Based on an excerpt of early 19th century writer Ellen "Nelly" Weeton's Memoirs of a Governess.  A sadly too-familiar story of a creative young female whose talent must be hidden to survive.

Nelly Weeton

A new arrangement of the traditional American fiddle tune, "Over the Waterfall" via MuseScore scoring software, scored and exported for an original video clip uploaded to Youtube.

Over The Waterfall (MuseScore Arrangement)

This is a soundtrack with ambient jungle sounds (courtesy of Youtube) that I put together on MuseScore software to accompany a slideshow video of the Mayan site of Quirigua in Guatemala, that I visited while touring the country in May 2013.

LairMistress

Quirigua

Instrumental version of a song I wrote in Irish Gaelic for a now-departed cousin of mine, when she was going through a very dark and stressed-out period, including homelessness.

An Bhachlóg Bhrúite (Instrumental Version)

Sister Of The Northland

Written in memory of Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), who lived under the pseudonym "Sebastian Melmoth" during the last few years of his life, after leaving Reading prison.  Also, written during the 1992 election season, with references to the mean-spiritedness of the social and political climate.  Lyrics are at: http://www.angelfire.com/folk/karivox/musicmarket/Songlyrics/sebastian.html .

Sebastian

A contemporary sea chantey of sorts in honor of a fellow Seattle-area musician whom I'd been missing during the winter of 2001-2002.  The "Penelope" of the title is the name of Ulysses' wife in Homer's "Odyssey", who spent a great deal of time waiting for her guy to come home from the Trojan War.  Lyrics are at http://www.angelfire.com/folk/karivox/musicmarket/Songlyrics/penelope.html .

Penelope

A song with original lyrics and borrowed Christmas tune (from "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence", adapted by K. Olsen).  Discusses my own struggles with becoming known in folk music, expressed in the second person.

Outside Looking In

Written in 1989, inspired by an actual kid dancing onstage during a clogging performance at the Deer Creek Fiddlers' Convention in eastern Maryland.  And yes, her name was Amanda.  The tune is an adapted version of a trad Belgian Christmas carol called "Kerstlied".  The guitar instrumental in the middle and end of the song is part of a traditional Andean tune called "La Paloma."

Amanda Dances On

Influenced by various local (Seattle) musicians, a kind of speculative fiction, in which I sat down at my laptop's computer, tranced out, and then woke up with this weird set of lyrics staring me in the face.  It took me several more months to come up with a tune for this thing...

Holy Wisdom's Cartwheels

Seattle-based folksinger, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and busker.  I write songs in both English and Irish, often on topics not frequently covered by others.  I'm influenced by a multitude of folk, Celtic, and world music artists, particularly Irish singers and topical folk songwriters of the 1970's and 80's.  I play fiddle, guitar, keyboards, bodhran, and other hand percussion.  I also play classical violin and tabla, and sing choral music in an alto/mezzo range.

All songs/tracks uploaded here are © by Karen I. Olsen, unless otherwise indicated.

I've just started a new music profiling/review site with a song-review companion blog, called Sing Globally, Think Universally!  The focus is on new performers in the folk and world music genres, while promoting new releases, and finding rare and out-of-print albums in these genres on eBay.  Check it out today at http://www.angelfire.com/folk/karivox/folksite/ .

Virgofolkie