It’s kind of funny when people you don’t really feel an affiliation to suddenly talks to you about music. You realize that your pre conceived thoughts (negative they may be) seem irrelevant and powerless against the building enthusiasm. Sometimes, with the deception that the world around us builds, music is like this little port in a storm. You realize that there is really nothing impractical about music collection. It’s the kind of topic that really sparks up dinner table conversation. After all, music is like an archeological study. The more you collect, the more you gain insight into the culture and the times. Happy digging.
Fans of Celtic Woman will be excited to know about this one night concert Songs from the Heart. Expect to be enchanted and captivated with this group that made international headlines since Riverdance. See information below(and the link to purchase tickets).
For those going to Scotland this year, Discover Scotland is a great site to bookmark. Information about musical events supporting all genres can be found in this website. Very informative links to places to see, history, humor etc will help you a lot …..
I have been listening to Celtic Highway since I have become a VIP member of Live 365. For those who love both New Age and Celtic Music, this is for you. I was really surprised when The River Sings by Enya (Amarantine) gets a decent airplay. Golden Brown by Emer Kenny which is a remake of a nice song done by The Stranglers also gets exposure here. Of course, bands like 2002, Dagda and those with similar bend can be heard here. A DJ occasionally introduces a song . I will write more about 365 when I get to explore all of the stations.
Irish band Grada will be touring the rest of July in the Czech Republic. But before that they will be in Country Mayo as part of the Summer Music series at Aras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet, 8pm and ending the month in Italy.
Here’s the schedule for the rest of July:
10th – Mayo County Summer Music Series, Aras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet, 8pm
The Mud Girls ,have been making a stir these days as one of a kind group of women builders. They have built houses from cob, as well as other natural material such as strawbale, driftwood, adobe, cordwood and recycled materials like glass, car tires, glass bottles and more. I discovered them through Oona McOuat’s website….
Speaking of Oona McOuat, this Canadian chanteuse has not only been making music but is involved in a lot of projects. Earth Keepers Faerie Camp and Ocean Wisdom Mermaid Camp (among others) draw a lot of crowd. Learn more by visiting http://www.oonamcouat.com/teaching.html
Emer Kenny
Who is Emer Kenny? Well myth says she is a fairy who stepped out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting and is now recording music in Dublin….
The truth?
Emer Kenny is actually the wistful, ethereal voice behind three acclaimed recordings, Emer Kenny(1997), Fades into Day (2001) and Parting Glass(2004). A graduate of the College of Music in Dublin and Trinity College of Music London, she started her hand in writing music for theaters. Her media appearances attracted the attention of Mercury records that led to her debut self-titled album in 1997. Musicians such as Fionuala Sherry of Secret Garden and the Chieftains percussionist Peadar Mercer guested in this album. From then on, two more remarkable albums followed. So I am sure you would be interested to know. Happy haunting for those Emer Kenny albums.
For lack of any news today,I am featuring two wonderful Scottish singers.What attracted me to this song is the rapid firing of Gaelic language. I think more than the music, it is the language that defines the authenticity of the rt. Without it, then Celtic music would be incomplete. That is why I admire singers who perfect the art of singing the language.
American singers like Connie Dover earn my respect for being fluent both in Scottish and Irish Gaelic. Then there are those who sing in Breton and Welsh…or any of the languages. It is this sense that colors the art. English after all, is not the only important language there is. We need it to communicate. But it is not as beautiful as the Celtic languages. Enjoy.
The bodhran gives off a very distinctive Celtic sound. There is a haunting quality to it. Perhaps it is the collective instinct that reminds us of prehistoric sounds before written language was even invented. Somehow, association plays a big part in giving off a distinct flavor to the sound that the instrument produces. Let’s take for instance the sound of the viol. Though it is an instrument mainly associated with baroque or renaissance music, Jordi Savall made its Celtic debut. Even the balalaika can have infinite possibilities. It is the marriage of style with cultural identity in an instrument that makes something happen.
Well… we all know that sometime in the past everyone in Europe could have been Celts if not for the rise of Julius Caesar. Does it ever make you wonder what could have happened if instead of the Romans, Celts ruled the world instead? Does it make you shiver? Smile or inspire fear perhaps? We all know that history about the keltoi was written on accounts of Caesar’s own prejudice. THEY were after all the ENEMIES.
Now for the music.
Inspiration comes in the most unexpected places. No matter where you are, it is possible to feel a deep connection to a culture so different from your own. But to burrow from Loreena McKennitt, that there is more in us that can keep us together than tear us apart.
The Skelligs proved this point. A four-piece band from Split Croatia (Hrvatska), The Skelligs play a variety; mainly Irish traditional mixing it with jazz, blues, funk, classic, Latin-American and other traditional music. The result deserves a standing ovation. From clear acoustic rendition, they make the music fused and groovy, sometimes straight in style, sometimes very unexpected. Combination of composed and improvised music to burrow a description from their myspace page.
Band members:
Zasmina Pankova Pokrovac – fiddle and box
Goran Borovcic Kurir – guitar
Milan Pistalo – guitar
From MySpace…
….In an environment where the knowledge about Irish music is extremely humble, further more, this same environment has never had the opportunity to listen live the Irish music; the performances of «The Skelligs» were seen with a mixture of skepticism, surprise and thrill. With no exceptions in the audience, either young either old, there wasn’t anyone who hasn’t been fascinated by this «new-found» music sound, even often taken to dancing, thanks to it’s catching rhythm.
Since the first public performance (2000.) the group has been frequently performing in clubs, open air stages, theatres and halls in Croatia, Netherlands and lately in Ireland. The national television (HRT) shoots 2004. a 25 minutes documentary about the group. «The Skelligs» recorded 2006. the soundtrack for Croatian première of “The Weir” by the famous contemporary Irish playwright Conor McPherson.
