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Karen Tweed - Biography by Craig Harris (www.allmusic.com)
When tradition-rooted acoustic guitarist Ian Carr met accordion player Karen Tweed at the Shetland Folk Festival in 1990, it was a meeting of kindred spirits. In the decade since, the two instrumentalists have reinterpreted the music of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales as a duo and in two folk bands-Swap, featuring Ola Backstrom and Corina Normansson of Sweden, and the Two Duos Quartet, which they share with Andy Cutting and Chris Wood. Prior to their collaboration, Carr and Tweed had been making their mark as musicians for several years. Carr, who began playing harmonica at the age of five and had advanced to the mouth organ and the accordion before settling on the guitar, had played guitar for numerous rock bands and accordion in a ceilidh band, The Harvesters, in his hometown of Penrith. Moving to Newcastle-On-Tyne, he worked with a folk ensemble, The Old Rope String Band. At the time that he met Tweed, he was a member of Kathryn Trickell's band. Tweed's earliest musical experiences were the Irish dance lessons she took as a youngster. After trying her hand at the melodica, she was inspired by an older sister to play accordion. In addition to playing with a marching band, she studied classical music with Lawry Eady. Tweed's love of Celtic music was inherited from her parents who encouraged her to become active with Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eirann and to study accordion with button accordionist John Whelan. When Whelan emigrated to the United States, Tweed began to play at informal pub sessions and teaching herself to adapt the flute and fiddle tradition of Celtic music to her accordion. When she met Carr, she was accompanying Roger Wilson.
Although they jammed together, at the Shetland Folk Festival, until the wee hours of the morning, Carr and Tweed first opportunity to work together came when accordionist Lyn Tucker left Kathryn Trickell's band and Carr suggested Tweed as her replacement in September 1991. Both Carr and Tweed balanced their work with Trickell with a variety of outside projects. While Carr performed with Simon Thoumire, Tweed helped to form the all-woman Celtic group, The Poozies, with Patsy Seddon, Mary MacMaster and Sally Barker, and, later, played with Sally Barker And The Rhythm. Carr and Tweed launched their duo when Trickell elected to take a yearlong hiatus from music. Their debut duo album, Shhh, released in 1995, was followed by Fyace two years later. Tweed has been active as an artist, as well. Her paintings have been exhibited throughout the United Kingdom and have been used for the covers of several albums. |
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Karen Tweed & Swåp
Live at The Black Swan Folk Club |
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Karen Tweed - Biography (http://www.karentweed.dk)
Born Willesden, London 1963
Karen Tweed started to play the Piano Accordion under her first teacher, Joe Coll at the age of 11 and went onto to study with Lawry Eady, Warren Eagle and finally John Whelan, under whose guidance she won the first of 5 All Ireland Championships in 1977 (both on the Piano Accordion and Melodica).
To date, Tweed is featured on over 30 CDs with ensembles such as The Kathryn Tickell Band, The Poozies, SWAP, Ian Carr & Karen Tweed, The Two Duos Quartet and May Monday.
She is currently working with Timo Alakotila, May Monday, The Poozies, Christy O Leary & Bert Deivert, Roger Wilson, Sturla Eide and SWAP. New collaborations are in the pipeline, fuelled by new compositions and arrangements.
Tweed is established as one of the finest exponents of the piano accordion and is also in demand for her work as an arranger, composer and tutor. Her music, which moves with ease between blistering melody lines and soulful backing, has been described as 'mercurial, subtle and astounding'.
In 1989, Tweed left her full time Art & Design teaching post at Bexhill High School, Sussex to become a professional musician working with The Poozies, The Kathryn Tickell Band and Sally Barker and The Rhythm. Since then she has played around the world, giving concerts in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Scandinavia, Lesotho, Turkey, Japan, Northern Europe, The USA and Quebec.
She is immensely respected for her innovative collaborations, most notably with the Anglo-Swedish ensemble SWAP; the English collective The Two Duos Quartet and more recently her May Monday project with Timo Alakotila received huge critical acclaim from BBC radio producers / presenters to music events organisers throughout Europe.
This project, which combined her composing skills with cross cultural arrangements using folk, jazz and classical music ideas led to a commission from The Sage Gateshead / PRS Foundation entitled 'The 4K Plot'. Premiered in November 2005, the performance brought together large scale images of Scots painter Keith McIntyre, the traditional dance ideas of Kerry Fletcher and the music dexterity of Tweed and composer / clarinettist Karen Wimhurst. It is an interactive piece for 'wind, sole and drawing instruments'.
Tweed is the main piano accordion tutor at the World Music Centre, University Limerick, Ireland; a regular tutor at the BMus Degree in Folk and Traditional Music at Newcastle University / The Sage Gateshead; is a regular tutor at the Folkworks Annual Summer School, Durham and was the Guest Director of the Adult Summer School for 3 years. She has taught at The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, also at Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's Northern Week in Ashokan, USA, Hovra Spelmanstamma in Sweden, Accordions at Witney and was the main piano accordion tutor at the Folkworks Adult Education Project in Gateshead for 2 years.
A highly respected tutor, Tweed was commissioned by TASC in Wales to set up a series of workshops and produce an explanatory guide / manual entitled 'Training The Trainers', while being on the organisational panel of 'Training In Traditions' - a project aimed at identifying the needs of training tutors in folk music.
From 2000-2002, Tweed was one of the co-directors (along with Andy Cutting and Fiona Came) of Folkbeat Derby, a community festival encompassing workshops in traditional music and dance, with evening concerts and dances.
In 2005, Tweed teamed up with Philip Freeman to launch The Seed Festival in Llandinam, Mid Wales. This year, TASC has commissioned Tweed and John Kirkpatrick to compose 'The Severn Suite', a 30 minute work of new social dances and music, which is to be given to the community of Llandinam, Mid Wales. It's premiere is at the Seed Festival on June 10th 2006.
New commissions include a joint piece with John Dipper (England) and Patsy Seddon (Scotland) for Davy Stuart (guitar, mandolin and fiddle) and Helen Webby (harp) in New Zealand. This is part of a project where Stuart & Webby invited 4 New Zealand composers (Chris Cree-Brown, Gareth Farr, John Emmelaus and Graham Wardrop) to write pieces specifically for them.
