Concert Review:
Steve Greenman and Moldovish Ensemble at the Lowell Folk Festival today!
by Marc Adler
Reprinted from the Jewish-Music list with the author's permisson.
I just got back from hearing the brand new Klezmer band "Steve Greenman and Moldovish Ensemble" at the Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell Massachusetts.
First, having never been to the Lowell Folk Festival, what a great venue. Imagine this old New England mill city that has been made into a national park complete with those guys in the smokey the bear hats. Then close down the streets, add food venders, craft vendors, companies giving out free stuff (we went for the Hood chocolate milk), plenty of friendly volunteers, 6 stages with ethnic folk bands playing continously from 12 to 5 , a sunny afternoon … all the ingredients for a good time. The folk crowd was mostly middle age to older people. Plenty of people but not crowded at all.
Steve Greenman and company's stage was on the lawn of a 200 year old church bordered by a steel fence with some nice old tree's offering shade. I would estimate the audience at 400 people.
Today and yesterday were the first performances together for the band which included Steve Greenman on violin, Christina Crowder on accordian, Jim Guttman on bass and Alexander Fedoriouk on cimbalom.
The band played a variety of Moldovian songs and two original compositions by Steve Greenman. I recognized some of the repetoire of German Goldensteyn and some serbas. There were some fine solos by Greenman, Crowder, and Fedoriouk. On many tunes the chemistry between voilinist and accordianist was apparent as they seemed to energize each other.Although I recognized only a few faces from the area Klezmer scene, the folk audience definitely enjoyed the performance clapping along at times and giving rousing applause at conclusion. My only complaint was that the set ended at 45 minutes and then on to the next performance, an Armenian band. Time for an encore would have been appreciated.
After the performance I got a chance to talk to Steve Greenman who I hadn't met before. What a nice guy! He was just back from Germany and had praise for the folks who run the Lowell Folk Fest saying they really treated the performers well. I got a chance to congratulate Jim Guttman who was on his way to play at a wedding in Brookline,and my friend Christina Crowder. On my way out, watching Alex push his large cimbalom on a rolling caddy and into a van, I was thankful I play the clarinet.
by Marc Adler, July 29, 2007
