Simple Gifts -Performing Artist Series

SIMPLE GIFTS
Linda Littleton
Karen Hirshon
Two women plus ten instruments equals one good time when Simple Gifts takes the stage. Drawing on an impressive variety of ethnic folk styles, this award winning duo plays everything from lively Irish jigs and down home American reels to harddriving Klezmer freilachs and haunting Gypsy melodies, spicing the mix with the distinctive rhythms of Balkan dance music, the lush sounds of Scandinavian twin fiddling, and original compositions written in a traditional style. Combining tradition with innovation, Simple G
ifts creates some of the finest arrangements in folk music today: swing fiddle creeps into a Romanian dance, spoons show up in an Irish reel, and a traditional West Virginia tune is enhanced by a Turkish drum and Indian shruti box.
Based in the hills of Central Pennsylvania, these women play an amazing array of instruments. Linda Littleton and Karen Hirshon switch with ease among fiddle, mandolin, banjo, recorders, bowed psaltery, hammered dulcimer, baritone fiddle, guitar, and percussion.
Simple Gifts is well known for their outgoing stage presence, which is warm, personal, and accented with humor. These women deliver their music with rare intensity and contagious enthusiasm. It’s obvious that Simple Gifts loves the music they play and knows how to share their excitement with the audience.
This is an act not to be missed!