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Impersonations of an Ordinary Woman Impersonations of an Ordinary Woman was held at the Dalhousie Arts Centre in Halifax on March 6, 2005. Subtitled Reflections on the Life and Poetry of Elizabeth Bishop, the event was anything but ordinary. The Aeolian Singers, under the creative direction of Susan Crowe with Cathy Porter and Jacqueline Chambers, brought theatre, song, and poetry together. The result: remarkable artistic and emotional power. In Susan Crowe's words, the pieces that made up the evening were meant as invitations for each audience member to discover Elizabeth Bishop in his or her own way. "It is a collage, she wrote, " a shadow-box, in which we arranged a selection of Bishop's poems with songs and dramatic readings - the ordinary stuff of a daily life. Sometimes these things pull on each other, sometimes they push." In this third annual Women's Day fundraising performance, the 45-member Aeolian choir graciously shared the stage with performers and soloists including Martha Irving and Marcia Kash, who acted and read poems; Lisa Lindo and Cindy Church, who sang and read poems. Highlights included Irving's and Kash's portrayal of Bishop and her partner Lota in scenes drawn from Donna E. Smyth's play, Sole Survivors. The were short but evocative, and the acting strong. The joy and tragedy of the two women's lives and love were rendered tangible, as was a sense of Bishop's lifelong and complex connection to Nova Scotia and to Great Village, in particular. The large audience included a sprinkling of poets, and I think I speak for most of those when I saw we could take a lesson from the way Bishop's poems were read. Each reader's approach was distinctive, with Lisa Lindo's riveting and rolling presentation of "Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore" among the most memorable. But what struck me in every reading was the full-bodies enthusiasm with which the words and rhythms were savoured. The actor/readers didn't over-dramatize the poems, but they allowed us to see how much they loved them - something poets are sometimes embarrassed to do when reading our own words. I want to close this brief review by saying that the heart of the evening was in Bishop's own words - "The Shampoo," "At the Fishhouses, " "The Moose," and, of course, "One Art," among other poems were read. But that would be a partial truth. The heart of the evening was also in the tribute to "ordinary" local women, through the reading of two lists of names, one "In Honour" and the other "In Memoriam." And the heart of the evening was also in the music. The closing song was Susan Crowe's own composition, "When the Day is Over, " a song that asks us all what we intend to do, that urges us to discover what we must do, with our lives. The extraordinary evening left me - and many others, I know - with a deepened gratitude that Elizabeth Bishop found a way despite much pain and difficulty to do what she was given to do with hers. Reprinted with permission from The Elizabeth Bishop Bulletin, p. 8 Volume 13, Number 1, Summer, 2006  
Roots run deep with Wolfville festival
When the roots go deep, the branches spread wide. Wolfville’s second annual Deep Roots Music Festival, which ended late Sunday afternoon after three days of concerts and workshops, cultivates talent, tradition and community like no other festival in Nova Scotia. "The town of Wolfville and Acadia University are community partners with us," festival co-director Don Osburn said Saturday afternoon as the crowds began to gather in Convocation Hall for the second of three mainstage concerts. "Every one of the 34 performers here this year, every workshop, every venue has a sponsorship. Last year there was good support. This year it’s phenomenal," said Osburn, who organizes the festival with his wife Anna. The festival gives the town a free concert in gratitude. But securing sponsorships is not the end of Osburn’s inventiveness. On a practical level, his family - wife Anna, daughters Meagan and Jenny, sister-in-law Kate Adams and Brian Adams (Osburn’s bandmate in The Lustre Brothers) - all contribute sweat equity, with their Berwick Union Street Cafe cooking and serving meals for performers and volunteers. Beyond that, Acadia University president Gail Dinter-Gottlieb, intent on engaging Acadia with the community through her community-based learning initiative, has given her blessing to a series of on-campus lectures by festival performers. Last year, among other performers, guitar maker Grit Laskin lectured on acoustics in the physics department; Bill Garret, president of major folk label Borealis Records, lectured in the business school; and this year Jeff Davis lectured in the history department about collecting and archiving traditional folk songs. Folksinger/songwriter Bob Snider’s lecture last year on songwriting to English department students made such an impression they suggested he publish it. Osburn took the idea to Kentville’s Gaspereau Press, which launched a handsome edition of the new