Agranoff to bring folk music circuit to uNi Coffeehouse
Date: 2/22/2010
Feb. 22. 2010SPRINGFIELD -- The uNi Coffeehouse Concert Series sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield will take place on March 13 at 8 p.m., with humorist, folksinger and musician Mike Agranoff.
The concert will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Society Meetinghouse, 245 Porter Lake Dr.
Agranoff's sense of humor and parody is legend on the folk music circuit, from his home in New Jersey to festivals and concert series all over the northeastern U.S.
But it is the extraordinary breadth of his folk repertoire that surprises many who see him in full concert for the first time. He is equally at home in the contemporary and traditional camps of folk music.
Agranoff's prime instrument is the guitar, favoring intricate fingerstyle arrangements of anything from Tin Pan Alley tunes of the '20s, fiddle tunes, ancient harp tunes or his original music.
He also plays concertina, banjo, or sings a capella. Agranoff can be uproariously funny, contempletive and powerfully emotional in the space of a few minutes.
A performance might include a song of heart-stopping emotional impact, a Scott Joplin piano rag, an a capella Irish patter song sung to the melody of a mile-a-minute fiddle tune, a rivetting recitation in the style of Robert Service and some of the most horrible parodies in the English speaking world.
Whatever else he does, Agranoff puts a lie to the notion that folk music is boring.
Those who have been around the folk scene recognize Agranoff at first sight.
He's that tall guy with the red beard and funny hat with the light in it. And when the music starts, he's in the middle, adding to the chorus and probably knowing all the lines.
Agranoff is not only a collector of songs and a master at arranging them, but is also a writer of songs and recitations.
He has a keen ear for the best of the best, and this only enhances his own writing. Agranoff makes us laugh, cry and think, all the while entertaining us long into any evening of music.
He is also involved in presenting folk music by others. He is one of the prime movers of The Folk Project, New Jersey's oldest and strongest folk music organization.
For over two decades he has been chair of that organization's Minstrel Coffeehouse, one of the longest lived and most respected folk venues in the country.
For more information or for reservations, call 562-3990 or visit
www.uNiCoffeehouse.org.
Tickets are $15 at the door.
