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An Seisiún

19/7/2018

I did lots of things last year that I loved and completely forgot to update this blog about...I guess I was too distracted making music! So here we go, over the next few days I'll write some posts filling in some blanks, here's one from last year:

An Seisiún was a radio show where they put groups of musicians in a recording studio overnight to write and record three new songs, in Irish, over a twelve hour period.

For each episode, music producer Karl Odlum (The Frames, Ham Sandwich) worked through the night with the musicians, who were deliberately grouped together with those from very different musical backgrounds.

So I was on the show and I was paired up in the studio with Rónán and Colm Ó Snodaigh (Kíla) and Aindrias de Staic. It was a blast, lovely people, lovely music...I only wish I spoke less nonsense! I was loving all the music making and then there'd be interview portions where my mind would just blank...have a listen to the show at this link right here (give it a few seconds when you click through to load the show) and just skip by my nonsense chatter and listen to the tunes :)

The show was presented and produced by Cian Mac Cárthaigh and Lisa McGeough.

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BAN BAM and the Gender Imbalance in Jazz

24/11/2017

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As soon as I started telling people that I was involved with the Improvised Music Company to produce BAN BAM, a festival that aims to highlight the gender imbalance in jazz, there were two very common responses that I kept getting. Both were quite vague and so, for the sake of clarity, I’m going to try to break them down here.

One common response was “I don't agree with it” often with very little follow up. I did warn you that they were vague! I’ve come up with three ways to this could be interpreted;
First off it could mean that you don't agree that there is a gender imbalance in jazz in Ireland. I don't know what to say to you other then you're wrong. By every measurable factor (ratio of men to women studying jazz at third level, ratio of women to men on jazz festivals and gigs) men outnumber women at least 8 to 1. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes who’s ever been to a jazz gig; there are more men than women. The only logical conclusion I can come to as to why people would deny that there is a gender imbalance in jazz is that people are mixing up the word “balance” with “bias”. There may or may not be a gender bias, that’s a much bigger question and one we’d love to hear your opinions on! The BAN BAM talks start tomorrow at 4pm, click right here for more info.
The second way that this could be interpreted is that you don't think the gender imbalance is a bad thing or that it doesn’t need to be addressed. This one I disagree with wholeheartedly but at least it’s more logical than the first. I believe all communities, art forms and fields of research benefit from being diverse and inclusive. If you don't want women included in the jazz community for what you see as altruistic reasons you might be convinced by financials ones; it will in all likelihood encourage new audiences to pay attention to jazz.
And lastly the third interpretation of this response could be “I don't agree that a festival highlighting the gender imbalance is helpful to improving gender imbalance". If this is your stance I would genuinely love to hear from you! I am open to suggestion on how to best improve the balance of gender in jazz and improvised music! The IMC has said it’s committed to it and this festival is not the only thing they’ve done, or plan to do on the topic. If you have suggestions please come to the talks tomorrow and make them known! The only suggestion I’m not really interested in hearing about is the one that goes something like “that’s just the way society / the world / gender dynamics works, there’s nothing I can do about it”. It is defeatist and unhelpful.
There is one more reaction that I keep getting in response to this festival. This one I have mainly gotten from male jazz musicians and is sometimes well meaning, if perhaps naive, and sometimes fairly condescending; “but I'm not sexist" or “but my friends aren’t sexists” or “but I've never seen sexism in any of the bands I play in”. I’m unsure how to respond to this, it seems so arbitrarily defensive. I’m glad you aren’t sexist I guess. It’s a disappointing reminder of how people’s defensiveness can get in the way of progress. If your first response to someone who is promoting a minority within your industry is to defend yourself from an imagined attack then I’m not sure what to say other than…maybe chill out a bit! There’ll be loads of good music at BAN BAM tomorrow, seems like a good place to chill out to me!

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Oh Lord Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

20/11/2017

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I'm reading a biography of Nina Simone at the moment; a brilliant page turner of a book and a brilliant page turner of a life! The highs and lows of Nina Simone's life are enthralling. One second she's got a hit in the charts but she's broke and working as a maid, the next she's a rich socialite in Liberia with more suitors than she can keep track of, the next she's an old crank living in France sneaking into her neighbors swimming pools to go skinny dipping and getting her gun out to shoot at their kids when they make too much noise.

