Description

Between 1978 and 1981 the Nee Ningy Band performed their strange, sweet, surreal music on the folk, college, and festival circuit along an axis between New England and North Carolina. Time magazine (August 1979) even cited them as exemplifying the best of American street music. They played authoritatively in an astonishing variety of traditions: Cajun, Irish, Appalachian, African, English, French, calypso, Tex-Mex, classical, pop, and, of course, blues—playing true “world music” even before there was a term for it. They produced one album, Get Nung, on the famed Biograph label, and a handful of promotional singles. One of the most amazing aspects of their sound is this: no guitar! But the variety of other instruments they played is mind boggling—from harmonicas of all kinds to mandolin, fiddle, washtub bass, flute, kazoo, mandola, pennywhistle, slide whistle, siren, nose flute, cornetto, shahnai, raita, and accordion. And that doesn’t include percussion. Though the musicians—and even the band’s name—might change from gig to gig, the core members were Hohner All-Europe Harmonica Champion Chris Turner; mandolinist and multi-instrumentalist Ted Porter; old-time/Irish fiddler Rachel Maloney; washtub bassist and percussionist Rob VanVeld (and later, Robbie Phillips); and master bodhran player Mance Grady. A note on their name: apparently an elderly man approached them at a festival one time and said, “You know, all that fiddle music sounds the same to me: just a lot of nee-ningy nee-ningy nee-ningy.” And the name stuck. – Bob Hudson

Additional Notes: The Nee Ningy Band