 
Marcus Holden
Marcus Holden is a musician with many strings to his bow. A soloist, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Marcus has appeared on albums, commercials, films, some of the world's great concert venues and performed with the greats of Australian music scene for many years.
Marcus is a founding member of award-winning iconic Australian fiddle band Fiddlers Feast and a director of the Golden Fiddle Awards which recognize Australia's bowed string musicians and teachers.
His debut solo album is Cicadas & Roses.
Suggests 3MDR’s Tony Bates “Cicadas & Roses is a beautifully crafted and presented album. Holden’s ‘ownership’ of the classics recorded is amazing!”
Cicadas & Roses features pieces which Holden studied as a young violinist and challenged him to bring new life into by the likes of George F Handel, J S Bach, Antonio Vivaldi & Gabriel Faure, as well as an original composition ‘To Say Goodbye’.
Immaculately performed by some of Australia’s finest musicians, Cicadas & Roses includes artistic contributions from Raimondo Fioravanti, Garry Steel, Andrew Toner and Elsen Price, not to mention Holden himself playing violin, guitars, mandolin, violas, keyboards, strings, percussion, harp, dobro, qin & cittern just to name a few ……. Sheesh!
Describing the album Holden himself says “I guess the CD is slightly folk, then classical, then jazz. There is a tradition in Classical music to use folk melodies and rework into orchestral works. I’ve done the reverse in a lot of material taking things back to their more folksie roots and creating folk pieces from well-known classical pieces.”
The album cover art features a work of the same title by Marcus’s mum Patti.
Cicadas & Roses is being serviced to media this month.
In the meantime, listen out for Marcus Holden on 90.1 Happy FM, 3MDR, 3RPP, VOX FM, ZuidWest FM in the Netherlands and this month’s edition of Undercover Radio.
More Information: Artist Page
Warren Fahey
Warren Fahey, one of our foremost cultural historians and pre-eminent folklorists not to mention author and performer who uses traditional songs as signposts to explore Australian history has teamed up with some extremely talented musicians in Luke Webb, Marcus Holden & Garry Steel to record & produce The World Turned Upside Down featuring songs from the Australian gold rush era.
Warren Fahey in the accompanying booklet notes writes “Australia has been blessed with minerals. It has been our saving grace and curse for centuries. The gold-rush of the mid- 19th century changed Australia forever adding well-over a million people in just two decades. It was also important socially as the gold diggers forged an independent working spirit that became a major part of who we are as a people. Today’s Australia is still mineral rich and, thankfully, it has helped us ride through the so-called Global Economic Crisis. We still battle with side issues of workplace relations, environmental sustainability, increasing reliance on partnerships with relatively new partners like China and India, and that age-old balance of who actually owns mineral wealth. It is important we know our mining history so we can properly establish where we are today, and where we should be headed.”
The World Turned Upside Down is to be released on Rouseabout Records and will be available digitally and on CD from June 6.
More Information: Artist Page
Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle’s timeless classic ‘And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ has been included on the new DVD compilation Doin’ It For The Troops put together by The Repat Foundation to raise money for our returning troops from various war zones around the world.
The DVD features an absolute all star Australian cast including Kylie Minogue, John Farnham, Doc Neeson, Gina Jeffreys, James Blundell, Adam Harvey, Jimmy Barnes, The Living End, Adam Brand, Noiseworks, Guy Sebastian, The McClymonts and loads more.
The official launch of Doin’ It For The Troops will be on Wednesday 23rd April from 7pm to 9pm at the Victoria Barracks Museum on Oxford Street, Sydney. For more information: www.therepatfoundation.org.au
More Information: Artist Page
Fiddlers Feast
Australia’s premier fiddle band Fiddlers Feast has been invited back to Skagen Music Festival in Denmark in July 2014. They will also be performing at the 'Memmingen Meile' in Southern Germany as well as house concerts and gigs in Aarhus and Copenhagen.
As Limelight magazine suggests “If you could have only one live band on your desert island, then choose Fiddler's Feast. They are rollicking fun, with plenty of fiddles, and a tight rhythm section playing with precision and power.” |
