Enoch Kent in Concert

www.enochkent.ca

Enoch Kent grew up with traditional singing and music-making by his working-class family in Scotland. After graduating from the Glasgow School of Art in ceramics and sculpture, he formed the The Reivers, which was key in the revival of Scottish folk music in the 1950s and 1960s.

Moving to London, Kent formed The Exiles. Along with Ewan Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, he was also a founding member of The Singers Club, where protest songs flourished. Performers including Jean Redpath and Garnet Rogers have recorded Kent's finely crafted, wise songs.

Emigrating to Canada in the 1960s, Kent melded Scottish style with distinctly Canadian topics (depletion of Atlantic cod, farm auctions) and performed throughout his adopted land and Scotland. Now in his seventies, Kent says he took, "a bit of a break" (30 years) between his European and Canadian recordings, but he has had no shortage of vigor, producing two first-rate CDs in one year: I'm a Workin' Chap (2002) and Love, Lust, and Loathing (2003). Both are full of peppery wit, tender love and brave politics, strong women, and rebellion against corporate and government greed and warmongering. His original songs and old traditional ballads, with guitar or a capella, coexist timelessly.

For the past 20 years, Kent has been, "mostly retired," but ever a champion of social justice and love. He performed last year at the Edinburgh Festival, where he was pleasantly startled that young folk knew his songs, a tribute to the meaning that his work conveys. Bruce Baker of Dirty Linen calls Kent, "a singer and a crafter of songs, his broad, smoky, powerful voice is every bit the equal of Ewan MacColl's," while Rich Warren of Sing Out! describes his voice as "highly polished titanium, never shiny, but deep, rich, and burnished. Its deep patina wraps each song in a powerful authenticity." We're deeply fortunate that he's emerged from retirement. Don't miss this strong performer!

Tickets are available at Ithaca Guitar Works, Colophon Books (formerly Borealis Bookstore), Greenstar Co-op, Small World Music, and, if any are left, at the door. You may also order tickets online and by mail: SASE to CFSC, PO Box 481, Ithaca, NY 14851.

(Margaret Shepard)

For information about the concert, contact

• Ken McKinney at 607.277.8519
• or the Cornell Folk Song Club.

Author:	Ted Crane
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