Aloha! Local Folk Troubadour

Freegordo (Freegordo@aol.com)
Mon, 4 May 1998 13:36:59 -0400 (EDT)

Howzit folkies!
Quick intro, Gordon Freitas lurkin' out here in the islands in the
middle of
the sea... Aloha ya'll! I'm forgin' ahead on our reggae-jahwaiian, R&B and
pop oriented music scene waving the flag with the 4-letter "kiss of death 'F'
word" on it... FOLK ! Maybe it's the Guild acoustic guitar... the occasional
harmonica... the stories in-between?... maybe the stories inside the
songs...or the name Gordon? Despite the locked in stereo-typing of this
singer/songwriter, I often spend much of my time defining 'folk' (by example,
I guess) for the general public... both traditional and the new wave of
'modern-progressive-living in this decade-folk. I like to point out the way
folk music addresses the times we live in... the people and places... the
events and emotions. I tell a story to set up Lightfoot's 'Wreck of the Edmund
Fitzgerald' and then I relate how major rock giants from Hendrix to U2 pay
homage to folk roots with tunes penned by Bob Dylan. I talk about the prolific
Pete Seeger and sing 'Turn,Turn,Turn". Then, being from Hawai'i, I naturally
turn to stories of these islands and sing songs I penned myself. Social
commentary fills the air as I address anything fron wild pig hunters,
pineapple pickers & Hawaiian paniola cowboys... to cane fields, Pearl Harbor,
and a tsunami that swept away Hilo town on April Fool's Day 1946. The key
here... is an approach to 'folk', as music that lives and breathes with
every new day. Good 'folk' music has always exhibited versatility through the
diverse styles of it's performers. From Odetta to the Indigo Girls... Tom
Paxton to John Gorka.. Richie Havens to Ani Di Franco... Judy Collins, Joan
Baez, Joni Mitchell... McGuinn, Peter, Paul, Mary, Springsteen, Lisa Loeb, Dar
Williams, Shawn Colvin, Jewel, JT, CSN... you get the picture ... Great
performers forging on in their folk craft while shaping their music to
accomodate the varying tastes of their great audiences. The people we play to
are becoming better listeners. I find it kinda funny, that while most of my
musician friends yearn to have a crowd screamin' and jumpin' to their band's
music... most of us singer-songwriter-acoustic-oriented-folkie-types
acknowledge a room full of people-so-silent-you-can-hear-a-pin-drop as a major
compliment. Obviously, the silence should be broken at the end of each song or
set to qualify you or the audience as "live" and doing O.K.! LOL I enjoy the
posts and perpetuate much of what you folkies out there share to the local
folk here. Mahalo (thank you).
One challenge I put to most singer-songwriters is to enter song
contests and
expose your music as much as possible. Critique amongst ourselves is like
preachin' to the choir at times... and sometimes everyone wants to be the
preacher. : ) A 4th grade student said' "If you're such a good songwriter how
many contests did you win? How many CDs do you have (at WALMART and Tower and
Borders)?? What radio station are you on???I procrastinated taking that
challenge a long, long time (I thought I'd just get better with time). But
over the last eight months I put it all in gear and was rewarded with a bunch
of kudus... Besides releasing two CDs, "Local Folk" (MGC1010) and "Dreaming
Beyond Aboriginal Art..." (MGC1020)... I also won a few 1998 Hawai'i Music
Awards and I won a song contest with a song about the U.S.S Arizona in Pearl
Harbor. Good reviews too... but here's where I need your help (kokua) on the
far shore. Although all the major record outlets here feature a large local
artist section... it seems that none of these artists are available or even
listed anywhere else unless the store caters to a Hawaiian section. Here I sit
in the middle of a hukilau by a grass shack by the sea... It's beautiful here
at home... but I'd like to be out there checking you folks out at the folkfest
and playing the Holiday Inn circuit. Please forward my web site to folks you
know out there... check out the lyrics... there's sound clips too (more to
come)... Most important, enjoy and send a private reply to me at:
blutarpo@aol.com Let me know how it looks on that end.... I guess I need to
meet the choir now... I'll be out your way soon, if I can help it..(smile)
Aloha! and Big MAHALO... Gordon Freitas (fray'-tess) Local Folk
Troubadour
http://www.bayinfo.com/gordonfreitas
"Twisted and conformed to meet the times...and colored with the rainbow of
technology... still the music of the folk pushes on... the underlying message
and soul pushes on..."