Tingstad and Rumbel return to perform Christmas concert
Published 1:30 am Thursday, November 22, 2018
The holidays can be hectic, from cooking Thanksgiving dinner to shopping for Christmas presents.
So be sure to take time to relax.
Grammy-winning musicians Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel will perform soothing renditions of your favorite Christmas carols Nov. 24 at Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater in Snohomish.
The new-age folk duo will play traditional songs, carols dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as some holiday originals.
Attendees don’t need to know the words to the songs to have a good time, Rumbel said. “They can relax and let the music play,” she said.
Tingstad, 64, of Sammamish, plays the American fingerstyle guitar, while Rumbel, 66, of Bellevue, bounces between several woodwinds, including the oboe, English horn and ocarina.
The friends met when performing as solo artists at the Willamette Valley Folk Festival in the early 1980s. They ran into each other again on Whidbey Island, where Rumbel was living at the time.
Tingstad was working on a Christmas album when they decided to team up in 1985. Their first album, “The Gift: Acoustic Offerings for the Holiday Season,” was released later that year.
Their softly played, yet festive interpretations of traditional carols continue to get rave reviews online more than 33 years later. That album includes several songs Tingstad and Rumbel will play Nov. 24, including “Jingle Bells,” “The Little Drummer Boy” and “The Coventry Carol,” written in 1534.
They will also play songs from their 2004 album, “Comfort and Joy,” which includes acoustic arrangements of “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “Ding Dong Merrily on High” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
“There are so many songs that are lovely,” Rumbel said. “They resonate with so many people. (The songs) may be from all different kinds of religions, but when it’s this time of year, they all love it, from grandparents to children.”
Tingstad and Rumbel have recorded 19 albums together. Their “Acoustic Garden” album from 2002 won a Grammy for Best New Age Album.
The duo’s music draws from many different influences, including Celtic, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and classical, as well as music from the Middle East and Asia. Tingstad brings Spanish stylings to his guitar playing, while Rumbel’s instrumentation has an Irish flair.
Rumbel said most have never heard their combination of instruments played live before, so they treat every performance as an opportunity to educate their listeners.
“It helps them feel more relaxed, once they know what the instrument is,” she said.
Evan Thompson: 425-339-3427, ethompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @ByEvanThompson.
If you go
What: Tingstad and Rumbel Holiday Concert
Where: Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater, 1211 Fourth St., Snohomish
When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 24
Tickets: $25
More: 360-568-9412 or www.thumbnailtheater.org
