Tag: festival

mandolin ensemble

Berkeley Mandolin Ensemble

The Berkeley Mandolin Ensemble was a classical mandolin ensemble. The ensemble travelled to Germany for the German Zupfmusikfest in Bonn in 1978. It was also part of the production of the CD “Rudy Cipolla – Mandolin Maestro”. It did travel again to Germany in 1982 for another Zupfmusikfest.

Program of the concert at the Zupfmusikfest in Bonn, 1982 (Thanks to Sheri Mignano-Crawford for this picture)

Kennet Frankel who played mandolin, mandola and mandocello in this group between 1976 and 1979. He has made available some recordings by the Berkeley Mandolin Ensemble on his website.

1976-1979 Berkeley Mandolin Ensemble

After my mandolin quartet, I played mandolin, mandola, and mandocello with this wonderful group in concerts, on radio, and on TV. I traveled with them to Germany as the only USA representative at the 1976 German Zupfest.

The Berkeley Mandolin Ensemble played pieces by German composers Konrad Wölki and Kurt Schwaen, transcriptions of lute music, pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven, Ragtimes by Scott Joplin and more.

Rudy Cipolla recording

The ensemble was part of the Rudy Cipolla album The World of Rudy Cipola which was recorded in 1982 and 1983.

Interview 1987

The Berkeley Mandolin Ensemble with Owen Hartford and Rudy Cipolla gave an interview with live performances in 1987 which can be found in the Rudy Cipolla archive by Sheri Mignano-Crawford. Discussion in the Mandolin Cafe with link to a collection of recordings and sheet music by Rudy Cipolla. The ensemble plays works by Vivaldi, Owen Hartford and Rudy Cipolla.

Radim Zenkl and Sheri Mignano-Crawford played with the ensemble in 1989, there is a picture of the ensemble from 1989 on Radim Zenkls website.

Additional Information

Website: http://www.kenfrankel.com/Music/BME/BME.html

History: http://www.kenfrankel.com/music%20history.html

Radim Zenkl – Photos – includes a photo of the Berkeley Mandolin Ensemble from 1989.

festival

The 4th Mando-Fest in India 2020

In February 2020 the 4th mando-fest of India took place in Goa. This made me very curious about the situation of the mandolin in India. I have tried to collect information about the mando-fest and the most important mandolin players in India.

I have got the following information from Pradipto Sengupta who is one of the founders of this festival.

MANDOLIN FESTIVAL IN INDIA

HI, I am PRADIPTO SENGUPTA from Mumbai India. I play mandolin since my childhood. When I decided to learn Mandolin, it was very difficult to get good teacher then in Kolkata because this instrument is not very popular even today in our country. I took this as my profession and shifted to Mumbai in 1988, and started playing in the Mumbai Film Industry as a studio musician. Every time a thought was in my mind that, I must do something for the promotion and propagate about Mandolin in our country, and it drives me to meet Mr. Anil Pendse from Pune who is a founder member of Mandolin Lovers Club. MLC formed in 2002, that time there were 10/15 members. I am happy to state today that we have more than 100 mandolin lovers in our forum.

 I approached him about the concept of Mandolin festival in our country. He has appreciated the idea and with the love and support of Mandolin Lovers Club the idea took off and we could start our first Mando-Fest in Loni, Pune in 2017, and with each passing year we have had three very successful fests already and this year 2020 we have organized our 4th festival in Goa and we have added another feather to our cap by making this fest a grand success. The special attraction of this festival was the presence of maestro Carlo Aonzo and Maestro Lorenzo Bernardi from Italy. My sincere thanks to both of them for accepting my invitation and it was an honour for us to have both of them with us. They have conducted workshop, performed, and it was a great pleasure for me to share the stage with them.

This year Carlo Aonzo (mandolin) and Lorenzo Bernardi (guitar) had been invited to the Mando-Fest. I have asked Carlo Aonzo for a short statement about the Mando-Fest:

I am very impressed for the level of passion and interest around the mandolin in India, many good players, amateurs and professional musicians and the surprise of the very young mandolinista like the Warna girls. The mandolin is completely integrated into the Indian musical culture.

4th Mando-Fest of India 2020 – Playlist

The Warna Girls – a mandolin ensemble of 12 young girls – played at the Mandofest and got a lot of applause from the audience. Other videos: “Dr. Avinash Damle – -Playing Mandolin at Mando fest of india” and “Mandolin -Mere Rashke Qamar-TipTipBarsaPani-Bulleya”

3rd National Mando-Fest of India 2019, Bangalore

The playlist contains a trailer with information about the 3rd Mando-Fest, the video “PRADIPTO SENGUPTA PLAYED Huttidare Kannada on Mandolin” and the performance “50 Ragas| Aravind Bhargav| Chowdiah Hall”

3rd Mandofest – First Day

Read more “The 4th Mando-Fest in India 2020” →
festival

Celtic Connections 2018 Glasgow – Playlist

I have compiled a playlist with performances from the Celtic Connections 2018 in Glasgow.

The Playlist starts with some great videos from the Bothy Culture concert with the Danny MacAskill and the GRIT Orchestra.

First video: Danny MacAskill (mountain bike) recreates some of his ‘Ridge’ film at the concert.

Other bands included are: The String Sisters, The Johnstone Pipe Band, Angus J MacColl, Tryst, Skipinnish, Big Country, James Duncan MacKenzie, Finlay MacDonald, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Apiary, Vair from Shetland, Roelle Blue, Le Vent du Nord, Sian, Emily Barker, Project Smok, Frank Turner, Will Varley, Elephant Sessions, Sarah Jaroz, and more.

Enjoy!

I would like to show one video because in this video you can see Eeva Talsi from Estonio from the band Curly Strings. Curly Strings played in Freiburg just before the went to Glasgow for the Celtic Connections where she played with her Torupilli Jussi Trio.

You can find more performances from Celtic Connections 2018 on the website of the BBC:

If you are a mountainbiker you might like the original movie The Ridge

 

festival

Madeira Mandolin Festival – Festival Internacional de Bandolins da…

I have recently started to collect videos with the mandolin orchestras from Madeira. Madeira has a long tradition of mandolin orchestras.

In 2016 the first Madeira Mandolin Festival took place. I have found several great videos made during this festival with the Edu Miranda Trio, Luís Peixoto and Norberto Cruz.

Edu Miranda Trio is playing some great Choros, Luís Peixoto plays two solo pieces on the cavaquinho, and Norberto Cruz plays a Sonata by Carlos Seixas.

Playlist Madeira Mandolin Festival 2016

The second Madeira Mandolin Festival took place in 2017. It included concerts and workshops with Hamilton da Holanda and Fernando Barroso and concerts with Mandolin Orchestras from Madeira.

Additional Information

Website Madeira Mandolin Festival

Website Madeira Mandolin Association

Facebook: Associação de Bandolins da Madeira – Madeira Mandolin Association

youtube: Madeira Mandolin Association

youtube channel Fernando Barroso

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