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Wild Wood
Meanwhile, music was her other life-long passion. A few years ago she left a position as director of an environmental education organization to pursue music full time. Since then she has toured the U.S., Canada and the U.K., performing and teaching traditional Celtic music at festivals, concerts and workshops. Pam's music features piano, percussion and vocals.
She has performed in concert with Shay Black, Alasdair Fraser, Darrol Anger, Ronan Martin, Ann Heymann, Chris Caswell, and other great Celtic musicians. In addition to appearing as a guest artist on CDs with Rick Fielding, Shira Kammen, New Grass Roots, Oliver Schroyer and others, Pam released her first album of Celtic music (Wild Wood) in 2002 with the amazing fiddler Shira Kammen.
Her next album (Dance To Your Shadow) features rhythmic traditional a cappella (mouth music) from cultures around the world. On Dance To Your Shadow, Pam sings with tradition bearers from Africa, Scotland, Tuva, Arctic Canada, and the U.S. including Peggy Seeger, Paul Pena, Julia Tsi-Tsi Chigamba, Madeleine Allakariallak, Laurie Lewis Christine Primrose, Wendell Brooks and the Georgia Sea Island Singers.
Traveling around the world to study, perform and teach has resulted in a book called Dance to Your Shadow: Chasing a Song Across the World, a travel narrative based on music research. The story follows Pam's project to seek out traditional singers in several cultures, ask them to teach her some of their music, then record it with her for a CD.
Combining humor, history and moments of insight, the book visits wild and beautiful landscapes, exploring the cultural context of traditional songs in the Scottish Hebrides, Arctic Canada and the Georgia Sea Islands.
In the end Pam's journey is rewarded with wonderful recordings made with tradition bearers in all three cultures-- African American slave songs performed with the Georgia Sea Island Singers, Inuit throat-singing with Madeleine Allakariallak, and Scottish puirt-a-beul with Christine Primrose. To hear sound samples and find out more, click here.
Whether she is performing, recording, teaching or writing, Pam's enthusiasm reaches out to audiences large or small, drawing them in like old friends.
For information or booking call (510) 530-7826 or e-mail pamswan@pamswan.com
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Travel Writing
Music as
a passport to explore cultures around the world