The Wandering Ballad CD Release Party
The repertoire of Johanna Hongell-Darsee and Scott Darsee includes the most popular songs of all time, though few of them have ever appeared on a Billboard chart. Their longevity and their near universal presence around the globe, however, attest to their
appeal. On The Wandering Ballad, available via iTunes, CD Baby, and Amazon, the duo presents ballads that have formed the heart of their last three live productions. Some of the tunes were first written down in the 12th
century, by which time some of them had already traveled halfway around the world, accreting scores of verses from different cultures and attaching local melodies along the way.
The album presents songs in English, French, Finnish, and Swedish, in spare and beautiful arrangements that conjure a medieval atmosphere. Modern and ancient instruments weave the spell, with Hongell-Darsee on vocals, flute, clarinet, härjedalspipa (Scandinavian wooden
whistle) and Darsee on acoustic and electric guitars and bass, with assistance from Christopher A. Carlson on violin and octave violin, Sharon Berman on recorders, and Juan Wijngaard on
hurdy-gurdy. At the CD release party, presented by AMP Concerts at the Outpost this Friday, these artists will be joined by Larry Otis on guitar and saxophone and Tej Bhavsar on sitar.