Nil Lara at Borders Check out the innovative Nil Lara at Borders tonight. Come hear the Venezuelan-raised musician play his groovy, passionate songs when he plays a free set and autographs copies of his albums. The show begins at 7 p.m. at Borders Books and Music at 612 E. Liberty St. For more information, call 662-7652. Monday January 27, 1997 A Folk Festival warms Hill Evening of high spirits and good music is a success By Anders Smith-Undall Daily Arts Writer Forget how snowy-and cold it was on Saturday. Four-thou- sand folk music fans and supporters of the Ark did, and in were treated to an outstanding evening of perfor- ces at the 20th Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival at Hill Auditori um. The Celtic duo of Ali Bain, a fiddler, and Phil Cunningham, an accordionist, were the evening's first act. The pair, who traveled to Ann Arbor R from Scotland on Friday, ran through a set of jigs, airs and rollicking reels that opened the Festival in fine fashion. Next on the bill was singer/songwriter Dan Bern, who took the stage armed with a, his guitar and a caustically sarcastic s nse of humor. He performed five songs, during which he revealed himself to be "the new Messiah," professed a child- hood crush on his older sister, and, while parodying Bob Dylan, claimed to have been abducted by aliens who demand- e4 to know why all of his songs were written in the key of G. Following Bern to the stage were the Drop Caps, featuring Mike Gordon of Phish on bass and lead vocals. The band was the first of the night to use electric guitars and drums, and seemed more than slightly out of place. They began with three attempts at funk, which tried to groove but did not succeed. The EF F{ audience remained unmoved, until Gordon stepped away from the microphone for the fourth and final number. Sparing the crowd his unschooled vocals and subduing his blandly plodding bass line, this song instead featured the skilled musicianship of the other Drop Caps, emphasizing their nimble banjo and lead guitar work. The bluegrass-flavored tune was their most suc- cessful - until Gordon felt compelled to step in with a mean- dering bass solo that bogged down whatever energy had been created. Thankfully, this was their last E v i E W piece before giving way to Susan Werner. Werner, a classically trained pianist Ann Arbor and vocalist, began on guitar before 'olk Festival switching to piano due to technical prob- HiiI Auditorium lems with a microphone. In each of five Jan. 25, 1997 songs, she demonstrated remarkable vocal range and emotion. Most notable was the quietly sorrowful "St. Mary's of Regret.' At this point, master of ceremonies Les Barker, an English poet and comedian, took the stage to fill the time between acts with his off-beat comic rhymes, as he had throughout the evening. Barker was a change-of-pace treat, delivering such poems as "Bungee-Jumping for Lemmings." Following his brief act, Barker summoned to the stage bluesman David Bromberg, long a fixture at the Ark and a clear fan favorite. To begin, Bromberg told the crowd it was his first perfor- mance in more than a year, and then launched into "Travelin' Blues." He had not made it halfway through, however, when misfortune struck and he snapped a string. He finished the song the best that he could, then called for Jay Ungar and Molly Mason to play while he repaired his guitar. Ungar, a remarkable fiddler, and Mason, a talented multi-instrumental- ist, covered for Bromberg with a lovely medley of "Midnight on the Water" and "Bonaparte's Retreat." Bromberg remained onstage and attempted to restring but snapped the replacement while tuning it, much to the audience's amusement. With Bromberg finally ready, Mason switched to upright bass from guitar for another bluesy number with Bromberg singing lead. Next up was Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'," with .Mason back on lead vocal. The three finished with a series of five songs that were per- haps the highlight of the evening. The first of the four was Bromberg's "I'll Take You Back," in which he growled promises to make up with his girlfriend "When water ain't wet / and Clinton pays off the national debt / ... when James Brown ain't funky / and King Kong ain't a goddamn mon- Nanci Griffith performs at the 20th Annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival on Saturday at Hill Auditorium. key." When the audience's laughter had subsided, openers Bain and Cunningham came back to join the three for "The Lover's Waltz," the sweet title track from Ungar and Mason's new album, and "Dirty Dog," a rousing Cajun romp that had the audience hooting and clapping along. Next, Ungar led the group in his "Ashokan Farewell," the familiar, aching theme to Ken Burns' documentary on the Civil War. Then, to close the first set, the five stomped through an energizing finale that brought the crowd to its feet in a standing ovation. Following a brief intermission, Patty Griffin played four songs accompanied only by her guitar, highlighted by a beau- tifully sung rendition of Willie Nelson's "Crazy." After Griffin, Leon Redbone took the stage, cutting a comi- cally dashing figure in his customary dark suit, straw hat and shades. Playing guitar and accompanied by a muted horn, he entertained the crowd with his wryly eccentric renditions of turn-of-the-century Dixieland blues. Martin Sexton appeared next, having just arrived from Hartford, Conn., where he spent 12 hours snowed in. Like Redbone, he performed a truncated set of three songs, in which time he showed off an amazing vocal range that elicit- ed a standing ovation after he closed with "America the Beautiful." Of his voice, Nanci Griffith later remarked, "What about that?! I mean, whoa! Totally unexpected!" Griffith and her Blue Moon Orchestra, the headliners for whom most of the crowd had been waiting, came out around 10:45 p.m. They began with John Prine's "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,"one of four covers Griffith would play. That was followed by "The Flyer;" the title track from her most recent album. Griffith was enthusiastic and in fine voice; the band was tight, even rocking. Other highlights included an emotion- al version of Townes Van Zandt's "Tecumseh Valley," which Griffith dedicated to the recently deceased songwriter; an older Griffith-penned favorite, "Ford Econoline;" and great rendi- tions of two songs from her "Flyer" record, "Traveling Back to Georgia" and "This Heart." The show closed, appropriately, with all the performers returning to the