Michell, Pfeiffer And Kulesh
Venue: The Riverhouse Barn Arts CentreTown: Walton-on-Thames
Date: 9th June 2024
Website: https://www.odettemichell.com/mpk
Three of my favourite folk singers in my favourite venue, for an album release! I mean, some days the gods really are smiling on you. Daria Kulesh, who I've known just five months shy of a decade, Odette Michell, who I've known for six years, and Karen Pfeiffer, who I've only known for two years, performing at the Riverhouse Barn Arts Centre in Walton-on-Thames, celebrating the release of their new album "Flowers".
Like most of the folk concerts at the Barn, this was held on a Sunday, at lunch time. The centre has a cafe plus bar and an art gallery as well as the most gorgeous, mock Tudor theatre/ concert venue. Generally doors to the venue open at twelve, with the concert starting at 12:15. The plan was, that this particular concert would be live streamed. Unfortunately, about fifteen minutes before doors opening, the internet went down. This resulted in a number of difficulties, not least being that the bar, ticket office and cafe were not able to take money. Almost everybody, though had pre-bought tickets (I'd bought mine back in January), and the bar and cafe worked on a system of trust, noting down everyone's name and their order on a pad and hoping that the internet would be restored before the end of the concert, and that everyone would be honest enough to settle up later.
It did mean however that the venue was unable to start streaming when the concert started. Eventually the internet came back to life and the live streaming did start. I believe that they did record everything so hopefully the full concert may well be available to view at a later date.
I've seen the trio once before, and on both occasions they have been joined by the superb violinist Katrina Davies, who also features on much of the album. The first time, Katrina had not heard any of the songs until that day and still played phenomenally, but this time round she was obviously much more familiar with the material. I said to Paul Walker, (Karen's husband), that they really need to start thinking of themselves as a quartet, rather than as a trio.
The title song of the album features three sisters called Rose, Daisy and Lily. Each of the three singers played the part of one of the sisters and were dressed accordingly. Odette, as Rose, wore a long yellow dress, Karen, as Daisy, wore an almost bridal white gown, decorated with daisies, and Daria, as Lily, wore a long red dress. My memory tells me that Katrina was wearing a long green dress, but in the photographs it definitely appears more blue than green. Let's split the difference and say that Katrina was wearing a turquoise dress.
All three of these marvellous folk musicians share a deep fascination in the history of music, particularly in those songs that have crossed borders and languages. All three also share a love for songs that celebrate peace. Songs such as "Bella Ciao", which started life as a protest song written by female workers in the paddy fields in the Po valley in Northern Italy, which was then adapted by the Italian Resistance. To further the song's evolution, and to strengthen the message of a desire for liberty, Odette, Karen and Daria translated a verse into Russian, (sung by Daria) and a verse in German, (sung by Karen).
Another such song they sang was "Peat Bog Soldiers", originally known as "Die Moorsoldaten". The lyrics were originally written back in 1933 by Johann Esser (a miner) and Wolfgang Langhoff (an actor) with the music by Rudi Goguel, who were imprisoned in a German Concentration Camp for having political views that did not conform to the then current zeitgeist. The song was smuggled out of the camp in the shoes of a visitor and has since been translated into very many different languages. It became a Republican anthem during the Spanish civil war. Michell, Pfeiffer and Kulesh's version comprised the original German, English and Russian.
There's a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe about a boy who was kidnapped by the Fairy King. Karen said that they didn't like the end of that poem as it ended tragically. There's a well-known traditional folk song called "Tam Lin". Daria said that they didn't like the beginning of that due to the lack of consent. They therefore decided to mash together the two to produce a song that had a beginning and an end that they approved of. The result was "Lady Margaret", and I suspect that they also drew heavily from the traditional songs regarding Lady Margaret and Sweet William. They start with spoken German. I'm afraid I lack the erudition to be able to state definitely that it is a direct quote from Goethe, but I suspect it is. The protagonist then hears the Elven King whispering in her ear. This is followed by a verse sung in Russian, which I presume could well be the words spoken by the King. Lady Margaret then swiftly combs her hair, (as she does in both variants of the Sweet William and Lady Margaret songs that I know), and then rides out to rescue he one true love from the Elven King.
In addition to all of the ten songs on the album, they played an additional four songs, from their own solo careers. Karen and her husband live in Stoke, a once prosperous town, and wrote "Our Golden Age" to describe how the lack of industry affected the town. Although it is a fairly tragic subject, the song is jolly with lots of audience participation involving both singing and waving your hands to mimic potters' wheels, and miners' cages.
From her album "Long Lost Home", Daria sang "The Moon And The Pilot", a song she wrote about her Grandmother's home country Ingushetia which was declared an enemy of Russia by Stalin, and the entire population was deported and dumped into the wilds of Kazakhstan. Her Grandmother was eleven at the time.
