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“We Are Proud of Our General Pleasantness”
The Sparrow Quartet Brings Blend of World Folk to Turner Hall
By Jason Corning
The second song, “Overture,” proved the perfect introduction to the quartet’s blend of hazy Appalachian folk and haunting Chinese melodies, switching between the two with surprising ease.
Every musician has a story about what inspired him or her to pick up an instrument. Some recall their early childhood of listening to a parent’s Eric Clapton records. Others speak of the great performances they’d witnessed and wished to emulate. The rest just wanted some attention from the opposite sex.
Abigail Washburn is the only person out there who will tell you about finding her urge to pick up a banjo whilst living in China. As she tells it, Washburn admired the sense of pride the Chinese showed in their cultural heritage, and decided to explore a little of her own. Thus her story begins, with Washburn picking up a claw hammer banjo and traveling the world to share her idea of folk music.
The beautiful thing about Abigail Washburn’s idea of traditional music is that it is so much more than simple Americana. As an East Asian studies major, Abigail has a deep appreciation for traditional Chinese tunes, and has successfully blended the sound of each distinct style into her own creation.
As a member of The Sparrow Quartet-a group comprised of Washburn, world-class banjoist Bela Fleck, cellist Ben Sollee, and fiddle player Casey Driessen, Abigail often ventures into relatively unexplored musical territory. On Sunday the 14th, this intriguing quartet graced the stage of Milwaukee’s Turner Hall and treated the audience to the best darn folk music this side of the Great Wall.
The mood of the evening was effectively set by simple Chinese red lanterns strung above the artists, who casually sat next to one another as if the stage was a southern porch facing the audience. The group began with the dynamic “A Fuller Wine,” which built with the intensity of a full orchestra before settling into a rolling banjo tune complimented by Abigail’s soft yet commanding voice.
The second song, “Overture,” proved the perfect introduction to the quartet’s blend of hazy Appalachian folk and haunting Chinese melodies, switching between the two with surprising ease.
The rest of the set included a majority of the Sparrow Quartet’s eponymous new album as well as traditional American and Chinese tunes including the bluesy “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” and the Chinese folk song “Tai yang Chu lai.”
Before the latter, Abigail explained that when touring Tibet (the first group to do so with the sponsorship of the State Department) the quartet learned that playing well-known folk songs was an easy way to get the audience to sing along. Apparently that idea works in the West too, because their complex version of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” raised the crowd’s considerable energy even further.
Other standouts included the joyful “Banjo Pickin’ Girl,” fiddle player Casey Driessen’s percussive rendition of the traditional “Working on a Building,” and Ben Sollee’s gorgeous solo tune “This is Only a Song.”
The crowd responded especially well to Sollee’s cleverly modest song about the use of music in the context of world issues. As he strummed his cello along to gentle vocals, the entire ballroom stood still in appreciation of genuine young talent. After receiving an enthusiastic response from the crowd, the up and coming star radiated the kind of joy that many musicians seem to lose over time.
This proved contagious, and the show ended with triumphant exuberance, and a “fiery showdown” between Bela Fleck and Casey Driessen, followed by the soulful “It Ain’t Easy,” to send everyone on their way.
All around, the audience was treated to some of the most masterful instrumentalism around, a truly contagious kind of creativity.
> Comments
zilla on Sep 23, 2008 at 10:06 AM:
Well written- wish I could have been there.