What he does as a folk musician is a rather difficult question to answer. He plays a superb fingerstyle guitar in idioms ranging from ancient harp tunes to obscure Tin-Pan-Alley compositions. His concertina arrangements of music by anyone from Bach to Berryman's may be haunting, complex, exciting, but are, above all, musical. A performance might include a song of heart-stopping emotional impact, a Scott Joplin piano rag, an acapella 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, Mike puts a lie to the notion that folk music is boring.
Of course, if you've been around the folk scene at all in the Northeast, you've probably seen him. 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. His repertoire is vast and varied.
Mike 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. If you're sick of the endless stream of singer songwriters who write for the market, you will find Mike to be a refreshing alternative. He makes us laugh, cry and think, all the while entertaining us long into any evening of music.
| FESTIVALS | |
|---|---|
| Philadelphia
Folk Festival Schwenksville, PA |
Old
Songs Festival Altamont, NY |
| Eisteddfod
NYC Brooklyn, NY |
New
England Folk Festival Natick, MA |
| Champlain
Valley Festival Ferrisburg, VT |
New
Jersey Folk Festival New Brunswick, NJ |
| Folk
Project Festival Stillwater, NJ |
Big
Muddy Folk Festival Boonville, MO |
| Spring
Gulch Festival New Holland, PA |
NOMAD New Haven, CT |
| Washington
Getaway Darlington, MD |
Summerfolk Owen Sound, ON, Canada |
| Otley
Black Sheep Festival Otley, W. Yorkshire, UK |
Wallingford
Bunkfest Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK |
| VENUES | |
|---|---|
| Minstrel
Coffeehouse Morristown, NJ |
Fiddle
and Bow Winston-Salem, NC |
| Mine Street
Coffeehouse New Brunswick, NJ |
Passim Cambridge, MA |
| Woods
Hole Folk Music Society Woods Hole, MA |
Bound
for Glory Ithaca, NY |
| UnI
Coffeehouse Springfield, MA |
Stone Soup
Providence, RI |
| The
Sounding Board Hartford, CT |
Branford
Folk Music Society Branford, CT |
| Folk
Music Society of Huntington New York, NY |
New
York Pinewoods Folk Music Society New York, NY |
| First
Night Montclair, NJ, Maplewood, NJ, St, Johnsbury, VT & others |
The Music Hall
Oswebo, NY |
| Golden Link
Folk Song Society Rochester, NY |
The Turning
Point Piermont, NY |
| Long Island
Traditional Music Association Long Island, NY |
Crosscurrents
Kansas City, KS |
| The
Ten Pound Fiddle Lansing, MI |
Godfrey
Daniels Bethlehem, PA |
| The
Ark Ann Arbor, MI |
The Robin Hood
Folk Club Nottingham, England |
| The
Herga Folk Club Wealdstone, Middlesex, England |
The
Llantrisant Folk Club Llantrisant, Wales |
"If
you're tired of the endless stream of singer/songwriters whose main goal in
life seems to be MTV, check out this clever...veteran New Jersey musician/storyteller."
Dirty Linen
"... one of my favorites. "
Ron Olesco, WFDU-FM
" ... a witty and astute folksinger
... known for his often hilarious songs that poke fun at his own profession,
as well as doing things like condensing Shakespeare's Hamlet into a three-minute
song."
Homegrown Music (disclaimer: While I have been instrumental in proliferating
the 3-minute Hamlet song, it was written by Scotsman Adam MacNaughton. I merely
translated it from heavy-duty Glaswegan Scots to American English. M.A.)
"I first heard Mike Agranoff
sing 'Oor Hamlet' at the Philadelphia Folk Festival one year. I said to myself,
'I gotta get that song.' "
Michael Cooney
"Mike Agranoff is the guy who
walks into a song circle at a folk festival at three in the morning and introduces
some great British ballad which fits in perfectly with every other song and
which he sings with a strong voice and a great sense of drama. His folk music
knowledge and commitment to promoting artists and the music in general have
made him a great resource. ... He is a word-smith and raconteur and that makes
for a terrific live performance. The last time he played, he was competing
with a concert upstairs and a flood downstairs - and he still wowed us."
Postcrypt Coffeehouse, New York City
"...What a memorable show!"
U'n I Coffeehouse, Springfield, MA
"This was an absolutely
delightful show. Mike is a whirlwind and puts on a very live show; — he bounced
us from traditional ballads to recitations to parodies to Joplin to a Bach
violin concerto played on a concertina. Mike hasn't been with us for almost
20 years, and this was a too long delayed return to our stage for this one-of-a-kind
folk impresario. This will be an evening we won't soon forget. "
Folk Music Society of Huntington, Huntington, NY
EMAIL: Mike@MikeAgranoff.com
11 Overlook Road, Boonton TWP, NJ 07005
973-335-9489
Downloadable Publicity Photos
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