When families sing together, their voices can blend beautifully — see the Carter Family, the Jackson Five, the Andrews Sisters.
The same idea is true of instruments, as demonstrated by the folk fiddle choir Childsplay. Though its members aren’t related, their fiddles are — all of their instruments were made by master Luthier (and Chlidsplay artistic director) Bob Childs. So when the 24-year-old, Massachusetts-based choir plays together, their harmonies sound as perfectly blended as siblings’ voices.
“It’s like kids who kind of look alike but they’re different too,” says Childsplay violinist Sheila Falls-Keohane. “There’s this unifying effect.”
That unifying effect helps put a Childsplay stamp on tunes that range from Turkish, Eastern European and Celtic to bluegrass and even rock and roll, including covers of U2 and Elvis Presley.
Fiddlers include Boston Symphony’s Bonnie Bewick and Scottish champion Hanneke Cassell. Singer Mollie O’Brien (”A Prairie Home Companion”), step-dancer Shannon Dunne, flutist Shannon Heaton and others fill out the 21-piece combo.
This year’s tour launches many new pieces by bandmembers. Sheila Falls-Keohane is excited to debut a slipjig so new it has no name yet—just “Sheila’s slip.” There’s also a brand new concert DVD.
The master musicians live all over the country—sending new tunes around by email before meeting for the yearly rehearsal and tour.
Childs agreed to perform with a small combo over 20 years ago who then mentioned, “by the way, we are all playing your instruments, and we’re called Childsplay.”
His violins, he says, “tend to be dark in sound. They have a sound that pulls the audience to them.”
Though not a holiday event, it will feel like one, says Childs, “because of the spirit of the event. We’re very community focused.”
It’s a family.
Childsplay returns to New York for the second time on Friday, December 3rd, at the Peter Norton Symphony Space