Karen Tweed has plans to hold workshops in Gloucester, London, Cardiff, Derbyshire and Leeds early in 2006.
These workshops are also likely to include fiddle, voice and dance or to be ensemble workshops. She welcomes enquiries from anyone interested in organising an accordion workshop.
Karen Tweed joined Sturla Eide (Hardangerfele / fiddle) and Andreas Aase (guitar) for a trio tour in Norway at the end of August-September 2006.
On January 7th and 8th, Karen is to appear at an accordion weekend in Edinburgh.
As part of an event called ‘An Introduction to the English Folk Tradition’, Karen Tweed gave a practical introduction to the English folk tradition, using live demonstration and recorded examples. The workshop took place on February24th, from 11.15am to 12.30pm, at the Crush Room, Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD.
In addition to her busy performance, recording and composing schedule, Tweed is launching a series of workshops entitled 'Adventures In Music' to encourage skills in observation & listening, performance, composition, arrangement and improvisation.
She has a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design (Printmaking), she enjoys art, walking, knitting, ironing, reading, talking, New Zealand wine, Cadbury's chocolate, Walkers crisps, St. Andre and Stilton cheese, charity shops, Caol Ila, dancing, travelling, poetry, music and silence.
Her favourite colour changes daily as does her hair.
Favourite things include cheap jewellery, gloves, slippers, cheese, feijoas, acupuncture, Mini The Minx and the sea.
She has too many favourites in the following but:
Music: Jacky Daly 'Music From The Sliabh Luachra Vol 1'; anything by Tin Hat Trio, Timo Alakotila or Swang; Dolly Parton; XTC.
Musicians / Composers:Timo Alakotila, Maria Kalaniemi, David Sylvian, Ivan Miletitch, William Walton, Richard Galliano, Mary Macmaster, Patsy Seddon, Tony Hall, Niall Keegan, Rodney Miller, John Whelan, Des Hurley, Gilles Chabenat......
Singers: Sandra Joyce, David Sylvian, Carina Normansson, Kristina Olsen, June Tabor, Andy Partridge.....
Writers: Edith Sitwell, Percy Bysse Shelley, William Shakespeare, John Donne, Les Barker, Penelope Evans, John Hegley, Margaret Atwood....
Food: Feijoas, Walkers Crisps and Cadburys Chocolate.
Drink: Tea
Discography
1987 - Roger Wilson: The Palm Of Your Hand (Harbourtown Records)
1992 - Sally Barker & The Rhythm: Beating The Drum (Hypertension)
1993 - The Kathryn Tickell Band: Signs (Black Crow)
1993 - The Poozies: Chantoozies (Hypertension)
1994 - Karen Tweed: Drops Of Springwater (Dave Mallinson publications)
1994 - Karen Tweed: The Silver Spire (Dave Mallinson publications)
1994 - Karen Tweed: Irish Choice Tune Book (Dave Mallinson publications)
1994 - Compilation: Across The Water (Live concert from Cork University - Nimbus Records)
1995 - Pete Morton: Courage, Love and Grace (Harbourtown Records)
1995 - The Poozies: Dansoozies (Hypertension)
1995 - Ian Carr & Karen Tweed: Shhh (Hypertension)
1997 - Ian Carr & Karen Tweed: Fyace (Fyasco Records)
1997 - SWÅP: SWÅP (Amigo)
1997 - Roy Bailey: New Directions In Old
1998 - The Poozies: Come Raise Your Head (4 track EP) (Poozmusic)
1999 - SWÅP: sic (Amigo)
1999 - The Two Duos Quartet: Half As Happy As We (RUF Records)
2000 - The Poozies: Infinite Blue (Pure Records)
2000 - Live på Halkaerkro: Compilation of Live tracks inc. Poozies, Swåp, KTB etc. (Halkaer1)
2000 - Roy Bailey: Coda
2001 - The Poozies: A Retrospective (Compass Records)
2001 - Karen Tweed & Timo Alakotila: May Monday (Fyasco Records)
2002 - : CDRom tutorial (MadForTrad)
2002 - SWÅP: Mosquito Hunter (Amigo)
2002 - Andy Cutting & Karen Tweed: One Roof Under (Fyasco Records)
2002 - Faerd: Faerd
2003 - The Poozies: Changed Days Same Roots (Greentrax)
2005 - Tony Hilliard: Each Step on the Way (Tony is a great singer resident in New Zealand. This is his second CD, produced by Davy Stuart with Karen, Tapani Varis, Davy Stuart, Chris While and Julie Matthews as guests)
2005 - SWAP: Du Da (Northside)
2005 - Morten Alfred Hoirup and Harald Haaugaard : Gastbud
This won a Danish Best CD award (I'll email you later exact title of award)
2006 - 4K Plot: New Constellations For Wind, Sole and Drawing Instruments (KAren Tweed; Karen Wimhurst; Keith McIntyre and Kerry Fletcher)
2006 - UNDERTOE: Opposite Angell Road (Stuart Kenney; Marko Packard; Karen Tweed with special guests inc Rodney Miller and Peter Barnes) |
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The Poozies
Karen Tweed : (Piano Accordion, Percussion, Vocals)
Mary Macmaster : (Electro-Harp, Metal-strung Harp, Percussion, Vocals)
Patsy Seddon : (Electro-Harp, Gut-strung Harp, Fiddle, Percussion, Vocals)
Eilidh Shaw : (Guitar, Fiddle, Percussion, Vocals)
Sally Barker : (Guitar, Vocals)
For over 15 years since they first hit the road in the early 1990’s, The Poozies have been ambassadors of women in folk music, taking us through an exciting, break-through in folk-rock fusion with founder-member Sally Barker, to Kate Rusby to fiddler and Gaelic singer Eilidh Shaw.
Now, they’ve gone full circle, and Sally Barker has re-joined the band making it a 5-piece and bringing back a blues-ier feel to parts of their repertoire while strengthening The Poozies well known and already strong vocal content.
