Kathy Mar may be one of the better singers you’ve probably never
\nheard of, a longtime veteran of the particularly individualistic
\nbrand of music known as filk. There’s a lot of definitions of filk,
\nand to be fair it’s not easily cubbyholed. It’s usually acoustic
\n(except when it’s not), usually played at SF conventions or pagan
\ngatherings, and is the unofficial music of the subculture known as
\nfen; the gamers, SF convention goers, SCAers, and mystic misfits of
\nthe world.<\/p>\n
Easy, then, to dismiss it. Foolish, too, as filk is growing past
\nits badly-produced roots to be a vital, dynamic, and intelligent
\ngenre. (Yes, even I hated filk once. I have been enlightened.) Mar
\nhas been recording since 1982; she’s a member of the Filk Hall of
\nFame and a three-time Pegasus Award winner, given at the yearly
\nOVFF filk convention. In her genre, she’s a heavy hitter
\nindeed.<\/p>\n
But what does that mean musically? Not having heard Mar’s
\nprevious work (I’m still learning about filk), I was presented with
\nher latest CD,
\nMy Favorite Sings<\/i>, and promptly discovered it was a CD of
\ncovers of others’ work. I’ll be honest. I shuddered. Cover albums
\nare rarely worth the price of admission, save some of Magna Carta’s
\nwork. Then I put it on, and was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n
If it’s not your song, your voice and your band have to carry
\nyou, and Mar’s backup musicians (including violinist Cat Taylor
\nfrom semi-legendary-among-filkers Celt\/rock\/folk band Phoenyx) do
\nher justice. Special note should go to Margaret Davis’ harp work on
\n“Flowering Green”, Mark Ungar’s banjo work on “The 20th Century Is
\nAlmost Over” (originally penned by Steve Goodman), and all the
\nstring work by Cat Taylor and cellist Kris Yenney.<\/p>\n
Above all, though, Mar does justice to her ideosyncratic song
\nchoices, with few exceptions. Her voice, rich and full, is
\nexpressive, handling other people’s songs as if they were her own.
\nStandout tracks include “Merlin” (originally performed by
\nCalifornia filker Doug McArthur), “Song Of The Ripper” (originally
\nthe work of Dr. Jane Robinson), Tommy Sands’ “Daughters And Sons”,
\nand Catherine Faber’s “The Word Of God”, which should be copied in
\nmass media and ten thousand copies dumped in Rep. Bob Barr’s
\noffice. Other artists covered include folk legend Christine Lavin
\nand Nate Bucklin.<\/p>\n
The sole disappointment: Mar’s version of Betsy Rose’s “Water,
\nFire, And Smoke”. While I normally enjoy the digderidoo, I felt it
\nwas distracting on this song, and found the original version by
\nRose far better and easier to understand. A minor quibble, but a
\nparticularly personal one for me as I
\nlove<\/i> Rose’s work.<\/p>\n
All in all,
\nMy Favorite Sings<\/i> is worth looking into, for both filk fan
\nand non-filker looking to widen their musical horizons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":27855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7508],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39242","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kathy-mar","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39242"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}