This year, Blues in the Schools will be funding a limited number of students to take their experience further through music lessons at the OFC. The lucky participants receive eight weeks of lessons from a choice batch of our finest teachers. What a wonderful association with such a great supporter of live music!

Blues in the Schools is an educational program that was created to promote, preserve, and perpetuate the art, culture, and heritage of blues music. Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest brings together blues artists/educators to Ottawa for a two-week residency in local primary, middle, and secondary schools. The program was initiated in two Ottawa-area schools in 1999 and has since seen tremendous growth. In the spring of 2008, six visiting artists/educators and 14 local musicians delivered the Blues in the Schools program to more than 7,000 students in Ottawa schools, contributing over 360 hours of in-class instruction over a two-week period.

Make sure you take a look at the lineup for Bluesfest this year. Unbelievable.

The Cuatro is a South American stringed instrument that comes from the guitar and lute family. The term "cuatro" means four in Spanish, and the earlier versions came with four sets of strings.

The 10-string cuatro "moderno" evolved from the baroque era 10-string Bandurria and Laud from Spain. It is made from a single block of wood and it has 5 pairs of steel strings. It is the most commonly used today and is used to play jibaro music, salon genres, salsa, pop, rock, classical, jazz, and even American bluegrass and many more styles.

Weeell... Some lucky fellow picked this up right at press time. If you're interested, we can order another one in for you. Give us a call.

Stef is our shipper receiver and general Mistress of Inventory.

I was thinking recently about what music isn't and remembered angering an old girlfriend many years ago with talk of cars and buses adding to the ambient soundscape of life. Glen Gould would agree. His piece, "The Idea of North" is still making people think about sound in relation to life, music and art.

Ambient soundscapes became a big part of compositions in the 20th century and continue today, although tending toward more sampled, digitized processes these days. In the old days, we'd be out with the recorders on the street, in the bars etc... recording everything that was going on and blending it with composed instrumental music. Check out Ian Tamblyn's Magnetic North, or Antarctic for great examples of this blending.

My point, at least I think it's a point, is that music is life and life is music. Don't get too hung up on seeking out the perfect performance or recording situation. The sounds of buses going by, sirens and cannons are all part of what makes our day to day experiences unique, whether we like it or not (by canons, I was thinking about a very hard to find recording of Wanda Landowska playing Bach in Paris with the sounds of bombs exploding in the distance).

Play because you need to play. Let the details of the world float around you like a river.

Alan

Born in England, Rosy has always painted. She studied Fine Art and English, and worked in graphic design for many years before immigrating to Canada in 1996. Rosy paints in oil, acrylic and watercolour, and teaches watercolour.

'Painting in any medium is for me a meditation. I love the challenge, the unique movements of the medium, the contrasts of control and unpredictability, the total focus it demands. I enjoy the tension between working within rules, and allowing intuition to speak. I work both en plein air and in the studio. I believe everything created, animate and inanimate, has an essence that uniquely defines it. Through the play of light and dark, of colours, shapes, textures, lines, the defined and the undefined, the stated and the implied I hope to capture something of that presence'.

Visit the School Downstairs!

Local harp phemon, Steve Marriner will be stopping by in- between tours to dispense his harp wisdom to the masses. Check out Steve's new album online.

This one will fill up fast!!

Oliver is a true child of the Folklore Centre. He has taken lessons at OFC over the last few years with some of the best players in Ottawa. Currently, he plays upright bass in the local band "Dry River Caravan" (check them out on YouTube). They recently made it to the second round of Folk Fest auditions but although the audience loved them, it wasn't their time this year. They play around town quite often so catch them if you can.

Oliver, this years' Terry Penner Memorial Scholarship winner, is currently working with Kurt Walther, Andy Daub on Tin Whistle, and is spending his scholarship lessons on Clawhammer banjo with Martha Cooper.

Go Oliver!

David Finkle, a local craftsman, stopped by the shop recently to play some flutes and bring us some of his wonderful instruments. The Ottawa Folklore Centre now has a small selection of his native frame drums. We've also aquired a wonderful WindPony native flute in the key of G. Come on down to the centre to find these and other handmade instruments.

Lanois' newest release was my introduction to the solo work from this prolific Canadian producer. By the end of the title track on the CD, (three songs into this soundscape-filled album) I was completely transported by Lanois' sounds! Mellow and mighty- boasting a total of 18 tracks-"Here Is What Is" combines beautiful and memorable songs with several short clips of dialogue. The spoken clips are an interesting addition, although the album might come across stronger without them. Lanois' pedal steel work is mesmerizing, drawing you into the masterful trance effect that this recording has on its listeners. The marathon of a song "Love Child" is a perfect example of this: a distant lonely piano part that warms us into the rich tones of his slide work that follows.

The songs on the album are all Lanois' own, save the traditional spiritual "May Be My Last Time." This song is one of several that has been smartly placed to add some variation and refreshment from the production of many of the album's songs. The song has a warm rhythm and blues feel. It is preceded by a short instrumental piece called "Bells of Oaxaca," a sparse and magical minute on the record. "Moondog" could be a song off of a David Bowie record, but that's the kind of variety that Lanois' production creates. "Joy" uses rich and full vocal textures for a Motown-meets- gospel-choir vibe. "Luna Samba" is a exotic percussive finale to this fine work.

This record won't disappoint. Pick up a copy at the Ottawa Folklore Centre.

Your ear on what to hear, Mer

Check out our own shipper receiver Stefani Guzman's rocking band "Eastborough", with former sales consultant Aedan Helmer. These guys will knock you out at the rainbow May 2nd w/ the Habit & Sadie Helland. Eastborough will perform "Shuffle n Slide" which features Stefani wielding a mean ukulele.

Also that night-

Friday May 2, The Murder Plans Video Release Party at the Elmdale Tavern, with special guests: "The Withering Pines". Check em out. Raw naked music and poetry.

Female Opera singer who had quite a range at the lower end of the scale...

Deep C Diva!