No upcoming shows found.
Users who like
Ani DiFranco also like:
"Ani DiFranco (born Angela Marie Difranco on September 23, 1970) is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She is known as a prolific artist (having released at least one album every year since 1990, with the exception of 2000) with a devoted cult following, and is seen by many as a feminist icon. Born in Buffalo, New York to an American Jewish mother and an Italian-American father, DiFranco, the daughter of two folk music loving parents, started playing Beatles' covers at local bars and busking with her guitar teacher, Michael Meldrum, at the age of nine, and built her career from there.
In 1989, at the age of eighteen, DiFranco started her own record company, Righteous Babe Records, with just $50, and recorded Ani DiFranco, issued in the winter of 1990. Later on she relocated to New York City, where she took poetry classes at the New School and toured vigorously. Many have noted a signature staccato style to DiFranco's guitar playing. Another important aspect is her skill in rapid fingerpicking and use of a plethora of alternate tunings. Her lyrics have also received praise for their sophistication: alliteration (and wordplay in general) is an important component, and a more or less gentle irony fills many of her songs - especially those that deal with the intersection of the personal and political. She is known for her descriptive use of metaphors. She delivers many of her lines in a speaking style notable for its rhythmic variation. The song 'Talkin' Mrs. DiFranco Blues,' a talking blues song by Dan Bern, strings together some of the most memorable lines from DiFranco's early career for comic effect.
DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, but since her early albums she has reached across genres, having collaborated with a wide range of artists including the pop musician Prince, the folk musician Utah Phillips, and both Maceo and Corey Parker. In various songs and albums, she has used a variety of instruments as well as styles - from brass, notably in 1998's Little Plastic Castle, and strings, particularly noticeable on the live album Living in Clip and Knuckle Down. She has also experimented with electronics and synths.
Regarding the 'folk' label often applied, sometimes in qualified form, to her music, DiFranco has noted (in an interview with Pavement Magazine) that 'folk music is not an acoustic guitar--that's not where the heart of it is. I use the word 'folk' in reference to punk music and rap music. It's an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage, and it's a community. It's subcorporate music that gives voice to different communities and their struggle against authority.'"
[reproduced or excerpted from the Wikipedia article "Ani DiFranco" and its use is thus licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License]
Listen and buy at iTunes »
