Dorothy Carter (born

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, 1935, died June 7, 2003, in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

) was an American musician.Billboard - 1998 8 8 " ... in Berlin in 1996. While there, she hooked up with MEDIAEVAL BAEBES Dorothy Carter, an older woman ..." Carter performed contemporary, folk, traditional, medieval, and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

with a large collection of stringed instruments such as the

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-string instrument which consists of String (music), strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board (music), sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set bef ...

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

psaltery :''See Rotte (psaltery) for medieval harp psaltery & Ancient Greek harps for earlier psalterion'' A psaltery () (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and ...

, and

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

. She is regarded as an important figure in the genres of psychedelic folk music and

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred music, sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the Dates of classical music eras, first and longest major era of Western class ...

revival.

Biography

Carter studied classical

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

at age six. She later attended

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

in New York, the London Royal Academy, and

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with dram ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In the early 1970s, Carter was a member of the Central Maine Power Music Company with

Robert Rutman Robert Rutman (15 May 1931 – 1 June 2021) was a German visual artist, musician, composer, and instrument builder. Best known for his work with homemade idiophones in his Steel Cello Ensemble, Rutman is regarded as a pioneer of multimedia perf ...

and Constance Demby. She moved to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, where she continued to collaborate with Rutman, who played his

sound sculpture Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary time-based medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBell ...

s on her second album. She regularly played concerts with Rutman's Steel Cello Ensemble, a collaboration that persisted for decades. In the 1990s Carter returned to London and founded the all-female revival group

Mediæval Bæbes The Mediæval Bæbes is a British musical ensemble founded in 1996 by Dorothy Carter and Katharine Blake. It included some of Blake's colleagues from the band Miranda Sex Garden, as well as other friends who shared her love of medieval music. ...

with Katherine Blake of

Miranda Sex Garden Miranda Sex Garden are an English music group from London. They were originally active from 1990 to 2000, reforming in 2022. Biography Origins (1990-1991) Formed in 1990, Katharine Blake, Kelly McCusker and Jocelyn West were originally a ...

. The group's 1997 debut album, '' Salva Nos'' reached #2 on the classical music charts. Carter later settled in

, residing in a live-in studio on the third floor of a warehouse building where she hosted salons. She died in 2003 of an

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward :wikt:bulge, bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also b ...

. She is survived by a son and daughter, Justin Carter of Los Angeles, California and Celeste Carter of Picayune, Mississippi and a grandson, Damien Helgason.

Appearances

* 2000,

Vancouver, BC Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Met ...

. Dorothy Carter played

at the

Vancouver Folk Music Festival The Vancouver Folk Music Festival (VFMF), founded in 1978, is an outdoor multistage music festival, located at Jericho Beach, Jericho Beach Park on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia. It takes place annually on the third weekend of Jul ...

. A recording can be heard on the Soundscapes 2000 album.

Discography

As Dorothy Carter

*''

Troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...

'' (1976) *'' Waillee Waillee'' (1978) *''Lonesome Dove'' (2000) *''Dorothy Carter'' (2003)

With Mediæval Bæbes

*'' Salva Nos'' (1997) *''

Worldes Blysse ''Worldes Blysse'' is the second album by British vocal group Mediæval Bæbes The Mediæval Bæbes is a British musical ensemble founded in 1996 by Dorothy Carter and Katharine Blake. It included some of Blake's colleagues from the band ...

'' (1998) *''The Best of the Mediæval Bæbes'' (1999, a compilation of tracks from the first two albums) *'' Undrentide'' (2000) *'' The Rose'' (2002)

References

External links

Dorothy Carter on Last FM
(illustrations, music, information) {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Dorothy American hammered dulcimer players Hurdy-gurdy players Zither players Virgin Records artists 1935 births Musicians from New York City 2003 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American women musicians 21st-century American women