Saturday Morning with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday February 4, 2017

Saturday Morning is an eclectic roots-oriented program on CKCU in Ottawa heard live on Saturday mornings from 7 until 10 am (Eastern time) and then available for on-demand streaming. I am one of the four rotating hosts of Saturday Morning and base my programming on the Folk Roots/Folk Branches format I developed at CKUT in Montreal.

CKCU can be heard at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and http://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

This episode of Saturday Morning can be streamed on-demand at http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/128/30927.html.

Corin Raymond- There will Always be a Small Time

There will Always be a Small Time (Corin Raymond)

Eva Cassidy- Early Morning Rain

Imagine (Blix Street)

Doug McArthur- The Morning I Left Galway

Tears Like Rain (Doug McArthur)

Lynn Miles- Drunks and Fools

Black Flowers Vol. 3 (Lynn Miles)

Moore & McGregor- Don’t Let Us Get Sick

Dream with Me (Ivernia)

Jack Williams- Sing-Song World

Far Away, Long Ago (Wind River)

Missin' Cousins- I Ain’t Got No Home/Old Man Trump (Missin’ Cousins)

Tim Grimm- Woody’s Landlord (Tim Grimm)

Paul Siebel- The Ballad of Honest Sam

Woodsmoke and Oranges (Elektra)

Tom Russell- Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall

Wounded Heart of America (HighTone)

Tom Paxton- Silent Night

New Songs for Old Friends (Reprise)

Maria Dunn- I Cannot Tell You

Piece By Piece (Distant Whisper)

Guy Clark- Immigrant Eyes

Old Friends (Sugar Hill)

Martha Trachtenberg w/Dede Wyland- Ticket Back

It’s About Time (Mom and Pop)

Sharon Goldman- Pillar of Salt

Kol Isha/A Woman’s Voice (Sharon Goldman)

The Klezmatics- Apikorsim (Heretics)

Apikorsim/Heretics (World Village)

The rest of the show was a celebration of the songs and musical influence of Mississippi John Hurt (circa 1892-1966), one of the greatest and most influential of the blues and folk songsters.

Michael Jerome Browne- Sliding Delta

Sliding Delta (Borealis)

Jackson Delta- Ain’t No Tellin’

Jackson Delta Live (Jackson Delta)

Bruce Cockburn- Avalon, My Home Town

Avalon Blues: A Tribute to the Music of Mississippi John Hurt (Vanguard)

Bill Bourne- Uncle John’s Gospel

Farmer, Philanthropist & Musician (Blue Streak)

Mississippi John Hurt- Corrinna, Corrinna

Today (Vanguard)

Tom Paxton, Anne Hills & Bob Gibson- Did You Hear John Hurt?

Best of Friends (Appleseed)

Adam Karch- Louis Collins

Moving Forward (Bros)

Dave Van Ronk- Spike Driver Blues

Live in Monterey (Omnivore)

Rosalie Sorrels- I’m Satisfied

Miscellaneous Abstract Record No. 1 (Green Linnet)

Martin Grosswendt- Pay Day

Pay Day! (Martin Grosswendt)

Mississippi John Hurt- Talking Casey

Today (Vanguard)

Rory Block- Everybody Loves John

Avalon: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt (Stony Plain)

Bill Morrissey- If You Don’t Want Me

Songs of Mississippi John Hurt (Philo)

Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur- C-H-I-C-K-E-N

Penny’s Farm (Kingswood)

Maria Muldaur- Richland Woman Blues

Richland Woman Blues (Stony Plain)

Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur- Frankie

Penny’s Farm (Kingswood)

Mississippi John Hurt- Coffee Blues

Today (Vanguard)

Peter Keane- Poor Jessie

Walkin’ Around (Flying Fish)

Manitoba Hal Brolund- Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me

Flirting with Mermaids (Hal’s Kitchen)

Tim Williams- Pallet on the Floor

Evenings Among Friends (Cayuse)

David Essig- Candy Man

Redbird Country & High Ground (Appaloosa)

Mississippi John Hurt- Keep On Knocking

The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt (Vanguard)

Rory Block- Stagolee

Avalon: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt (Stony Plain)

Eve Goldberg- My Creole Belle

Ever Brightening Day (Sweet Patootie)

Happy & Artie Traum- Mississippi John

Hard Times in the Country (Rounder)

I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning next on March 4. I’ll also be co-hosting Canadian Spaces next with Chris White on March 25 (10 am-noon).

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Canadian Spaces – CKCU – Saturday January 28, 2017

CKCU can be heard at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and http://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web. This particular show is now available for on-demand listening. http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/129/30824.html

Canadian Spaces on CKCU in Ottawa is Canada’s longest-running folk music radio program. It is heard Saturday mornings from 10:00 am until noon (Eastern time).

It was hosted for more than 33 years by the late Chopper McKinnon and is now hosted by Chris White and a rotating cast of co-hosts.

This week’s show was co-hosted by Mike Regenstreif and Chris White.

