“Sylvi is an inspiration to the world. A superb composer and sound artist who easily rises above every conceivable obstacle to create memorable and demanding projects with extremely positive social values. Her music is wonderful to experience and participating plumbs the depths of emotion. To WITNESS her presentations is an emotional experience that has literally brought tears to my eyes and is unparalleled in the world of sound, music and happenings. My recommendation is unequivocal and pales in the truth of her realities.” Charlie Richmond - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Richmond

STILL TUNED TO FOLK

Last night, Sylvi MacCormac oversaw the CD release of her Coastal Chants at Iron Works. This might be her most accomplished and focused collection, with its pronounced sense of atmosphere and MacCormac’s dusky folk voice. She’s been immersed in spoken word, sound collages and other projects, but she first was recognized as a folk-influenced singer and is impressive in that role. Tom Harrison, The Province – Tuesday, November 18, 2008 -

http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/movie-guide/story.html?id=01181282-25bf-4d90-aa1f-cbc79a7de904

CONCERT - Sylvi MacCormac’s Coastal Chants

Where/When: Siwash Rock, Stanley Park, Coast Salish Territory, tomorrow, noon;
Ironworks, 235 Alexander St., Mon., 7 p.m.
Why: This local singer is the sort of person who stops you in the street to play some harmonica and offer you a sonnet. With a firm grasp of spiritual music and lyrical twists and turns, she has honed her art over three albums and is now releasing Coastal Chants. MacCormac keeps good company with guests including Sexy Pierre (violin), Wendy Solloway (bass), Astrid (sax), Alyssa Serpa (guitar), cowboy poet Jeff Standfield, MC Betty Rebel 67 aka T’Uy Tanat / Cease Wyss and Pepé Danza.
Tickets: $10 at the door; others free

The E-List - Great things to do weekend with Stuart Derdeyn
Stuart Derdeyn, The Province
Published: Friday, November 14, 2008

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/etoday/story.html?id=70e893fa-7ef2-4749-a577-bf57ccaaf621

 

SYLVI
Phoenix (Independent)
Sylvi MacCormac has been busy lately, reissuing all her sometimes bewildering catalogue on CD. Many of her recordings, such as Phoenix, were only available as cassettes and she soon branched out into spoken word and soundscapes. However, it was with Phoenix that Sylvi first was noticed. She has a husky folk voice not unlike Joni Mitchell….’s and the production by Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts….’ guitarist is admirably sympathetic and atmospheric. MacCormac made more confident records later on but this 1996 recording was the start of something that has turned out to be challenging…..’… Tom HarrisonThe Province
Published: Tuesday, July 22, 2008

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/etoday/story.html?id=81d2d297-16dd-4e8a-bae3-ccbcf88cd99b&p=2

 

“A quiet strength laced with youthful earnestness pervades her emotional ‘scapes’. Sylvi’s bluesy and melancholy musings are matched by her adventure in textures … she’s quickly gaining accolades from her peers for her powerful, emotive performances. ‘Voices & Wheels’ is an even more ambitious recording featuring some of her multidisciplinary collaborations (dance, electronic music).” Ellie O’Day, PMIA past-pres, Brava : Women in Music http://www.pmia.org

“Canada is producing some of the most interesting and most talented female singer songwriters…here’s another one called Sylvi…intense, introspective, idealistic…coming from her own strong perspective.” Tom Harrison, CFox 99.3 -http://www.cfox.com/

“I was stunned with her capture of the transcendence of nature through the lives of the people of the west coast. Sylvi has a very clear and soaring voice. Her songwriting is superb.” Ken Lunn, Blues Skies Music Festival

“Extensive signal processing was applied to a recording of a penny whistle in penny: a process (1998) by sylvi macCormac (Canada), combined with poetic words. One occasionally recognizes the source instrument, with its Irish folk-music resonances.” Computer Music Journal, Reviewed by James Harley, Moorhead, Minnesota, USA http://204.151.38.11/cmj/reviews/28-4/harley-cec.html

“One of my favorite works is Sylvi MacCormac’s Spirit Wheels: Journey (part 1 of a puppet opera) (1997). The way in which she uses the processed pennywhistle motif to enclose her composition produces a definite sense of arrival by the end. It is this, combined with the processing effects used on the spoken and sung voices, and the lyrical lines, that create a satisfying listening experience.” Reviewed by Patricia Dirks (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada),originally published in Computer Music Journal 25/2 (Summer 2001). Reprinted with kind permission of the publisher. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/ doi/abs/10.1162/comj.2001.25.2.82

Echo Location (Vol. 1) / Changing Locations (Vol. 2) By I. Khider
“These two audio documentary CDs are affiliated with Co-op Radio 102.7 FM based out of Vancouver, BC. … The most fascinating piece however is ‘Co-op Radio: Changing Times’ compiled and arranged by Sylvi MacCormac. This piece offers not only a panoramic glimpse of some of the programming on 102.7 FM, but a history of the station in the community from its inception in 1975 to the present. ‘Co-op Radio…’ has savoury bits of music, interview dialogue, confessionals as well as a glance at the initial mandate by the CRTC for 102.7: to offer informative controversial non-mainstream programming. http://exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid2=847&fid1=13800&csid1=48

