The Paul Simon Songbook comes to Farncombe

Hard to believe (for those of us who remember the 60s), but 2007 is the 50th anniversary of Paul Simon’s first recorded song! He formed the group Tom and Jerry with his childhood friend Art Garfunkel in 1957, and had his first taste of success with the minor hit Hey Schoolgirl which reached 49 in the US charts when Simon was only 16.

Paul Simon’s song writing career has gone on to span six decades and many different genres. In 2006 he released his 10th solo album Surprise. He will be 66 on October 13th this year. This workshop has been especially designed to celebrate the long and successful career of this much-loved singer/ songwriter.

Paul Simon’s early songs were strongly influenced by his love of the Everly Brothers, and his feel for vocal harmony has continued to influence his song-writing. Consequently his songs particularly lend themselves to being arranged for unaccompanied harmony singing.

Everyone is familiar with much of his output going back to the days of Homeward Bound, Mrs Robinson and on into his many collaborations with world music artists like Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Homeless). Paul Simon’s songs cover a huge range of styles and genres which makes for a very varied weekend of singing!

Tutor Chris Rowbury says: “I chose Paul Simon because not only are people already familiar with many of his songs (which gives us a head-start when learning harmony arrangements!), but his song-writing output covers such a wide range of styles, that there is bound to be something to suit everyone in this workshop. His love of harmony makes his songs particularly suited to unaccompanied singing.”

Chris Rowbury will be tutoring the very popular "Paul Simon Songbook" at Farncombe 7-9 September. Read Chris's regular blog "From the Front of the Choir"....