WELCOME AND SUMMARY
Welcome to the new edition of this communication and outreach initiative of the EFN. Feel free to forward it to your friends and colleagues. Receiving this newsletter is open to anyone for free, here. Read to the end to find out how to submit content for future editions.
This is what you'll find below:
🔸News from the EFN: update about the European Folk Day - it's not too late to participate - and reminder about the annual meeting 🔹EFN welcomes new members & News from our members: it seems that this year August has been a real holiday month! We look forward to September to share more new member additions and news 🔹Our next featured member is Çiğdem Aslan 🔸Our next featured artist is the Faroese singer and composer Eivør 🔹Special content: Dementia Friendly Folk Music Concert, by Juliette and Nicky, from Malena Persson, Communications Manager of Live Music Now Scotland
✍️ Do you want to participate? At the end of the newsletter you will find how you can contribute to future editions, whether you are an EFN member or not. |
And of course EFN is always looking for new members and at the end of this newsletter there is a note about how and why to join, with links to the membership pages of the website and the application form.
Thanks for your attention, have a fruitful reading and, please, forward this to any person who could be interested!
News from EFN
🎶You can listen to the playlist with the pieces from the Music Repository while you read this newsletter. It is available here. 🎧
IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO PARTICIPATE!
Updates about the European Folk Day*
By the editors
There are currently 71 events registered on the website of the European Folk Day. From Madeira to Helsinki to Istanbul (and even some European folk fans in New Zealand!). Day by day new initiatives join the concept. And... do you know what? There are lots more events to come. So it is not too late for you to participate. How?
The European Folk Day (on & around 23 September 2023) is by you for you, by us, for us, for everyone…
For any questions, contact us as needed, at these email addresses:
For general and administrative information: info@europeanfolkday.eu
For questions about participation: participate@europeanfolkday.eu
For media enquiries: media@europeanfolkday.eu
* Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union and therefore the European Union cannot be held responsible for them.
EFN CONFERENCE 2023, REMINDER
Registration is open for the EFN Conference 19 & 20 October in Manchester, England in partnership with English Folk Expo (EFEx). All the necessary information including an outline of the programme, links to EFEx and a recommended hotel list is on the EFN website Conference page
Registration for everyone (EFN members and non-members) is via the
Register now - it's going to be great!
Featured Member: Çiğdem Aslan
We took this picture (by Tahir Palali) from her Facebook profile.
When she became a member in 2019 this is how she presented herself:
"I am an Istanbul-born singer, singing Rebetiko/ Smyrneiko and folk songs in different languages and various cultures that has traces both in my personality and in the city I was born in; including Alevi, Kurdish, Gypsy, Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkan cultures. I am based in London and have released two solo Rebetiko/Smyrneiko albums and recorded albums with She’koyokh. I also recorded with artists like Tahir Palali, Boo Scher, Helo Skinny as a guest singer."
And about what they can give to the European Folk Network as a member and what they thought that would be the benefits of membership, they explained that:
"I believe that having a network for folk musicians in Europe is a strengthening move for everybody involved in this industry. Having read the ‘The vision, purpose and aims of EFN’ I would like to be part of this collective impact."
Learn more about Çiğdem on her website.
Apart from the music styles mentioned above, in the last times Çiğdem is also working on Sevdalinka. Here you are an example:
Remember: the Featured Artist section is open to the contributions of the members of the EFN. If you want to talk about someone contact efneditors@gmail.com. |
Featured Artist: Eivør Pálsdóttir By Araceli Tzigane
She is possibly the most famous artist in current times, and the most commercial, to have passed through this newsletter so far.
According to Discogs, Eivør Pálsdóttir, artistically known just as Eivør, is a Faeroese singer and songwriter, born 21 July 1983 in Syðrugøta, Faroe Islands. Many of her songs are in Faroese, some are in Icelandic and the most recent are mostly in English.
The portrait is from Wikimedia Commons, by GsusLove.
In 2021 she was awarded with the Nordic Council Music Prize with this rationale: "Deeply rooted in the traditional music of her homeland, Eivør has established herself on the international stage as a leading musical artist with an impressive vocal and expressive range. Regardless of trends, she has always found convincing ways of renewing a traditional musical expression with artistic integrity.
