El cantautor neoyorkino Dan Kaplan y su banda Krooked Tree
presentan el próximo sábado
10 de abril a las 21 h. en LA LECHERA, Cádiz
su nuevo álbum "A Good Day for Living"

Folk Rock Americano en concierto

Nos complace anunciar el lanzamiento de “A Good Day For Living”, nuevo trabajo discográfico del cantautor Estadunidense Dan Kaplan y su banda Krooked Tree. Nacido en Brooklyn, New York, hijo de dos periodistas politicamente comprometidos, Kaplan vivió su infancia en un bloque de pisos compartido por varios músicos claves del renacimiento folk americano de los años 60. Entre ellos estaban Earl Robinson, Alan Arkin y Los Weavers (Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert y Fred Hellerman), un cuarteto legendario que tranformó la música popular americana en los años 50 con sus interpretaciones de canciones tradicionales de todas partes del mundo. De muy joven Kaplan aprendió estas canciones de la mano de su “niñero” Lee Hays quien, junto con sus compañeros de los Weavers, habia sido proscrito de los escenarios del país como consecuencia de la persecusión anti-comunista del senador Joe McCarthy.

Después de licenciarse en música y literatura en Oberlin College (Ohio) Kaplan fue a vivir a Woodstock, New York donde continuó su aprendizaje musical con Artie Traum y otros intérpretes de la llamada “música de raices americanas”. Después Kaplan se marchó a España para estudiar guitarra clásica y composición en el conservatorio de Sevilla. En 2002 Kaplan compuso una premiada obra de teatro musical para niños en lengua castellana llamada “Los Planetas”. Ha sido encargado con la composición e interpretación de banda sonoras para cine muda, “The Iron Horse” (John Ford) y “Birth of a Nation” (D.W. Griffith). “The Iron Horse” fue publicado en forma de CD por Indoor Records en el 2004.

Las canciones reunidas en “A Good Day For Living” reflejan una sensibilidad omnívora y una relación ambígua con el paisaje norteamericano. Tema tras tema el disco va hilando una especie de tapiz cocido con fragmentos de mitos, fábulas, viejas canciones y historias bíblicas. Además de estos elementos las canciones emplean una iconografía natural: pájaros, arboles, rios y montañas en una dialéctica con el mundo interior del pensimiento y la emoción para reflejar el tenue equilibrio entre lo real e imaginario. Dibujadas con tintes existenciales y anhelos transcendentales las canciones están infundidas con un espíritu melancólico y a la vez esperanzador. Encontramos pequeñas viñetas poblados de narradores no fiables en entornos mundanas que pueden evocar tanto a Edward Hopper como a Kerouac, Melville, Orson Welles o Alex Raymond.

Moviendo entre diversos “palos”, el folk, blues, R&B, rock y country, los arreglos de Krooked Tree refuerzan la dinámica y armonía de cada composición. La banda tiene un sonido austero que resulta “clásico” y también actual. El disco fue producido por Paco Loco y grabado en su estudio del Puerto Santa Maria, Cádiz. Cada canción fue grabada en tomas directas con toda la banda usando cinta analógica de acuerdo con su preferencia por la música viva por encima de una precisión mecánica y aséptica.

After graduating from Oberlin College with a degree in American literature, Kaplan moved to Woodstock, New York where he continued his informal music education with Artie Traum and other musicians of the American roots music scene. Later Kaplan moved to Spain to study classical guitar and composition at the Seville conservatory. He is the author of a Spanish language musical for children called “Los Planetas” and was commissioned to write soundtracks for John Ford’s “The Iron Horse” and D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation”. His soundtrack for The Iron Horse was published as a CD by Indoor Records in 2004. The songs of “A Good Day For Living” reflect a scavenger’s vision of the American landscape. Track by track the record weaves a narrative quilt from a patchwork of myth, fable, old folk song, and biblical references. Along with these elements the songs employ an iconography of nature; birds, trees, mountains and rivers in dialectical tension with the inner world of thought and feeling to reflect the unstable balance between the real and imaginary. Drawn with existential shades and transcendental longings, the songs are suffused with melancholy while remaining hopeful. Many are small vignettes peopled by untrustworthy narrators in mundane settings that can evoke at one moment Edward Hopper and the next Jack Kerouac, Melville, Orson Welles or Alex Raymond. Moving between folk, blues, R&B, rock and country, the arrangements of Krooked Tree reinforce the dynamics and harmony the songs. The band has a “no nonsense” sound that might be called both “classic” and contemporary. The CD was produced by Paco Loco and recorded in his studio in El Puerto, Cádiz. Each song was recorded in direct takes by the whole band on two inch analog tape in accordance with their preference for a live feeling over an aseptic precision.

Bujio is proud to announce the release of a new CD, “A Good Day For Living” by American singer songwriter Dan Kaplan and his band Krooked Tree. Born in Brooklyn, New York the son of two liberal journalists, Kaplan lived in a building that was shared by key musicians of the american folk renaissance of the 1960s. Among them were Earl Robinson, Alan Arkin and The Weavers (Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman) a legendary quartet that transformed American popular music in the 1950s with their interpretations of traditional songs from around the world. At a very young age Kaplan was taught these songs by his “babysitter” Lee Hays who, along with the other Weavers, had been barred from touring as a result of anti-communist persecution by senator Joe McCarthy.

After graduating from Oberlin College with a degree in American literature, Kaplan moved to Woodstock, New York where he continued his informal music education with Artie Traum and other musicians of the American roots music scene. Later Kaplan moved to Spain to study classical guitar and composition at the Seville conservatory. He is the author of a Spanish language musical for children called “Los Planetas” and was commissioned to write soundtracks for John Ford’s “The Iron Horse” and D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation”. His soundtrack for The Iron Horse was published as a CD by Indoor Records in 2004.

The songs of “A Good Day For Living” reflect a scavenger’s vision of the American landscape. Track by track the record weaves a narrative quilt from a patchwork of myth, fable, old folk song, and biblical references. Along with these elements the songs employ an iconography of nature; birds, trees, mountains and rivers in dialectical tension with the inner world of thought and feeling to reflect the unstable balance between the real and imaginary. Drawn with existential shades and transcendental longings, the songs are suffused with melancholy while remaining hopeful. Many are small vignettes peopled by untrustworthy narrators in mundane settings that can evoke at one moment Edward Hopper and the next Jack Kerouac, Melville, Orson Welles or Alex Raymond.

Moving between folk, blues, R&B, rock and country, the arrangements of Krooked Tree reinforce the dynamics and harmony the songs. The band has a “no nonsense” sound that might be called both “classic” and contemporary. The CD was produced by Paco Loco and recorded in his studio in El Puerto, Cádiz. Each song was recorded in direct takes by the whole band on two inch analog tape in accordance with their preference for a live feeling over an aseptic precision.