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Lyrics to Children's Songs

17/11/2017

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Here are lyrics to some of the songs I use in my Be Sound toddlers workshops, lots of parents have been asking for them so I'll update with more over time. For today here's the lyrics to the Bantu children's song Khoë Li.

The next Be Sound parent toddler workshop is on Friday (that's November 24th) and you can get your tickets right here or you can come along and pay on the day.

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Children's Songs Playlist

14/11/2017

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I've been learning lots of children's songs in various languages from all over the world lately so I put together a Spotify playlist of some of my favourites.

Lots of my favourite children's songs aren't available on Spotify. A lot of them aren't even commercially recorded, I learnt them directly from friends and musicians so this list is nowhere near complete but it's got lots of gems on there!

Let's Go Everywhere by Medeski, Martin & Wood is a great, fun album start to finish so I put a few tracks from that in there. Some people don't think of Swimming Song as a child friendly song because of the lyric "I'm a self destructive fool" so skip that one if it's not to your taste.

I've got three Be Sound parent-toddler music workshops coming up, first this Friday Nov 17th, next Friday Nov 24th and lastly for now Dec 1st. To get tickets just click your preferred date. The workshops will not all be the same so come along to a few if you like!

If you have any suggestions for songs to add to my playlist please leave a comment below or get in touch!

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BE SOUND

13/9/2017

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I've been really enjoying working with all different age ranges in different forms of music education lately. One thing I've learnt is how much fun parent-toddler groups can be for everyone, myself included!

If you're in the South County Dublin area come along! Tickets are limited to keep class sizes small so click here to get your tickets now. Here's all the info;

ENJOY SONGS FROM AROUND THE WORLD IN THESE PARENT-TODDLER WORKSHOPS LEAD BY RÍONA SALLY HARTMAN. YOU AND YOUR CHILD WILL HAVE FUN LEARNING FOLK SONGS TO ACCOMPANY AND HELP WITH EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES, FOR EXAMPLE AN UPBEAT SOUTH AFRICAN DANCE SONG FOR WHEN THE FAMILY NEEDS A PICK ME UP, OR A RELAXING JAPANESE SONG ABOUT CHERRY BLOSSOMS FOR WHEN YOU ALL NEED A WIND DOWN. DURING THE FIFTY MINUTE WORKSHOP, LITTLE ONES WILL GET TO PLAY MUSICAL GAMES AND SOME SIMPLE PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS, AND PARENTS WILL LEARN NEW WAYS TO SHARE AND EXPERIENCE THE JOY OF MUSIC WITH THEIR CHILDREN.

This workshop is for 1 and 2 year old toddlers. If you are interested in the workshop but your child is not within the age bracket, please get in touch. Classes for new age groups will be created if there is a demand.

parent-toddler music workshop for 1 and 2 year old toddlers with Ríona Sally Hartman Fridays 11am - 12pm Nov 17th, Nov 24th and Dec 1st.

€15 for one adult and one toddler (buy in advance by clicking here)
€5 for an additional adult or child (pay on the day)

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Watch It!

12/9/2017

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I haven't written any blogs in a while...I'm very inconsistent with this blog! But something exciting is happening right now that you should know about; Esperanza Spalding is creating an album from scratch in three days and she's live streaming the whole thing. It's absolutely thrilling to watch! I'm not sure if it'll be possible to watch back after the fact. It's the jazz super bowl...watch along with me;

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Down With Jazz...and up with Shamat

4/5/2017

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Delighted to announce that I'll be playing the Down With Jazz festival on Saturday June 10th with a great big sextet ensemble! New music played by a big group of glorious musicians...can't wait!

Tickets are a bargain and the line up is stellar if I may say so myself (the nice thing about writing on my own website is that I MAY say so myself! I just did!).

I love the name and the whole ethos of the festival. It comes from the 1934 anti-jazz movement where the church viewed jazz and "foreign" music as so dangerously divilish that they campaigned to ban it from dance halls and radio.

