Australian Celtic quartet Súnas offers something mystical, relaxing and rich to all listeners.
The strongest asset of Australian quartet Sunas is their use of tight vocal harmonies. This is followed by enchanting and captivating melodies. In the world of fast and loud music, Sunas is a great find. This is suited for people who like their Celtic tunes more relaxing and mystical. For someone who discovered Celtic music through the likes of Clannad, Loreena McKennitt and Connie Dover, the emphasis on female voices is really a plus point. I love them!
They took all the influences from the Celtic nations and mix those with the unique sounds of Australia. The vocals float between the world of folk and classical pop, making the songs accessible to all listeners. Even to those who don’t listen to Celtic music. Sunas has four members: Sarah Calderwood, Paul Brandon, Mannie McAllister and Michael Patrick. Each plays different instruments and also sings in solo or in harmony. They credit Kate Rusby, Karan Casey, Pauline Scanlon, Flook. Liam O’ Manolai, Dougie MacLean, Altan, Solas, Peter Gabriel and The Bothy Band as musical influences. No wonder they are so good. It’s because of the eclectic mix of sounds from different and amazing artists.
It is hard for me to chose any song as a personal favorite because there’s never one I don’t like. I am serious! There are tunes that you probably hear interpreted by other artists like for example Black is the Color and The Demon Lover. Reels, jigs and also a wider European sound are all over the recordings of Sunas. Instruments like whistles, fiddles and even didgeridoo embellish the recordings. But they are done tastefully. There are songs that use minimal instruments because perhaps, the band feels that the song demands it. There are fast and slow tunes: a good amount of balance.
My big thanks to percussionist Jeremy Sibson for bringing this terrific band to my attention.
Bio:
Súnas is a fiery four-piece Celtic band featuring multi-instrumentalists and exquisite four-part vocal harmonies.
Biography
Súnas is a fiery four-piece Celtic band featuring multi-instrumentalists and exquisite four-part vocal harmonies. They play a unique and unforgettable blend of original, contemporary and traditional tunes and songs.
The band has been in existence for more than a decade and has established a strong presence on the Australian folk festival circuit. In addition to performing at many popular venues around Queensland regularly and touring, Súnas has headlined the Cygnet, Tamar Valley and Fleadh Ceol Folk Festivals interstate and were chosen to perform their own music at the ’09 Woodford Festival opening ceremony. They have also appeared at the National, Snowy Mountains of Music, Wintermoon and Port Fairy Folk Festivals, Fête de la Musique (which was broadcast to France), the Queensland Multicultural Festival, Music by the Sea and Brisbane City Council events, and receive regular radio airplay in Australia, the BBC in the UK and worldwide. In late 2009 they toured folk clubs all over the UK, finishing with Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia Concert which was broadcast by the BBC as part of the Homecoming Scotland celebrations. 2010 has already seen them play in several states and even Russia for St Patrick’s Day.
In 2008 Súnas released their debut album ‘A Breath Away from Shadow’, awarded four out of five stars by the Courier-Mail, and five stars by iTunes. They have just finished recording a new album, ‘Celtic Road’ and accompanying live DVD with the ABC/Universal Music that will be released in Feb 2011 and is already receiving airplay nationally.
I am revising my blogging style again. Instead putting too many artists in my feature I decide to just take one and then just talk about anything in my Huzzah! section. That way I can concentrate on a particular band or artist and not drown my readers with too much information. After all I am going to post as often as possible now so no need to wait too much.
Qristina and Quinn Bachand
For Qristina and Quinn Bachand, music is a Family affair in 67 Music
Yes folks my new album review for 67 Music is up so please read. And also don’t forget to subscribe to 67 Music because they always come up with interesting reviews as well as Celtic music oriented events. Take note: I made an error of writing debut album when what I meant was second album. Anyway, here’s the excerpt from the review:
The shared creativity of siblings Quinn and Qristina Bachand in Family is a testament to the fact that Celtic music is and has always been a family affair. And it is no accident that the title is their second album is exactly that: Family. This album was released around late 2011 which catapulted the two into international live shows and countless youtube footage uploaded by fans. All the tracks are brilliant, well produced and display tight musicianship. But let us not ignore the other merits that Family has in store for those who are trying to pick up their Celtic albums. Red more….
