Gwennyn: Silky Breton Music

For Gwennyn, the adventure began in 2000 when she took her first steps in music with Alan Stivell on his album “Back to Breizh“, then got invited to festivals of Old plows Carhaix and Fallen of the night in Rennes .-Artist bio.

Somewhere in Brittany, a very stylish Celtic singer Gwennyn continues to hone her artistry. There is this balance between ambient and folk rock style. The   maritime and urban appeal of her music makes her accessible to both the older and younger demographics. Her voice is like the whisper of seashells over sand dunes. The sloshing of her olive flavored melodies washes over like the frothy tides against tired feet. Something I need after a long day.

After five songs and several videos she won me over. It’s like nothing  could ever go wrong  when I listen to her songs. They are filled with sweetness and radiance. To top it off, her charismatic personality makes her a sorceress that drives her audience to aural frenzy.

The new album is called Kan An Tevenn

In a pop rock style Celtic Gwennyn takes us on an imaginary journey to the peoples of the dunes … Buoyed by the artistic direction of Patrice Marzin, this album offers a sublime setting for voice and clear air Gwennyn, where new music, beautiful melodies and contributions of famous French-speaking authors like Gerard Manset, are heavily loaded.It rocks!
With:
Patrice Marzin: guitars (HF Thiéfaine, Calvin Russell, Gerard Manset)
Kevin Camus: uilleann pipes (piper of N. Le Roy)
Jean-Luc Aime: Programming (Elisa Vellia, Stabat Stable)
Patrick Boileau battery (G. Servat)

Sources:

http://www.gwennyn.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GwennynKanAnTevenn

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/senivideo/videos

Myspace music: http://www.myspace.com/gwennyn

Anticipating Halloween(Samhain)

Halloween is like Christmas to me. I get exciting when the month of October arrives because that is the time when people of Celtic interests have something to do. Since I live in the Philippines Halloween has a different color here. Although people DO celebrate it, there’s very little Celtic connection to it. Most often it is associated with horror stories of just anything to scare.But it is nice though, because you have all the reason to come as you are. You can wear your Druid attire of prance in your leprechaun suit people would still cheer for you. Here is one beautiful video featuring the harp music of Alan Stivell who hails from Brittany and has a big influence in musical culture scene. Enjoy!

 

SOS Gig Update and Laoise Kelly’s Temperamental Harp

Check out these photo’s from Leo’s Tavern. SOS Gig(Save Our Scenery Gig) featuring Moya Brennan, Frances Black and Brian Kennedy. To view the complete album, please visit this link.

Laoise and Alan Stivell

Laoise and Alan Stivell

Loaise Kelly has revolutionized how harp is being played. From a rather laid back and passive reputation; the harp has taken center stage as an instrument capable of making dance tunes and temperamental playing. Catch her playing near you:

Upcoming Shows ( view all )
Jul 11 2010 1:30P
Catskills Irish Festival NY 11-17th East Durham, NY Find Tickets
Jul 21 2010 1:00P
Galway Arts Festival Róisín Dubh Galway, Galway Find Tickets
Jul 22 2010 8:00P
Live BBC radio show w Kathleen MacInnes, presented by Karine Polwart Glasgow, UNITED KINGDOM
Jul 26 2010 10:00A
Scoil Acla Centenary summer school 26th-1st August www.scoilacla.com Achill, Mayo , IE
Jul 29 2010 8:00P
Launch of new solo Harp CD ‘CEIS’ Yahooo!! @ Gielty’s Dooagh, Achill, Mayo, IRELAND

June 13:Music Pubs,Tours and Releases.

If you are on our way to Cork and wants to know which music bar to go to next, don’t forget to visit de Barras. Situated in Clonkilty the West of Cork,  it boasts a one of a kind venue that already housed artists like Christy Moore, John Spillane and new up and rising acts. Feel its ne of a kind intimate ambience and diverse acts that make de Barras stand out as one of the best pubs in Ireland. Quotes ” Mark Mc Devitt, (Irish Examiner 2000) It is the presence of an unlikely musical venue that makes Clonakilty truly special however, to cross the well worn threshold of the shy and rather retiring de Barras Folk Club, is to enter into a world full of possibilities. The possibility that anyone, literally anyone, might ramble in of the street and do a few tunes.” Contact: DeBarras, 55 Pearse St.,Clonakilty, West Cork, Ireland Phone : +353 (0)23 8833381 Booking Enquiries: +353 (0)23 8836549 TUES  email: eolas@debarra.ieCheck out  www.myspace.com/debarras and www.debarra.ie for this month’s gig guide……………………….There is one site directory that will tell you the best bars in town. www.irishpubs.com has not only the lists of categories, it also has a user friendly interface that will guide you while you click for the pubs near you. It says Your Guide to the best pubs in Ireland and Irish pubs around the world. It includes categories like Entertainment, live Music, Trad Music, Disco Bars. Sport, Food. Smoking facility, Accommodation,  Parking. Job opportunities etc.(Job opportunities? Hmmm…) You can even add your pub to the list or sell it!

