Upcoming UK tour: June 2025 and May/June 2026
Soundclips:
Borderlands, Katyusha and Fair and Tender Ladies
Tech spec and stage plan
www.opland-freeman.com
Downloadable promo pics, bio & press release
Mike's irreverent sense of humour and Tania's stunning vocals provide the springboard for a rollercoaster musical ride. Strap yourself in and enjoy! Hammered dulcimer, guitar, violin, cittern, octave mandolin, hurdy-gurdy, Native American flute, percussion. An eclectic mix of songs from both sides of the Atlantic and rhythmic roots from Siberia to Morocco. This Anglo-Alaskan duo have been on the road together since May '95 in a unique collaboration which combines their distinctly separate musical backgrounds, bringing their exuberant music and wild tales to audiences around the world.
Tania and Mike divide their time between Suquamish, Washington State and Inistioge, Ireland, because anyplace else would be too easy to spell. They have recorded eight albums between them (including two collaborations with best-selling author Anne McCaffrey, in Ireland). They have toured extensively across the UK, the USA and Canada
In addition to their concert performances for adults, Tania and Mike also deliver excellent workshops for schools with a variety of topics designed to complement National Curriculum. Before leaving the UK for Seattle, Mike taught for several years in Norfolk. His teaching experience and the duo's natural exuberance make them ideal for classes of all ages. Before a workshop Tania and Mike will discuss options with the school to maximise educational and entertainment potential. See the education page on their web site for full details. It is also possible to combine a day of workshops with the children and a fundrasing concert in the evening.
Tania: Tania's voice has been described as "smooth, powerful and tremendously versatile". Originally from Alaska, she has travelled extensively in the U.S., Canada, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Britain. She now lives on a Native American reservation in Washington State. Her vast repertoire reflects the diversity of the communities whose music she has shared. She has appeared on radio and television in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Uzbekistan, Scotland, Ireland and England. Tania's unusual blond violin, which she has played since she was nine years old, is a handmade instrument by Eskimo craftsman Frank Hobson. Other instruments include an early handmade Larrivee guitar, Flatiron octave mandolin, hammered dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, harp, Kiowa Native American flute, recorders and a teeny tiny ocarina.
Mike: Though born and raised in Manchester, England, Mike's family roots are in Eastern Europe. He has played guitar and percussion with an assortment of bands, accompanied Middle Eastern and African dance troupes, and performed at countless festivals throughout Britain. Mike's main instrument is the Gambian djembe, from which he draws an amazing variety of sounds, but he plays everything from dholak and darabuka to bones, bodhran and congas, and composes tunes on guitar and mandolin. Mike has also built a reputation on both sides of the Atlantic as a dance caller and concert M.C., with a charming, irreverent stage presence.
REVIEW: TANIA OPLAND & MIKE FREEMAN - at Otley Folk Club [U.K.]
What a brilliant night! Eclectic isn't the word for this pair. Or, no, hang on yes, eclectic IS the word. Tania was brought up in Anchorage Alaska, and now has a house in a village on an Indian reservation called Squip... Squoo... er, near Seattle. Mike comes from Crumpsall, but maybe that seems exotic to Tania. From the start the audience was treated to a whirlwind trip round most of the northern hemisphere, starting "Somewhere in America" (-Bogle), ... visiting en route, Norway, Russia and Byelorussia, with a brief aside for an Inupiaq (let's say Eskimo) welcome-dance song. This might not be your usual diet when visiting the local club, but it was far from indigestible, leavened as it was with more usual contemporary and traditional tunes and songs, together with plenty of humour and anecdotes. This was one of those evenings which occasionally comes to the more adventurous folk clubs, where the audience, not having quite known what to expect, finds itself having a really good time, and then wishing that they could instantly import all their friends.
So the message is, next time you have the chance to see Tania & Mike, go along. You might not get to sing "Byker Hill", but you won't be disappointed. -Jim Lawton, Tykes' News, England
For all Tania and Mike's gigs outside the UK, see their own website.
Tour booking now for June 2025 and May/June 2026.
MAY 2025
Thu 15th May
Burbage Arts Festival
Constitutional Club,
64 Church St, Burbage, Hinckley LE10 2DE
JUNE 2025
Sat 7th June
Live at St Paul's Shepley, HD8
Sat 14 June
Anteros Arts Foundation
11-15 Fye Bridge Street, Norwich NR3 1LJ Tickets
Wed 25 June
Cottimgham Live
The Back Room 173 Hallgate HU16 4BB
Thu 26 June
Bromsgrove Folk Club, Catshill Social Club, 13 Meadow Road, Catshill, Bromsgrove B61 0JJ
-o0o-
"A wonderful stage presence. Their repertoire is vast." - Whidbey Island Folk Festival, Washington, USA
"Tania and Mike... are definitely a partnership made in heaven. They are quite simply one of the most original and interesting musical combinations you're ever likely to see! Between them they weave a fascinating musical tapestry." - Chester Folk Festival, Kelsall, Cheshire, UK
"A remarkably fine duo ... if you get within 100 miles of a gig - don't miss them!"-StortFolk, England
"Talented performers across a range of instruments, & Tania has a terrific voice which she uses to full effect in a rich variety of songs." - Mad Nanny Folk Club, Letchworth, England
"Tania Opland and Mike Freeman provide multinational, multi-instrumental music of a high order." -Huntington Folk Music Society, Long Island, New York, USA
"Very talented musicians with an eclectic selection of tunes and songs... As diverse as Mike and Tania's programme was, it was surpassed by the bewildering array of instruments which they played to deliver it..."-Folk Northwest, England