NORTHUMBRIAN MUSIC
NIGHTS
How we promoted
VILLAGE
HARMONY
VILLAGE HARMONY comes to Allendale
For a small village, it seems that Allendale gets a pretty good share of harmonious music. But on Wednesday and Thursday, the 18th and 19th of August, [Tuesday and Wednesday, 15th and 16th August 2000] there will be an abundance of harmony to share with one and all, when the acclaimed choral ensemble called 'Village Harmony' arrives in town.
Composed of some 22 teenagers mostly from New England, the ensemble is accompanied by Val Mindel, an Appalachian fiddler and teacher at the Old Town music school in Chicago, as well as by Evi Aries, guitarist with Caravanserai who lives in Scotland. This international group is led by Kate Howard, who is well known for her work with community choirs and music workshops throughout England.
Village Harmony is the young and exciting offshoot of Northern Harmony, the shape-note singing community developed in Vermont by Larry Gordon, which has toured throughout the UK for a number of years now, delivering an emotive blend of rhythmic and compelling four-part repertoire. Their songs are a blend of sacred and secular anthems, featuring striking modal melodies, contrapuntal 'fuging' sections, and horizontal counterpoint with frequent voice crossings and biting dissonances.
These teenagers are serious and passionate and are searching for music and a musical experience that is in some way transcendent. Village Harmony concerts are very different from the typical choral presentation. Wearing a variety of colourful purples and earthtones, the performers stand in a large semi-circle performing mostly from memory, making extensive eye contact with each other and the audience. Their sound is a very exciting, bright, hard-edged 'chest voice', on the invigoratingly effusive numbers, yet in the delicate pieces they summon an uncommonly pure and angelic sound from their treble voices.
On Wednesday the 18th of August, the group will be facilitating an evening workshop with exciting opportunity to blend voices old and young in St. Cuthbert's parish church, in Allendale's Market Square. After a day's respite for a brief session of sight-seeing in Tynedale, Village Harmony will present a concert at the same venue on the evening of Thursday the 19th. To make sure you get a chance to participate in either of these events, contact the promoters, Northumbrian Music Nights, at (01434) 685179 for further details.
