ARTS 7 S~iL r-:In. ..L Fridav. January 30, 1987 Tager r wie Mvichigan Daily 4 :Diverse talents highlight Folk Festival n ad-worn look to him fro m all By Joseph Kraus ,6 To be honest about it, the Tenth -Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival idisn't really just a folk festival. 3 It's actually a celebration of alternative music of several different iJtripes.With folk, blues, bluegrass, country, and acoustic rock erformers scattered throughout the t bill, the evening-long celebration rkpromises to live up to the standards ,,et in previous years.What began .ten years ago as a much needed tfundraising shot in the arm for The §Ark, Ann Arbor's premier folk j ~"I'usic showplace, has grown into an annual event that looks as if it o will fill capacious Hill Auditorium ,for the second straight year. ( This year's festival provides .,nteresting contrasts between the folk music acts of the '60s and the scontemporary acts that have been etravelling on the folk circuit. - Headliner Donovan was one of .he '60s biggest stars. Alongside .:17aj Mahal and Dave Van Ronk, he 'represents the old guard of operformers who have been touring on and off for upwards of 25 years. On the other side of the coin, Peter Case, Uncle Bonsai, and Dick ~Seigal are all acts just beginning; at least in their acoustic music careers. - In the 20 years since Donovan's hey-dey, however, the Ark has continued to offer entertainment to the crowd it first won for itself in the '60s while the bulk of the ;student audience has gradually srifted away. In contrast to recent years, that new blood seems to endicate a stronger pitch to the student crowd. Dave Siglin, the Ark's long-time director, says, "In the short perspective, it's [aimed at students] more than it was in the past. In the long perspective it isn't s..Twenty years ago all the acts were aimed at students. "The folk music scene has matured so much that when you do a show aimed at students it attracts a crowd very different from a show aimed at an older croWd." a Of course, such diversity has its , advantages as well. Siglin 'continued, "As the folk scene ,progresses more facets rise to the -top." .v Long before Madonna made it on the strength of her first name alone, :nhere was Donovan. Actually named Donovan Leitch, the Scottish-born singer/songwriter was quietly making a name for himself when the phenomenon of Bob Dylan ,struck Europe in 1964. As eager to find a British Dylan as the -American public had been to find an American Beatles, the British public seized onto Donovan as its own.public poet. But Donovan didn't quite fit the _mold. Quiet and introspective, he tcelebrated subtle beauties like the color of his true love's hair and the ?'virtues of being "mellow." In place f a strident protest song like "Blowing in the Wind," he had "Catch the Wind," a haunting description of failed love that may °; have been one of the few songs - directly inspired by Dylan's work to 1match or even surpass Dylan's own best work. e With a host of top-flight compositions to his credit, and what is rumored to be an engaging stage personality, he should live up to the standards recent Folk Festival headliners Arlo Guthrie and Bonnie Raitt have set. Taj Mahal was a leading light in P; the 60s blues revival that took place concurrent to the folk music explosion. While he never had the commercial success of crossover The Homestead Bed & Breakfast magazine. Pat Flynn, another guitarist, and John Cowan, the singer, round out the band. Dave Van Ronk is an urban blues answer to the flashier work of Taj Mahal. Getting his start in the same Greenwich Village folk scene that spurred Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Tom Paxton to fame, he was always a purer bluesman than the musicians who went on to the greatest commercial success. He has a roUw 11lvl"i111 sva his years of travelling, and his music reflects that appearance. He's perhaps best known for his arrangement of the Rev. Gary Davis' classic, "Cocaine;" his version is the one that Jackson Browne made into a major hit. Peter Case looks like the odd man out on this year's list. As founder of The Plimsouls, a Los See FESTIVAL, Page 10 Dr. Daniel Matt A Taste of Jewish Mysticism: The Hidden Light Dr. Daniel Matt, from the Center for Judaic Studies, Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, is the author of a recently published poetic translation of the Zohar, the revered masterpiece of the Jewish mystical canon. Thursday, January 29 7:30 p.m. Hillel Auditorium 1429 Hill Street 663 Sponsored by: U-M Program in Judaic Studies 3-3336 luIMl The New Grass Revival is one of the many talented acts featured in the line-up of this year's Ann Ar- bor Folk Festival. artists like Jimi Hendrix and Steve Miller, he did win himself the critical acclaim that has buoyed him through 20 years of touring. The series of records he released for, among others, Columbia Records, show him capable of a wide range of blues styles, both electric and acoustic. He's played Ann Arbor about once a year for the last few years, always to full houses. Siglin confided, "I've been trying to book Taj [for the Festival] for the last four years." An earlier incarnation of the New Grass Revival is credited with inventing "newgrass," a bluegrass approach to jazz and rock. The current group, featuring founder Sam Bush, has pushed the concept further than the original line-up did, and has recently made inroads into the country music charts. The band is known as one of the finest instrumental ensembles in contemporary music. Bush first made a name for himself as a guitarist, but he may be an even finer fiddler, having won the National Old Timer's Fiddle Contest three years in a row while he was still a young man. Bela Fleck has almost no competition as a progressive banjo player. Before he was 30 years old he had won best banjo player of the year five consecutive times from Frets _____________________________________ I MON9 Japanayze Tech Ccrntcer SPECIALIZING IN THE MAINTENANCE & REPAIR OF TOYOTA - HONDA - MAZDA - SABARU - DATSUN - MITSUBUSHI - ISUZU MAINTENANCE - " We can tailor make a maintenance inspection to meet your individual needs. " 7,500-15,000 and 30,000 mile inspection, oil changes, tune-ups, valve adjustments, brakes & shocks. 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