We are a student association of undergraduate students who are either majors, minors or simply interested in the Department of Folklore & Ethnomusicology at Indiana University – Bloomington. We meet monthly, cultivate community, and hold events to spread the fever of Folk & Ethno at IU and within the city of Bloomington, Indiana.
I would like to let the FESA community know about a concert of interest coming up this Wednesday night. The Canadian band Vishten, favorites at the 2009 Lotus Festival, will give a house concert Wednesday night at 7:30 while they are in town playing for school children under the auspices of the Lotus Festival’s “Lotus Blossoms” program.
Is it possible for an email about this to be sent to the members of FESA? If so, can you help me to do that? I am not a student, but am a prominent member of the local traditional music community.
Below I will paste in the email that I have sent out already to my personal contacts. If this would be suitable for you to send out to FESA members, please feel free to do so, or instruct me on how I may do so.
Many thanks!
Grey Larsen
============
News Flash!
Wednesday, March 10
A Rare Opportunity to Hear Vishtèn
in an Acoustic House Concert Setting
in Bloomington, IN
WHEN: This Wednesday, March 10th, 7:30 pm.
WHERE: About 9 miles east of downtown Bloomington, Indiana, at the beautiful home of Wendy Corning and Denny Clerkin, 610 Brummetts Creek Rd. Bloomington, IN. (See driving directions below.)
PRICE: $15 suggested donation
RESERVATIONS: Please make your reservations by emailing Grey Larsen at grey@greylarsen.com.
We expect this show to sell out, so if you want to be sure to have a seat, reserve it by email to avoid being turned away. NOTE: People with reservations must be present by 7:15 to assure that their seat will not be given away to anyone who may not have made reservations.
Consider bringing a food or drink item to share with others at the concert.
Carpooling is encouraged! Parking is limited.
On September 26th, Vishtèn played, danced and sang to hundreds of thrilled listeners in Bloomington’s Buskirk-Chumley Theater during the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. From March 8-11 they will be playing for hundreds of area children as part of Lotus Blossoms, the Lotus Festival’s annual outreach to the schools.
Vishtèn is one of the most powerful and exciting traditional bands performing today, bar none. All four are great singers, and their quartet singing is very powerful. Twin sisters Emmanuelle and Pastelle LeBlanc are virtuoso step-dancers. They, along with bandmates Pascal Miousse and Louis-Charles Vigneau, are masters of fiddle, accordion, guitar, piano, bodhrán (Irish drum), tin whistle, mandolin, tenor banjo and propulsive French-Canadian foot percussion. Their arrangements are extremely well-crafted, and their passionate devotion to the Acadian heritage of their native Prince Edward Island and Magdalen Islands is infectious.
To listen to Vishtèn, go to: http://www.vishten.net/en/music.htm
To watch videos of Vishtèn in performance, go to: http://www.vishten.net/en/gallery.htm
Driving directions:
(Please note that the final details are not quite right on Mapquest or Google Maps)
From Bloomington:
- Go east on 3rd street.
- When 3rd becomes Hwy 46 (around Brewster’s Ice Cream shop) drive approximately 5 miles further east on Hwy 46.
- Turn LEFT onto Brummetts Creek Rd.
- Drive approximately 1/4 mile on Brummets Creek until you see a row of three mailboxes on your left.
- At these mailboxes, turn RIGHT up a gravel road.
- Follow gravel road around to left, across lake dam. Then the road bends to the right along the west side of lake. Wendy and Denny’s house is at the end of the gravel road on north end of lake.
Call 323-0999 if you get lost!
From Nashville (IN):
- Go west on Hwy 46.
- Proceed about 10 miles.
- Turn RIGHT only Brummetts Creek Rd.
- Drive approximately 1/4 mile on Brummets Creek until you see a row of three mailboxes on your left.
- At these mailboxes, turn RIGHT up a gravel road.
- Follow gravel road around to left, across lake dam. Then the road bends to the right along the west side of lake. Wendy and Denny’s house is at the end of the gravel road on north end of lake.
Call 323-0999 if you get lost!
If you can’t make it to this house concert, Vishtèn will be performing in Indiana on March 12 and 13:
Friday, March 12: Portland, IN (northeast Indiana), Arts Place, 7:30 pm. See http://www.artsland.org/
Saturday, March 13: New Albany IN (near Lousiville), Indiana University Southeast at the Paul W. Ogle Cultural & Community Center. See http://oglecenter.ius.edu/
What the press are saying…
“Acadian and Celtic roots, new spirit, foot percussion that is almost rock, drives this Acadian
band from two sister islands; Prince Edward Island and the Magdelen Islands. These young Francophone musicians have impregnated their traditional repertoire of all the richness of their heritage that distinguishes the character of the East Coast on this continent.”
~ Alain Brunet, la presse, Montréal
“The burning fires of Acadia.”
~ le télégramme, lorient, France
“The Acadian band that mixes rhythms or irresistible dancing and
climbing notes and voices to the sky… High voltage musicians”
~ le guéret, France
“It’s like Buckwheat Zydeco meets the Irish. The first time I saw them, I loved them!”
~ Pittsburg Irish Festival