The Poozies have always been masters of arranging. Both their instrumental sets and their songs can take you on a journey through a sometimes fantastical landscape where you are led by the nylon and metal strung harps of Patsy Seddon and Mary Macmaster with their fabtastic Camac electro-harp underpinning the unfolding arrangements. Even more spine-tingling are the close vocal harmonies which intensify the songs and to which Sally Barker will contribute her unique voice (When Sally was in the band originally there was an element of rock music present - she was once described as "the only person I've heard scream in tune", (Shetland Folk Festival). Add to all this Karen Tweed's amazingly dextrous accordion playing and Eilidh Shaw's fiddling and Gaelic songs and you have possibly the most eclectic folk band working on the UK touring circuits today.
The range of experience collectively realised by The Poozies is massive! Between them they have played with: Swap, Sileas, Harem Scarem, May Monday, Clan Alba, Keep It Up, The Two Duos Quartet, Shine, John Rae’s Celtic Feet, Caledon, La Boum and The Highfield Ceilidh Band. They have also all guested on many other artists’ recordings including Dick Gaughan, Lal and Norma Waterson, June Tabor and Eliza Carthy.
The success of The Poozies is evidenced by their continued popularity, playing to packed houses and enthusiastic audiences wherever they go.
Tradmusic.com
http://www.tradmusic.com/groupinfoa.asp?groupID=395 |
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| Karen Tweed with Tony Hillyard & Davey Stuart at the Canterbury Folk Festival, July 22, 2006 |
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Karen Tweed & Ian Carr
by Maureen Brennan
As all folk music afficionados know, it's an incestuous genre. Band members are always crossing over into other bands. Two of the busiest and most popular players in England today are piano accordionist Karen Tweed and guitarist Ian Carr.
In addition to their own duo, they perform together as half of two different quartets: SwŒp, with Ola BŠckstršm and Carina Normansson of Sweden; and The Two Duos Quartet, with Andy Cutting and Chris Wood. In addition, Tweed plays and sings with The Poozies. Until recently, Ian Carr was a part of The Kathryn Tickell Band; he still performs with Brendan Power and many others who cross his path for session and production work, as well as live performances.
Where did these two begin, and how did they connect with each other ?
For Ian Carr, one of the most sought-after guitarist/accompanists in folk music, he, unexpectedly, began with the harmonica. "At the age of five, my mother and father bought me a mouth organ, and I learned to play that with their encouragement. I enjoyed that, and then I learned to play the piano accordion. I played John Denver songs and Beatles songs for my mother and father and all their friends, and also in school and for old people. I was a small child with glasses and an eyepatch, so everyone loved me, and that led me to think I was quite good at music.
"When I was an adolescent, I decided that it was very uncool to play the accordion because my friends had all bought electric guitars. I wanted an electric guitar, so I learnt some chords on my motherÕs acoustic guitar. The first thing I learned was "Octopus's Garden" by the Beatles, and the second thing was "Don't Let Me Down" also by the Beatles.
Then I played in rock bands in Penrith. In fact, I was kicked out of a rock band because I couldn't play barre chords, so then I learned how to play them. We had a skinhead following for some reason, even though we didn't play skinhead music.
But all the while, even though I thought it was really uncool, I still played accordion in a ceilidh band called The Harvesters. We did barndances and things.
"When I left school, having failed all my exams, I thought, "What am I going to do ?" By this point I'd met some friends in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where I started playing in a folk band. I went on the dole and was unemployed for four or five years, and then I went on an enterprise allowance scheme.
By then, I was playing with the Old Rope String Band, who became quite successful after I left! I next, started playing with Kathryn Tickell, and through that, met Karen Tweed."
Karen Tweed began her musical career with Irish dance lessons.
"It was through Irish dancing that I first got interested in Irish music. I used to listen to the tapes we would dance to, and I couldn't believe how anybody could play that fast.
I thought that it was either a tape that was being played too fast, or that it must have been done on a machine.
At that time, I hadn't started to play the accordion, but I had started to play the melodica, which is like a keyboard that you blow into [both Tweed and Carr play these on their albums], and I used to mimic some of the tunes I heard on the tapes, but I couldn't get them anywhere near fast enough. It was quite instrumental in my getting interested in Irish music, just through the curiosity of wanting to find out how anybody could play for Irish dancing.
When I then went for competitions, I realized that people did play that fast, although it wasn't actually very fast at all.
When you play for Irish dancing, you end up playing slower than "De Dannan" or "Four Men and a Dog".
You play quite slowly, but to a beginning Irish dancer, it sounded like the fastest thing I had ever heard."
Sibling rivalry actually started Tweed on her future instrument, the piano accordion. When her older sister began taking lessons from local player Joe Coll, she decided she would like to play, as well.
"My father said I could go for lessons if I shared the same accordion as my sister for practicing, and if I didn't get a good report of progress in six months, then I wasnìt allowed to go any more. This was a great plan of my father's because I was determined to prove that I could be good at an instrument, and I wanted an accordion of my own."
Part of the regimen of taking lessons with Joe Coll was that the students would play in a marching band he led. "It had quite a strong Scottish, almost Orange, feel to it, and we played kind of Protestant marches, which was quite bizarre for me, when I came from an Irish Catholic family.
The main thing I remember that was absolutely ridiculous is that I had a 120-bass accordion, which is much larger than the accordion I play now, and I had to march for hours and hours just doing these funny little figure of eight routines and things, heaving this huge accordion about.
Either my parents were sadists or we were all a bit naive at the time, but I think it's kind of a crazy idea to play a huge accordion, as an 11-year-old wiry girl, but I suppose it made me quite fit."
While still playing in the marching band, Tweed began to take classical music lessons with Lawry Eady. Her parents were interested in having her learn Irish traditional music, and she became involved with the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann organization, eventually studying with John Whelan, who was from Luton at the time.
"John couldn't play the piano accordion, and he couldn't read music very well. I couldn't play the button accordion (these are two totally different systems of playing).
