GRAND RAPIDS, MI – 2014 marks the eleventh anniversary of the Michigan based Folias Flute and Guitar Duo. Folias is flutist Carmen Maret and guitarist Andrew Bergeron. Called “daring in self-written music” by American Record Guide, the husband and wife duo’s United States “West East U.P.” tour this summer includes 29 performances in 12 states as the duo features their “idiomatic Latin American music as well as more traditional classical pieces that describe the scenery of their home state of Michigan” (Fanfare Magazine).
Setting off from Grand Rapids in June the tour will include two months of performances which will take them to 12 milongas, or Argentine social tango dances. The genesis of Folias is rooted in Argentine tango music. As Bergeron explains, “When we started, Carmen wanted me to play her tango arrangements and we traded for her playing my compositions. Now tango dance music is one of the best things we do. It is exhilarating to play 25 arrangements in one night, each 2 and half minutes long and see how the dancers improvise along with us. We also get to do a little dancing ourselves!”
The duo will fill out the rest of their Summer 2014 tour schedule performing in bars, cafes, and theaters and will feature new music from their forthcoming CD release “Viewpoints.” “I’m nervous and excited at the same time” Carmen notes, “we want to build depth in our performances of new original music and introduce ourselves to people in newer places for us like New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Upstate New York.” Additionally, the duo was invited back to perform on Isle Royale National Park where they did an artist residency in 2007. “We’re so excited that we could make Michigan’s Great Lakes part of this tour and also honored to perform again on Isle Royale.” Carmen continues, “There is an incredible world out there in the middle of Lake Superior.”
Writing music, performing, and traveling to scenic rural areas is nothing new for Folias. From their “Waterway” (2008) release where they spent 19 days in a rustic cabin on the tip of Isle Royale to their 2011 Alaska tour, to performing in Argentina in 2012 to their nine week Europe tour last summer, the itinerant Carmen Maret and Andrew Bergeron continue to make their mark as a self- managed duo across the globe. Bergeron adds, “we hope to be an inspiration for other musicians to keep playing original music and to make music happen in whatever way that is integral to the creative process.”
Tour Schedule
6/04/14 | Milonga@Cowboy Monkey | Champaign, IL
6/06/14 | Milonga@Meadowlark Coffee | Lincoln, NE
6/08/14 | Saint Aidan’s Episcopal Church | Boulder, CO
6/09/14 | Corrales Bistro Brewery | Corrales, NM
6/10/14 | Adobe Bar | Taos, NM
6/12/14 | Tin Angel | Salt Lake City, UT
6/13/14 | The District Coffee House | Boise, ID
6/14/14 | Milonga@Boise Tango Society | Boise, ID
6/17/14 | Milonga@El Meson | Santa Fe, NM
6/18/14 | Blackbird Buvette | Albuquerque, NM
6/19/14 | The Bean Cafe | Las Cruces, NM
6/20/14 | The Auslander | Fredericksburg, TX
6/23/14 | Milonga@Opa! | Austin, TX
6/24/14 | Milonga@Russian House | Austin, TX
6/25/14 | Milonga@Piropos | Kansas City, MO
6/27/14 | Tony and Jen’s Milonga | Madison, WI
7/11/14 | Milonga@Dos por Cuatro | Lancaster, PA
7/12/14 | Milonga Tigreña@Oasis Dance Center | Buffalo, NY
7/16/14 | Milonga@Restaurant Europa | Cleveland, OH
7/17/14 | Spinozas | Beavercreek, OH
7/18/14 | MTango Milonga@Silvio’s | Ann Arbor, MI
7/22/14 | Ranger III Boat Program | Isle Royale NP, MI
7/29/14 | Rock Harbor Auditorium | Isle Royale NP, MI
7/31/14 | Blackrocks Brewery | Marquette, MI
8/01/14 | Orpheum Theater | Hancock, MI
8/02/14 | Falling Rock Cafe | Munising, MI
8/03/14 | Rhubarbary Farms | Harbor Springs, MI
8/04/14 | Crystal Bindi Studio | Traverse City, MI
8/05/14 | The Music House | Manistee, MI
8/06/14 | White Lake Chamber Fest | Montague, MI