Kevin O’Donnell
Here’s the third teaser for the Kevin O’ Donnell album:
The Irish-American Experience
While there are many strong connections and instances where American folk songs and tunes can be traced back to Ireland, and many fine songs written about the Irish experience abroad by Irish expatriates – especially in America – the experiences of their subsequent generations has gone virtually ignored. There has never been a collection of songs written exclusively from such a perspective.
This is the impetus behind the DEEP IS THE WELL project – uniquely American story-songs that are the specters of a common Irish past.
I feel I need to plug this because I am one of the callers. The show is based in New York and Wild Irish Poet a.k.a Alan Cooke who is the show’s guest is in Ireland. I called in from the Philippines. Crazy isn’t it? But the internet makes the world small. Anyway this is a radio interview about his book Naked in New York and I was talking to him earlier that day and told him I’d be calling. The show is Called Away with Words hosted by Victoria Valentine. It’s an interesting show so I encourage you to listen until the end. I called in around 14:28 and please don’t tease me about my nervous voice lol! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/aww1/2013/03/27/alan-cooke-irish-emmy-winning-writer-actor-filmmaker
Brian Cunningham is in the middle of his Atlantic Steps tour. It is definitely gaining momentum as more venues are filled and more dances performed for the pleasure of the eager crowd. It is doing great that reaped a positive review from The Boston Globe. The Irish and the whole Celtic music scene are excited as something fresh is making its way into the mainstream consciousness. Yes fresh but actually taken from something ancient. This is the beauty of Sean Nos dancing. It is definitely Irish all the way. It is also a kind of dance that has become obscured but now found a new audience in both young and old. I first got acquainted with the term after reading Dark Dealings by Karen Victoria Smith. At first, I thought Sean Nos only referred to the type of singing which also translates to “Old Style.
An observer of Sean Nos dancing who is new to this art would notice similarity to American tap dance. But remember that American music and dance are both influenced by the Irish culture. Brian Cunningham answered these question between sessions. He was prompt friendly in getting back to my questions. The thing about real artists is that they are both eager to perform the art tell the world about it.
There is a huge resurgence of Sean Nos dancing not just from Ireland but also from the whole Irish diaspora. How to you feel being in the middle of it all?
It’s great to be in the middle of this huge revival of an ancient dance form sean nos dance. It’s a well minded and respected art form, so it’s important that it’s revived in a special way.
So tell us more about Atlantic Steps. You are in the midst of a tour I believe? How’s it going so far?
We just finished our USA tour with Atlantic Steps, and it’s flying high thank God! More info about the tour available here :www.atlanticsteps.com
How did you develop the love for traditional dancing?
I developed my love for sean nos dance at the age of five. I love the freeness and excitement it brings to me and the people I perform to.
Can you cite the dancers who influenced your desire to follow this path?
I learned how to dance from my father, and he learned from his grandfather. I was also influenced be the great Mairtin Beg O Griofa and Seamus Devan. It all comes from the heart and our culture in Connemara.
If someone who is new to Sean Nos dancing asks you ‘what is sean nos dancing,’ what’s your answer?
If someone asks me what sean nos dancing is, I would say it’s not just ‘steps of a dance.’ Sean nos is a story, and the oldest dance story we have in Ireland. It’s the feeling you get and the passion you feel. When you do sean nos dancing, the rhythm is coming from inside.
What will happen this year in terms of Atlantic Steps and side projects?
My plans for the next year is to keep working on atlantic steps and most of all to keep trying to take part in the revival of sean nos dance. My biggest goal is to tell the story and as it was not just dance.
Points to remember when someone as old as 38 gets into Irish dancing?
When someone is getting into Irish dancing, the thing to keep in mind is, there are no rules or regulations with sean nos. People of 60 years and up, werethe best dancers. They had the style mastered even back in the day when it was danced in country kitchens around the open fire.
Brian Cunningham is performing in Boston this weekend.