“A contrasting, but equally compelling work by sylvi macCORmac, ‘penny: a process’, twists the sounds of a pennywhistle beyond recognition and accompanies them with a sepulchral spoken passage.” Christain Carey. e-Zine SPLENDID review of electroacoustic compilation PRESENCE III - http://www.splendidezine.com/review.html?reviewid=3245242557382731

‘Spirit Wheels: Journey’ – ” is an ethereal collage of voices, penny whistle, bells and bowed drones which I found to be one of the most striking works on these discs.” Reviewed by Ross Bencina. Chroma, issue number 30 -http://cec.concordia.ca/CD/Presence_II/Review_Bencina.htm#top

‘Spirit Wheels: Journey – ” Clearly, this is not the usual, common electroacoustics either. The lonely whistle opens to denser walls of fire, crowded with voice near, distant, clear and intelligible or permutated, senseless, with bell-like sounds around the corner, different languages – in short a vivisection of human existence on planet Earth. All this is enveloped in the vibrancy of electronically generated sounds, which sometimes shake and de-dust your speakers.” Ingvar Loco Nordin. Sonoloco Record Reviews -http://cec.concordia.ca/CD/Presence_II/Review_Nordin.htm#top

-http://radio.taukay.it/en/composers/composers133_presenceII.html

Raven Shadows (2006) & Voices & Wheels (2000) “macCormac’s two current releases are like her e-mails: They make sense but are nearly incomprehensible. So there is a struggle to understand, not impossible, as there is an intelligence behind both CDs but a challenge nonetheless. Both start off as straightforward singer-writer fare in which macCormac impresses as a Joni Mitchell types but each gives way to tapes of conversation that create a lengthy audioverité that might be listened to once. Combine that with found sound and other abstractions and you have curios dressed as art” Tom Harrison, the province, june 20 2006 -http://www.canada.com/theprovince

does this SOUND like me? – ” macCORmac wove the voices of th artists, the sounds of art production (sanding, sawing, scraping brushes, clicking camera, phones ringing, a voice singing) and subtle percussive sounds into a richly layered musical tapestry of echoing thoughts and ideas about art and disability.” Pat Feindel BC Community Living, February 2001 - http://www.bccommunityliving.com

“I’m sitting in th foyer of th HSBC Building on Georgia Street, the giant pendulum swinging overhead, a mirror in front of me, earphones pumpng questions into my head: ‘Does this look like me ? Does this sound like me?’ … No one pauses to look at the art on display here. Stopping to sit at a mirror and listen to the tape is out of the question. Heels click, watches tick, the pendulum swings and I’m thinking, this is exactly the experience theses artists want me to have. Aren’t they clever. The experience is the warp in time and space caused by disability, and it’s captured here in an Exhibit called ‘Outside the Lines : Self Portraits by Artists with Disabilities.’” Paula Brooks, ‘Where People With Sight Just Can’t See’ Vancouver Sun, 02.28.2001http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ -http://www.s4dac.org

E.u.C.u.E. October 14, 2005, 3rd Concert, 24th Series, Report By Talli Gadon

“Railway Lines: Trains Of Thought, an eight-minute autobiographical and narrative work by Sylvi MacCormac was next. She is a Canadian composer who studied Electroacoustics at Simon Fraser University in B.C. The piece was met with surprise as the narrative format disturbed the flow and changed the direction of the concert. It was a pleasant change however. Backed by guitar and environmental sounds, she speaks of dreams and about her life with the reoccurring theme of bravery and strength through the words “I was a strong child, I was a brave child”. We learn of her suffering and are taken with her through her transgressions, healing and redemption from her troubled past. This piece was a little out of place and could have been more appropriately set in the program.http://www.deeprollers.com/Ecue_Report1_Talli_Gadon.htm

“Before Lilith Fair… Before Canadian Diva’s Took Over The Grammy’s … There Was Grrrls With Guitars! ” .. ” So Sue me … Grrrls with Guitars is obviously a labour of love by people who like music … Sylvi macCormac’s *Carving Canoes* combines bird sounds, swooping violins, and understated vocals to evoke, well, carving canoes in the wilderness.” Shawn Conner – Vancouver Courier / Georgia Straight http://www.GRRRLSWITHGUITARS.com – http://www.vancourier.com/ - http://www.straight.com

“Technically and naturally articulate…easily navigating between textures of folk, rock, blues and jazz…Sylvi’s poetic, highly sentient lyrics predominantly address issues of relationships (with oneself and others) and most express a profound reverence and respect for nature … her songs are soothing, joyous and sometimes mournful.” Carlie Aileen Alida, Angles

“An exciting talent on Vancouver’s music scene…we were very impressed by the power of her songs.” Rogue Folk Club

“A spirit mover, opening up the core, illuminating the truth…her songs leave the listener with a sense of hope …every performance is an uplifting experience…this woman sparks a fire!” Nadine Davenport, concert producer and songwriter

“Sylvi…I truly enjoyed your music…it’s a staple in my collection.” Gaye Feighner, A&R Seattle, Capital Records