Barbara Cohen & the Irish Folk band, Whiskey Sunday, this Saturday, January 31 at 8:00pm

Hello All,

I wanted to invite you out for a rollicking evening of great folk music this coming Saturday, January 31 at the Tam O’Shanter (Walt Disney’s favorite Scottish haunt- after hours)!

Barbara Cohen & the Irish Folk band, Whiskey Sunday
Saturday, January 31 show starts at 8:00pm (till close) & No Cover!

At the Tam O’Shanter
2980 Los Feliz Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90039

I’ll be joining the band, Whiskey Sunday for a set of tunes midway through the festivities.

Whiskey Sunday performing “The Good Fight”:

Tam O’Shanter info & directions:
http://www.lawrysonline.com/tam-oshanter/general-info

(Located just off the 5 and Los Feliz Blvd)

Hope to see you there 🙂
b

Barbara Cohen Performs in LA- Friday, May 16

Hi Friends,

I wanted to let you know about a House Concert I’ll be playing this coming Friday, May 16 in Los Angeles along with the talented  Singer-Songwriter Joanne Rand.  The concert will  help raise money for the Music Education Program at Larchmont Charter School.

Where: 816 Plymouth Blvd. LA, CA 9005

Time:  Doors open at 7:30p & Concert starts at 8:00p

Tickets: $15 in advance and $20 at the door

Light refreshments will be served & It’ll be a wonderful evening of music and song!

To reserve tickets please go to:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/benefit-house-concert-for-larchmont-charter-school-tickets-11336564971

For more information about the show:

https://www.facebook.com/events/520323408077669/

 

“Home” was directed by Joe Murray
Performing in the video along with yours truely is Cisco DeLuna on dobro, Milo Decruz on bass, Jimi Englund on drums and Carl Byron on piano.

The song ‘Home’ was written/performed by Barbara Cohen
and produced by Cisco Deluna, off the 2004 release, California.

 

SOMEDAY – Live Recording

Link to video:

Barbara Cohen & Friends Play Rare Concert at Bryant Lake Bowl, Friday, March 21

 Former Virgin Records and Red House Records Recording Artist Cohen will be joined by Wendy Lewis on vocals and Jeremy Ylivisaker on guitar.

LOS ANGELES—Barbara Cohen, singer/songwriter, composer and Minnesota native now based in Los Angles, will perform a rare concert featuring selections from her upcoming new album, at the Bryant Lake Bowl at 10 p.m. on Friday, March 21, 2014. She’ll be joined by the talented Wendy Lewis on vocals and Jeremy Ylivisaker on guitar. Tickets go on sale Monday, Feb. 3, 2014, $10 in advance, $12.00 at the door and can be purchased at www.bryantlakebowl.com or at the Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 W. Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN  55408

Barbara’s career as a recording artist includes co-founding the Virgin Records’ band, Brother Sun, Sister Moon and collaborating with England’s rave luminaries, Orbital, singing lead vocals for the French experimental duo, Air. She has also released several critically acclaimed albums both as a solo artist and with her eclectic folk band Little Lizard, as well as the rowdy, alt-country ensemble Farm Accident (Red House Records). Cohen’s music expertly embraces genres from folk and roots rock to trip-hop, electronica and world music.

Cohen has begun working on a new album after an eight year performing hiatus while she focused on scoring feature films in her adopted city of Los Angeles. At the Bryant Lake Bowl, she will play songs from this upcoming release, along with old favorites and selections from her critically acclaimed solo album California, called by the Minneapolis City Pages, “a gorgeous dark-streaked evocation of bitter truths, yearning and redemption.”

Cohen’s ability to effectively blend disparate musical elements extends to her scores for film and television. These range from the ambient guitar and charango music for the 2009 Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, The Judge and the General, to the dream-like, cabaret-influenced score for the HBO Cuban feature, Habana Eva, as well as the evocative, Middle Eastern influenced arrangements for the 2013 documentaries The Lost Dreams (PBS/POV) and Al Jazeera America’s Words of Witness.

Cohen’s songs and vocals have also been featured on film and television shows, including Red Riding Hood for Warner Bros., Broke Down Palace for Fox Pictures, director Michael Radford’s Dancing at the Blue Iguana and the NBC primetime series Lipstick Jungle and Third Watch.

Ticket Information:

Barbara Cohen & Friends will play at 10 pm on Friday, March 21, 2014 at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater. Tickets go on sale Monday, February 3, 2014, $10.00 in advance, $12.00 at the door. Tickets can be purchased on line www.bryantlakebowl.com or at the Theater located at 810 W. Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408.

Hello Friends,

I hope your summer is going well!