Video:
‘Atlantic Steps’ is the inspiring epic story of Ireland’s oldest dance form, portrayed through the music, song, dance and Atlantic-Ocean-inspired energy of the Connemara region. For booking information, contact JRA Fine Arts at info@jrafinearts.com or 888.939.ARTS (2787).
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Huzzah!
Here we are again with our fabulous edition of the Huzzah! following the Brian Cunningham interview above. I am dizzy while writing this because it is past 11. Sometimes I think I am getting old due to my ‘punctual’ sleeping habits. So what’s up? Well I want to touch about amusing pictures on top of our usual musical recommendation.
I want to say that The Folkalists made amusing pictures via their fb page. Take a look at these:
Click to enlarge
If you want to know how they sound like, then just try to imagine, Simon and Garfunkel with a good dose of The beach Boys and Planxty for the good measure. The sound is characterized by tight harmonies and lush instrumentation. Can’t wait for an actual album from The Folkalists. Here is a link to their demo: http://soundcloud.com/stubbornassmusic/i-will-always-be-around
Sliotar is preparing for their march and April gigs. For those who are new to the band, this video gives you an idea about the music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=939HwEOslR8
Scottish piper Fraser Fifield is in Holland performing with The Nordanians. Here is a video of the music for those who are curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5WiGLCIeKs
From Sahara: The stained glass is from St. Benin’s Church Kilbennan Co. Galway and we were very taken with it. Have a lovely St. Patrick’s Day!!
Happy St Patrick’s to you all. I don’t say day because it should the whole week..well not just the whole week. Why not the whole month? Let’s all be in green the whole month. Let me start this show with this reading of the James Joyce classic The Dead. This is the end part where Gretta Conroy tells her husband Gabriel about a secret she had kept all these years. This is where he laments their situation. The narration is read by Alan Cooke who is currently promoting his book Naked in New York. If you haven’t gotten your copy then I suggest you should. It is a great read. You can finish it in one setting and his prose flows like wine. The book is in the right widget of this site.
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I mentioned in my facebook page today that I am posting my whole soundcloud channel so here it is. Not all of them are what you would consider Celtic but soundcloud won’t allow me to post more tracks on my other account after reaching a certain limit. I am planning to add more capacity to post in this account. Yes please enjoy all the tracks. These are music from artists who approved to have their songs uploaded by yours truly via soundcloud as a way to promote the music and albums.
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Huzzah!
Welcome to the flexibility channel where I can talk about anything related to music. For the past few months I see a decline on people who add up comments in this section. I think I am to be blamed because in the blogosphere the way it works is this: you leave comments to other people’s pages so that you get comments in return. Just like in facebook: share and be shared. This principle applies to all social networking sites. The only place I apply this sort of practice is through twitter and google plus. Because micro blogging doesn’t really require so much to do. All you have to do is just to retweet something that you think will benefit your followers. The same goes for google plus. I hardly tweet about my life these days because I am trying to shape my image as an informative blogger rather than an artistic/expressive one. I think this explains why my twitter followers have doubled. It is all about content and not about what I ate or where I partied for the last twenty four hours. Although it is tempting because it is really nice to share about what is going on in my life, however I also need to keep in mind my responsibility to the readers.
The way I understand it, the reason why you visit this site is to find out what is going on in the Celtic music scene. And that is exactly what I am trying to propagate. I want to impart a sort of tabloid/entertainment but which is also informative. And certainly NOT academic. Nope there are sites for that and we are all here to have fun. Yes that’s why I created this site. I want to experience the fun in Celtic music. I don’t even get paid for writing or keeping schedules for this site. If one day this will disappear I don’t think it is really that much of a big deal because we all had our time and our fun. But it will break my heart because this is my baby. If you only knew the things that happened to me because I made this. And they are not really happy things. There was even one time when I thought there was no point of going on because it proved to be more of a curse than a blessing. But then again music is always a blessing. And if we remember that we are doing something because we have fun doing it rather than because we are trying to maintain a schedule or we are answering to someone, then I think we are in the right track.
