Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Great Old Time Folk Music


While visiting my hometown, Lewiston ME, two a week ago I attended a concert at St. Patrick's church. Then Neighbor to Neighbor concert benefited several food charities in the area. It featured a 100 voice chorus from the First Universalist Church in Rockland. Led by the super-dynamic Mimi Bornstein, the group did a great job on many spiritual and fold tunes. They got the audience involved, clapping and singing along.

The guest artist was James Durst, a traditional folk singer for all ages. He does a lot of tunes from the Weavers and leads a tribute group called Work of the Weavers. The image is from his latest CD: Internationally Unknown. I really liked his version of El Condor Pasa, a traditional Peruvian tune that Paul Simon made famous. Durst added his own words in Spanish.

St. Patrick's is a great venue for a concert. There is something in the acoustics of the old churches that really works great for voices. The concert was recorded and will be out on CD in a few weeks.