News - May

May 29, 2009

CATHY & MARCY BREAK MUSICAL GROUND WITH ‘BANJO TO BEATBOX’

Collaboration with Hip-Hop Sensation Christylez Bacon Yields Musical Surprises

Takoma Park, MD - Children’s Music GRAMMY® Award winners CATHY Fink & MARCY Marxer fuse their talents with Washington, DC’s hip-hop sensation Christylez Bacon in a fresh new video enhanced and digitally available EP, Banjo to Beatbox. Tradition meets the next generation of contemporary “hip” with this new recording for all ages, available in June from Community Music.

Christylez Bacon is a hip-hop artist you WANT your family to see and hear. He rhymes, raps, beatboxes and plays percussion and banjo ukulele in the trio. CATHY & MARCY'S preeminence in family and folk music has been recognized with more than 200 Awards, including 2 GRAMMY Awards in children’s music and several GRAMMY nominations. The duo’s reputation for blending traditional instrumentation with a range of musical styles continues with this unique collaboration.

It all began in 2007 at the Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland, where Cathy & Marcy had been the first artists in residence in 2005, continuing on as artist mentors. Christylez Bacon, then a 21 year old artist in residence, captivated the duo. Chris’ stage presence delighted every audience, and his personal directive to use rhyming and beatbox for totally diverse collaborations was apparent. Soon, the trio were jamming together at downtown open mics and at a prestigious old time banjo festival. When they collectively composed “Hip-Hop Humpty Dumpty,” they knew something special was going on. They tested more happy songs with young audiences, and soon several more tracks emerged.

Banjo to Beatbox breaks new musical ground while remaining grounded in tradition. "Beatbox is roots music, with recent urban origins but based on a long tradition of African rhythms,” explains Cathy, an acknowledged master banjo player. “The banjo also originally comes from Africa, so this really makes sense.” The new recording features five-string banjo, cello banjo, six-string banjo and banjo ukulele, along with Marcy’s stellar washboard rhythms. As Marcy notes, “These instruments and musical styles are not often found in the same room, let alone the same recording. It says to everyone, 'let's take an adventure!'”

At the forefront of thoughtful children's music since the 1980's, Cathy & Marcy simply deepen their roots in the children's music family tree with the release of Banjo to Beatbox. Previous award winning collaborations include All Wound Up with heavy metal polkameisters Brave Combo, Your Shoes and My Shoes with folk icon Tom Paxton, and recordings made with Pete Seeger, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Riders in the Sky, Mariachi Los Camperos and others on the GRAMMY winning cELLAbration: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins.

The EP edition of Banjo to Beatbox features three bonus Quicktime videos. Cathy & Marcy "Jammin'" with Christylez, Tappers with Attitude and an amazing breakdancer; Christylez performing "It's the Beatbox;" and "Cathy & Marcy in Banjoland.” A new video of the opening song, "Jubilation" will soon be released too. All of the songs will also be available for download from iTunes, Amazon.com and other music services, and direct from www.cathymarcy.com.

Banjo to Beatbox
Release: June 9, 2009, Community Music, Inc. Suggested prices: download: $6.99; EP disc: $7.99