Marc Gunn

Our Free MP3 Download for Today: String Theory

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Ideas!

I was eating dinner while looking at my site. I know, it isn’t a good habit to have your laptop on your dining table along with your food. I know I am already risking something by telling you about my personal habits. Anyway, I kept looking, chewing and thinking. I was asking myself, what people could possibly want from my site apart from getting the music news. I know that bands will peek every now and then to see if I have written something about them. I know that fans will check to see if I have written something about their favorite bands. Yes there are videos, but these videos are only appealing as far as the musical preferences of my viewers permit. I have interviews scheduled as a weekly thing. My reason for this is to give bands and musicians the opportunity to have more exposure. I do have pending interviews but I need to stick to my schedule to provide everyone the same opportunity.

I am sure you don’t come to this site for the following reasons:

  1. The weather forecast
  2.  Fashion trends
  3. Health tips
  4. Romance counseling
  5. Stock market reports
  6. Tips on how to get even with your neighbor who plays the same annoying album over and over again.
  7. Self defense advice
  8. Recipes. Hmmm…No.

Something occurred to me. People like to visit websites not just for information, but they do appreciate being offered freebies too. It’s nice to be able to have visitors leave my site with something they can keep. I think digital downloads are a gift that is always appreciated. I will have to ask the bands I have already interviewed to see if I can do this as a part of a weekly freebee give away. I can’t commit to doing daily updates since I am working on this alone and committing myself to something that might be too hard to carry out might tarnish my reputation in the blogosphere. I think that this download offer will work. A weekly free mp3 (I don’t know how many I can give away) is what I will be offering you.

This idea isn’t new. Marc Gunn has been doing this way before I launched this site. But you, my readers, are important to me and I think you should have something you can keep with you when you come and visit this site. In return, I would like to ask from you to share the word about the bands you download especially if you like their music. Please spread the word about this website too, so that it will get more traffic. The more traffic it gets, the more we can help expose our favorite musicians. So what do you think? It’s fun to share together!

My choice this week is Mike Vass whom I had the honor of featuring before. This track is taken from his album String Theory.

Scottish Musician and Composer:
http://www.mikevass.com

Biography

 

Winner of the inaugural Neil Gow International Composition Award, Mike Vass is fast gaining a reputation as one of Scotland’s foremost tunesmiths. His compositions frequently appear in the recordings and performances of some of the UK’s top name acts; most notably luminaries such as Brian Finnegan, Corrina Hewat, and Mairearad Green.

Mike is regarded as one of Scotland’s finest fiddle players, in great demand as a performer, composer and teacher. He has toured extensively in the past few years with leading Scots Song band Malinky, in a duo with twin sister Ali, and with International super group Fiddle Rendezvous, featuring Bruce Molsky, Maryann Kennedy and Gerry O’Connor.

Mike’s New Voices Commission ‘String Theory’ debuted at Celtic Connections in 2010, and was described as ‘the most direct and honest since the idea was first conceived … precision, subtlety and attention to detail’. One of the highlights, the avant-garde piece ‘Man’s Search’ inspired by Viktor Frankl’s best-selling book, was described as ‘utterly compelling’ and ‘one epoch-making composition’. ‘Man’s Search’ was subsequently featured by the Victor Frankl Institute in Austria to commemorate Frankl’s birthday.

Mike was nominated as ‘Best Up and Coming Act’ in the 2007 Scots Trad Music Awards, along with pianist/singer twin sister Ali, and won ‘Best Folk Band’ with Malinky in 2010. A runner-up in the 2007 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition, Mike was subsequently invited to tour with the 2008 finalists as an accompanist. Although barely 5 years into his career, Mike has already featured on more than a dozen recordings, including Volume 1 of The Complete Songs of Robert Tannahill, produced by Dr Fred Freeman, and Malinky’s acclaimed fourth album Flower and Iron.

Shelta

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What’s Up with Shelta?

