Recording: Martin Arnold & Friends

Artist: Martin Arnold & Friends

Song: The Cuckoo Bird [traditional]

Recorded at The Tranzac – Main Hall ("Somewhere There Music Festival"), February 23, 2013.

Martin Arnold & Friends - The Cuckoo Bird

Full review to follow. Somewhere There is no longer a place. The cozy sanctuary for all sorts of creative music recently shut its doors due to "noise complaints and other unpleasantness". Fortunately, this already-planned festival has been relocated to The Tranzac, making it less a celebration of a venue than its animating spirit. But it's still an opportunity to gather together a wide variety of musicians who have developed their music there, reflect on the past, and wonder about what's next.

Martin Arnold began the evening's programme with a stimulating talk entitled "Wondering About an Experimental Folk Music" — and then attempted to put that into effect with a large ensemble playing some old-fashioned folk songs. The extended rendition of this ballad feels like it's meditating on the ghosts of coocoo birds, but Ryan Driver's yearning vocals serve to blow off the dust of the distant past.