Mary Lynn Gadosh
Ohio to Soller – one way…
Written by Shirley Roberts
Photographs by Lynn Gadosh
Published in the Majorca Daily Bulletin on
Sunday 4th December 2016
Lynn Gadosh is a name that many people of Majorca are familiar with. She turned up in Soller thirty years ago and stayed. Her early life was in the farming and close knit community of Ohio and there she learnt to sing and appreciate music in all its forms. The country influences and the blue grass that marks her out today were planted then but as a student she was opening her mind to music in every sense. This was a kid who was not going to be kept down on the farm and her musical career was brought to the surface by Music College in Boston. The whole East Coast, Boston experience was a mind changing revolution for her and she just loved the learning of all those years. She learnt that there were many types of people in the world and many opinions and she developed her own alongside them. When college was over a little time out and travel beckoned and as a musician she took her trade with her and did a little busking around Europe. Her geography at the time was sadly lacking and generally she travelled from place to place learning about the locations with the help of local guide books and chattering to the locals.
Mid August found her in Madrid where it was as hot as hell and most of the Madrilinos had left for the coast. She took a map and used that great scientific tool – a pin – to stick in it to decide where to go next. The only criteria were that it should be coastal and somewhere in Spain. Majorca fitted the bill and a little more research settled on Soller to be her destination. Arrangements made with a local guest house Lynn set off on her travels to the island of Mallorca with nothing but a wing, a prayer and a voice. The Soller train was the introduction to this brave new world and she experienced her epiphany, like so many have done before and since at the top of the mountain.
As the Soller train performs its magic each day by negotiating the terraces of the mountains of the Tramuntana it creates the illusion of the train climbing the mountain. Lynn’s moment came when she was at the top as the train slowed getting ready for its descent. The hairs on her arms prickled and she had an overwhelming feeling that she was coming home. To arrive at the station of Soller in 1986 was a revelation. Met at the station by her hosts and taken to the square for a coffee Lynn could not rid herself of the feeling that something special was happening to her. She was introduced to a few young people who were hanging out in the square and in that first moment in Soller Square she met the local man she would marry.
Lynn just stayed and immersed herself into the Solleric life. She was fluent in Mallorquin within 6 months and then began the creation of herself as a teacher of English, a Wedding Celebrant and a working musician. The musical life of Majorca has been through many changes but Lynn’s arrival coincided with the arrival of the musicians who made their mark at Son Amar. Richard Vinton the acclaimed painist, The Drifters and many others were part of a recruitment drive in the USA by Son Amar and the American singers and musicians were welcomed with open arms by the locals and visitors to Majorca. It was into this world that Lynn took her place as one of the few female rock artists available to play the large stadiums and venues that were a feature of the time.
Thirty years of musical experience and theatre productions in Majorca are the subject of other stories. Right now we come up to date with what Lynn and her collaboration with many local musicians has done for her in this year. One of their magic moments was to sing at the Concert in the Torrent de Pareis. Lynn and the group Aura Veus took their place with pride in the emblematic gorge in the Barbershop Quartet mode.
Each of the singers brings to the group a wide musical experience that emerges on stage thanks to their arrangements and harmonies, as well as the styles that make up its repertoire: gospel, soul and rhythm & blues, with a clear influence of the Mediterranean.
Another popular development of 2016 is the emergence of Swing music and dancing. All over Majorca at Fiestas the great dancers turn up to dance to the big band sounds and get the community swinging. Lynn and her team including the piano playing of the one and only Richard Vinton have rocked the socks off Deia and many other locations this year with their exquisite Swing Set.
Lynn, together with the group the Delta Grooves Quartet which features Lynn and Soriana Ivaniv as vocalists with the violin of Steve Bergendy and double bass player Isaac Vega on guitar. Have developed a Country Music Group for this generation. More Dixie Chicks than Dolly Parton but with the fantastic harmonies of blue grass sound echoing through the repertoire. The bookings for this group were exceptional in Majorca this year and indicates the interest in this great musical genre.
Music is Lynn’s life blood but like many musicians in Majorca the reality is feast or famine. Every performer has to be a chameleon and have another income stream for when there are just no paid bookings available. Lynn is a teacher of English and as such is very busy in local Soller schools working with young children. To be at the heart of this community and be known by all the local children and their families is a great pleasure for her. Music is never far away even then and some little ones have a musical accompaniment to their learning. She is known as the teacher who sings…
Lynn’s other world is that of a Wedding Celebrant. She works with couples to ensure that their vows represent what they really want to say and evolves a bespoke ceremony for them. There are many Wedding Celebrant’s on this island but Lynn’s work in this regard started over twelve years ago and she was amongst the first in the Soller Valley to gain a reputation for this. As a singer, actor and public speaker she brings a huge array of talents to the Wedding Celebrant table. Sometimes all those skills are required and she evolves from the Celebrant to the Entertainer in a matter of hours. A high honour for her this year was writing and choreographing the wedding of a famous couple who were married in Palma Cathedral.
Words and Music by Lynn Gadosh was the order of the day and a great pleasure.
When Lynn Gadosh stuck a pin in a map she had no idea that she was setting the scene for a huge part of her life. The Soller Valley works its magic on many and double magic on many more. Lynn still talks with an American accent but she readily slips into Mallorquin and Castilian as a truly integrated person. She is known for her music and her voice all over the Island and beyond. However, here in Soller she is known as ‘Our Lynn – the Solleric’ and that’s exactly how she likes it.