So, the teaching was done mostly by ear and I suppose, in a way, I learned to play Irish music in the style of the button accordion, which made me slightly different from most piano accordion players. Then he emigrated to America when I was 16 or 17, and I just started playing sessions and teaching myself, and I stopped listening to accordion music. I started listening to flutes and fiddles and trying to mimic how flutes and fiddles played the decoration and ornamentation of Irish music."
Tweed and Carr first met at The Shetland Folk Festival in May 1990. Tweed was there accompanying Roger Wilson, while Carr was playing with The Kathryn Tickell Band. As Tweed recalled: "I walked into a session at about one o'clock in the morning, and I saw this great session with many, many fiddle players, a couple of flutes, and Ian Carr playing guitar.
I thought he was one of the best guitarists I'd ever heard, and one of the most interesting musically. He didn't try to play like Arty McGlynn or Paul Brady or any of these people to back Irish or Scottish tunes, and I was very excited about this.
So, the session went on, and Ian and I were the last to leave at about six o'clock in the morning."
Later, when accordionist Lyn Tucker left The Kathryn Tickell Band, Tweed came to mind. "I was probably the only nonprofessional accordion player you knew at the time, who'd be up for playing in Kathryn's band, wasn't I?" she asked Carr. "In September 1991, Lyn Tucker had left in the middle of a tour, and they had three or four more dates still to do with no accordion player. So, I got a very rushed telephone call from some gig or other, asking me to join the band. I met them at Heathrow Airport two days after the phone call. I had a cassette that they had sent me that I hadn't really had time to listen to. We spent the next day rehearsing the set that we were going to play the following night. It wasn't quite as bad as it sounds because there was a lot of Irish music we could play together, that Kathryn, Ian and Geoff [Lincoln; bass] knew; but learning the Northumbrian tunes was a bit scary at that short notice. Our first gig was at Tulle, in France."
Within The Kathryn Tickell Band, Tweed and Carr were often looking for opportunities to play duos and to have jams.
They were also working in other bands. Carr performed with Simon Thoumire, and Tweed had joined the Poozies (with Patsy Seddon, Mary MacMaster, and Sally Barker) and also did two tours with Sally Barker & The Rhythm. Somewhere in the midst of all this hectic scheduling, Tweed gave up her full-time teaching job.
"Originally, I was only supposed to stay in the band for six months until Kathryn found another accordion player; but we enjoyed working together so much, it seemed to work musically and socially, so I didn't leave. I carried on juggling the Poozies, the Kathryn Tickell Band, Sally Barker & The Rhythm, which was fairly hectic, but great fun, and very demanding musically. I owe Kathryn a lot, really, for making me push my music so hard. I always tried to achieve higher goals in the music I know best, which really is Irish music; but playing Northumbrian music and playing rhythm accordion was really brought out in me by Roger [Wilson], Kathryn [Tickell], and Sally [Barker]. I'd never thought about the use of the accordion in this way before. Then, meeting Ian Carr was great because he made me play the left hand, my bass, much, much more. In Irish music there used to be a tendency to play very little left hand [bass] with your right hand melody. I think that's changing a little bit in Irish music now, and certainly for me, the bass has become an incredibly important part of the music I play with Ian."
When Kathryn Tickell decided to take a year off from touring, it was the perfect opportunity for Carr and Tweed to pursue some duo work. After their years of playing as accompanists in bands, it took some adjusting to go out as a twosome. Not only had neither of them led a band before, but they also realized that, with just two musicians, each note counts. Carr described it as "in some ways freeing...but in other ways really scary."
"Suddenly, you have to do so much more," Tweed explained. "You have to play out more, and the audience hears exactly what we're both doing all the time. So, if either of us makes a mistake, it's heard immediately, and it's made huge. Whereas in a band, you can often hide those things quite easily. It's not only the music, but you have to communicate more. You have to talk to the audience as a front person, and me and Ian had only ever done that a little bit in the Kathryn Tickell Band.
We'd relied on Kathryn to be the front person, the person that people had come to see, and therefore, the person who's making the most on the communication front. It was quite a shock when we went out as the duo to have to suddenly be in those shoes."
From a musical standpoint, "I can do more or less what I like if I'm playing the melody. And Ian can basically do what he likes when he's accompanying me, but when we start swapping roles if I become the accompanist and Ian becomes the melody person, it becomes a bit more arranged and we tend to play a bit more in parts like that. But if we're in what's considered the normal roles of me in melody and Ian in accompaniment, Ian often plays about with what he does and often trips me up, which is quite exciting. In a band, it's more structured than that."
The shifting melody and accompaniment lines lend a great diversity and playfulness to Tweed's and Carr's performance. Their musical approach has been decribed as "a balancing act between respectful renditions of traditional material and reckless tinkering with rhythm."
However it's described, they give the impression of enjoying themselves immensely and egging each other on to increasing musical heights.
Now, what do two people, who work constantly and keep calendars that would confuse Gregor Mendel, do?
They start another band! While performing in Falun, Sweden, they met fiddlers Ola BŠckstršm and Carina Normansson, their future bandmates in SwŒp. "Ian and I were on tour in Sweden with the Kathryn Tickell Band," Tweed elaborated. "We had done about a week, and we hadn't heard a scrap of Swedish tradtional music. So, we landed in Falun for an early soundcheck, and Ola and Carina had just finished performing a show for children. We persuaded them to play some polskas, and Carina sang in the Kulning tradition. This had the result of scaring Neil, our bass player, to death, and making Kathryn cry. It was beautiful and totally exhilarating."
Carr picked up the thread: "I suggested that I'd come and visit them and learn something about Swedish music, and play with them. So, I wanted to do that, and then Karen said she'd like to do that, as well. "Why don't we form a band ?"
So we formed a band because Karen Tweed sent lots of faxes and letters, and made lots of phone calls, and it all happened. And before we'd played a note of music, we'd got a gig!"
Working in SwŒp is a learning experience for all the musicians involved. Not only do Carr and Tweed learn about Swedish music, and BŠckstršm and Normansson learn Irish music, but everyone learns a bit about their own musical background in trying to teach it to others.
Carr explained, "Listening to Carina and Ola play Irish tunes, you learn a lot about the tunes themselves, from hearing them played without the usual Irishy style."