Now I have several links I want to share with you all. Here they are
Danny Boy from the muppets. Please take note that moderation is important. You don’t want to end up like the muppets hahaha: http://youtu.be/OCbuRA_D3KU
Featuring: Book review:Naked in New York, Nolwenn Leroy, Mandolin Improvisation in A minor track, Karen Marshalsay, Clannad 70s flashback and John Breen‘s new track.
ENTER THE HAGGIS
The Modest Revolution by Enter the Haggis is courting mainstream listeners. The songs are all catchy with pop hooks and definitive Celtic sound. The style has always been part of the band’s emblem since they formed in 1996. The songs stick like bread and maple syrup. And I mean stick immediately after hearing the first track Year of the Rat. Strings and uilleann pipes hug the chorus- verse -chorus structure. It is a tune that is also radio friendly.
I mentioned about maple syrup hinting that they are from Canada. Yes a nation that has contributed amazing acts in all genres all over the world including Celtic music. Now we move to the second track Can’t Trust the News. Yes who does these days? Everything seems to be filled with agenda. This song has a chorus that’s really easy to remember and also great to sing.
“trust your eyes
they will follow the light
it’s a new tragic story
trust your heart
it will swallow the dark
it’s a mecca of heartache and doom
you can’t trust the news.”
You bet I am singing along to this part raising my voice the way lead singer Brian Buchanan does. Craig Downie knows how to make a listener smile with his trumpet playing. There are lots of great arrangements all over The Modest Revolution.
Down the Line is straight ahead alternative rock with hints of ska and blues. I like that part that starts at 2:50, where the drums create these beats of anticipation amidst the teasing bass lines of Mark Abraham, only to explode in a harmonica driven instrumental riffs around 2:56. I encourage you to check that part out and tell me if I am wrong. These guys know how to start the fire!
Scarecrow is upbeat with a touch of cajun, bluegrass and even melodic style reminiscent of American band Gin Blossoms.
“if you fall
fall with grace
don’t let ’em see the fear upon your face
if you break
break the reins
it’s better up in lights than down in flames.” Yes another great singalong chorus that never fails to please listeners across genres.
Balto has that Celtic fiddling that will temp you to do step dancing. Trevor Lewington gets listeners on their feet. This is also made solid by Bruce McCarthy’s drumming. After the adrenaline rush of the previous tracks, we are greeted by the gentler Letters.
your love is a compass rose
steadfast through this sand and stone
wind, carry these letters home to Joan
old memories come to life
a last dance in this amber light
wind, carry these letters home tonight
By this time one can notice the beautiful lyricism that wraps around Enter the Haggis. The guitar riffs are contained during the verse part which sets the mood for the song. Instrumental bonanza near the end part of this track along with the rolling drums that make up an ecstatic listening experience. Pardon is another alternative rock driven track. It is an ok song for me. But Hindsight pulls my interest due to its unique arrangement. It almost sounds like a hymn.
Footnote is groovy with a pop rock kind of vibe. Copper Leaves in a little bit country.The kind of track you would be glad to play in your car when you are driving long distance. Blackout dips into a relaxing mood in the first verse only to build up into an emotional release in the chorus part.
Up in Lights closes the album with a spiritual vibe. I think it is a perfect placement of the track. kind of serenade after the energetic arena rock vibe of the entire album. Yes this is Celtic rock with a top 40 appeal. This is likely to be embraced by old and new listeners…even those who are not familiar with the genre. Actually it sounds hip. Very urban, sophisticated and can fit anywhere. But the Celtic vibe is definitely there. The band just made sure that part is accessible to all.
Credits:
Mark Abraham – bass guitar, vocals
Brian Buchanan – vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, accordion, fiddle, banjo
Craig Downie – trumpet, flugelhorn, bagpipes, whistle, glockenspiel, harmonica, vocals
Trevor Lewington – vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, octave mandolin, B3, Farfisa
Bruce McCarthy – drums, percussion, vocals
Guest vocalists: The Adam Ezra Group, Erin “Izzy” Griffin, Catherine Wiegand, Kelly Elvin, Claire Rayton
Uilleann Pipes on “Year of the Rat”: Tyler Duncan
Additional Piano and B3: Joel Goodwin
Additional Percussion: Tim Price, Dave Wallace
Meaty claps and thunderous stomps: Matt Elvin, Kelly Elvin, Ellen Griffin, Erin “Izzy” Griffin, Dave Wallace, Catherine Wiegand, Claire Rayton, Patty Volpi
Cello: Michael Olsen
All music and lyrics copyright Enter The Haggis, 2012 (SOCAN/ASCAP.)