Shelta is a language spoken by the Irish travelers -also  known as Irish gypsies. It is also a name of  a Celtic band based in Rhône-Alpes. Ten years and still going strong, they have played gigs all over Europe. Their next gig is on Friday, June 22 at 9:00 PM. The place is La Lune Rousse. You can see the full tour schedule in this page. 

Shelta are:

Tania Buisse: bodhran
Romain Chéré: wooden flute, whistles, banjo
John Delorme: violin
Fabien Guiloineau: guitar
Guy Vesvre: accordion

 

here is the band website

http://shelta.legroupe.free.fr/

Listen to clips and buy the album here: http://shelta.legroupe.free.fr/musique.htm

Also, add them in facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shelta/125419444161088?ref=ts

Thanks to Jimmy for providing the fb link.

—

I am in the process of doing an interview with world renowned Canadian piper   Peter Purvis of Gaelic Storm. If you remember they first appeared in the movie Titanic.  You can check out his bio here: http://www.peterpurvis.com/

Thanks to Tim for giving me the link to http://planetpipe.com/wp/ which got me started.

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Want to know what Marc Gunn is playing? Marc is the voice of the indie Celtic music. Listen and download the podcast here:

Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #123

Marc Gunn’s Music Revolution

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It’s a breeze for big record labels to push songs up the charts. They just open up their pocket books and wave a wad of cash around. Boom! They own the Celtic Top 10.

If you listen to the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, you know that it’s not that big labels have better music, it’s that they have more money and expertise to promote the music they own. That is not the case for the indie Celtic musician… all we have is YOU!-Marc Gunn

I like Marc Gunn’s idea of breaking down the walls of major record labels. For musicians out there who might be having cold feet, this is the time to stop the hesitation and I’d say go for whatever musical ideas you have. Don’t be afraid to form a band or play solo, don’t be afraid to record and MOST of all don’t be shy to spread your music.

Talent is one thing but confidence is another. If we read the bios of famous bands or singers, we learned that they started like everyone else. They aren’t gods. U2 did not become U2 over night. So let us all start a music revolution and start recording whatever you got there. So get up, get on and get everyone involved. If you are a blogger and you are reading this, I hope this will help you start a chain of events in your community by helping out artists that you think deserve such attention.

Check this link out to learn about Marc Gunn’s Top of the Charts.

http://www.celticmusicpodcast.com/topthecharts/

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Stetrice are a band from Nantes and they are making waves in the local scene right now. Time for giving these fellas a much wider audience.

www.stetrice.com.

If you have bands you want me to feature just email me and I will check them out.

World Charts

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This ‘video’ of ours on You Tube has had nearly 10,000 views. That’s pretty amazing, I think. The track is the opening number on Jiggery Pokery (on CDBaby) and also the first track on our first ever album. I like some of the comments.
http://youtu.be/n8KDKqpphQo–Jeremy Poitin

World Charts everyone? Jeremy posted this update. Looking at the list of artists I am embarrassed to admit I still need to expand my knowledge. I am proud to see two friends : Poitin and Marc Gunn(also of Brobdingnagian Bards).  For those who are expanding their knowledge of Celtic music in the world, you better check this out: http://www.soundclick.com/genres/charts.cfm?genre=World&subgenreID=155&currentpage=1

Here’s one for traditional Irish: http://www.soundclick.com/genres/charts.cfm?Genre=World&SubgenreID=159

Thanks Jeremy for the links. It was fun posting on your forum 🙂

Autoharp 101 Interview with Marc Gunn

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Marc Gunn. Celtic Folk Musician (& Cat Lover!)

Answers from the Godfather.

I have been a Marc Gunn newsletter subscriber for as long as I started blogging.  He writes, performs and at the same time reviews Celtic music. One day I had this idea to drop these questions and see what comes out of them.  Read below:

1. How did you learn to play the autoharp?

It was 1997. My band, Breastfed, just broke up. I was playing mostly
punk, alternative, and grunge music. My songwriting was really bad.
I wanted to write better songs with more compelling melodies and
lyrics. However, I was limited by being a bad guitarist. I couldn’t
focus on good melodies when I had to focus on creating the right
chord. So I picked up the autoharp.