"You also realize," Tweed continued, "how much you don't know about Irish music. We teach Ola and Carina an Irish reel, for example, and they say to us, "Well, how do you bow that ?" And bowing in Irish fiddle playing is so massively important, and neither Ian nor I know how to bow Irish fiddle style really, and that is all important in the phrasing of the tune, and how styles differ from each other, and we canÕt tell them that, and that's really hard."
"It's good as well," Carr countered, "because it means they have to struggle and find an interesting way to play it."
Much of what SwŒp does blends their musical cultures. On the self-named SwŒp CD, thereÕs a set titled "The Red Jacket," which combines two polskas around a slip jig. All four members of the group are active composers, so there's a lot of original material in their performances. They have even devised a program for playing in the Swedish schools together, called "From Storsjšodjuret to Loch Ness."
Tweed described it: "In our presentation, Ola and Carina want to find the Storsjšodjuret, which is the big lake monster in Sweden. So they go to find another lake monster, which happens to be the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland. We take the children on a geographical tour from Sweden to Great Britain, where they meet me and Ian, and from Newcastle, we go to Wales, and from Wales to Ireland, and from Ireland, we wind up back in Scotland, where we see the Loch Ness Monster.
Along the way, we teach them Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Swedish songs, tunes and dances. We end up with a dance on how we met the Loch Ness monster, and we all made friends, and it was all fine, and not very scary at all. The Loch Ness Monster wanted to know if there was another monster, which there was, and we told him about Storsjšodjuret, and he contacted him and lived happily ever after."
The duo feel that the music of SwŒp is seen as much more exotic in England and Scotland because the audiences aren't really familiar with Swedish music. In Sweden, however, much of the audience would be familiar with Irish music.
Tweed and Carr worried initially about what the Swedes would think of them playing their tunes. Tweed elaborated: "We thought the Swedes would think it was awful or something and deport us immediately, but they didn't.
They seemed to really like our group. They don't see it particularly as Swedish music; they see it as our music; they see it as a group, and value it in that context."
Carr was excited that audiences actually danced polskas to their music. "I wasn't expecting it, I didn't really know. I was wondering if people would be able to dance to it, and that's a vote of confidence that they actually can."
All the time that Tweed is balancing the duo and SwŒp (and at one point The Kathryn Tickell Band, as well), she was still spending almost half of her performing time with The Poozies. In the beginning, the Poozies consisted of Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster of Sìleas on harps, vocals and Seddon on fiddle; Sally Barker on vocals and guitar; Karen Tweed on accordion and backing vocals; and Jenny Gardiner on fiddles and vocals.
It was an unusual idea for harps and accordion to play together, but one that worked very well with these particular players. For a short time, when Gardiner left the band, Texas fiddler Neti Vaandrager joined the group. But when she left, the group permanently settled in the four pieces. "We thought it was very scary," Tweed said, "when people had been used to hearing five voices and five instruments, but it actually ended up being a much tighter unit, I think. We were all much happier with having four people, and it was easier in the car."
The harmony vocals have always been a standout element of The Poozies. They sang traditional songs in Scots Gaelic, but also a number of American folk songs and Sally Barkerìs original compositions. When Barker left the band in the summer of 1995, they asked Kate Rusby to join the group. Tweed described her addition: "She's a singer and guitarist, and she also plays the fiddle, so we're back to having two fiddles in the band, which is wonderful. I think the band has now gone onto a more traditional slant. Kate brings with her a wealth of English traditional music, which is quite nice in that we now have Scottish, Irish and English traditional influences coming into the band. And due to my curent work, we're also starting to play a bit more Scandinavian music, which is very interesting." The current lineup of the group has just released their first full-length CD, called Infinite Blue. (They previously had a four track EP, titled Come Raise Your Head.)
As if all this weren't enough, Tweed is also an artist, and she tries to find time to fit drawing, painting and etching into her schedule. She has had art exhibits at The Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow and has designed album covers for Ceolbeg, Sally Barker, and Chris Wood & Andy Cutting. She also has been heavily involved in the CD layouts for SwŒp and Fyace (her second CD with Ian Carr), as well as The Poozies' poster. When she was asked to put together a tunebook and CD a few years ago, she worked on the design and illustrations. (A new tune book is planned in the upcoming year).
The most recent recording project for Carr and Tweed is a joint album with Chris Wood and Andy Cutting. "Andy Cutting is a really brilliant melodeon/diatonic accordion player who basically plays English, French, and Quebecois music," explained Tweed. "He and Ian have collaborated before doing the odd kind of duo, and also in a band that used to be around called Fishhut. And so they know each others' music quite well.
Andy plays with a fiddle player called Chris Wood, who is also a great singer and guitarist. He basically plays English music and music heÕs recorded." The four had a very successful tour last December (1997) as The Two Duos Quartet. They recorded the CD in about two and a half days, and it includes traditional music from England, France, Ireland and Quebec, as well as a few self-penned tunes and songs.
They had such a good time recording the album that they're toying with the title of Halfe as happy as wee (from a John Donne poem).
You'll have to be mighty fast, or in the right place at the right time, to catch Karen Tweed and Ian Carr. Or you might see one or the other of them off playing Scottish, Swedish, Quebecois, Irish, English or Cajun (Ian's done it.) music in some far-flung corner of the world. (The Poozies are in Turkey in November.) Whoever, wherever, whenever, there'll be laughter, imagination, and brilliant playing.
