"Elton John meets Edith Piaf" is
how Allison Crowe’s tagged in an
early newspaper feature – the young
Canadian musician interviewed by
scribe Clodagh O’Connell when she
first ventured from her birth-place
on Vancouver Island to mainland
North America.
Many seas and seasons later,
Allison pays tribute to Sir Elton
(born Reginald Kenneth Dwight) and
his poetic songwriting partner
Bernie Taupin in a live performance
of their song “Mona Lisas and
Mad Hatters” – the duo’s paean
to the great city of New York and
its people. (Taupin’s lyrics for
this joyous tune off 1972’s “Honky
Château” EJ album give a bow
to the Ben E. King hit and its line
“there is a rose in Spanish
Harlem”.)
This bootleg audio is captured
“hot” from "Tunnel" - a
legendary Musikkeller in Vienna,
Austria. Founded by Engineer Fayez
Chlache in 1981, the year Allison's
born, the subterranean music venue
and above-ground restaurant +
gallery, was nurtured lovingly by
Chlache who made it feel “als gäbe
es Tunnel schon seit
immer" – there has always been “Tunnel”.
Upon his passing in 2011 Fayez’s
daughter, Magda, maintains Wien’s
living room for bon vivants of all
ages.
Silent Night - Allison Crowe's "Tidings Concert" (song 14)
“Silent Night” – together with “O Holy Night” – dates back to Allison Crowe’s very first association with Christmas carols. Allison’s moved from singing these beautiful songs to herself, to sharing them with the world. Here’s her newest recording of a song born in Austria, nearly 200 years ago. It’s part of “Tidings Concert“.
Canadian Crowe's Annual Musical Migration Underway
Musician Allison Crowe, who calls Nanaimo, BC and Corner Brook, NL, home, is set for her annual European migration confirms European road manager, Camille Schmah.
The bicoastal Canadian tours Europe at least once or twice each year and her "Spiral" Europa Tournee 2010 takes flight this month - with concert visits to Frankfurt, Nijmegen, Aachen, Gentilly - Paris, Vienna, Florence, Berlin and Quedlinburg.
From a land that's brought forth such legendary singer-songwriters as Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, this "old world" is witnessing a singular talent of a new generation.
With the release of her newest album, "Spiral", UK music blog "We Write Lists" declares her "Canada's finest songwriter" - building on acclaim from MOJO, TimeOut, the BBC and other UK media. Swedish reviewer Anna Maria Stjärnell says that on "Spiral", Allison Crowe "sings her heart out. She's made yet another album to treasure." Underscoring one of her unique characteristics, this week, "Paris Voice" labels Crowe "one of the best interpreters to come along since Joe Cocker".
Embodying songwriting, as well as interpretive, artistry of the highest order is rare enough. To these, Allison Crowe brings intense energy and honesty in performance - undoing any stereotypes of the modern singer-songwriter as purveyor of flaccid folk, plastic pop, or regurgitated rock tropes.
Longtime Canadian radio and television personality, Rick Dennis, (now creator/host of CICV's "Rick's Country Classics and Folk Favorites"), told his radio audience, after Crowe's appearance at "Special Woodstock", this Summer: "You really have to see Allison Crowe live. The way she splits those notes, it's like light through a prism - all the colours of a song."
For select concerts on her upcoming Euro tour, Allison Crowe is joined by guest artists: Holland's Leontine Snoeren; France's Emily B. Green; and Canadian-Brazilian Billie Rocha-Woods. Details can be found @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/tour.html
23.09 Jazzlokal Mampf - Frankfurt, Germany 25.09 De Lindenberg - Nijmegen, Netherlands 30.09 Aula Carolina - Aachen, Germany 02.10 Auditorium du Conservatoire - Gentilly / Paris, France 08.10 Tunnel Vienna Live - Vienna, Austria 12.10 Teatro del Sale - Florence, Italy 15.10 Osterkirche - Berlin-Wedding, Germany 16.10 Blasiikirche - Quedlinburg, Germany
The essence, articulated by operators of Teatro del Sale in Firenze, home to famed Chef Fabio Picchi and Artist Maria Cassi, is "la ricerca della qualità della vita"!
Word on Allison Crowe's upcoming "Spiral" European concert series is coming this week. For the moment, here's a look at a concert poster - with original artwork by Tara Thelen - whose painting "Look at Me" is the album/CD cover of "Spiral".
Vocalist/pianist Allison Crowe and her Canadian band-mates, guitarist Billie Woods and percussionist Laurent Boucher, have been welcomed into Germany - their reception by Frankfurt's Federal Border Police being night-and-day to what was experienced at London's Gatwick airport just days earlier. (A fourth member of the quartet, bassist Dave Baird, is visiting family in Scotland.)
Crowe has performed in the UK each year since 2005, including heralded concerts and benefits from Brighton, England to Durness, Scotland and numerous communities between them. She performed famously at the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival in 2007 - on stage between the UK's Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and the Queen's Master of Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. Her most recent UK concert performance happened on October 18, 2008. Just weeks after this last visit, unbeknownst to Crowe and her UK concert presenters, the government brought in new anti-terrorist and anti-illegal immigrant legislation. These new rules target artists and academics.
In what can seem a world gone mad with paranoia and xenophobia, when fear and anger are too present in our lives, let it be noted that people can and do still treat one other with respect and not just suspicion. Hallelujah.
The UK Home Office has introduced new bureaucratic procedures for organisations that wish to invite non-EU artists and academics to the UK. As professionals committed to the principles of internationalism and cultural exchange, we are dismayed by these new regulations - which will curb our invitations to non-EU artists and academics to visit the UK for talks, artist residencies, conferences and temporary exhibitions.
