Submitted by Stanley Greenthal
“This is world music in the holiday tradition including Greenthal’s superb originals,” writes Chris Lunn, editor of northwest music quarterly, Ancient Victory. Come celebrate the Winter Solstice on Lopez Island with Celtic and Balkan tunes and seasonal and original songs and poems performed by SeaMuse! In addition to Lopez, SeaMuse will be performing Winter Solstice concerts in Seattle and Bellingham.
For the past four years, Stanley and Kip Greenthal, Christos Govetas and Kim Goldov have come together to inspire new instrumental compositions and unusual arrangements of seasonal and original songs not heard at other holiday concerts. SeaMuse brings together four friends who love to share their individual art with each other and with their audiences. Each has immersed themselves in traditional musical styles one might not expect to hear together from a single group in a single performance. A SeaMuse concert could include music from a variety of regions of Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans, as well as songs and instrumental music from Brittany, Scotland and Ireland. Some of their music is original, with songs about love, the challenges of our times, and memories from life. Their performances also include poetry, often with instrumental accompaniment.
Stanley Greenthal is an internationally acclaimed songwriter and instrumentalist, who stretches musical borders from Scotland, Ireland and Brittany to Greece and the Balkans. He sings and plays guitar, bouzouki, laouto and lavta (Greek and Turkish lutes). With five recordings to his credit, Sing Out! magazine described his latest, First Song, as “…a fascinating voyage to the highlands of Scotland, the Breton lands and the islands of the Mediterranean.”
Christos Govetas has performed extensively in the U.S., Canada and Greece. He sings and plays clarinet, oud and bouzouki and performs regularly with his group Dromeno in Seattle, and across the U.S. and Canada. Christos and his wife Ruth Hunter are winners of the 2017 Gordon Ekvall Tracie Memorial Award in recognition of their excellence in ethnic performance and significant contributions to the presentation of the traditional cultural arts. He also has recorded and performed with Bill Frisell’s group, The Intercontinentals.
Kip Greenthal sings harmony vocals, plays a variety of percussion instruments, and plays the ancient bowed psaltry. Kip also adds compelling spoken word pieces set to musical accompaniment.
Kim Goldov plays 5-string violin, double bass and soprano glockenspiel. Kim has performed in a variety of groups from his early years playing glockenspiels and xylophones in his neighborhood Orff ensemble, to more recent participation in the Radost Folk Ensemble, Freylakh Klezmer Band, Yeni Ses (Turkish traditional and modern folk), and the Bucharest Drinking Team.
SeaMuse will perform at Lopez Center on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $15 adults, $6 youths 13 to 18, under 13 free, and are available from Paper Scissors on the Rock, Lopez Book Shop, Blossom Organic Grocery, Lopez Center office and online, www.lopezcenter.org