I took one of my dad’s autoharps to college with me. When the band
broke up, I picked up an autoharp songbook and started strumming. I
played these strums over and over again. When I felt I knew the strum,
I created my own patterns and I wrote a song.

Every morning as I walked to the Texas Department of Health, where I
worked, I had finger picks on and practiced strum patterns. Then I
went home and practiced them with the autoharp and wrote another song.
It worked great for me.

> 2. It looks like a complicated instrument but can you give us a closer look at the instrument? What are the things you learned about it and how do you start learning it?

I love the autoharp because it has a short learning curve. You can
start playing the instrument quickly. To play well… that takes a
bit more time.

It has five octaves. That’s amazing for most folk instruments.
However, it is limited by only 15-21 chord bars. That means if you
wanna play a diminished 6th, you can’t UNLESS you replace a chord bar.

My 21-chord autoharps include most of the major, minor and 7th chords.
When you learn to change chords quickly, you can play melodies on the
autoharp fairly easy. It takes time though.

I play with a lot of flourishes. My fingers dance on the strings.
That makes it look more complicated than it is. However, most
everything I learned about the instrument came from that Mel Bay
autoharp book. With time, you learn to hit the right string in a
chord while your fingers dance around the strings. It just takes
time.

But at the basic level, just press a button and strum.

> 3.Who are your vocal influences?

Elvis Presley was my first vocal influence… Well, actually probably
my dad. He was always good with voices. I can sing with my voice or
an accent imitating someone else. When I started playing Celtic
music, I listened to an old cassette of Irish drinking songs. The
singers were very nasally. So I started singing with a nasal sound.
Christy Moore was part of that early education as were The Balladeers
and The Dubliners.

My last band broke up in 2008. After that, I really started singing
with my own voice.

> 4. How many albums ave you released so far?

Ummmmmm…. A lot! My label, Mage Records, has well-over forty albums
to my various names, personae and bands. My old band, the
Brobdingnagian Bards, released 12 official albums. I have 14 that are
currently out. My latest is “Don’t Go Drinking With Hobbits”. It an
album hobbit drinking songs.

My success has largely been based on releasing a lot of music. I give
away a ton of music, for free in fact (see
http://www.marcgunn.com/folk_music/ ). I want people to hear my music
more than anything. Since I started doing that in 2000, I’ve given
away literally millions of MP3s. It’s pretty incredible.

> 5. You are an amazing media guy when it comes to spreading Celtic music awareness…can you share with us the tricks in keeping everything together?

LOL. Oy. I’m not sure. It’s never been easy. Google Alert is pretty
cool for that. For a while, I spent 60-80 hours per week doing all
aspects of my music business. I’m married with a baby now. So I
can’t do that any more.

Now days, I try to get as much help as I can. My Celtic Music
Magazine and Irish & Celtic Music Podcast are invaluable tools for
promoting Celtic music. Most Celtic bands come to me. I get press
releases and emails. The toughest part is organizing that information
so I can share it. I have a bunch of notetab files for that purpose.
Sometimes I remember.

> 6. What advice can you give me about maintaining my blog?

Blog often. Keep at it. Email any band you feature in it to let them
know they are featured. Ask them to post a link to your blog. Read
Problogger. (http://www.problogger.net ). I’m not sure blogging for
profit is possible in Celtic music… or least not much profit. But
it has some great advice for building a reader fan base.

Slainte!
Marc Gunn

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Cunla Band,It gets better and better!

Check this band out. I think they are awesome. Thanks to my friend Jimmy for posting these guys.

Cunla band plays traditional and contemporary Irish music, with a little pinch
of world music. Cunla are:

Ella Jackson Shlomi – vocals, Bodhran.
Elad Yifrah – flute, tin-whistle, accordion.
Oded Navon – guitar.
Ofer Groman – vocals, bodhran, uilleann pipes, tin-whistle.

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