Welcome to another edition
of Sunday Music on Robert Frost’s Banjo.
The featured artist for
Sundays in March is the Montreal-based ensemble Esmerine. Esmerine has been described as a “chamber rock”
group, but whatever term or terms we choose to describe their sound, to my ear
it’s unique & exquisitely beautiful. The combination of cello & marimba
(& bowed marimba at that!) is just wonderful, & Esmerine brings other
instruments to their mix as well, while eschewing the guitar sound—which even
(or especially?) as a guitarist myself, I find refreshing.
Esmerine formed in 2000 as
the duo of percussionist Bruce Cawdron and cellist Rebecca Foon. The ensemble’s
current line-up is Bruce Cawdron, Rebecca Foon, Jamie Thompson, & Brian
Sanderson, while past members include Sarah Pagé & Andrew Barr. The groups
members are associated with other Montreal-based acts such as Godspeed You!
Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band,
Saltland, Fifths of Seven and Mile-End Ladies' String Auxiliary. They’ve released five albums, &
I’d encourage you to support these fine musicians by purchasing their music.
Histories Repeating as
1000 Hearts Mend is included on their 2005 Madrona release, Aurora.
Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:
Esmerine, 19 June 2014
Photo by Rfphotos who make
the image available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unportedlicense.
Wow! This is very interesting indeed. There's something very Arvo Pärt-ish about this music, and I can see why you were attracted to it. It looks like March is going to be a very interesting month on Robert Frost's Banjo!
ReplyDeleteLet's just say very interesting that you mention Part in connection with Esmerine! More shall be revealed : ) In the meantime: glad you liked it!
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