If you love step dancing , then I am sure Nathan and Jon Pilatzke are familiar names. I first saw them on the Live in Nashville DVD of The Chieftains. I think they’re absolutely amazing. Originally from Toronto, Ontario. Both are good in step dancing(in the Cape Breton tradition) as well as playing musical instruments. They formed a 6-piece Celtic fusion ensemble called Quagmyre which is yet to give us news.
Today we are going to talk about passion. According to the English dictionary of synonyms, the very word also means: warmth, heart, ardour, fervor, rapture, ecstasy, intoxication, rapture, enthusiasm, gusto, eagerness etc. There are countless words that could mean the same thing. And of course we know that the antonyms of passion are apathy, indifference, coldness etc.
A friend used to say that the reason she finds musicians or people who are into music interesting is that these people have something that sets them apart from other. It could be because of how passionate they can get…
Now for the news…
I love listening to Connie Dover. I have listened to all of her recordings available and I have been passionate about her works since the 90s. She started her career fronting the Kansas based Blue Grass band Scartaglen in the 80s. From there she honed her skills into what would become her solo debut Somebody(Taylor Park) which resulted to positive reviews and a rave in the Scottish radio. I think her name stuck with me for the first time, while I was browsing through the pages of CD review back in 1991. And years later that music became a source of comfort for me when I was undergoing some troubling and lonely periods of my life.
Her pure and magical voice is undoubtedly unmatched by anyone in the business. Her materials are well-researched that span a thousand years. I also give her a high five for being the only American who is able to wield the songs of Early America with the traditional hymns of Ireland and the British Isles. Her recordings never fail and there featured a distinction between instruments used by guest musicians. From hammered dulcimer, Irish bouzouki, fiddle, concertina and other definitive instrument used in this type of music, each of the songs promises to entice and to wrap you up like fine silk.
Right now Connie continues to be active in the music and poetry scene. Two poems called Radio Crane Collage and Cavort (from her book of poetry Winter Count) are featured in her official myspace site) If you go to the National Public Radio website, there is an interview of Connie about her song I Am Going to the West (from Border of Heaven) and here’s the link: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=102168188&m=102218501
She was also part of the 25th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, where she sang with her friend, Skip Gorman, and read a few poems. To view the event: http://cybercast.westernfolklife.org/2009/.
Here is an interesting blurb from her official myspace site:
Connie finds her inspiration in the landscapes, history and culture of the American West. When she is not performing, she works as a ranch cook in the beautiful country between Wyoming’s Wind River and Absaroka Mountains. She received the Grand Prize in the Western Folklife Center’s 2007 Yellowstone-Teton Song Contest and a 2007 Emmy Award for her soundtrack production of the PBS documentary “Bad Blood – The Border War that Triggered the Civil War”.
Her CDs (three were recorded in Scotland) show the close ties between the American folk and cowboy songs she sings around Wyoming campfires and their Celtic ancestors, and she has twice been a finalist for a Native American Music Award.
Listening to readings from the “Pit Poets” at Prospero’s Bookstore in Kansas City lit Connie’s literary fire, and her first book of poetry, Winter Count, was published in 2007. She is a recipient of the Speakeasy Prize in Poetry. Look for samples of her writing on her myspace blog.
Born in Arkansas and raised in Missouri, Connie is of English, Cherokee, Mexican and Scots/Irish descent. Her studies at Oxford University further enriched her unique perspective of the context of traditional songs. She has been a guest on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday and Sunday, A Prairie Home Companion, and Thistle and Shamrock. Acclaimed by the Boston Globe as “the finest folk ballad singer America has produced since Joan Baez”, Connie offers listeners a musical experience that transcends cultural boundaries and affirms our connection with the past.
Connie’s newest CD, The Holly and the Ivy (traditional Christmas songs and carols recorded with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra,) was released December 10, 2008. Her new digital-only release of “Amazing Grace” and “The Language of Flowers” is now available through CD Baby, itunes, emusic and other music download sites.
Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother, “The best way to know life is to love many things.”
Connie Dover and Skip Gorman — Full Moon Concert in the Dunes; an evening outdoor concert by the light of a full moon in White Sands’ beautiful natural amphitheatre; an intimate setting in the New Mexican desert – bring blankets or lawn chairs; http://www.nps.gov/whsa; contact: 575.679.2599
..Searching for a radio station which plays “Connie Dover” and
similar music ?
Check out radio “smorgasbord” – your internet
radio playing folk, Celtic, rock, metal & more.http://www.smorgasbord.at
Let the all girl band conquer the global arena of Irish traditional music, Liadan is here! Not only that they’re all pretty, they got original talent for clever arrangements, singing in harmony, and play traditional instruments at such a breakneck speed that destroys the myth that beauty and brains don’t go together. Liadan has proven to the world that traditional music is very much alive and kicking. We are assured, that there are still talents out there who will carry the torch lead by bands such as The Chieftains, Clannad, Cherish the Ladies, Altan and De Dannan in decades to come. From Galway and Limerick this inspiring all-female band comprises of six members: Síle Denvir, harpist; Deirdre Chawke, piano accordion; Elaine Cormican, whistles. Valerie Casey and Claire Dolan, fiddles; Catherine Clohessy, flute. Catch them perform in the following venues:
Don’t miss the big event at Leo’s Tavern this June 29th . SOS (Save our Scenery) is a benefit concert featuring Brian Kennedy and Frances Black. These are the two amazing voices of Ireland. The event is hosted by Leo Brennan’s daughter Moya Brennan whom we all know as the voice of Clannad and sister of Enya.
Celtic Music Fan 