Odette is currently working on her next album, which hopefully will be released soon. From it, she sang "Queen Of The Lowlands" about a Dutch passenger shop called SS Koningin der Nederlanden. Although the Dutch were neutral during the First World War, the Americans, using the excuse that if they didn't do it then the enemy might, confiscated 89 Dutch ships to use as Troop ships. After the war SS Koningin der Nederlanden made five trips from France to the US, repatriating more than 10,000 troops, before being returned to her rightful owners.
The final song that they played of those that are not on the "Flowers" album was inspired by Karen when she saw a poster for the charity Shelter saying that the were more than 4 million people who were only a pay check away from being homeless. She and Paul wrote "What If My Pockets Were Empty?", with the proceeds having been donated to Shelter.
I have said before that Odette has a remarkable gift of being able to write a song that sounds as if it was a traditional folk song. If they had played "Flowers" and stated that it was Child Ballad 27, or Roud Index 43, I would have believed them. It has all of the elements of a traditional song: a murder ballad along with three sisters each one in turn meeting a strange man. The explanation for Odette's gift became obvious as she described how she and Daria had written the song. She said that she and Daria had written the song when they went for a walk in the greenwood near where she lived. As far as I know, the last person who used the word 'greenwood' to describe a wood perished when Sir Robin of Loxley unleashed an arrow which pierced their jerkin. Odette clearly writes such beautiful folk songs because she lives and breathes the language.The three sisters, Rose, Daisy and Lily, effectively reappear in the other song that Daria and Odette co-wrote: "Song Of The Free". Before the advent of printing, folk songs evolved as people attempted to recall a song that they'd heard. Both of the versions of the Lady Margeret songs I already knew are night visiting songs. In one it is Sweet William that died and visited Lady Margaret. In the other it is Lady Margaret that died and visited William. Presumably one was the original, and spawned the other, and the version in which Lady Margaret died has very close links to the traditional song "Matty Groves". In writing their song "Lady Margaret", Daria and Odette have merely emulated history by further evolving the song that is Roud 12 or Child Ballad 2, of which history has already left us with many versions: "The Elfin Knight" and "Rosemary Lane" to name but 2. Daria used to be a member of a band called Kara, who recorded a version called "Lover's Tasks". In all versions, the Elfin Knight, or potential lovers set impossible tasks that must be accomplished or met by an equally impossible task set in return.
Each verse in Kara's version of "Lover's Tasks" included the line 'Setherwood sale, rosemary and thyme'. In the more well known version of the song, "Scarborough Fair", the line is 'Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme'. Some believe that the words rosemary and thyme may well be a corruption of an earlier lyric 'grows merry with time'. In Daria and Odette's version, the line has now evolved to 'Rosemary, daisy and lily so fine.' The astute amongst you may notice that these flowers are the same names as the three sisters.
The girls played a wide variety of different instruments. In all of the times I've seen Odette I have never seen her use an accordion before, but, in addition to her usual acoustic guitar and her bouzouki (or gouzouki as it has a guitar body and a bouzouki neck) she has also added the accordion to her repertoire. It featured in "Bella Ciao", and in their encore "Those Were The Days" which has been reworked from the last time I saw them to include the accordion instead of the gouzouki. Being a big fan of Daria's old band Kara, I am quite excited that Daria may now be able to breathe life back in to some of Kara's old songs as Kara member Phil Underwood played the accordion. No pressure, girls, but if you're looking for requests, I'd love it if "In Lille" could be added to a future set list.
Karen, a woodwind player, also played an instrument that I'd never seen her play before: an Irish flute. Although, apparently, a flute is a member of the woodwind section of an orchestra, they are generally made of metal. The Irish flute, though, is actually made of wood. In addition to that she played a vast array of different recorders, including the bass recorder which produces a gorgeous rich sound. Their opener, "My Love's In Germany", has now also been reworked to include the bass recorder.
Daria played the bodhran and also her shruti box (similar to a harmonium in that its uses bellows to pump air through reeds). Again, I'd never seen Daria do this before, either, but she operated the bellows by means of a foot pedal.
A superb way to spend a Sunday lunch time. "Flowers" is well and truly launched. I wish her a long and happy voyage, without any of the trauma that SS Koningin der Nederlanden encountered. (I've ruined that line now for when Odette's new album is released, but it was worth it).
Set List
My Love's In Germany
Bella Ciao
Our Golden Age
The Moon And The Pilot
Queen Of The Lowlands
The Cossack's Bride
May Colven
Flowers
Lady Margaret
Peat Bog Soldiers/ Die Moorsoldaten
What If My Pockets Were Empty?
Song Of The Free
Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
Those Were The Days
Pete Bradley
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