All arrangements by Enter The Haggis. Published by Firebrand Entertainment Inc.
Recorded at Saint Claire Recording Company in Lexington, KY – October, 2012.
Produced, engineered and mixed by Zach McNees
Assistant Engineers: Tim Price and Cailon Williams
Mastered by Leon Zervos at Studios 301 in Sydney, Australia
Photography by Rosco Weber
Album art and packaging design by Brian Buchanan
Gallery
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Book review:Naked in New York by Emmy Winning Irish actor/poet Alan Cooke.
A beautiful journey…
It seems that all great literary pieces of the world always include a rite of passage. Of a story about leaving the familiar and walking into the unknown. Dante’s The Divine Comedy starts with
“In the midway of this our mortal life,
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray….”
Jack Kerouac also made the same allusion with his real life road trip that resulted to a book On the Road. Now I am not going continue quoting tall literature or set a serious tone because I am just an ordinary reader like you. So what’s a blogger thought after reading Naked in New York by Irish multi Emmy nominated actor writer and film maker Alan Cooke?
Well, to start with, the book reads like music. He writes in a distinctive rhythmic pace. This isn’t the 3-minute-pop-song you-hear-on-the-radio kind of style. Think of a symphony. And though readers might miss the fact that this is an artistic writing using autobiography as vehicle, the sad scenes in Naked in New York are embellished by defining moments.
” History is littered with those that chose to never go outside of the familiar, men and women, dreamers that ached but refused a calling to another life and yet remained behind to toil a groove into a long weary existence.” Alan Cooke made a recurring theme along that line all throughout his book. Anyone who has undergone a personal awakening knows that this is the truth. We all want to know something behind this mundane existence. And we do unfamiliar things so that one day we may drink to that fountain of precious memory to say: I have done that. I know what it’s like!
The story takes off as he starts leaving for New York. ” My God are you mad? That place is burning.” Says the cab driver to him. Ah to be a poet in a huge city.
” As New York drew near, I look out the window and finally saw the skyline of Manhattan. I saw the ridges and jagged lines of America’s greatest city. It looks surreal. The plane veered towards JFK. I could not take my eyes off the city. It already had me in its gaze.”
There are patters of microscopic observations in passages like…
I walked down the steps and through the tunnel. The faces seemed mute and sullen. It was a sharp reminded of what had happened here. I had been above the earth in silence for many hours and now I felt the sudden rush of America.”
The thing about Naked in New York is that it is part commentary, part poetry and part autobiography. It is populated by interesting characters. Alan Cooke has this deep compassion for the lost and the forgotten :the old raggedy Ann dolls that got tossed because someone’s got a new toy to play with.
From a crazy landlady:
“I quickly found another place to live and confronted her with my deposit. But she wailed and screamed and made excuses, run out the door and did not come back.”
To being a victim of hit and run:
“…suddenly a car smashes me into an abyss. Death takes its aim at me and I am alone. This road where I lie in the Bronx is cold and full of treachery.”
His narration includes subway mad men, good friends, death of a relative an being broke, cold and sick: “My sanity vanished in these panicked moment yet something deeper was allowing this to happen, to strip away the primal essence in New York. I felt naked in New York in these moments, alone and exposed, a wire cut by a sharp blade.”
Naked in New York takes us on an emotional ride but never losing the theme in which the story revolves upon: The transformation of a poetic soul in a vast city called New York. And although this is a book about his own journey, it never fails to evoke a kind of universal familiarity in all of us. After all, we have taken the same decision through different roads. And we have either safely arrived or broken. But we know this feeling. We know this symphony of the soul that transforms us into better beings. A kinder and more profound version of ourselves. It is a brilliant book that reads like fine wine. I recommend it to everyone who loves Irish writers and also the great city, the capital of the world called New York.