stage to join Griffith in the Kate Wolf classic, "Across the Great Divide." At Griffith's urging, the entire crowd sang along with the choruses. In all, the evening proved a great success. The Festival, in its 20th year, is going strong. On Saturday night, it accom- plished both of its goals: To raise money for the Ark (a sold- out crowd paid $25 a piece), and to provide a diverse and entertaining evening. Susan Werner sings at the Folk Festival. venezuelan-style Lara plays at Borders, Pontiac By Kristin Long Daily Arts WNriter According to Nil Lara, "the whole thing is about celebrating life." Whether he plays in a small club like 7th House in Pontiac as he did Saturday night, or as a member of the touring HORDE festival last year, Lara knows how to keep his shows down-to-earth as they represent - attitude toward maintaining a ical perspective of life. Lara's style is by no means standard. He worked the crowd of ages ranging from eight to 50 by hardly working them at all. Each song painted a picture of his life and his personality with emotion and sincerity. The New Jersey-born, but predominantly Venezuelan-raised, artist took the stage with class before an anxiously awaiting crowd. Lara and the band arrived late to the theater from Chicago, beginning their sound check at 8 p.m. when show was scheduled to begin. The crowd poured 1o the foyer of the venue, waiting there until the doors finally opened at 8:45 p.m. The Kildare Trio preceded the headliner, and amid much conversation from the audience, managed to provide a decent prelude. The Windsor, Ontario, band was made up of one female vocalist and three males, on drums, guitar and bass. They fit the Lisa Loeb style that has become the trend of many female singers of today. While their music blended a stellar mix of quick-paced beats with a mellow tone, the songs gan to sound the same and eventually melded together. By 10:15 p.m., Lara and his accompanying musi- cians, Andrew Yeomanson, David Goodstein and Leo, took the stage and opened with "Money Makes the Monkey Dance" The worlds of Haitian and American culture collided and formed a sensational scene. Definitely not a usual performance, the interaction between the four was electric, which made their pre- scntation all the more enjoyable. Appearing on both "Monkey," Lara's second album, d his major label self-titled album, "Money Makes Monkey Dance" set the mood for the rest of the ;E night: completely original, realistic and memorable. Both "Monkey" and Lara's other independent release "My First Child," were well represented in his performance. The two albums contain some of the same songs as those that appear on his Capitol records release. Lara explained, "You know how Bob Marley recorded a song over and over again until he hit the right tone? W V I E W Well, that's what I am trying to do Nil Lara here." Nira The final product of his efforts 7th House was the self-titled Capitol release Jan. 26, 997 that hit stores last March. "What we did was we released the entire album, and stations across the country just picked the songs they liked and played them;" Lara said. "Like in Chicago, (the radio stations) played 'Money makes the Monkey Dance.' In Maine, they played 'Crawl,' and in California it was 'How Was I to Know,' which was to be released by Capitol later. We did it old style. That's how it should be done?' Lara said his style stems from his upbringing in Venezuela, where he began his interest in music at 5 years old. He discovered the cuatro, a four nylon- stringed instrument from Venezuela, at the age of eight. He became bilingual when he frequently trav- eled to Miami and New York to visit his grandparents. In junior high, Lara moved to Miami. A majority of his sound stems from the use of the tres, a Cuban folk instrument from which Lara has developed a sensational resonance all of his own. The tres contains three pairs of strings for three notes, and Lara said he manipulated it to create emotional tones reflecting his personality. Diversity was the most obvious characteristic Lara displayed in his performance. "It's cool to spread the culture" he said. His songs combine both English and Spanish, and even the most xenophobic individual could not help but enjoy the combination. The various tempo changes the group used kept the mood alive and the spirit intense. With entertaining interaction between the musi- cians, the crowd could feel the excitement. At one cor- ner of the stage, bassist Leo danced with vigor, and at the other corner, guitarist Andrews Yeomanson chilled to the sounds while adding personality of his own as well. On drums, David Goodstein smiled and added ample percussion to the group. Each song, written by Lara, reflected nostalgia, life and love. The most moving piece was "Bar6," written for Lara's former music instructor who died. "He was a gentle man that used to play with us," Lara said. "He is a difficult person to replace, so we never did." Each song he played was a stellar representation of Lara's talent. In "Fighting for My Love," he used the tres and the effect evoked smiles from fans. The acoustic elements combined with the tres, on the pre- vious released "How Was I to Know," exceeded any expectations. The only problem was the sporadic absence of vocals due to a low microphone volume - or overwhelming background music. Aside from his clear enjoyment of the music, Lara appreciated the enthusiasm of his fans as well. "It's great to play and look out there and see the people dancing. I love talking to the people," he said. After the show, he visited with his fans to show his grati- tude. Lara has been on tour for a year and three months, traveling across the country as well as overseas to Japan and Spain. "I love the road," he commented. "The fact that I'm on the road is a whole different lifestyle." Despite the distance while touring, the artist is con- stantly in touch with his fans. "It's all about music. I want to be open with the people," he said. The man even checks e-mail at NilLara@aol.com. "I may not get to it for a while, but I try to respond to everyone" he said. Lara brought his culture and identity to his fans, and the audience identified with him. While the show was not all mellow and not all hard-core rock, it was a sen- sational mix of both and surpassed any expectations that might have been set. - Nil Lara will be appearing tonight at Borders Books and Music at 7. He will be performing songs off of his albums as well as signing copies of his CDs. 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