book on Saturday. "I think the concept (of Deep Roots) struck a chord because we are trying to celebrate who we are," Osburn said. Unlike Lunenburg Folk Harbour and Stan Rogers Festivals, Deep Roots concerts are mostly indoors, which proved a blessing as hurricane Ophelia threatened to kiss the coastline this weekend. On Saturday night in Convocation Hall, the performance, hosted by standup wise-crackers Gordon Stobbe and Greg Simm, who also played fiddle and guitar transitions between the end of each act and the spoken intros for the next, began with Christine Hodder’s Fiddlestickers, a group of lively young fiddlers. Dancer Danielle Leblanc brought the house down with her high-flying Sailor’s Hornpipe. Jeremiah Sparks, folksinger/songwriter Dave Gunning, singer/songwriter Susan Crowe, percussionist Cathy Porter and pianist/backup singer Lisa MacDougal, took turns in a circle of song that demonstrated in part the stylistic scope of Deep Roots. Sparks, accompanying himself on piano, sang a soul version of the jazz standard All of Me, as well as his own Gospel hit, I Believe. His voice gets richer the deeper he sings, and he has absorbed the influence of Louis Armstrong’s voice from his performances in Eastern Front Theatre’s springtime hit, Satchmo Suite. Dave Gunning pleased the crowd with his low-key manner singing Saltwater Hearts. Susan Crowe, in her amazingly sweet alto voice, tinged not so much with melancholy as compassion, sang I Fell Back Up and later the simple, bleak, She Said No. Porter and MacDougal provided just the taste of percussion and vocal harmonies to season the set. Irish folksinger Johnny Moynihan entertained with tunes in praise of strong drink, the sadness of sailors leaving loved ones ashore and comic/satirical songs touching on clocks and religion. Known as the man who introduced the bouzouki to folk music, Moynihan, unaccountably, appeared without it. Bob Snider, a Deep Roots favourite with his ironic style, witty lyrics, simple guitar accompaniments and winning enthusiasm, brought the first half to a close. After intermission the Elastic Millennium Choir, following a couple of false starts, sang their way harmoniously through a half-dozen shape-note songs, mainly from the Sacred Harp Collection. The Marigolds, with seasoned singers Caitlin Hanford, Gwen Swick and Suzie Vinnick, followed with thoughtful, creative arrangements and sweetly tuned harmonies of a range of songs ranging from folk to country and bluegrass. The show ended with an extremely fine set by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason brilliantly performed and sung fiddle tunes, originals, and covers of Bob Wells western swing classics. spedersen Copyright © 2005 The Halifax Herald Limited
Crowe draws audience near with intimate, soulful songs
Susan Crowe’s fans don’t just admire her low voice, her striking turns of phrase, and her melodic subtleties. They are also affectionate. It isn’t only that they love her. It’s that they all, to a woman or a man, think on her kindly. She has a sense of their feeling though her fear of puffing herself up would make it difficult for her to admit it. But it’s probably what she means when she writes about Love’s Pure Gold. It’s a rare kind of concert Crowe gives. She’s not at all about show biz. But she cares deeply for her poetry, deeply enough to present it simply and well. She doesn’t think she’s much of a singer. But the way she sings could not be better suited to the style and import of her lyrics. They cry out to be sung, with their patterns of repetition and their verbal elegance. But they don’t want to be driven. They just want to be. Friday night in Neptune Studio Theatre, Crowe sang all but one of the songs on her fourth, latest and Juno-nominated CD, Book Of Days. It only took her one song, Dreamless, at the top of the show, to create the ambience of intimacy in which her songs glow. Warm lighting, an attractive, symmetrical grouping of instruments and players, and a sound mix at the hands of sound-wizard David Hillier that was perfectly attuned to the low resonance of her voice combined to give maximum play to Crowe’s philosophical approach to song-writing. Though big, the band played lightly – the pure gold of Jamie Robinson’s guitar, the subtle percussion colour of Don Chapman, the rock-like foundation of Ed Woodsworth on bass, pianist Kim Dunn’s lightly sketched lines and rhythmic chords and John Reischman streaking the mix with the pungent light of his mandolin. Crowe up front on a high stool with her own guitar, which she plays well though labours at tuning it, and next to her the final touch, and one of the prettiest, the honey gold of Cindy Church’s back up vocals. Crowe does not write messages into her songs. But she has a knack of asking questions like “ this is your one and only life – what will you do?” And can anything better express the anguish of a broken relationship than; “I asked her ‘Do you remember when you held me close?’ She said ‘No’.” It is little wonder the show ended in a standing ovation for Crowe and her band.