Guests: Greg Kelly; Jamie Anderson; Shirt Tearing Boys

Moore & McGregor- The McGregors/Donald Angus Beaton’s Trip to Toronto

Dream with Me (Ivernia)

April Verch- That’s How We Run

The April Verch Anthology (Slab Town)

The Bombadils- Train in the Night

New Shoes (Borealis)

Yonder Hill- Northern Lights

Yonder Hill (Yonder Hill)

Noah Zacharin- Another She

Strange Rider (Noah Zacharin)

Sue & Dwight- When the Music Stirs Her Soul

For a Moment (Sue & Dwight)

Bruce Murdoch- Anytime at All

SometimesI Wonder Why the World (Bruce Murdoch)

Coco Love Alcorn- Mary Mary

Wonder Land (Coco Love Alcorn)

Doug McArthur- Tears Like Rain

Tears Like Rain (Doug McArthur)

Kaia Kater- White (Long Time Traveling)

Nine Pin (Kaia Kater)

Ian & Sylvia- Handsome Molly

Ian & Sylvia (Vanguard)

Naming the Twins- The Last Song

Turn Styles (Duet Right)

Greg Kelly- Always Hope

Live in the studio

Greg Kelly- The Last Time I Ever Said Goodbye

Ghosts (Greg Kelly)

Greg Kelly- Words Unspoken

Ghosts (Greg Kelly)

Jamie Anderson- Menopause Mambo

Dare (Tsunami)

Shirt Tearing Boys- I’m Satisfied with You

Live in the studio

Shirt Tearing Boys- Me and My Blue Satin

Live in the studio

Shirt Tearing Boys- New Moon Over My Shoulder

Live in the studio

Ten Strings and a Goat Skin- Auprès du Poêle

Auprès du Poêle (Ten Strings and a Goat Skin)

I’ll be co-hosting Canadian Spaces again on March 25.

In the meantime, I’ll be hosting Saturday Morning (7-10 am) on February 4 and March 4.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

The Klezmatics – Apikorsim/Heretics

THE KLEZMATICS

Apikorsim/Heretics

World Village

klezmatics.com

The most recent albums by the Klezmatics were the superb in-concert set, Live At Town Hall, released in 2011 but recorded in 2006, and the Grammy-winning Wonder Wheel, featuring the Klezmatics’ wonderful settings of newly discovered Woody Guthrie lyrics on Jewish themes, in 2006. So, it’s been much too long since we’ve had a new album from perhaps my all-time favorite klezmer band – in fact, one of my all-time favorite bands period.

Apikorsim/Heretics is a return to the kind of progressive Jewish cultural albums the Klezmatics were making in the first half of their now 30-year history: superb material drawn from both traditional sources and their own imaginations  matched by brilliant singing and playing.

In some ways, it’s an album of contrasts. On the one hand, there are songs like “Zol shoyn kumen di geule (May Redemption Come),” a joyous longing for the coming of the Messiah, and “Ver firt di ale shifn? (Who Guides the Ships?),” a contemplative song about God, which express religious concepts which could be embraced by the most fervently Orthodox Jews. On the other hand, there are songs like the equally joyous title track which celebrate a completely secular lifestyle that rejects all of the restrictions of an Orthodox – or even moderately religious – lifestyle.

There are also songs of class struggle including “Der yokh (L’estaca),” a Yiddish translation of a Catalan song, “Kermeshl in Ades (Party in Odessa),” whose joyous music is in contrast to the bitter subtext in the lyrics, and “Vi lang? (How Long?),” which challenges oppressed workers to rise up and overcome their chains in terms similar to those expressed by the likes of Joe Hill or Woody Guthrie.

Among the most poignant songs are “Tayer Yankele (Dear Little Yankl),” a traditional Yiddish song about an economic migrant or refugee who went to Istanbul looking for a better life only to be murdered, and “Der mames shpigl (My Mother’s Mirror),” about the realization so many of us have as we age about how much there is of our parents in ourselves.

One of the most infectious songs on the album is “Shushan Purim,” which celebrates the tradition, practiced by some, of getting so drunk on the holiday of Purim that you can’t tell the difference between Mordechai, one of the heroes of the Purim story, and Haman, the evil villain of the story – but, then, waking up the next day, Shushan Purim, with a horrible hangover. The music to the song was composed by Klezmatics’ trumpeter Frank London, while the lyrics were written by author and Yiddish scholar Michael Wex, my oldest childhood friend. 

While all of the songs are sung in Yiddish, the CD booklet includes English translations of the lyrics so there is no language gap for non-Yiddish speakers.

As always, the lead singing of Lorin Sklamberg, is a delight throughout the album as is the playing of each of the Klezmatics. As well as on the arrangements to the songs, their playing is featured on several great instrumentals including violinist Lisa Gutkin’s “Der geler fink (The Yellow Finch),” clarinetist Matt Darriau’s “Three-Ring Sirba,” and Frank London’s “Green Violin.”

Apikorsim/Heretics was released late last year but it arrived just a couple of weeks too late to claim a spot on my best-of list for 2016. But, because I only got to hear the CD this month, it will definitely be in contention for the 2017 list.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif