Le Soleil de Santa Rosa

From left to right:
front row - Jim Wathen (hurdy-gurdy) and Jennie Hartman (guitarra)
back row - John Creager (cabrette), Jeff Reynolds (concertina) and
Alan Keith (diatonic accordion)

The group Le Soleil de Santa Rosa was a good-time traditional French folk band, with a pronounced Auvergne accent. We listened to old recordings of Martin Cayla on his "Discs le Soleil" lable and were inspired to grab cabrette (typical bellows-blown bagpipe of the Auvergne region), button accordion, gurdy-gurdy, concertina, and guitarra and form a group of our own.

Someday, you will be able to click on a sound file and listen to it play wihout waiting for the long download. While we wait for that to happen, you can take a look at the tape insert notes and hear an MP3 track from our second tape, "Bal Folk en Californie." Some of the tunes are listed by name, and some by the names of the specific dances that went well with them. We consulted folk dance teacher Marilyn Smith in selecting tunes that would fit the regional idiom of the French dances that she taught.

Note: Our hurdy-gurdy frog logo was created by Jeff Reynolds

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