Bio:
In search of a grand adventure, Alan Cooke decided to move to New York in 2001. Has has been an actor, writer and film maker in Dublin since the 90s. While there, he created artistic projects. One of them was an improvised film about his life in the city as an Irish Immigrant called ‘ Home.’ It gave him an Emmy award.
to quote his Amazon bio:
“He got 6 A list stars to become involved in the project including Mike Myers Woody Allen, Susan Sarandon and Woody Allen. They all felt they needed to support a positive film about New York. Alan then went on to win an Emmy for his writing on the film. He continued his writing and acting and developed all his diaries thoughts and musings into what has become his debut literary memoir ‘ Naked In New York.’
‘ The Spirit of Ireland – An Odyssey Home’ is his follow up memoir. He is currently trying to develop a documentary film of The Spirit of Ireland. He also has a radio podcast show called ‘ The Wild Hour Show’ which is a series of conversations with artists , actors, writers, singers and explorers from around the world.
Alan will also be releasing a thriller set in Ireland called ‘ Jack Tully and the Midnight Killer’. The first in a series about the life of a tough heroic small town cop who lives on the wild coast of southern Ireland and his pursuit of the criminal underworld in dark times.”
He currently lives near the epic Cliffs of Moher on the West Coast of Ireland.
Get your own copy of Naked in New York through Amazon.
Alan Cooke a.k.a. The Wild Irish Poet
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Huzzah!
Mama mia! You can’t believe the reaction I got after hearing Nolwenn Leroy‘s rendition of a Kate Bush classic Wuthering Heights. She nailed it! I tell you this woman is so amazing! If you haven’t heard of her then check out my database and type Nolwenn Leroy and you will get results from previous articles I wrote about her. In this Women’s Awareness Month Nolwenn Leroy certainly carries the flag with her achievements. More of this event here: http://www.mytaratata.com/Pages/EMISSIONS_voir.aspx?TvShowId=510
Traditional music meets futuristic online teaching
Online teaching has revolutionized the way Irish traditional musicians teach music. Read more of this interesting article by Martin Doyle. If you love mandolin music, check out this Mandolin Improvisation in A minor track by American musician Thomas McGregor. It really highlights the gentleness of the mandolin sound without the distraction of other instruments.
Now, if you are a harp student and you want to learn the instrument, Karen Marshalsay is taking advantage of online teaching as well:“I do skype harp lessons as do some other Scottish players – and I’ll be doing my first UHI lecture on Scottish harp from my home this month – looking forward to how that works out – with lecturer and students all over the highlands and beyond!” Check out more about her harp lessons and music via: http://www.karenmarshalsay.com/ and http://scottishharpmusic.wordpress.com/
Clannad 70s flashback
Before Clannad embarked in their huge musical success in th 80s, they sound like this in the 70s. I confess I prefer their 80s and beyond music; more than their earlier efforts. But like any listener one has certain mood swings in listening to music. So it is really great to be able to get back to the simpler audio recordings of the 70s where everything was raw. No one was cheating in terms of effects. That video was taken during their live performance in Germany. German people really appreciate Irish music.
Before we close this episode, check out John Breen‘s new track uploaded via youtube. It looks like inspiration is boiling in the heart of our favorite Irish singer/songwriter. Have a listen to The Night Visiting Song.
This week’s featured artist edition is special. It is the first time I submitted an interview article for another Celtic music site. So hold on to your seats Celtic music listeners. There are people I’d like you to meet. And as always I want to thank each one of you for your continued support in making this site worth blogging for. Much love to all of you.