The system is costly to both the host organisation and to the visitor, and has already meant a number of cancelled exhibitions and concerts. All non-EU visitors now must apply for a visa in person, and supply biometric data, electronic fingerprint scans and a digital photograph. The Home Office’s 158-page guideline document also outlines new controls over visitors’ day-to-day activity: visitors must show that they have at least £800 pounds of personal savings, which have been held for at least three months prior to the date of their application; the host organisation must keep copies of the visitor’s passport and their UK Biometric Card, and a history of their contact details; and if the visitor does not turn up to their studio or place of work, or their whereabouts is unknown, the organisation is legally obliged to inform the UK Border Agency.
We, the undersigned, believe that these Home Office restrictions discriminate against our overseas colleagues on the grounds of their nationality and financial resources, and will be particularly detrimental to artists from developing countries, and those with low income. Such restrictions will damage the vital contribution made by global artists and scholars to cultural, intellectual and civic life in the UK.
The above petition is one of the cornerstones of a movement growing from within and without the UK. (Click on the links to view the petition and read the many comments which explain the real issues.)
In sharp contrast to the UK government's extremism is the approach seen in other parts of Europe.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, for example, spells out its policy this way:
"A work permit is not required of a foreign national whose execution of office does not exceed seven consecutive calendar days or a total of 30 days in a calendar year, and if he/she is: a performing artist, an educator, member of a university academic staff, a scientist or member of a research and development staff taking part in a scientific conference or meeting, a pupil or student under 26 years of age, a sportsman/sportswoman, a person procuring the supplies of goods or services in the Czech Republic or a person supplying such services or goods, or a person carrying out assembly works under a commercial agreement, or carrying out warranty and repair works."
In the UK, many are protesting. Many more people, however, have yet to even hear of the new rules that discriminate against artists and academics among others.
Not a single person working in association with either of the music venues where Allison Crowe's band was scheduled to perform this week - in Scotland and England (places Crowe loves and where she has performed numerous times since 2005) - had knowledge of the UK's Home Office's new process. Nor could they imagine that for non-EU acts (outside of those classified as "non-Visa naitonals" - Canadians and Australians), a Sponsor must be party to a process that involves collecting fingerprints and "biometric (retinal+) scans" (a controversial practice itself) etc. of musicians, scholars, tango-dancers, magicians and other similarly threatening visitors.
Instead, the awareness campaign happens when a Russian pianist cancels a visit after 18 years of performing in the UK - as was the case for Grigory Sokolov, described as the greatest classical pianist alive today - Top artists battle visa clampdown. It happens when a Canadian journalist is detained, interrogated and deported as happened recently to Leah McLaren - and was reported in national Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail: CRUEL BRITANNIA: God may save the Queen, but what about the rest of us? It happens when a nation's artists and educators team up to declare we need to End pernicious controls on artistic freedom.
And whatever rules a government - in Canada, America, the UK or elsewhere - chooses to put in place, whether they're right or wrong, it's due time to return reason and humanity to the process.
We look to our artists to reflect on life's truths and show them to us in unique light. Allison Crowe is a musician - here is how she says it:
Dateline Vienna: 'Tradigital' boki.b's Vernissage & Art
"I draw because I am happy! I draw because I am free!" This motto of Croatian-born, Austrian-based, visual artist boki.b, has a counterpart in the raison d'etre of musicians from Nina Simone to Allison Crowe.
It's natural, then, to see boki.b's recent vernissage (art exhibition) in Vienna, Austria include images of the Canadian singer-songwriter alongside other musicians and entertainers who inspire the artist: Erykah Badu, Anjelica Huston, Lauryn Hill, Tori Amos, Sarah Brightman, Kokia, Madonna, Beyoncé Knowles, Giorgia Fumanti, Zoe Mace, Laetita Casta, Lucy Lawless, Norma Jeane Mortensen, Nicole Kidman and Gary Oldman.
What is unusual is the innovative technique used by boki.b (born Boris Budisa) to create his works. "I would describe my art as tradigital. It's TRAditional and DIGITAL. It's like painting with a brush on a canvas - but only on PC (personal computer). It's air- and paintbrush on PC," he explains. "It's not easier than painting on a canvas but it's (a different process) without blots. It's like a litho on a canvas."
He starts by drawing a sketch. This hand-drawing is next scanned into a PC and then 'painted' using with Fireworks, Photoshop or Paint. When boki.b's finished the illustration/painting stages, the artwork is saved on a USB-stick. It's run to the printshop, layered on canvas, then stapled to a frame and hung as with traditional method paintings.
This combination of old-world aesthetics with the most modern of technologies is making a success of Budisa's talents in Japanese anime, artist portraits - even a line of shoulder-bags "Ma Luna". Fans of Allison Crowe, particularly in Europe, may know boki.b's art through his design of tour posters and banners for Crowe's 2008 European concerts in Paris, Vienna, Prague and other cities.
On display last month - two artworks featuring Allison Crowe (click on the images below to view larger size):
'soul' ~ by boki.b (painting 30 X 100 cm.)
'emotion' ~ by boki.b (painting 60 X 30 cm)
Danish photographer, Stine Rasmussen, now based in Wien (Vienna), has posted a slide-show of the popular exhibit. Just click on "diashow zeigen" on this page to see images of the vernissage which opened the same night that Allison Crowe performed underground at Tunnel-Live-Vienna.
Bezirk Zeitung has published a feature on boki.b - his art and the recent vernissage. Just click on the image below for the full story (in German).
feature on boki.b in Bezirk Zeitung
Allison Crowe returns to Vienna for an encore performance at 'Tunnel' on October 3, 2008.
Piano at Tunnel-Live-Vienna ~ photo by Stine Rasmussen
