Seattle Folklore Society presents: Windborne

Specializing in close-harmony singing, this New England quartet has sought out living masters of traditional US singing styles and other styles around the world, to develop a deep connection to their songs and to the people they come from. The result is engaging performances filled with vibrant energy, beautiful, close harmonies, and maybe some banjo and percussion to round it all out.

Windborne is Lynn Mahoney Rowan, Will Thomas Rowan, Lauren Breunig, and Jeremy Carter-Gordon. The combined talents and experience of these four young musicians make for wonderful concerts, filled with entertaining stories about the music and explaining the characteristics and stylistic elements of the traditions in which they sing. Folk musicologist Mary DesRosiers acclaims Windborne for “the purity of their voices, strength of their material, and attention to detail in their arrangements.” Their repertoire includes music from all over the globe, including the Republic of Georgia, Bulgaria, Corsica, Basque Country, and Quebec, but they remain deeply rooted in American folk singing tradition.

Tickets: $18 ($16 students & seniors, $9 youth)

About Windborne

"The most exciting vocal group in a generation," Windborne's captivating show draws on the singers' deep roots in traditions of vocal harmony, while the absolute uniqueness of their artistic approach brings old songs into the present. Known for the innovation of their arrangements, their harmonies are bold and anything but predictable.

With a 20-year background studying polyphonic music around the world, Lauren Breunig, Jeremy Carter-Gordon, Lynn Rowan, and Will Rowan share a vibrant energy onstage with a blending of voices that can only come from decades of friendship alongside dedicated practice. The ensemble shifts effortlessly between drastically different styles of music, drawing their audience along on a journey that spans continents and centuries, illuminating and expanding on the profound power and variation of the human voice. The singers educate as they entertain, sharing stories about their songs and explaining the context and characteristics of the styles in which they sing.

BBC Traveling Folk describes Windborne as "subverting expectations and redefining the genre [of vocal music] ... just absolutely phenomenal!" Audiences and critics lavish praise upon the singers not only for their technical mastery, but for the passion, engagement, and connection with each other and the audience that imbues each performance with a rare power.

But there's another, crucial dimension to Windborne that guides and roots their artistry. They are adherents to folk music's longtime alliance with social activism, labor and civil rights, and other movements that champion the oppressed, the poor, and the disenfranchised. Their 2017 project, Song on the Times, is a collection of songs of social struggle from the past 400 years, sung for the struggles of today. Bursting with lyrics that, while penned decades or centuries ago, still ring true in modern times, Windborne's dynamic harmonies breathe new life into these songs. The group was unexpectedly propelled into the limelight when a video of them singing Song of the Lower Classes, (originally from the 1840s in England) outside Trump Tower went viral in 2017, prompting their shift into touring full time.

About Seattle Folklore Society

http://www.seafolklore.org