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SMP20 Erika Stucky Banner Image Gwendolyn Masin

The Space Between the Notes - XXXVII

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“It's a folk singer's job to comfort disturbed people and to disturb comfortable people.” – Woody Guthrie

Growing up in Ireland, I came to realise that folk music is not just a phenomenon that manifests in the countryside. Throughout the island’s cities, people gather at cèilidhs or in pubs to play and dance together. Young and old step slip jigs and reels, polkas and hornpipes. Songs of the sea and the supernatural, immigration, emigration, rebellion, and martyrs are sung. Songs that take stock of life or songs that exercise criticism on the government jostle for attention alongside children’s songs, humorous songs and songs of love and drinking.
The intention for this year’s GAIA Music Festival Of Love and Other Drunkenness is to bring the songs of the streets, the stories of the people, the shared feeling of love, and the sounds of the raucousness of drinking to the concert hall (but with none of the hangover the day after). From Boccherini to Piazzolla, Ligeti to Brahms, Gershwin to Knox, and a rare performance by the incomparable Erika Stucky, GAIA’s concerts spotlight the impact of folk music on classical music and consider the discrepancies between cultural preservation and evolution of music, as well as misconceptions around cultural appropriation. Come celebrate wine’s harvest, earth’s song, and love’s desire with us.
Tickets can be purchased online now or at the box office from 2 May until 7 May 2023.

Complete programme listings here.

Erika Stucky 2003 for after first slot about gaia Gwendolyn Masin Erika Stucky

Late-Winter Fest

Winterfest Gwendolyn Masin

Looking for something special to do this Sunday? Swing by the Werkstadt Lorraine any time between 14:00 and 19:00 and enjoy an afternoon of live music.
The full artist line-up can be found here.

“Cancel Culture” – podium discussion at Gwendolyn’s Bridge Club

Cancel Culture Gwendolyn Masin

Reserve your seats now! Limited capacity seating (40 max.)

We invite you to a debate on the topic of "Cancel Culture". The debate will be moderated by Jörg Scheller, professor of art history at the ZHdK, journalist and musician. His guests include Mohomodou Houssouba, author, literary scholar and member of the International Institute for Asian Studies, and Inés Mateos who is an expert on education and diversity and a member of Institute New Switzerland (INES).

Wednesday, 5 April 2023
20:00 (doors open at 19:30)
Theaterplatz 2, 3011 Bern
Entry: CHF 17.-

The bar will be open before and after the event.

More info here.

Kultur am Bettrand

Shirley grimes 2015 4 Gwendolyn Masin Shirley Grimes

My courageous and inspired friend, singer-songwriter Shirley Grimes, is doing a thing.

Moved by personal stories she has lived, and observing how society neglects the emotional wellbeing of some of its most important gatekeepers – nurses and carers amongst them – she has created a platform called “Culture at Your Bedside.”
It enables people with acute or chronic illnesses, and their families and support systems, to have access to personal concerts performed by professional artists either at home or in the health care establishment they are in.

If you know someone who has been missing out and who pines for a cultural experience, please get in touch here.

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Ka B Logo RZ Verlauf Gwendolyn Masin

Celebrating Women – Mix Tape

Anidifranco photo gal photo 1545801130 Gwendolyn Masin Ani di Franco

The (commercial) attention lavished on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Black History Awareness Month or Women’s History Month should be a daily occurrence and not just an annual celebration (sigh – a bit like my birthday ;-) ), but March is Women’s Month and that provides me ample reason to have fun with a new mix tape, aka playlist. Click here for music from some of my favourite women in the business.

Paper Planes (DFA Remix) | M.I.A.
Vogue | Madonna
Shake It Out | Florence + The Machine
Stronger Than Me | Amy Winehouse
Barro tal vez (Homenaje a Luis Alberto Spinetta) | Cande Buasso/Paulo Carrizo/Jorge Cordero
Gracias A La Vida | Mercedes Sosa
Anticipate | Ani Di Franco
Army of Me | Björk
Cornflake Girl | Tori Amos
The Fear | Lily Allen
Bellyache | Billie Eilish
Simmer | Hayley Williams
Stay High | Brittany Howard
High on the Ceiling | Anya Marina
Chandelier | Sia
Christine | Christine and the Queens
Running Up That Hill | Kate Bush
These Days | Ane Brun
Lost On You | LP
Crazy on You | Heart
New York | Cat Power
Sweet Dreams | Térez Montcalm
Sunny | Ella Fitzgerald
Ces petits rien | Stacey Kent
The Glow | Bonnie Raitt
Don’t Explain | Cassandra Wilson
Ghost Song | Cécile McLorin Salvant
Cry Me a River | Dinah Washington
Summertime | Janice Joplin
Both Sides Now | Joni Mitchell
Old Castle, by the River, in the Middle of a Forest | Hiromi
Good Night | Melody Gardot