by Maureen Brennan,
Dirty Linen No. 79 - December '98/January '99
http://www.dirtylinen.com/linen/79/tweedcarr.html |
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DISCOGRAFIA PER IMMAGINI..... |
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Roger Wilson - The palm of your hand, 1987 |
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Karen Tweed - Drops of springwater (1994) |
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Pete Morton - Courage, Love & Grace (1995) |
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SWAP - SWAP (1997) |
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The Poozies - Infinite Blu (1999) |
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Roy Bailey - Coda (2001) |
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Andy Cutting & Karen Tweed - One Roof Under (2002) |
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Swåp - Du Da (2005) |
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Undertoe - Walking Down Angell Road (2006) |
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Sally Barker - Beating the drum (1992) |
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Karen Tweed - The Silver Spire (1994) |
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The Poozies - Dansoozies (1995) |
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Roy Bailey - New Directions In The Old (1997) |
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SWÅP - sic (1999) |
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May Monday - May Monday (2001) |
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Færd - Ian Carr [guitar], Karen Tweed [accordion], Peter Urhbrand [violin/viola], Nanna Luders [vocals] and Eskil Romme [saxophone], (2002). |
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Harald Haugaard and Morten Alfred Høirup - Gæstebud (2005) |
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Kathryn Tickell - Signs (1994) |
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Karen Tweed'Irish Choice, Tune Book (1994) |
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Ian Carr & Karen Tweed - Shhh (1995) |
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The Poozies - Come Raise Your Head, E.P. 4 Tracks (1998) |
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Live på Halkaerkro: Compilation of Live tracks inc. Poozies, Swåp, KTB etc. (2000) |
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THE MADFORTRAD CD-ROM TUTORIAL SERIES,: PIANO ACCORDION taught by KAREN TWEED, 2002 |
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The Poozies - Changed Days Same Roots (2003) |
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4K Plot: New Constellations For Wind, Sole and Drawing Instruments, Karen Tweed; Karen Wimhurst; Keith McIntyre and Kerry Fletcher (2005) |
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The Poozies - Chantoozies (1993) |
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Across The Water, Live concert from Cork University (1995) |
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Ian Carr & Karen Tweed - Fayace (1997) |
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The Two Duos Quartet - Half as Happy as We (1999) |
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The Poozies - Come Raise Your Head, A Retrospective (2000) |
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Swåp - Mosquito Hunter (2002) |
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Tony Hillyard - Each Step on the Way (2005) |
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Maddie Southorn - The Pilgrim Soul (2005) |
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Traditional Irish Music - Karen Tweed's Irish Choice
Tune Book, 1994 |
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93 tunes, discography, photographs, Karen's personal thoughts and incidentally, Karen also came up with the intriguing cover drawing along with numerous illustrations inside.
Contents:
[Reels ] All Around the World, Andy McGann's, Bríd Harper's, The Broken Pledge, Bunker Hill, Christmas Eve, The Congress, The Convenience reel, Corney's Coming, Dennis Langtou's, Dinkie's, The Drunken Landlady, The Fairy reel, Fearghal O'Gadhra, Girl who Broke my Heart, Hand me Down the Tackle, Humours of Loughrea, The Humours of Tulla, The Kilfodda, Launching the Boat, Matt Peoples', Maudabawn Chapel, The Milliner's Daughter, Miss Thornton's, The Monaghan Twig, My Love is in America, The Old Copperplate, Over the Moor to Maggie, Paddy Lynn's Delight, The Piper's Despair, The Raheen, The Reel of Mullinavat, Return to Miltown, Sailor on the Rock, The Scholar, Seámus Meehan's, The Silver Spire, Siobhán O'Donnell's 3, The Steeplechase, The Watchmaker. [Jigs] Boys of the Town , The Bunch of Roses, The Bush on the Hill, Con Cassidy's, Connaughtman's Rambles, Connie O'Connell's, Conway's, The Cúil Aodha, The Flowers of Spring Gander in the Pratie Hole, The Hare in the Corn, Hartigan's Fancy, The Humours of Kesh, The Maid on the Green, The Miners' jig, Munster Bacon, The New House, Rambling Pitchfork, Scotsman Over Border, The Second Victory, Siobhán O'Donnell's 1, Siobhán O'Donnell's 2, Strayaway Child, Tommy Peoples', Tom Trainor's, Vincent Campbell's. [Hornpipes] The Cliffe hornpipe, The Cuckoo, Frank McCollum's, Joe Skelton's, Queen of the West, The Smell of the Bog, Smith's Favourite Spellan the Fiddler, The Tara Brooch, The Turnpike. [Polkas] Ailbe Grace's, An Gallope, Art O'Keeffe's, The Ballydesmond, Captain Byng, Cousin's Delight, Din Tarrant's No. 3, Jim Keeffe's, Peg Ryan's, Sweeney's, Teahan's Favourite. [Miscellany] Drops of Springwater, Going to Well for Water, Humours of Derrycrosane, Merrily Kiss the Quaker's, The Scart, Whinny Hills of Leitrim.
Melody and chords.
With personal notes on the tunes and a foreword by Phil Cunningham.
A4 paperback, 46 pages. |
| Karen Tweed at Celtic Connections 2005 |
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The Rough Guide to Irish Music,
(World Music Network, October 1, 1996) |
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Interpreti: Dolores Keane, Altan, Clannad, Eilieen Ivers,
Kevin Crawford, Deanta, Patrick Street, Sliabh Notes,
Dervish, Joe Derrane, Ciaran Tourish & Dermot McLaughlin, Cran, Brendan Larrissey, Siobhan O'Donnell, Martin Murray,
Karen Tweed & Andy Cutting, Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill,
Martin Hayes.
Karen Tweed interpreta il seguente medley:
"Untitled/Untitled/Hand Me Down The Tackle"
con Siobhan O'Donnell ed Andy Cutting |
FolkWorld CD Reviews, Issue 11 10/99
Swåp "[sic]"
Label: Amigo Records, AMCD741, 1999; Playing time: 52.55 min
The second CD of the English-Swedish top band is a neatless follower of their debut. If you are unfamiliar with Swåp, maybe you are familiar with either the Swedish part of the band, fiddler Ola Bäckström and fiddler and singer Carina Normansson, or the English part, Karen Tweed on piano accordion and Ian Carr on guitar. Swåp's music is an exciting melting pot of the improvisation based on Celtic music traditions and the dark hypnotic beauty of Swedish traditional music.
A driving rhythmic guitar played with a lot of wit, a happy hypnotic accordion and finally two Swedish fiddles - a class one mixture. The tunes on this album are mainly written by band members based somewhere between traditional background, new grounds found in the other traditions (Swedish for the English; Celtic for the Swedish) and the very own part of improvisation and ideas. These are interwoven with several traditional tunes from Sweden and England. As a new and very welcome feature we find on this CD (quite at the end of the album - maybe thought as a nice surprise?) two traditional Swedish songs, tastefully presented by Carina.
