[Lord of the Badgers]

Random searches eh. That's what led me here to this old thread.

Ale, you may not read this, but I am now a huge fan awesome stuff Sir


bit frustrated though that just one track from the 2nd Dreamers Circus album won't download on iTunes.. may have to re-buy the album. Sometimes I hate it when I'm sucked into the modern world a bit too easily!

[Dagger Gordon]

Are you digging it Niall ??

Regards Dagger

[Lord of the Badgers]

aye, fess up Niall, want to know how it sounds!

[Niall Anderson]

Dagger, LOTB,

Sorry - busy at work just now, so falling behind on my MC duties...

Have managed to listen to the album a couple of times now, and it is terrific. What struck me again (as it did at the Edinburgh gig) was the variety of music and style on display, whilst still remaining pretty cohesive. That's an accomplishment, particularly as they put the project together in a relatively brief rehearsal period. It's also interesting that I felt I reacted differently to some of the pieces on the recording in comparison to how I did when I heard them live. I expect that they have used different recordings from different gigs on the tour at points in the CD, so this perhaps reflects the live music experience - it's not a process of mechanical reproduction of melodies and harmonies!

Anyway, some lovely music and well worth investigating. A little bit different from the usual CD as it is all new music and each of the 6 musicians contributes one composition each, so the tracks are 8-14 miutes long - it's a CD to sit paying attention to, I think.

[Dagger Gordon]

Hi again to this old thread.

The new version of the Secret North have just been touring and played my local hall. Allie Robertson and Donald Grant were both there again, this time with Karen Tweed (accordion), Jarlath Henderson (pipes, whistle, vocal), Sondre Meisfjord (double bass, vocal) and Marit Falt (Swedish mandola).

Just as good as last time. A really super gig. They all brought a composition to the group, and every one was a winner.
However, they played Karen and Sondre's pieces as one long work, and I must say it was quite delightful, with Karen's spoken word poem in the middle adding a new dimension.

An unexpected bonus was the Bill Withers song 'I hope she'll be happier with him' as an encore, sung by both Sondre and Jarlath, with their very different vocals styles bringing something quite unique to the song. Actually I thought Sondre's contribution was immense throughout.

I also took the opportunity to buy the CD of the last tour, which is just as good as I remember it.
An uplifting evening, just as it was last time.

[OneChordTrick]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. Just downloaded the album - right up my street!

[Dagger Gordon]

Time for a bit more Ale!

[Anglocelt]

If you have access to BBC iPlayer it is well worth checking out Ale Carr's cittern playing alongside Finnish violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Kuusisto and Carr play Finnish folk tunes between the movements of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Carr does backup to the orchestra too. The Four Seasons is so ubiquitous it is practically folk music now and it interesting to see how the two traditions interact in this terrific performance.

It was broadcast on July 16th but will be available for a few months on iPlayer. Ale has also played with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and is a champion fiddler as well as a cittern player.