nEiLo
Well-Known Member
PETER WALKER (Megaphone/Tompkins Square)
+ Chequerboard + Ciaran Murphy and Dermot Sheehan
Saturday April 19th, 8.30pm, 12 EURO
Murray's
The guitarist who singlehandedly invented American Folk Raga. ...
"Peter Walker plays on the ancient Protean Strings of the genetic code" - Dr. Timothy Leary
"Peter Walker was actually a bigger influence on my acoustic playing than John Fahey or Robbie Basho" - Ben Chasny, Six Organs of Admittance
"A miracle, hands of silver, clear evidence of gypsy blood, heart, spirit and soul." - Anselma, Casa Anselma, Barrio Triana, Seville, Spain[/quote]The original guitar legend from the Sixties is alive and well, and playing more than ever. A stunning fusion of Indian raga and Spanish flamenco bearing the influences of both Ravi Shankar and Paco de Lucia. This is a very special opportunity to see this legendary and highly influential American guitarist who recorded two pivotal (and rare at that time) folk raga albums for the Vanguard label in the late Sixties and now inspires a new generation of artists like Sir Richard Bishop, Thurston Moore, James Blackshaw and Jack Rose (with whom he's toured). This is the second phase for a majestic guitar hero.
The tour is in support of new releases on Megaphone and Tompkins Square where the direct influences of the gypsy guitar players, flamenco and the open-minded sixties/noughties music scene all have impact.
As comebacks go, his is a story to rival Vashti Bunyan's. Rising to prominence in the Cambridge MA and Greenwich Village folk scenes of the Sixties, he studied with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, befriended Karen Dalton and Sandy Bull, travelled to Franco Spain to study flamenco and was Dr. Timothy Leary's musical director, organizing music for the LSD advocate's "celebrations."
His 1967 debut album, Rainy Day is a gentle and beautiful fusion of Eastern and Western musical traditions, and one of the earliest examples of a style explored by Sandy Bull several years earlier. A second album, Second Poem to Karmela or, Gypsies Are Important (1969) found Walker going even deeper into Indian instrumentation, playing sarod and sitar. During this time, Peter played or was associated with such musicians as Lowell George, Fred Neil, Tim Hardin, and Joan Baez, among many others.
Walker settled in upstate New York in the early Seventies and more or less dropped out of the public eye - marrying, having three kids and taking a variety of jobs to support his family. Yet he continued to stretch himself musically, studying flamenco technique and theory with a series of teachers. Through regular trips to Spain, he has recently been accepted into the flamenco's exclusive musical elite.
After nearly forty years out of the limelight, he was tracked down in by the US label Tompkins Square who discovered an artist who was still pushing himself hard, having immersed himself in the art of flamenco. The result was A Raga for Peter Walker (2006), an album containing four newly recorded cuts in his signature raga style, as well as six additional pieces by admirers like Jack Rose, James Blackshaw, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Thurston Moore and Greg Davis. More a tip of the hat than a "tribute" album, these players all share an appreciation for a gifted musician whose small yet amazing body of work still resonates.
Now begins the busiest period for Peter since the Sixties, as French label Megaphone (Karen Dalton, Omar Bashir) and Tompkins Square both release new records this Spring.
LINKS:
Tompkins Square: http://www.tompkinssq.com/peter_walker.html
Megaphone Music: http://www.megaphone-music.com
Dusted interview: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/534
Woodstock Times: http://www.ulsterpublishing.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=387678
Tiny Mix Tapes review: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Various-Artists-Tompkins-Square
Pitchfork review: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/39128-a-raga-for-peter-walker
