Dàimh (pronounced “dive”) was formed 16 years ago in the West Highlands of Scotland. From pyrotechnic jigs and reels to achingly poignant ballads, they run the full expressive gamut of folk music at its best, and are justly renowned for their thrilling live shows. They feature the dynamic duo of Angus Mackenzie and Gabe McVarish on bagpipes and fiddle respectively, along with Ross Martin on guitar and Murdo Cameron on mandola and accordion. The lineup is capped off by their great singer, Ellen MacDonald , who was born and raised in Inverness and was steeped in Gaelic language at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on the Isle of Skye, Scotland’s only dedicated Gaelic language college. Their web site is www.daimh.net

The show will be in Beckman Institute Auditorium (Little Beckman) and tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for Caltech students and children. Tickets can be purchased on the phone (626-395-4652) with a credit card (a service charge will be added per order) or purchased at the Caltech Public Events Ticket Office at the Winnett Student Center for face value (Generally open Monday-Friday 9AM-4PM). See the campus map and they are located at building #51. Always a good idea to call them first to be sure they will be in the office when you go. You can also buy tickets online until Thursday, Feb. 16 by clicking the icon below. Next up in our series is the great singer/songwriter Micheal Smith, writer of the song, The Dutchman, on Saturday, March 11.

The Folk Music Society was very proud to present the great Utah Phillips, a songwriter, storyteller, historian, and much more, 3 times in the 1980s and 1990s.  Singing and talking about unions, hoboes, radical politics, and anarchy, he connected us with the past and and made us think about the present as well as the future.  And he made us laugh a lot.  He spoke of the “Long memory,” a concept that we need more than ever in our times.  If you don’t know about Utah, listen to him sing his songs, All Used Up, Hallelujah I’m a Bum and I Remember Loving You (sung with Priscilla Herdman), just a few of the many that he wrote.   Utah died in 2008, and his son, Duncan, is trying to buy the railroad car that Utah lived in for several years, while he was in Vermont, before he returned to the West.  Duncan wants to renovate the car and bring it out west to the Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture and have a place where people can reconnect to this unique and insightful man.  If you would like to find out about this project and perhaps make a contribution, click here.  The Folk Music Society is planning to make a donation and we invite you to consider it too. 

Despite the death of Roz Larman, late last year, FolkScene on KPFK 90.7 FM continues on Sunday nights from 6-8 PM with Roz’s and Howard’s son, Allen Larman, his wife, Kat Griffin, Peter Cutler and his wife, Deborah Hand-Cutler. They are gearing up for new sessions with live guests soon, including newly recorded, not heard before, shows featuring guests such as the upcoming David Bromberg, Dave and Phil Alvin, Bobby Rush, and they just recorded Dàimh last week when they had just reached California! This Sunday’s show (Feb. 19, 6-8 PM) will continue the fund drive and you can help ensure that FolkScene continues and that KPFK stays on the air.

Mark Sunday, March 5 on your calendar for 626 Golden Streets. This is the make-up date for last year’s 626 Open Streets that was postponed last June because of the heat and the nearby forest fires burning above Azusa. Get your bike in shape or get your walking shoes out for this community event that extends from South Pasadena to Azusa. You can make connections to the Gold Line (it will be the one-year anniversary for the extension to Azusa) and a great chance to get outside and see the neighborhoods and your neighbors. Come and enjoy automobile-free streets. Don’t miss the fun!