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About Us
Tom and Mary Kay Aufrance, BMI husband-and-wife
musicians and singer-songwriters from the foothills
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Carson City, NV. You
will find them performing close to home on festival stages
and also in intimate settings, making music for coffee shop
or pub audiences.
People know us as two singers who blend
our voices as we do our hearts. Our original arrangements
and harmonies extend musical traditions, and we have never
tried to immitate anybody else, so we don't always fit any
particular niche. But you will hear influences from the
very beginnings of folk music starting with the origins
of music itself in pre-Renaissance choral times, when European
people discovered the entrancing effects of vocal harmonization.
They got so into musical polyphony that they designed enormous
halls in order to enhance the reverberation and enjoy music
for its spiritual qualities, at first, and then for dancing
and well yes wild parties too! And, like those adventuresome
sorts, we also explore the irreligious as well as sacred
side of life in our interpretations.
We have performed for rogues in pubs as
well as for genteel audiences with symphonies, and we've
stood on dusty lanes in Renaissance faire villages and with
the wind in our hair on stage at outdoor festivals as well
as in the confines of the rehab. unit of our local hospital.
So, our music truly fits many moods
and events. We also offer original
music when the occasion fits. Mary Kay's original music
fills our new CD Musical Dreams. Her songs and tunes range
from the ethereal mood music of Musical Dreams and Go Ask
the Rain -to- her rollicking ballad of Mr. Potato Head.
We have been performing and writing music
since the 90's, when we got our start at Renaissance faires
and Tahoe-Tallac Association events at Lake Tahoe. Our first
group was the Motley Madrigals, a part singing group that
recreated the experience and history of early music. The
Motlies became popular at Renaissance faires and theme events
in the Lake Tahoe area. All the while,
Mary Kay was writing original melodies and lyrics, and Tom
was creating sometimes outlandish and irreverent arrangements
of pop music to spring on Ren. faire audiences, such as
Stasera Dorme il Leone! (Translation: The Lion Sleeps
in Italian Renaissance style.)
In addition to singing, Tom also plays 6
and 12-string guitars, Irish bouzouki and mandolin. He got
his first mandolin as a college student, because it was
small enough to play it in the front seat of his car while
working on his night job as a security guard. Mary Kay also
plays accordion and bodhran. Although her beginnings in
music included a variety of musical arts, starting as a
dancer at the wee age of 2, and then going on to piano,
guitar, violin,and voice, the accordion has always been
her favorite.
We also give back to
our community with twice-a-month shows for old folks and
a little teaching. In 2006 we became part of a really fun
State of Nevada and Carson City Symphony program called
Strings in the Schools. Through 2008, we were music instructors
for the program, with the goal of bringing the enjoyment
of making Celtic music to the program's nearly 80 students.
We started recording in 2005, and have
released four CDs - Ramblin' Irishman, In the Moon of Wintertime:
Christmas Music , Musical Dreams and Shamrocks, Thistles
and Silver Spurs. In 2009 we also published a music book
with our arrangments of the songs on our Ramblin' Irishman
CD plus more easy-to play but still interesting arrangments.
Just click on a link in the Green bar below
for more information. Contact us: (775) 841-1193.
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