And now for some music news……….

Clockwise from top: Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Alan Stivell, Pierrick Lemou and band, Lily Neill, Eddi Reader with band and Julie Fowlis (Pictures courtesy of their respective websites).


The 15th Hebridean Celtic Festival has a line up of interesting artists. From 14th to 17th of July, expect to be enchanted, possessed and stirred up by some of the most beautiful music in the world. Here are the artists to play in the event:

Runrig (Mainstage Saturday) Breabach Mainstage Saturday) Treacherous Orchestra (Mainstage Friday) Imelda May (Mainstage Friday) Julie  Fowlis (Mainstage Friday) Afro Celt Sound System (Mainstage Thursday) Blazin’ Fiddles (Mainstage Thursday) Adrian Edmondson & The Bad Shepherds (Mainstage Thursday) Iain Morrison’s Ceòl Mor / Little Music (An Lanntair Saturday) The Poozies (An Lanntair Friday) The Fox Hunt (Breasclete Wednesday / An Lanntair Thursday) Anniversary Concert (An Lanntair Wednesday 7.30pm) Oidhche Chiadain (An Lanntair Wednesday 3pm) Alasdair White & Jane Hepburn (An Lanntair Thursday 3pm) Mhairi Hall Trio (Harris, Thursday 8pm / An Lanntair, Friday 3pm) Mànran (Clan MacQuarrie, Friday 8pm) Ceilidh Bands Norrie acIver’s Dance Band (An Lanntair, Wednesday) Anna Fraser Dance Band (Breasclete, Wednesday)
Deoch an Dorus (Stornoway & Borve, Friday)

According to the site news: Thousands Expected as Festival Sales Reach Milestone

 

People from countries as far away as the USA, Canada and Australia are expected to visit Stornoway this summer as the Hebridean Celtic Festival announced it has already sold more tickets this year than it did for the entire event last year

Add HebCelt Fest in facebook follow the feeds and also in twitter and myspace

Julie Fowlis , our Scottish lass is in the midst of a  tour to promote her new album Uam. According to Folk Radio Uk, Uam is an extraordinary moving album. Her best and most beautiful work to date. Julie has also been made ambassador for Hebridean Celtic Festival according to her myspace blog:

The fabulous folks at the reknowned Hebridean Celtic Festival have been kind enough to make me an ambassador for the festival and one of the first three inductees to their newly formed Hall of Fame.

I am most chuffed and honoured.  See the official info below!  (then go and buy tickets – it’s a fab festival!!)  love Julie x

Sounds like she is not only winning our hearts, she is winning the whole of UK and the world. Bless you Julie! Check her blog and music at  www.myspace.com/juliefowlis and www.juliefowlis.com her tour schedules:

Cuirmean-ciùil

Tour Dates

12th Jun

St Albans
St Albans Arena Civic Centre St Albans Hertfordshire AL1 3LD

13th Jun

Southwell
Southwell Folk Festival Nottinghamshire

15th Jun

Cardiff
St Davids Hall, The Hayes, Cardiff CF10 1AH

17th Jun

London
Union Chapel, Compton Avenue, Canonbury, London N1 2XD

20th Jun

Salisbury
Salisbury City Hall Malthouse Lane Salisbury Wiltshire SP2 7TU

26th Jun

Sedburgh
Near Sedburgh, Cumbria
View further details

Add Julie on facebook, twitter and bebo.

Breton band TornaoD is in the middle of an exciting tour this month. This band from Kaligan France have been leaving audiences breathless with their astounding, dynamic energy such that, initially bemused, then won over, people are never indifferent. Their site describes the music: In an authentic meeting of tradition and modernity, TornaoD draw inspiration from a mixture of sources, from Alan Stivell to Metallica, Led Zeppelin to Denez Prigent, 70s rock side by side with 80s metal, New Age, the East, and more…From June to August, you can watch them live in the following venues:

http://events.myspace.com/Event/4844372/Festival-Celtic

If you don’t have an idea who Pierrick Lemou is, then you’ve missed out on life’s great musical pleasures. His fiddle plying is like no other because after all, he walks in two cultures: Breton style meets Irish influences. There is a softer and sweeter style in his playing. His arrangement is also eclectic in a sense that he derives from all sources, including the great jazz bassist Jaco Pastorious. I am personally getting a hang of him and he bleeds magi in every song. Check him out at   www.myspace.com/pierricklemou and  http://www.pierricklemou.com/Following the release of the much-awaited album Emerald, Alan Stivell is fully booked for the month of July and August. He also conducted an online chat with his fans (in Breton I guess) and
yes he will be on one of the biggest Celtic Festival this year ,

