Local Spotlight

Calliope Fair: A Global Experience

originally published September 5, 2001

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In the early 1980s, George Norman, originally from Atlanta, lived in Belgium for a year working odd jobs and playing music. During this time he was introduced to Celtic music. When he returned to Georgia, he joined Atlanta-based Celtic group The Buddy O'Reilly Band. In the mid-'90s, Norman traveled to Ireland to enhance his Celtic playing. As Norman explains, "In Irish music they have ’sessions' where everybody sits around and plays tunes, jigs, reels, hornpipes and slip jigs. It's a traditional repertoire. During sessions, if you know the tunes you just join in. A lot of the Celtic musicians these days will throw in a 'queer' tune which is an Irish term meaning something that's not Irish. They'll play different tunes or melodies from different countries."

Through these sessions, Norman learned international musical styles such as Balkan, Klezmer and Latin. After collecting tunes from the sessions, he returned to Georgia and called childhood friend and multi-instrumentalist, Tim Lang (Breaking & Exiting). Norman had played with Lang in the past and knew Lang's musical ability could crank out the more difficult international tunes with complex modes and scales.

In January 2000, the two created Calliope Fair. Shortly after, fiddler-vocalist Leah Calver (Courthouse Creek) and bassist-percussionist Noel Beverly (Blue Stockings) joined in. After a few private wedding gigs and club shows, vocalist Betsy Ingelsby (Dodd Ferrelle & The Tinfoil Stars) and fiddler Andrew Heaton (The Ohms) rounded out the lineup. Along with modest professionalism and pleasant intellectual personalities, they share similar backgrounds that include bluegrass, classical and old time.

Audiences can expect traditional songs like the Macedonian tune, "Jovano Jovanke" or the Brazilian "Tico, Tico" and original songs such as "Full Moon Tango," a mysterious middle-eastern rock instrumental and the single guitar piece in open-D tuning, "The Spider's Web," a George Winston-esque melody. Audiences can also expect a well-rounded, versatile performance with each member, depending on the song and set, playing two or more instruments throughout the night.

With such a diverse repertoire, Calliope Fair is a popular choice for people booking gigs like private parties and weddings and is especially popular among couples whose families are of different religions and ethnic backgrounds, for obvious reasons.

"When someone says, ’Okay, I'm going to find a book to read,' Norman explains, "there's all sorts of books written by different authors from different time periods and countries... music has been played in every country and every society since the beginning of time. Music from all around the world has been recorded in all different places... if people would seek it out and really go to the trouble of finding it, [they may] find something that speaks to them."

Calliope Fair plays Monday, September 10 at Tasty World.

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