6A — Monday, February 2, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Amos Lee stuns at 
day two of Folk Fest

By ADAM THEISEN

Senior Arts Editor

The Ark prides itself on stretch-

ing the definition of “folk music.” 
While the Ann Arbor institution is 
primarily known as a “folk” venue, 
in reality, it loves to accommodate 
all kinds of genre-breaking artists. 
In The Ark’s eyes, it seems, folk 
isn’t always just a guy standing 
alone on stage with a guitar, but 
rather a guiding set of principles 
for making art.

That philosophy couldn’t have 

been more apparent on Saturday 
night at Day 2 of the 38th Annual 
Ann Arbor Folk Festival. The 
seven-artist, five-hour show was 
like a sampler pack of everything 
The Ark has to offer year-round. 
While the show’s headliner was, in 
fact, a man by himself singing with 
an acoustic guitar, the journey to 
Amos Lee covered confessional 
singer-songwriters, 
old-school 

blues and even a true depression-
era big-band throwback.

The night began with Ann 

Arbor native Laith Al-Saadi, who 
played with what he called the 
cheapest and most-traveled gui-
tar of the night. Bearing at least a 
slight resemblance to Jerry Garcia 
with his long beard and glasses, Al-
Saadi got a great response from the 
crowd, especially when he added 
riffs from Led Zeppelin songs to 
his virtuosic guitar solos. He capti-
vated the audience, and he clearly 
had a very special relationship 
with his instrument.

Following Al-Saadi was the 

young Seattle-born Noah Gunder-
sen, who played acoustic guitar 
and sang while his sister played 
violin and provided back-up vocals. 
His songs were more elegiac, more 
delicate, with slow-building, pow-
erful vocals. After the Gundersens 
left the stage, they were replaced 
by 
the 
eight-piece 
Dustbowl 

Revival, a group that was a com-
plete throwback to depression-era 
hoedowns. Opening with a spir-
ited rendition of “John the Revela-
tor,” the horns livened the crowd 
and the five-part harmonies were 
quite impressive. The band even 
included 
a 
vaudeville-inspired 

number in its set, and it was a bit of 
a shame that everyone in the rever-
ent audience was sitting down and 
not dancing.

Between the sets, while the 

stage crew was switching out 
instruments, New England folk 
singer Cheryl Wheeler kept the 
crowd entertained. Self-depre-
cating, upbeat and off-the-cuff, 
she seemed to talk about what-
ever popped into her head, includ-
ing stories from seventh grade 
or tales about her dogs. She sang 
short songs that were goofy, like 
her song about potatoes set to the 
“Mexican Hat Dance” melody, and 
heartfelt, like her ode to her wife.

Wheeler was especially proud 

to introduce the legendary Buffy 
Saint-Marie, a singer-songwriter 
of Canadian Cree decent who has 
been around since the ’60s. The 
oft-covered 
Saint-Marie 
yelled 

her way through rock ‘n’ roll pro-
test songs with environmentalist 
lyrics, alternating those numbers 
with 
softer, 
prettier 
acoustic 

tracks, including the classics “Uni-
versal Soldier” and the Academy 
Award Best Original Song winner 
“Up Where We Belong.” Saint-
Marie was clearly a crowd favorite.

After an intermission, Holly 

Williams, granddaughter of coun-
try legend Hank Williams, took 
the stage. Dressed like a cowgirl 
with hat, boots, jeans and long 
blonde hair and singing with a 
southern twang, Williams played 
a very personal, confessional style 
of folk music. She sang about her 
grandparents in Louisiana and a 
cemetery where five generations 

of her family lay.

Then it was time for the night’s 

two headliners. Ani DiFranco 
announced, while she usually tries 
to mix up her setlists, tonight she 
would only play new songs. With 
two backing musicians (percus-
sion and bass), DiFranco played 
tracks from her most recent album 
as well as songs she had just writ-
ten. The music was mostly open 
arrangements played at slow, 
relaxing tempos, and though most 
of it was unfamiliar to the audi-
ence, DiFranco did relent and close 
her set by playing 1998’s “Swan-
dive.”

