By Kira L. Schlechter, SFMS Correspondent
Tuesday, February 1, 2010
It seems strange at first to imagine a German band playing traditional Celtic music. How did they hear it? Who taught them to play it? But we often forget that European countries are much closer to each other distance-wise than we think. So for the German quintet Cara, it makes perfect sense that that's what they might want to play.
Cara performs Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 7:30 pm at Whitaker Center Stage Two, 222 Market St., Harrisburg, PA in a show sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. To give society members and nonmembers alike a better handle on Cara (that's "friend" in Gaelic), we sent singer/fiddler/accordionist Gudrun Walther a batch of e-mailed questions, to which she kindly responded in the answers below:
Q: So how were you ever exposed to Irish/Scottish music growing up in Germany? Did you hear it on the radio, did artists come to your area to perform, how did it happen?
A: Irish music is very big in Germany; lots of Irish people live and work in Germany and most of the bands tour on a regular basis in German concert venues. Each of us has their own history [as to] how Irish music became an important part of our lives, [but] in my case, my brother, who is 12 years older than me, started to play and listen to Irish music at age 17.
Q: How did you find an instructor to teach you your instrument(s), or are you self-taught?
A: From the age of 5, I listened to all the great bands -- Bothy Band, Planxty, De Dannan -- and started to sing along in fake English or fake Irish. Once I was six and got my own fiddle, I started to scratch tunes on it. Not exclusively Irish music, since my parents both played music and we also played German traditional songs and classical music. But the Irish influence was definitely there from an early age.
Q: When it comes to making tunes your own, how much does your own culture, your own musical background factor into it?
A: I guess it does in a way, but then on the other hand, all of us have been playing and listening to Irish [music] for such a long time that it doesn't really feel like 'foreign' music. But when we do arrangements, you can definitely tell we have all been listening to very different styles of music -- not only trad, but also jazz, rock, classical...
Q: With that in mind, do you think it benefits you to not be from the Celtic culture musically and if so, how (do you think you can be more objective, perhaps)? or does it hinder you in any way and if so, how?
A: When I was growing up playing trad music, I always envied the people living in Ireland and Scotland, where you can get brilliant sessions every day. But sometimes I think maybe I would never have made it my living if I'd had it every day. The fact that it was something rare made it special to us, I think -- and maybe that's the reason the band exists.
Q: You were listed by Folkworld magazine as one of the 10 most influential bands of the last decade, which is pretty amazing considering you only formed in 2003. Can you talk about that distinction, what it means to you about how your music is coming across?
A: The music we play is just the music we really like and, of course, we try to play and sing it as well as we possibly can. And we also try not to copy the other bands and artists, but work until we 'have something' in an arrangement, or a new tune or song, that's maybe unique in a way.
Q: And you were also named Best New Artist at the Irish Music Awards, which kind of contradicts the previous honor ("new" even though you were formed in 2003) -- can you talk about that recognition as well?
A: The 'best new band' award was a great honor. I think maybe we got it because we've only [been] touring the States since 2007, so that's pretty 'new.'
Q: Is it difficult singing in English at all, and have you ever sung this material in German at all?
A: No, it feels very natural singing in English -- as I mentioned before, I've been singing in English since I was very small, although I didn't understand what I was singing then! We never translated the same songs into German, but Jurgen [Treyz, the guitarist] and me also play traditional German songs with our band Deitsch and our band 2duos, where we play with two Scottish musicians -- [in that band], we do a crossover between Scottish and German traditional music.
Q: You say of the track "Poisoned Peas" that you love the morbid subject matter -- what's with that? Does it just make for a better song/story than sweetness and light, as it were?
A: I think people have always liked a good story: a thriller, unrequited love, murder. I just love to tell a good story in a song and the ones that touch me most are always the darker ones.
Q: What's the whole story behind "Please Be Peter Tonight," since you only hint at it in the liner notes? Did you actually witness this sort of "love the one you're with" scenario?
A: Yes, I did, but my lips are sealed. I had to promise when I wrote that song that I wouldn't tell who had been mistaken for Peter!
Q: What is a "plinn" (you play a few in "Pluzunet") -- is that a tune form like a jig or reel?
A: It's a Breton dance -- it's great fun to dance it!
Q: "Bustles and Bonnets" is such a haunting track, and the Tannahill Weavers, who wrote it, are one of your big influences -- why is that?
A: The Weavers toured on an annual basis in Germany, and they always played somewhere near where I was living. So from the age of 15, maybe, I went with my brother to see their concerts and thought they were incredibly cool. They were my teenage boy band! [And] I always loved 'Bustles and Bonnets'; it's a fantastic song.
Q: "Rosie Anderson" is so reminiscent of something the Beatles would do from a sonic standpoint -- was that intentional?
A: Oh yes, we always called that our 'Beatles number.' It's due to the harmonic things that happen in the chorus, which we came up with during recording. We do that a lot, making up new choruses for old songs.
Q: Any plans for a new album, what's the status on that?
A: Yes -- recording starts [at] the end of May, and hopefully we'll have it out in October, maybe earlier. Fingers crossed! [And] we will play some of the new songs on this tour -- there's a great one with a ghost in it...
Tickets for Cara's March 14 show at Harrisburg's Whitaker Center are $20 for general admission, $16 for SFMS members and $10 for students. For more information, visit www.sfmsfolk.org.
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