Alasdair Fraser has a concert and recording career covering 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (Last of the Mohicans, Titanic). Fraser received the Scottish Heritage Center Service Award for outstanding contributions to Scottish culture and traditions.
Natalie Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music fulfilled a long-standing musical dream for Fraser, whose musical explorations took him full circle to find a cellist who could help him return the cello to its historical role at the rhythmic core of Scottish dance music.
“Going back to the 1700s, and as late as the early 20th century,” Fraser says, “fiddle and cello made up the dance band of choice in Scotland, with the cellist bowing bass lines and driving the rhythm. Pianos and accordions elbowed out the cello, relegating it to an orchestral setting. I’ve been pushing to get the cello back into the traditional music scene for years, always on the lookout for a cellist with whom I could have a strong musical conversation, one that incorporated not just the cello’s gorgeous melodic tones, but also the gristly bits—the rhythmic, percussive energy that makes the wee hairs on the back of the neck stand up.”
Natalie Haas was just 15, when she and Fraser played their first gig together. Now regularly touring with Fraser, Natalie is in the vanguard of young cellists who are redefining the role of the cello in traditional music. They both teach at Fraser’s popular annual summer fiddle courses (Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School and Sierra Fiddle Camp in California, and at Sabhal Mor Ostaig Gaelic College in Scotland), and Natalie is on the faculty of Berklee College of Music in Boston.
“Cellists are coming out of the woodwork to study with Natalie, to learn how she creates a groove and a whole chunky rhythm section,” says Fraser. “It’s inspiring to hear the cello unleashed from its orchestral shackles!”
The duo’s debut recording, Fire & Grace, displays dazzling teamwork, driving, dancing rhythms, and the duo’s shared passion for improvising on Scottish tunes. Fire & Grace, and the duo’s new CD In the Moment, as well as Fraser’s many other recordings are on his own Culburnie Records label.
Who: Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
When: Wed, April 30, 2014 at 7:30pm
SubCulture: Arts Underground
45 Bleecker Street, Downstairs
New York, NY 10012
Tickets: $25 in advance / $30 at the door
http://www.subculturenewyork.com/event/421325-alasdair-fraser-natalie-haas-new-york
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