Finally, after over four hours of 

music, Amos Lee arrived. Standing 
tall with glasses and a beard, Lee 
took control of the crowd, singing 
like a folk Otis Redding with tons 
of charisma in his rough soulful 
voice. He was one of the poppiest 
musicians of the lineup, and even 
though he was performing solo 
with just his guitar, his songs felt 
fully developed. He garnered tons 
of “Whoo!”s from his fans when 
he moved all across his vocal reg-
ister. Lee told plenty of stories, 
introducing his classic “Sweet 
Pea” by telling the festival attend-
ees about a time when he made an 
elderly woman in a hospice with a 
reputation for being difficult dance 
when he played this “little ditty” 
for her. He expressed admiration 
for the city of Ann Arbor, for the 
fans who sat through a marathon 
night of music and for the other 
performers. He backed up that 
last comment when he brought out 
every other artist who had per-
formed throughout the night, all 
of them harmonizing together on 
“Angel from Montgomery.” After 
50 years of music and 38 years of a 
folk festival that still sells out both 
nights, the sense of the community 
between musicians and audience 
at The Ark feels stronger than ever.

EVENT REVIEW

Sexy ballet delights

By COSMO PAPPAS

Daily Arts Writer

Before you see their per-

formances, there are many 
things about Compagnie Marie 
Chouinard that cry out for a 
furrow-browed contemplation 
punctuated only by cultivated 
“ahs” and “hms.” An avant-
garde dance company from 
Montreal, the group bears many 
of the markers of high preten-
tiousness in the American cul-
tural imagination – abstract 
dance, 20th-century classical 
music, nudity. And did I mention 
they’re French (-speaking)?

The Statue of Liberty must 

have been the last moment of 
genuine 
cultural 
camarade-

rie between the U.S. and the 
Francophone world, since in 
response to the stereotypes 
of French-language media we 
as Americans carry with us 
– disaffected, independently 
wealthy 
faux-radical 
youth 

smoking hand-rolled cigarettes 
in a seedy bar – we typically 
give little more than an irritat-
ed sigh.

When 
Compagnie 
Marie 

Chouinard came to Ann Arbor 
on Jan. 23, they performed 
two different works. The first, 
entitled Gymnopédies, was built 
around Erik Satie’s canoni-
cal series of compositions for 
the piano of the same name. 
Beginning with the company’s 
11 dancers silently walking 

through a yonic curtain rigging 
in pairs, suggesting creation 
or birth or a reverse birth, I 
expected an uninhibited, self-
indulgent 
performance. 
But 

Compagnie Marie Chouinard is 
a lot smarter than its audience.

The next scene, a formation 

of about five to seven dancers 
donned in clown noses comes 
out bunny-hopping across the 
stage. A few audience members, 
including myself and the per-
son I went with, laughed a bit. 
“Is it supposed to be funny?,” we 
sheepishly wonder, as we try to 
suppress our laughter because 
it seems like we’re supposed to 
strain for its commentary on 
the human condition with an 
expressively unexpressive face. 
It becomes obvious that there’s 
something more at play when a 
second group, similarly garbed 
in red noses, enters stage right 
hopping in the same way toward 
the first group. And then some-
thing extraordinary happened: 
everybody laughed!

Stunt after stunt, the com-

pany brilliantly played on its 
audience’s 
expectations 
by 

foregrounding the silly and the 
goofy amid the gorgeous cho-
reography. Compagnie Marie 
Chouinard does not eschew 
expertise 
and 
technique 
in 

refusing 
ballet-as-serious-art 

and its attendant stuffiness. But 
perhaps even more importantly, 
this dance company is interested 
in sex. And yet, the depiction of 

sex is no less awkward or goofy 
than the rest of the show. This 
aspect is part of the company’s 
great success.

Compagnie 
Marie 
Choui-

nard’s thoughtful and inclusive 
sex-positivity 
consists 
iofits 

interest in the unsure, early 
erotic encounters that often 
fall outside heteronormative 
conceptions of sex. There is no 
shame or guilt or pretentious-
ness; and rather only a sense of 
goofy, playful, tender and mer-
rily raunchy unknowingness in 
their representations of sex: gay 
and lesbian and hetero.

The second half of the show, 

titled Henri Michaux: Mouve-
ments, is an engaging explo-
ration of the representational 
capacity of ballet as each danc-
er, dressed in a black body suit, 
mimics the monochromatic ink 
drawings of the Belgian poet 
and painter of the title. Once 
again, Compagnie Marie Choui-
nard averts the risk of coming 
off as uncavalierly pretentious 
with the choice of music – abra-
sive, fast-paced metal. This 
choice cements the company’s 
commitment to poking fun at 
its audience by saying, We’re 
not stuffy, so why do you watch 
it that way? Their delight is in 
subverting the typical condi-
tions of the reception of ballet 
and high culture by producing 
an intelligent and simultane-
ously very funny show.

