Month: September 2015

Your weekly listen for 9/16/15 is Kesselgarden, a fabulous Seattle-based Klezmer duo. They will be playing this coming Saturday, September 19, at Couth Buzzard Books in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood, in a double bill with a five-piece band called the Klezmer Balabustas.

Couth Buzzard is a kid-friendly venue with a listening room in back, a kids area and a coffee counter with snacks and beverages. I took my four year old to a show there a few weeks ago and it was a good experience, so I am definitely planning to bring her along to this event also!

Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe. It consists primarily of lively dance tunes and other instrumental pieces.

Carl Shutoff of Kesselgarden was kind enough to allow me to interview him about his upcoming show. He has played the clarinet since childhood and has two grown children who are also musical. Carl was a classical musician until his son’s Bar Mitzvah, when the hired band, The Mazeltones, inspired him to start playing Klezmer.

Saturday’s show at Couth Buzzard will be a lot of fun for both kids and grown-ups. Check out the video below and see for yourself!

Kesselgarden & The Klezmer Balabustas
Saturday, September 19, 7:30 pm
Couth Buzzard Books
8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 436-2960

Your weekly listen for 9/10/15 is Correo Aereo, a Seattle-based latin duo comprised of Abel Rocha and Madeleine Sosin. They play a fantastic blend of traditional Latin American music and their own original songs. Abel sings & plays harp, guitar and cuatro. Madeleine sings & plays violins, maracas, bombo and jarana.

A cuatro is a small stringed instrument similar to a guitar or lute. Since “cuatro” means “four”, a traditional cuatro has only four strings, although modern cuatros may have more. A jarana is also similar to a guitar but smaller and with eight strings, and a bombo is a small bass drum.

In the video you will see Madeleine playing maracas and Abel playing a four-stringed cuatro, accompanied by a bass player.

While most people will enjoy the upbeat and passionate feel of latin rhythms, unless you grew up listening to music like this or are a trained musician in this style, you may find it difficult to relate to the rhythmic patterns (ie, you may have a hard time “finding the beat”). One of the cool things about exposing young children to polyrhythmic music such as this is that their brains, which have twice as much connective tissue as our adult brains, are actually better equipped to interpret unfamiliar patterns of sound, so they may actually get even more out of their listening experience than you!

Even if you aren’t overly concerned about polyrhythms and brain waves, Correo Aereo (Air Mail) is an energetic, upbeat duo and a rich cultural experience. They’re playing live at the FREE SeaTac International Festival this coming Saturday, September 12 at 4pm. The festival is sure to be fun for the whole family. I plan to attend with my daughter and I hope to see you there!

SeaTac International Festival at Angle Lake Park
19408 International Blvd., SeaTac
September 12 & 13, 2015, 10 am – 8pm
Admission to the festival is free.
They also offer a children’s play area which costs $5/day and opens at 12 noon.
The festival features food, arts and crafts as well as music all day.
More details here on the SeaTac International Festival Web Site

Live at SeaTac International Festival September 12