The Stan Rogers Folk Festival, July 4th-6th, 2003
Readers of ’Acoustic Corner’ will be well aware of the music of both (Laura) Smith and (Cindy) Church, but it was Crowe, making her 2nd appearance at the Festival, who will have opened eyes among those who may not be familiar with her work. Head of the small independent label Corvus Records in Vancouver, Crowe will be releasing her 4th cd in a couple of months. This singer/songwriter continues to impress. Each did separate sets, but it was when the trio performed together that their collective talent truly made itself evident. Three writers of beautiful tunes, beautiful harmony vocals and tasty guitar brought things together rather nicely.
At the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Sunday, November 17th, 1996
At a time when it seems any musician who can wield an axe beleives that he or she can hack out a ditty worth listening to, it’s a relief to be reminded by someone like Susan Crowe that there are songwriters out there who take their audience as seriously as their art. Crowe is ambivalent about performing. “I’m shy--I’m very shy--a most unlikely person to be sitting here,” she confided. The folk-rock-flavoured compositions Crowe presented from her recently released second album The Door to the River, ought to inspire confidence. With lyrics that have been honed down to a suggestive essence, she has the true writer’s ability to go so deeply into her particular experience that, paradoxically, she emerges with something that is universal and accessible. Crowe’s songs, and her voice, are filled with emotional resonance --above all, with an abiding sense of loss and gentle melancholy. But the sadness is tempered by an appreciation of beauty, and the feelings are never self-indulgent or gushing. In “Where Our Currents Cross” she sings: “there are things here we will not reclaim / And the sand inside these bones/ shifts me slightly / To the place where I’m alone / But this is how I try to get back home.” And Crowe knows how to sustain a metaphor and draw out its symbolic value to the full. “I Stole Into A Garden” with it’s image of a sleeping snake curled up inside a blood-red rose, has the subtlety and simplicity worthy of William Blake. The pleasure and interest of the evening was not restricted to lyrics. Crowe, who played acoustic guitar throughout, was backed up with great sensitivity by a trio of Andreas Schuld on electric guitar, John Reischman on mandolin, and Brent Gubbels on bass. Koralee Tonack, who provided additional vocals, also gave a moving rendition of Crowe’s “Come With Me”--apparently written for a dying friend. For her encore performance of “In Your Loveliness”, Crowe was assisted by Roy Forbes. “It’s like being queen for a day” she quipped. Then, never one to miss an opportunity for a self-deprecating remark, she added: “But this queen was vacuuming at four o’clock.” Reischman and veteran Seattle guitarist John Miller had earlier delivered an excellent opening set of instrumentals. They began with two jaunty Brazilian Choros, one of them written by Reischman himself, and followed with a series of Miller’s compositions with a Latin-swing flavour. All were melodic gems, and all were impeccably interpreted by two of the Northwest’s finest musicians.
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bookings: susan@susancrowe.com
Festival Distribution | Susan uses Elixir Strings. |
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