CONCERT RECAP
Ann Arbor Folk 
Festival returns

Brandi Carlile 
headlines 38th 
annual show 

By AMELIA ZAK

Daily Music Editor

The first night of the 38th annu-

al Ann Arbor Folk Festival was in 
full swing this past Friday, Jan. 30. 
With a stacked lineup and the silly 
wit of the night’s MC, Steve Poltz, 
a singer-songwriter, the festival 
explored the expansive genre of 
folk music. The night began with 
the smooth, simpler sounds of ris-
ing folk bands. Billy Strings and 
Jon Dulin, a Michigan duo, had 
the audience begin its night with 
some bluegrass samples. “Walk On 
Boy” was the highlight of the duo’s 
set, giving everyone old-school 
bluegrass with a jolt of energy 
from modern day music. Mandolin 
Orange, a North Carolina-based 
group, followed these boys with a 
softer variety of folk. Performing 
simple songs made large by one 
acoustic guitar, one electric guitar 
and a mandolin, Emily Frantz and 
Andrew Marlin were another duo 
who, although currently of only 
mild acclaim, will undoubtedly 
expand their sound and popularity 
before the year’s end.

With a strong bass and bluesy 

electric guitar, the Bahamas were 
the self-declared “odd ducks” 
of the night. Throughout their 
30-minute set, the group held the 
intriguingly juxtaposed moments 
of heavy instrumental and vocal 
intensity followed by short bouts 
of calm silence. Afie Jurvanen, the 
band’s lead singer, led the show 
with his dark humor and booming 
voice through their well known 
hits like “Never Let You Go” and 

the highly acclaimed “Lost In The 
Light.” The Bahamas reiterated 
the intention behind The Ark’s 
chosen lineup: finding folk art-
ists who reform the genre’s clas-
sic sounds with individuality and 
personal taste. Here, the personal 
taste was laced with a bluesy elec-
tric guitar and ethereal vocals.

Yonder Mountain String Band 

jumpstarted its set by declaring, 
“we’re not going to say much 
after this – we’re just going to 
play.” The 30-minute set held 
no breaks, nor any perception of 
fingers. Each member’s hands, 
fingers and movements were so 
quick and so dedicated to the 
high intensity bluegrass jam 
session they began that both 
audience and artists had lost 
themselves in the art they creat-
ed. The band’s fiddler and banjo 
player added some of the set’s 
most notable solos. Following 
this fierce five-person jam ses-
sion were the fierce folk sisters 
of the Swedish band Baskery. 
Aware of the power of Hill Audi-
torium, these three sisters began 
their set with a short, eery and 
ethereal a capella number before 
drastically 
transitioning 
into 

some crowd-clapping, physical 
folk rock numbers. Songs like 
“Catslap” and “The Shadow” 
were slathered in electric banjo 
slides and harsher acoustic rock 
sounds, all with an underlying 
lyrical emphasis on feminism. 
With heads cocked and hair 
pushed to the side, these three 
sisters confidently introduced 
their sound to the older folks of 
Hill Auditorium.

The top acts of the night, criti-

cally acclaimed Alabama native 
Jason Isbell and folk-rock power-
house Brandi Carlile, refused to 
disappoint. Isbell glided on stage 

smoothly with wife and violinist 
Amanda Shires to deliver a sad and 
at times darkly humorous perfor-
mance. Songs like “Live Oak” and 
“Cover Me Up” left some audi-
ence members a bit teary-eyed as 
Isbell and his wife told the stories 
beneath their detailed storytell-
ing lyrics. The couple finished the 
set with a quietly beautiful War-
ren Zevon cover before exiting the 
stage, holding the same intense eye 
contact they held for most of the 
loving performance.

Brandi Carlile finished the 

night 
with 
alternative 
folk 

finesse filled with her powerful 
attitude and vocals. With a tat-
tered leather jacket and wide-
rimmed hat, Carlile and her band 
coolly floated on stage and ripped 
into her set. Her signature voice 
painted each song, making the 
instruments always fall second 
to the first-place performance 
she and her twinning band-
mates provided for an adoring 
crowd. Time, age and experience 
have deepened her apprecia-
tion for her career and allowed 
for more confidence in her per-
formances. She experimented 
with the crowd and venue, at one 
point using the amazing acous-
tics of Hill Auditorium to sing 
unamplified to her adoring audi-
ence. Whether amplified or not, 
Brandi’s throaty, crescendoing 
voice expanded throughout the 
auditorium in song and word as 
she told stories of inspiration and 
growth. She finished the night 
with a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s 
“The Chain.” As she twirled and 
danced across the stage, Carl-
isle made herself worthy of any 
possible Stevie Nicks compari-
son as “we must never break the 
chainnn ….” echoed throughout 
the adoring Hill Auditorium.

ROBERT DUNNE/Daily

Folkin’ awesome, man.

CONCERT RECAP

