The Latest News
Tasting American Folk Music
October 13th, 2009
by Suruchi Gupta, Kolkata Mirror
Interest in folk music and inquisitiveness to hear a famed name live had brought a small crowd of Kolkatans to listen to American folk singer and songwriter Carrie Newcomer at American Center's Lincoln Hall. The gathering could not have left any more satisfied than it did, after singing with the lead in chorus on one track while listening to her play the guitar and melodies of life in other tracks.
Starting off with a ‘Hello' and the track Leaves Don't Drop, They Just Let Go, Carrie moved on to sing ordinary tales of life woven in the simplest of words and accompanied with endearing guitar tunes strummed by herself. Carrie sung mostly from her unreleased album Before and After and the latest album The Geography of Light during the evening.
"I've come to listen some authentic American folk music, to know if she (Carrie) belongs to the Whitney Houston genre or Joan Baez," were Bishakha Sen's words before the concert, and "She's very reflective and amazing," after it.
Carrie shared with the audience the humorous stories behind her songs, which mostly revolved around her family and friends. For example, the track When It's Done It's Said And Done had its birth in her daughter's request to write a song by using the first word from Wikipedia's random shuffle tab. "After cheating, by clicks many times instead of once, I got ghost train, on which I wrote this one" said Carrie.
"Indian women are the most beautifully dressed women in the world," shared the singer, dressed in an elegant deep bluish-green kurti with black trousers and printed silk scarf especially for the evening.
Love between parents and children, love ‘when best parts start to sag', relevance of being ‘there' when one wants you and returning the favour when need be, packing up and moving on ‘when there's nothing left to do,' learning to live in conditions unexpected a la a crab which learns how to live without water, breaking boundaries (like dams on rivers) to achieve good - were some of the themes behind her songs. Sung in a clear voice the audience was left clapping loudly even before she had finished the last notes every song.
Musical notes perhaps reside in every human and can be brought out irrespective the singer's voice quality. Carrie brought out this heart-felt music when the audience joined her in chorus for the track If not now. "It's a sing along track. Folk music means singing along, so you must accompany me," said Carrie before coursing the track's lanes.
Here I Am Without A Message, Here I Stand With Empty Hands was Carrie's last track for the audience leaving them touched to the core with its message of time's preciousness.
"Lovely concert! I thought folk song would be like more of country song but it was different and I liked it. The themes and meaning behind every song is what touched me most," said Aradhana Pereira, audience.
Audience members congratulated Carrie on her performance after the concert was over and compared her to stalwarts of the folk genre.
"Carrie Newcomer was just brilliant, full of life and great from the word go. She just revived a lot of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, John Lennon and Leonard Cohen for me," said Mitul, audience.