The Good Folk
The Good Folk (organized in 1999) is an ensemble of seven professional musicians playing & singing traditional Celtic and Folk music from Northern Countries throughout the world.
Featured soloists are children who sing professionally giving the audience a glimpse of heaven with their beautifully enchanting performances.
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
REVIEW Excerpt: Dateline June 2001 [AP] by L. MacGaughy, Kids America Productions - Las Vegas NV
"Another great performance yesterday by The Good Folk had the audience standing and dancing more than sitting and listening, for their enthusiastic show grabs the audience and holds them close until the final note fades away. But it's not only these remarkable adult performers that make their show so well received, it's the soloists that steal the show.
The Good Folk is dedicated to presenting solos by highly talented child performers. Most of these young artists perform on T.V., in the movies, in commercials, in musicals or in concerts. This year at the Scottish Games, cute 10 year old Emily Hamilton opened the festival by singing The Canadian National Anthem and then left the ceremonies to perform with The Good Folk and the other children soloists (see photo).
The program is varied so as not to lose the audience in redundency. The rowdy "Rocky Road to Dublin" was followed by the tear jerk, a cappella rendering of "Bold Fenian Men" sung warmly and emotionally by Ivy Buena. Unless you were there you can not imagine a song sung by an 11 year old tugging at your heart strings, your tears flowing from the sheer beauty of the song and the rendering of it by this remarkably gifted little singer.
But while all the children who sing with The Good Folk, are uniquely gifted, it is not only their voices which separates them from their peers...it is an incalculable amount of hard work and training. Each of these children develops his or her skills as precisely as does any Doctor of Medicine. And as a surgeon might perform an operation to remove that which ails us, each child herein performs her art as skillfully. As we listen, our wordly concerns are removed layer by layer and we are comforted, and we are made to feel refreshed, joyful...and perhaps even loved."
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
TGF has performed in Scottish Music Festivals, concerts, and school educational performances throughout New England and New Jersey using an ethnic collection of instruments from Ocarina & Hammered Dulcimer to Bag Pipes & Banjo.
Your musical influences
Celtic, Folk music from around the world, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Nova Scotia, Greenland, Newfoundland
Anything else?
Members of THF are:
Dean MacIan - Irish Tenor (harmonica, tin whistles, rainstick, fiddles)
Jared Brown - Tenor (6 & 12 string guitars, banjo, mountain harp)
Jon Forsyth - 1st Baritone (guitar / childrens choral arranger)
Lori Forsyth - 2nd Soprano (recorders, bodhrans)
Samantha Moffatt - Alto (hammered dulcimer, accordions, guitar, flutes, percussion)
Ken LaRoche - 2nd Baritone (keyboards, pipes, flutes, percussion)
Nigel Zett - Bass (bass, keyboards, guitar, Celtic harp)