What kind of music is this now? Swenglish traditions maybe? Well I guess this music is best described as Swåp - it is unique enough to be its very own style!
Amigo Records Sweden
Michael Moll
http://www.folkworld.de/11/e/cds1.html |
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May Monday, 2001
FolkWorld CD Reviews, Issue 19 8/2001
Karen Tweed and Timo Alakotila "May Monday"
Label: Fyasco Records, FYCD003, 2001
Karen Tweed, the well known accordionist from England (duo with Ian Carr, The Poozies, Swåp, Two Duos), has finally something like a solo CD - not that it is really a solo CD. More a project with plenty of well known musicians of the English and Nordic folk world. She has teamed up with the Finnish pianist and composer Timo Alakotila. The album features also Väsen's guitarist Roger Tallroth, the Finnish accordeonist Maria Kalaniemi, Finnish violinists Mauno Järvelä and Matti Mäkelä, Helka Hahasalo on viola, Shanti Paul Jayasinha on flügelhorn, Timo Myllykangas on double bass and Marion Göbel on cello.
As you can imagine, the result is excellent. The album wanders between different influences between the British isles and the Nordic countries, being steepted in the two music traditions that Karen Tweed is in love with: the Irish and the Swedish. The album displays and celebrates the result of sessions with other bands during diverse festivals. It features both traditionals from England, Ireland and Scandinavia and newly composed music by musicians such as Karen Tweed herself, Sarah Allen, Andy Cutting and Chris Wood.
This is laid back music, blending not only diverse folk music traditions, but also diverse styles. Mainly it is quiet music, along with a few livelier tunes. Plenty of wonderful music. The music project "May Monday" is just about to embark on a mini tour in England at the start of September, watch out for them !
Michael Moll
http://www.folkworld.de/19/e/cds4.html |
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Karen Tweed & Timo Alakotila, "MY MONDAY"
NorthSide, NSD 605949, 2001
Folk progressivo, Inghilterra/Finlandia
Ascoltando l’affascinante lavoro musicale di questo duo fisarmonica e pianoforte e cercando un confronto con lo stesso tipo di duo appena recensito (“Ambra” di Maria Kalaniemi e Timo Alakotila) mi sono trovato a scoprire prima le somiglianze, poi le differenze e poi, come una fusione di tutto questo, gli elementi che non erano più, non erano meno, ma erano solo caratteristici delle due diverse fisarmoniche di Karen e Maria.
Emergeva il timbro, la delicatezza di Karen e la leggerezza di Maria, la precisione di una e l’estro dell’altra.
No, non è possibile alcun confronto. Non ha senso. E rischierebbe di rimanere impigliato nella mio grande trasporto per il tocco di Karen ( e per il timbro di quella piccola fisarmonica italiana) o nella mia passione irrazionale per tutto quanto respira l’aria del freddo Nord finno-scandinavo.
Dunque torniamo indietro e forniamo dati incontrovertibili.
L’idea di questa registrazione, in cui compaiono sporadicamente anche i bottoni del mantice di Maria e di altri ospiti, nasce lontano, da una serie di incontri in un festival danese del 1993. L’ultimo dei quali, in un caffè di Halkaerkro, partorì l’idea di questo sodalizio passeggero, pur tra gli impegni di Karen con gli Swap e con Ian Carr e quelli di Timo con i Troka.
Poi la cosa rimase acquiescente per anni. Karen rincontrò Maria e Timo in una serata di un festival scozzese che vedeva impegnata anche la band di Sharon Shannon. Altri incontri seguirono legati anche ai vari viaggi che Karen faceva in quelle lande nordiche per l’esperienza anglo-svedese del gruppo Swap. Ad un certo punto quel cerino che si era acceso sette anni fa si trasforma in una registrazione avvenuta nel 2000 in Finlandia con l’aiuto della Sibelius Academy di Helsinki.
Cosa ne è uscito? Un bellissimo incontro, molto piacevole all’ascolto, con melodie che racchiudono tutto il mondo di Karen (più che quello di Timo): melodie tradizionali e di composizione del mondo britannico e svedese. Buoni gli arrangiamenti, firmati per lo più insieme.
Certo, forse mancano delle composizioni specifiche per questo duo. Ma queste, chissà, forse verranno poi se questo incontro, come spero, avrà un seguito.
Tiziano Menduto, FOLK BULLETTIN
http://www.evolusuoni.it/scandinavia/tweed_&_alakotila.htm |
Færd - Ian Carr [guitar], Karen Tweed [accordion], Peter Urhbrand [violin/viola], Nanna Luders [vocals] and Eskil Romme [saxophone].
Færd, Tutl Records, 2002
Færd is a UK-Nordic fusion featuring Ian Carr (guitar) and Karen Tweed (accordion), Peter Urhbrand (violin/viola), Nanna Luders (vocals) and Eskil Romme (saxophone). Fans of ULC and Swäp are already well acquainted with the commonality of Danish and British folk music, and the fusions that some of these musicians have already introduiced to the world have been well received. Færd finds these same musicians tackling the music of the Faroe Islands, in a set of songs and dances from a 1923 collection called "Faroese Melodies to Danish Heroic Ballads," and from the music books of Jens Christian Svabo published in 1775.
http://www.cdroots.com/tutl-faerd.html
FolkWorld CD Reviews, Issue 24 12/2002
"Færd"
Nana Lüders, Peter Uhrbrand, Eskil Romme, Karen Tweed, Ian Carr
Label: Tutl (Alternative distribution: GO); SHD55; 2002
This album combines Danish with English/Irish folk music talents and presents a musical journey from Denmark and England to the Faroe Islands.
The result is rather impressive: A beautiful combination of old traditional music and modern influences, open minded and masterfully presented. The material played on Færd is all related to the cultural North Sea region, with a strong focus on the Faroes. Most of the ballads stem from a collection of "Faroese melodies to Danish Heroic Ballads" from 1923; the majority of tunes are based on Christian Svabo's music book from the 18th century, containing a rich collection of dance tunes played at that time in Denmark and England.