FESTIVAL INTERCELTIQUE LORIENT-ANORIANT, Breizh

Upcomming shows: http://events.myspace.com/Event/2301147/Alan-STIVELL

The amazing voice behind Danu Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh continues to soar the heights of musical success as her band promotes their new album “Seanchas” was released in April 2010. Listening to her full voice, it would be hard not to be loved. She has the mastery in the sean nos style of singing as well as great talents on the flute and tin-whistle. She is good friends with Scot Julie Fowlis  who collaborated with her on collaborated on the album “Dual”http://muireann.ie/biog.html . Expect to hear more from  Muireann .Please read   www.myspace.com/muireannmusic and muireann.ie . Beautiful photos courtesy of Bríd Ní Luasaigh

Follow her on facebook, and watch her on  youtube.

There is an amazing Celtic harpist in our midst that mixes music of all genres making the sound totally her own. Lily Neill has created such a stir in the music scene after the release of her debut album “Without Words “ in 2004. “Lily Neill speaks to us without words in this gentle and gracious recording. Once again the magic of the plucked string surrounds us and brings us to a place of special resonance and peace. There is something universal in this sound: no less than three of the tracks, for example, bring the Japanese Koto and Irish Harp together as if they were long lost cousins. A shared universal sonic gene comes through her fingers as if the music inside her is truly ancestral”.  Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, November 2006. www.myspace.com/lilyneill and www.LilyNeill.com

If you haven’t got the copy of John Spillane’s latest album (The Best of John Spillane, So Far, So Good, Like), then don’t miss out on this musical gem of an album.

John is a native of Cork, the county he lovingly describes as ‘the centre of the universe’, and it has been a huge influence on this singer/songwriter. Vocally, Spillane is quite unique with an almost sean nos like element and has been described as having a voice ‘full of honesty, commitment and sensitivity’.

…some of the most skillfully crafted, vividly realized songs anyone has written in Ireland over the past dozen years.’ Earle Hitchner, premier writer/reviewer for Irish Echo and The Wall Street Journal. www.johnspillane.com and   www.myspace.com/johnspillane .

With the release of the new record Love is the Way, we are greeted by a new Eddi Reader. This one is more breezy, country sounding and free spirited which is a departure from years of seeing her in those glasses and wild hair. I first became familiar with Eddi upon watching the Jools Holland show. Her voice is simply awesome and her personality is vibrant. As she says about the album: I have a passionate love of instinctive, beautiful songs. Also a slightly insane attachment to romantic chord structures. Words that speak of some universal humanist truth. That can be ‘thrown away’ with no regrets. This can be summed up in most of the songs on this record. Tour dates for this month and July:

Beverley Folk Festival
Flemingate, beverley
Friday 18th June 2010
West End Festival
Glasgow, Scotland
Tuesday 22nd June 2010
West End Festival
Glasgow, Scotland
Wednesday 23rd June 2010
Home Festival
Dartington, Devon
Saturday 26th June 2010
Draiocht Arts Centre
Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, Ireland
Saturday 10th July 2010
Glens Centre
County Leitrim, Ireland
Sunday 11th July 2010
Dunlewey Lakeside Centre
County Donegal, Ireland
Monday 12th July 2010
Bronte Music Club
Rathfriland, Ireland
Wednesday 14th July 2010
Celtic Fusion Festival
Castlewellan, County Down
Thursday 15th July 2010
An Droichead Centre
Belfast
Friday 16th July 2010

More on http://www.eddireader.co.uk/ and

www.myspace.com/eddireader

Clockwise from top: Lily Neill’s debut Without Words CD, The Best of John Spillane, Eddi Reader(Myspace) and Pierrick Lemou in motion.

Brenda Wootton and Alan Stivell Duet

This is a great find in YouTube. Yesterday I blogged about  a feature in livingincornwall.com where a never released live recordings of Brenda Wootton resurfaced. I also talked about Alan Stivell‘s new album Emerald. As we all know, France adored Brenda , a prominent figure in the Interceltique Festivals up to the time she passed away in 1994. This video (Amazing Grace) I think was taken around 1984. The quality is not that good but the audio is fine. Here you can witness the vocal power of this lady and how Alan Stivell accompanied her!

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For those who hasn’t sin up for a Marc Gunn newsletter, you better get one. Marc is a great source for new Celtic bands out there. There are also free MP3 samplers that you can listen to on his site . A great thing before your conviction to buy the complete album. He is a musician himself and at the same time he supports other musicians.

http://www.marcgunn.com/