Members of the Newell and Dayan families will bring their home-spun musical repertoire of multi-cultural folk music to the Oasis of Music from 12:30-1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19, at Trinity Church in Lewiston. Featuring three generations of singers and musicians, this family unit will share their love of English and Appalachian ballads, tall tales and fiddle tunes from Quebec to the British Isles to the gypsy clans of eastern Europe, and back to Lewiston.
Kaity Newell grew up in Nottingham, England, immersed in English music, which she has long sung and played upon the cornet and violin. Marriage brought her to Maine, where she has performed and taught music for some four decades. Kaity performs with the Ladybugs, specializing in songs for children, the Oyster Bay Fiddlers, a multi-generational fiddle band, as well as with her family, for concerts and dances. She teaches strings at the Great Salt Bay School in Damariscotta, and at Maine Fiddle Camp each summer.
Newell’s daughter Maisie grew up in Damariscotta doused with fiddle music from birth. She played violin in Maine’s All-State High School Orchestra, and she was an original camper at Maine Fiddle Camp, where she now teaches. Leaving home for college as well as the open road, she has traveled, fiddle in hand, from Southern Appalachia to Morocco to Greece and Romania, soaking up the folk music cultures on her way, amassing an eclectic repertoire of dance and listening music. She met her partner Eric Dayan on the Appalachian Trail, and their fiddle and guitar music have evolved from there. Their three children, Dixie, Benton and Elijah, ages four to eight, whom they home-school in Montville, have all taken up fiddle and will join their parents and grandmother at the Oasis.
The Oasis of Music takes place at Trinity Church located at 247 Bates St., Lewiston. Admission is free with donation accepted. For more information, call (207) 344-3106.
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