I wanted to let you know about the ITVS/PBS documentary I recently scored, THE LOST DREAMS (directed by Jehan S. Harney) which will be airing this Sunday, July 28th on PBS – The World Channel, as part of their critically acclaimed Global Voices series. To find out times and station information for “The Lost Dreams” click: http://worldchannel.org/schedule/localize/

THE LOST DREAMS, Synopsis:
The film follows the journey of two Iraqi men who helped the US forces in order to free their country. As they flee retaliation and settle in DC, they examine whether their sacrifice was worth the costs. Their story reveals the journey of thousands of Iraqi allies, trapped between the reality of being refugees in America and a deadly predicament if they go back home.
To learn more about “The Lost Dreams” click on: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365047373

My Personal Update:
I’ve had a busy year and a half, along with writing music for THE LOST DREAMS,  I also scored the feature documentaries;
WAY of LIFE (directed by David Driver) http://www.wayoflifefilm.com/index.html and THE TRUTH HAS FALLEN (directed by Sheila Sofian) http://www.truthhasfallenmovie.com/
I’ll be sure to let you know when and where you can see these films in the upcoming year!

I also scored several commercials this year, one of which is currently running on European TV for the Hewlett Packard, WIN 8 Campaign

I’m in the process of updating my website, some of the newer clips (film and commercial) will be posted by this weekend and I’ll send out an email and blog update once its all up.

All The Best,

Barbara Cohen

 

Composer Update

Hi All,
I just wanted to let you know about a few things I’ve been up to this past year:

Recently, I sang lead vocals for Brian Reitzell and Alex Heffes inventive score for the film, “Red Riding Hood” (Warner Bros.). My favorite quote from the two recording sessions was, “Can you sing more like a wolf?”

I also had the fast and furious pleasure of scoring five, hilarious, commercial spots for Hewlett Packard (produced by eMotion Studios), starring Mad TV’s  Gillian Vigman, I’ll let you know when there out and about for your viewing enjoyment.

Currently I’m writing music for a beautiful documentary called “Way of Life” by director David Driver.

Synopsis:

“Way of Life follows the story of Michael Daube, a young man of modest means from small town America who finds a valuable piece of art in the garbage, sells it at auction and builds a hospital in one of the most remote areas of India.
To learn more about Way of Life go to:
http://fwdlabs.com/film/way-of-life/

Thanks for staying in touch,

Barbara

The Spooky Fill

This quarter, I’m going to have my students read an article about the composer Michael Giacchino and his score for Lost that was recently in the New Yorker. “The Spooky Fill” is a good window into the life of a television composer, and how fast they’re required to work. They often have to write up to ten minutes of music a day. Just to give you an idea, two and a half minutes of produced music a day is normally considered quick work

In Giacchino’s case, he’s really set up a sound for Lost that the director (J.J. Abrams) loves. Essentially, Giacchino has created a third character with his underscore that establishes a mood and through line throughout the television series Lost. And that’s really the goal of any composer — to support the drama and action of your show while creating a sound that’s distinctive and recognizable. If you can do that, you’ve achieved what you’ve been hired to do and then some.

In fact, Giacchino is so successful creating a third character with his score for Lost, that, according to the article, “The script for [the] Sundown episode contains such technical directions as The GICCHINO RAMPS UP, The GIACCIANO CRESCENDOS, and HAUNTING GIACCHINO CUE PLAYS underneath it all.”

Even though Giacchino became known for that spooky and ambient sound in Lost, he was able to do something totally different for his score for the animated movie Up (for which he won an Oscar). This score was lyrical with wonderfully memorable themes.

That ten-minute opening in Up is amazing. (Spoiler Alert!) The opening takes us into the lives of two characters who meet as children, fall in love, marry, experience joy and suffering, all the way up to the wife’s death. And Giacchino establishes a theme that beautifully embraces the life of this couple. His primary motif evolves with the drama unfolding from happy and lively in one scene to sad and moving in another. It’s all the same piece of music, but he arranges it differently and works with major and minor keys to give it a completely different feel that is seamless with the drama unfolding on the screen.

Welcome to my new website!

Hello and welcome to my new website!

I wanted to thank the folks who helped me put this site together: Chris Hickey (work-fire) for the great design and tremendous job, Glen Jannsens for the cheerleading and multiple rounds of quick-times to flash, Melinda Maerker for the the expert proof reading and Steve Readmond for the lush photos.

Updates:

I recently started music for the animated documentary, Truth has Fallen. The director Sheila Sofian creates films that investigate social issues utilizing a unique hybrid of animation and documentary. Truth has Fallen is a feature length, animated, documentary that follows the work of James McCloskey, whose mission is to free prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted of murder.

To learn more about  the film Truth has Fallen and director Sheila Sofian go to, http://www.truthhasfallenmovie.com/Home_Page.php

Thanks and more soon,

Barbara Cohen