On the Danish side play Peter Uhrbrand (violin/viola), Eskil Romme (soprano sax) and the singer Nana Lüders, on the English/Irish side we have the unique talents of Ian Carr (Guitar) and Karen Tweed (accordion). The combination of these musicians works incredibly well. The centre of the songs is set on the beautiful singing of Nana; yet the instrumentalists provide a very strong and varied accompaniment. Musically, the melodic base is set on violin/viola and accordion, plus the sounds of the soprano sax giving the music an exciting more modern edge. Although the focus of most of the music is on the Danish and Faroerse elements, the unique element of the duo Ian Carr/Karen Tweed, with their distinctive combination of rhythmic and innovative guitar playing interwoven with Karen's accordion.
A strong album of Northern European music, enjoyable from the first to the last minute.
Michael Moll |
Andy Cutting & Karen Tweed - One Roof Under
Fyasco Records, 2002
Two superb folk accordionists come together on record again after a long hiatus (all of seven years, if my memory's not playing tricks) during which they've been immensely busy on numerous projects – even including touring together sometimes! – and constantly in demand. A whole album of instrumental pieces featuring two accordions might sound like a recipe for aural hell, but fear not – boring and samely it ain't, for there's plenty of variety in pace and texture even without considering the very occasional augmentation from Ian Carr's acoustic guitar. And – to state the obvious – the tones and textures of the duo's favoured instruments (Karen's piano accordion and Andy's button accordion) make for an absorbing blend in any case. Consider also the different milieus in which the two operate – Karen working with the Poozies and/or Ian Carr, Andy with Welsh band Fernhill and fiddle player Chris Wood – and the virtually unlimited scope for intriguing combinations of influences that such occupations might imply. Both Karen and Andy display an individual – and finely-honed – virtuosity that's probably best described as gently dazzling, always vibrant yet never needing to parade in front of your ears to grab your attention. Listening to this CD, it's patently obvious that these two musicians not only have a musical relationship that's extremely empathic but that they have an extraordinary capacity for learning much from, and responding instantly to, each other. And that holds true whatever the musical idiom or ethnic style they've chosen to feature – they're equally at home in Swedish polskas or waltzes, Irish or Northumbrian jigs, or tunes from France or Quebec, and oh so easily combine tunes from different sources within the same set, invariably to good effect. Several tracks also spotlight Andy's own compositional skills, while the charming opener Wark combines two of Karen's own. Particular favourites of mine among the album's ten tracks are the lovingly textured Johsefines, which utilises a Swedish christening waltz to introduce a Sussex tune with a Chris Wood composition as finale, the abundantly infectious vitality of the St. Michael's Mount set, and the elegantly beautiful closer Åsa. This is truly an album to savour.
David Kidman
http://www.netrhythms.co.uk/reviewst.html#tweed |
The Poozies - CHANGED DAYS SAME ROOTS
GREENTRAX CDTRAX 249
Contano le stagioni, non gli anni. Così ammoniva Cesare Pavese su “La luna e i falò”, rimarcando quanto l’idea dell’avvicendarsi dei cicli naturali prevalesse sulle convenzionali scansioni del calendario.
A questa idea ho pensato, fermando lo sguardo sulla copertina dell’ultimo lavoro del gruppo femminile scozzese delle Poozies, raffigurante un albero nello scenario di quattro diverse situazioni climatiche.
Anche la musica e le voci di queste giovani artiste, in attività con altri tre dischi ufficiali e una retrospettiva a partire dall’inizio degli anni ‘90, ci pare cosi saldamente piantata sulle radici, come quell’albero impregnata del mondo celtico, ma con i rami rivolti verso venti provenienti da aree geografiche diverse.
Karen Tweed (piano accordion, percussioni e voci), Patsy Seddon (electro harp, gut-strung harp, fiddle e percussioni), Mary MacMaster (electro harp, metal-strung harp, percussioni) e la nuova acquisizione Eilidh Shaw (chitarra, fiddle, percussioni e voci) miscelano infatti con generosità e sapienza le tradizioni del proprio paese, visitando all’occorrenza musiche provenienti da Svezia o Polonia, unendo le trame in quel tessuto misterioso che è la musica del Nord. L’elettrificazione dell’arpa non compromette la celestiale risonanza dello strumento, anzi, il virtuosismo di Patsy apre la strada agli altri strumenti, fisarmonica e violino su tutto, trascinandoli in una danza di rara fascinazione. Il disco conquista per la misurata bellezza dei suoni, per l’arcadica cantabilità delle melodie e per il felice connubio delle voci.
Se angeli musicanti scendessero sulla Terra e si rendessero visibili, le loro fattezze non si discosterebbero troppo da quelle delle bravissime Poozies.
FRANCESCO CALTAGIRONE
OUT OF TIME N° 44
http://www.outoftime.it/review.php?paperID=44&reviewID=71 |
Undertoe - WALKING DOWN ANGELL ROAD
AIM-CD22701, 2006
Longtime Wild Asparagus member Stuart Kenney on banjo and upright bass, English tune-monger Karen Tweed on accordion, and Airdance's unstoppable Marko Packard on whistle, flute, oboe, sax and guitar! An array of tunes, some danceable, all thoroughly listenable, many from the "wonky world" of Kenney's unique banjo compositions. With guests Rodney Miller, Sarah Blair, Peter Barnes, Meredith Doster and Peter Siegel.
http://www.elderly.com/recordings/items/AIM-CD22701.htm |
Karen Tweed & Swåp
Live at The Black Swan Folk Club |
Karen Tweed & Swåp
at The Nordic Roots Festival,
19-23 April 2000, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
Karen Tweed & Timo Alakotila
"MAY MONDAY",
Nordic Roots Festival,
19-23 April 2000, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Karen Tweed & her fantastic piano-accordion !!! |
Karen Tweed on "Taplas",
"The voice of Folk in Wales & The Borders"
"Y Gorau o Fyd Gwerin Cymur A'R Gororau"
Taplas, N° 107, Agosto/Settembre 2001, pag. 12-13 |
| Karen Tweed at Celtic Connections 2006 |
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