Eivør has crafted a unique career since she stepped, almost fully formed, into the music scene in her native country, the Faroe Islands.[...] She released her first eponymous album in 2000, a folk/jazz-tinged affair but has tackled a variety of styles since then, touching on noise-rock, country, experimental, classical music and all out pop-diva material. All of these endeavours have been infused with remarkable artistry and integrity.
Eivør’s tireless work-ethic over the past years has cast a spotlight on her home country and she meticulosity works with her musical heritage and native language. [...]". From Norden.org.
In this video, Eivør performs her own song "Tròdlabùndin" on the mountain farm Stigen in Aurland, 10.08.13. Stigen Farm is a UNESCO World Heritage Site from 2005, and it is located by the Aurlandsfjord. The first time I saw this video it was when a musician from Istanbul, Ali Doğan Gönültaş, told me about her. I have discovered the she became very famous in Turkey in 2020, when she was the cover of the Turkey's biggest digital music magazine, ÖMC Dergi. Here you can read an interview with here in that magazine.
According to the website of the record label Tutl, "from the age of fifteen she decided to dedicate her life entirely to music, and her roots in these remote and astonishingly beautiful islands have been the source of her musical inspiration ever since. While this powerful love of Faroese culture remains at the heart of her work, it has been widened through profound contact with other North Atlantic traditions – she spent some time in Iceland and was named Icelandic Female Singer of the Year in 2003. [...] Eivør is now based in Denmark."
This is a more recent performance, in which Eivør plays the main theme of the TV series The Last Kingdom.
Special content: Dementia Friendly Folk Music Concert,Juliette and Nicky at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall By Malena Persson, Communications Manager of Live Music Now Scotland
Music is a powerful tool that can often kick-start the brain and unlock memories, and it’s increasingly becoming a key feature of dementia care. Live Music Now Scotland provides specially tailored dementia friendly performances by trained musicians in concert halls, galleries and theatres across Scotland. It has been shown that participating in arts activities is extremely beneficial for older people with dementia, improving such things as communication, memory, enjoyment of life and creative thinking. Recent research featured in the 2018 Cochrane Review and by the Music Health Foundation acknowledges the value for people taking part in arts programmes. Join us for this free accessible performance at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, designed especially for audiences living with dementia. Contemporary folk duo Juliette Lemoine and Nicky Murray from Live Music Now Scotland warm hearts with their fresh take on a mix of old classics, country-folk, and original songs. Thursday 21 September 2023, 2.00PM - 3.30PM. Strathclyde Suite. Free - ticket required, book it here.
Watch them here, performing the piece Come on in my Kitchen:
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS NEWSLETTER Are you already a member? Then, remember that you can submit contents for this monthly newsletter. Email your content to efneditors@gmail.com, for these sections:
· News from EFN Members. Brief announcements – of around 100 words and a link.
· Featured artist. A profile with around 200 words, an embedded video and one link. Members are invited to submit profiles, considering solo and ensemble living or not living artists who have achieved lifelong artistic and technical quality or historical significance in the field of folk art from or developed in or settled in Europe. If you have any artists in mind that you'd like to feature, please ask in advance, just to be sure there is no other member already doing it.
And whether you are a member or not, you can participate in this section:
· Special sections. For instance, an interview with someone from an institution that is not a member or a thematic article by a guest writer or anything that can appear and be considered as interesting. This section can also host guest writers that are not members. If you'd like to share any content, contact us in advance to schedule it by emailing efneditors@gmail.com
Of course, self promotional articles lacking interest won't be accepted. In case of doubt, the EFN board will be consulted and will decide.
BECOMING A MEMBER? EFN membership is growing rapidly – why not join the network of traditional arts organisers and artists that stretches across Europe from the Irish Sea to the Baltic, the Mediterranean to the Black Sea? Find out more about membership and download an application form from www.europeanfolknetwork.com/membership.
DO YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THE EFN MORE? The EFN welcomes donations. We do a lot with little money. Imagine what we can do with a little more :) Let us know how much do you want to donate and we'll issue an invoice for your organization.