John Breen
Our featured artist for this week is John Breen
Yes you probably noticed the picture on the upper right of this site. That’ Irish singer/songwriter John Breen. He is this week’s featured artist after agreeing for an interview with yours truly. The great thing about this interview is that it is posted in 67 Music. Yeah the owner of 67 Music are friends and it is a great opportunity to be invited as a guest blogger. If you read through the whole thing you can tell that he has a great sense of humor. His experiences are funny and interesting. I enjoyed doing this interview with him which was very comfortable. Great stuff here and yes good craic. Also loads of insights into the album making and promoting music in general. I find that this piece will benefit not only readers but also musicians on the ‘ how to and what if’ of music. So go ahead and have a peek. You will definitely enjoy this amazing piece that John Breen and I prepared for all of you. Here it is: http://67music.net/features/john-breen/
This video is a fine example of the raw appeal of John Breen’s live performance with the band Fenian Folk.
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Memoirs of musician/writerNick Burbridge .
CARETAKERS: This was written some years ago and published in Songbook (ed. Dave White)
NAKED IN NEW YORK – A MEMOIR OF THE CITY – EBOOK KINDLE GLOBAL LAUNCH ONLINE
If you have been eavesdropping upon the literary circle via facebook then you might have cached the buzz. Emmy-winning writer/poet Alan Cooke a.k.a The Wild Irish Poet is releasing an e-book called Naked in New York-A Memoire of the City. Alan Cooke spent seven years in New York and came to know it’s bright and dark side. If you are curious about his prose, here it goes:
Excerpt : 2013 Copyright Alan Cooke New York is a thousand villages I have walked them all felt and touched upon a sense of each unique cultural quarter blending into each block I walked as they passed into the shadows of history and impermanency. For those who have never lived here they assume the city is one giant cosmopolitan fantasy but the living from day to day and moment to moment requires a realignment of the senses , you might never move far from your self sufficient hood which contains all you need to keep breathing. Sushi bars with quiet chopping sounds of perfectly sculpted fish dishes, delis with 30 meats and cheeses beers and atms to keep the wolf firmly in the dark, clothing and hardwares and cab companies and button emporiums, bars and libraries and …continue reading
Jim Wearne is another best representative of Cornwall. I think you should listen to his ballads. They are interesting. Now before you all jump and get excited, this is just a taster. I am definitely interested in getting Jim’s story. You will get that story soon.
I am finishing this blog at the patio watching the rain fall. The smell of earth rising is intoxicating. The cool breeze is inviting. I feel refreshed and drunk after reading and listening to the music of today’s artists. It is great to be part of it all.
Things are getting really excited as we move closer to St Paddy’ day. For example, take a listen to this sampler.
Larry Kirwan has been carrying the flag for Celtic rock music since the founding of Black 47 in 1989. The expatriate Irishman lives in New York City where he has been hosting Celtic Crush on SiriusXM since 2005. Kirwan, also a respected writer, has published three books and writes a column for The Irish Echo – the USA’s most widely read Irish-American newspaper.
Larry Kirwan’s Celtic Invasion features a dozen of his favorite bands and most requested rock tracks from his SiriusXM show Celtic Crush. The album includes legends like The Waterboys, Runrig and Black 47 (just to name a few) with popular U.S. touring groups Blaggards, Barleyjuice, Garrahan’s Ghost and Shilelagh Law.
Check out this preview featuring Barelyjuice, Runrig, Black 47, Pat McGuire, and The Waterboys!
Got an email from Tom Quick of Celtic Music FM 98.5
I just want to inform you that my radio broadcast “Irish Horizons” will be changing it’s name to “Celtic Connections” as of March 3rd. I’m doing this so I can include Celtic music from other area’s such as Scotland. Wales, Cornwall etc: If you would like your music aired on the radio show please contact me.
So yes, if you are interesting to get your music heard check out http://www.ckwr.com/
Celtic Twist Game:
The Celtic Music Fan would like offer a free copy of Twist in the Tale to the winner of a competition which will start now. This is how it goes. All you need to do is find an answer to a question which in the animated picture blow. all you need to do is go to their official website http://www.wix.com/hollandandpalmley/celtictwist to look for the answer. A winner will be announced at the end of this month. Phil and Dave could send it directly to you with a short note ofcongratulations. How’s that? For those who are new to this album, here is the link to the review I did back in June 27 of 2012.
Celtic Music Fan 