Ah sure another clip of some happy sunshine music while the sun's shining ☀️️that's @juliencolarox on guitar . . . . . #vocals #music #instamusic #composition #guitar #piano #rehearsal #jazz #kindof #newmusic #sing #dublin #terriblecamerawork

A post shared by Riona Sally Hartman (@rionasally) on Apr 8, 2017 at 4:52am PDT

In keeping with the dangerously divilish theme the new music is upbeat and joyful, we'll have you humming along and your foot tapping in no time.

This new music has a different sound from previous music I've released so I'm giving this new larger ensemble a new name. I'm naming the project FÓD which translates as sod. Previously I'd chosen FÓD as the name for my West Pier Song Cycle, which is influenced by traditional Irish music, in part because of an old Irish tradition that when someone is moving into a new home they take with them a sod of turf, fód móna, still lit from their family home to light the fire in their new home (I wrote a little about it here). It's a symbol of new beginnings, bringing the love of a home to a new place and bringing traditions from the past into the future and so it was fitting that it was the name for this project that is inspired by a smorgasbord of influences from West African singing to Brazilian melodies.

With these songs I'm trying to catch little fiery sparks from music I love, like the sing-song melodies of Hermeto Pascoal or the lip smacking grooves of Lionel Loueke, and trying to hear them in new contexts, seeing if I can get the spark to catch into a new, different, feel-good hooly of a bonfire. Ok that's enough fire metaphors for today!

Get your tickets for Down With Jazz, come along, bring some warmth and help get the fire started! (ok now THAT'S enough fire metaphors for today!)

In other news Ruba Shamshoum is launching her debut album Shamat in Whelan's on May 25th! If you're a reader ofthis blog, or have liked my Facebook page, you'll already know that I'm a big fan of Rubas. She's a beautiful person and a beautiful singer and I'm delighted that I'll be playing support and warming up the stage for her big night. I'll be performing a short duo set with Filipa Quintino, just the two of us, which is new for us so come along and give us lots of love!

Having a sing with Filipa this morning . . . . #ukelele #sing #instamusic #music #harmony #showme #love

A post shared by Riona Sally Hartman (@rionasally) on Apr 28, 2017 at 4:44am PDT

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Rehearsing in Parked Cars

3/2/2017

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Did anyone see this news item about a guy who was snapped serenading a lonely swan by the Grand Canal in Dublin? Not sure I've ever related to the news more! If you're a musician living in any city i'm sure you know the struggle of finding rehearsal spaces, especially late in the evening when you don't want to be waking neighbours.

Here's myself and Filipa rehearsing The Selfish Sister in her parked car right before we played it live on the radio to promote our upcoming triple bill gig BAN BAM! Whelan's February 10th (that's Friday!). If you're in Dublin we'd love to see you there!
xx
Ríona

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BAN BAM

31/12/2016

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Happy New Year!! I'm loking forward to making loads of great music this year and I'm starting the year with a BAM and joining forces with the inimitable SELK and Inni K for a great big tripple bill gig in Whelan's main stage on February tenth. Tickets are €15 for all three acts (bargain!) and you can get them from wavtickets.com.

If you don't know Inni K or SELK's music well you're in for a treat. Check out the lyrical purity of this...

...or the moody pulse of this...

Click to set custom HTML

...damn that's a good start to what's bound to be a good year!

I'm a big believer in new years resolutions, the idea that they're doomed to fail is a little depressing and just not true! This year I've written a long list of resolutions and two of my music related ones are to learn ukelele (if you follow me on instagram you'll have seen short clips of my first few baby steps) and to release new music on some format (probably live videos rather than a full album but you never know). I've written tons of new music that hasn't been released yet, some of it not even publicly performed yet, so looking forward to getting it out into the world.

Wishing you all a year full of love and creativity and hopefuly see you in Whelan's in February! BAN BAM!

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An Seisiún

BAN BAM and the Gender Imbalance in Jazz

Oh Lord Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Lyrics to Children's Songs

Children's Songs Playlist

BE SOUND

Watch It!

Down With Jazz...and up with Shamat

Rehearsing in Parked Cars

BAN BAM

Ríona Sally Hartman

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