More on Kevin’s involvement in Galician music

Kevin Carr:
I want to mention one more thing about my involvement with Galician music. My friend Alexandre (Cano) Cadarso, in addition to working as a sports technician at the University in Santiago, helps run a folk arts organization called As Follas Novas which offers music and dance classes to adults and children. Cano teaches Gaita, Accordion, Flute and percussion. He is also a tireless researcher and has written five books on traditional music. The first was on a mentor of his, the beloved gaiteiro Juan Bello Mallou. The second was on a tradition only found in a small region in the south of Galicia, of playing small wooden flutes, called requintas, in groups along with Gaitas and percussion. Then he published a songbook called Cantigas de Taberna in which he collected over 100 songs which had been commonly sung in taverns and pubs all over Galicia. He and his group, the Muineiros De Sarelo, along with the book, have done a lot to keep the cultural treasure of singing in public alive. His next book was called The Essence Of Our Traditional Sound, which was about the unique tuning systems and repertoire of historical bagpipes in Galicia. And his latest book is With The Violin Over The Shoulder, which tells of the history of the violin in Galicia, with an emphasis on the role of blind street fiddlers in preserving songs and tunes and playing a vital role in Galician culture over the last centuries. I had the great honor and pleasure to translate the last two books into English. Cano has been studying violin over the last few years as he researched this latest book, and I was able to bring him to Fiddle Tunes for the last two years. These were highlights for me, especially this last year, as he was able to do a book launch for the Fiddle Tunes community (thank you Peter McCracken and Sami Braman), and we, Josie, Daniel and I, along with David Romvedt, Margo Brown and Caitlin Romtvedt, along with Cano, performed some of the songs from Cano’s book to a very appreciative audience:

Daniel Steinberg:
I’m trying to think of other music you play. You want to talk about how you got into playing Basque music?

Kevin Carr:
Oh, yeah. That’s pretty cool. For along time I’d known that David Romtvedt, a dear friend we met many years ago at Fiddle Tunes, played Basque music. He had married Margo Brown, who came from a Basque family in Buffalo, Wyoming, where they continue to live. David played button accordion, so he was recruited to play for the local Basque dance troupe. As he got more into the music, at some point he decided to learn to speak Basque. So he went to study in the Basque country. Now David is an enormously gifted man. He is an amazing musician, a renowned poet, a linguist, a speaker of Spanish, French, and some German I believe. But he had a real challenge learning Basque. It is the oldest language in Europe, not related to any other. And it almost defeated him. But he kept going back over a number of years, and not only began to make progress, but befriended some of the most accomplished musicians in the Basque country.

Before one of his trips I asked him to find me an Alboka, if he could. The Alboka is a very ancient double reed instrument which is played using a technique called circular breathing. The player uses the cheeks as an air reservoir by squeezing them while breathing through the nose, which allows the production of a continuous sound. Like a bagpipe. So at Fiddle Tunes that year David handed me an Alboka. And I could immediately play it, which I think surprised him. It turns out it is fingered much like some instruments I already had – bagpipes from Greece, Turkey and Georgia, so it came naturally to me. Anyway, he immediately told me that I was now in a new band he was forming to play Basque music, and specifically to record and perform music he had worked up with his wife, Margo, and daughter Caitlin. I don’t remember if you were already involved or not. I know for many years you had been part of that late night, mighty tradition of David and his family and pals playing cumbias, party songs and some Basque tunes for a crowd of wild dancers. And I had played with you a few times. And David had arranged for the Hillbillies to play in Buffalo that one time, for his Worlds of Music series.

Daniel Steinberg:
Yeah, we’d been doing those Fiddle Tunes Party Nights for years.

Kevin Carr:
Anyway, you and I went up to Buffalo to play and practice, and we eventually recorded Hori Da and called the band Ospa, and we’ve gotten to do some super cool Basque festivals, and a couple of tours around Wyoming and it’s been a blast. I love the music. It’s like any of these musics, I would love to listen to them, but it took meeting somebody who was involved in it to provide a way in, a human, social connection. That’s why I’ve got more into French music, through my connection with you. And then more deeply into it from the Lark French musicians.

A long clip of Ospa live:

Daniel Steinberg:
Yeah, it’s true for me too. There’s lots of music that I like and don’t think about playing until there’s someone in front of me playing it. And then…

Kevin Carr:
Absolutely.

Daniel Steinberg
I might not be familiar with new genre of music, but if I hang around and make friends with someone who is, I realize I can play that and then suddenly I’m interested.

Kevin Carr:
Yes. I really owe all my interest in different aspects of world music to people I’ve met who would sort of invite me into their realms. Paul Hostetter did that for me in a huge way. I met him at Fiddle Tunes. We had kids roughly the same age, who grew up knowing each other at gatherings and festivals. And Paul and I bonded over shared love of exotic instruments, exotic cultures, music and cuisines. Only most of the info sharing went from him to me. He was a master luthier. One of my most treasured possessions is a guitar built by him. He seemed to know everyone everywhere in all genres of folk, blues, and even classical music. He was a brilliant guitar accompanist, and player of all stringed instruments. We had a very profound friendship, and since his death 7 years ago, I feel a huge gap in my life. We played together when I would visit, and did occasional gigs and dances, and actually had a band for a short while, the Party Of Seven with Robin Petrie, Paul’s soulmate partner later in life, and Shira Kammen, Barry and Shelley Phillips, and Peter Maund.

Our one concert is a favorite memory of mine. I held on by my fingertips as we played African, Cuban, Quebecois, French, Scandinavian, Blues, Chinese and Old time music. Heaven. Paul lived in Bonny Doon, in the Santa Cruz mountains, in an 1850’s farm house that he had completely rebuilt himself. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I would take musicians I met there, and often they became lifelong mutual friends. Thierry Boisvert, the French bagpipe maker, and André Marchand, the great Quebecois guitarist, were two of those. Weekends at Paul’s were paradise for me – watching Paul work in his shop, endless music talk, great meals, people coming by to visit, always fascinating artists and musicians of the highest caliber. He really did make the world a better place.