laura Cortese and the Dance Cards performed recently at the American Center. Now the three-member group is headed to Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. They spoke to Divya Kaushik about encouraging women to pursue their passion
The latest gem from their travel collection is posted on their Twitter page. It is the picture of three of them on a balmy winter afternoon in front of the Taj Mahal. It is their first visit to India and before getting into real action, performing in various cities, they went to Agra and held a workshop with the children of NGO in Delhi. So impressed were they by the talent of children that they chose three of them to share a stage with them during their maiden performance at the American Center. laura Cortese and the Dance Cards are in India for the first time and after their performance here, they are touring cities like Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai.
The three-girl member band is known across the world for their American fiddle music. They are an all-female string group brought together by the love of traditional American music. With their feet grounded in traditional fiddle styles, they reach for the skies with their original compositions and arrangements and interpretations of Old-Time, Bluegrass, Country and Celtic music. “American fiddle playing began with the early settlers who found that the small viol family instruments were portable and rugged. There are these fiddle camps in America and as a child I was tempted to attend one of those, inspired by one girl who used to go to such camps. My grandmother played violin so I had the basic understanding of playing the instrument. After attending the camp I loved the music and when I grew up I started making my own with influences from American folk,” said laura. The other two members of the band are Valerie Thompson and Mariel Vandersteel, who say that essence of their music and the success of their performance lies in connecting with the audience.
laura grew up in San Francisco and moved to Boston to study violin at Berklee College of Music. She has since immersed herself in the city’s vibrant indie music scene and enjoyed a busy sideman career, which has included appearances with Band of Horses at Carnegie Hall, Pete Seeger at Newport Folk Festival, and Patterson Hood and Michael Franti for Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. Seeger formed a part of their performance here as well.
“We came together in 2010 when I wanted to come up with an album which is like an acoustic project. Since then we have been together. Since I started being a part of fiddle camps at an early age I mostly heard of men playing fiddle but when I heard a woman playing it I was like, ‘I can do this too.’ I make music on whatever comes to mind. I have realised that emotions are universal and feelings make people connect to music,” shared laura.
After their performance in India, they are all geared up to perform in Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. As women artistes, they are not nervous, “but excited to experience a different culture. But we will be careful that we respect the norms of their land. We hope we will be able to present them what we have and share through our music that as women we love what we do.”
They look forward to collaborate with some Indian musicians. “We have heard classical music but we would like to do something with fusion,” said laura.
photos Pankaj Kumar