Also in this edition: Marc Gunn, Celtic Twist/Holland and Palmley Duo and Jamie Smith’s MABON
Album Review: Together for Christmas(Various artists)
A CONTEMPORARY CELTIC CHRISTMAS COLLECTION’ with Larry Kirwan, The High Kings, Damien Dempsey, The Elders, Kyf Brewer, Cherish the Ladies + more!
What’s holiday without Celtic musicians coming together in one album
Together for Christmas CD cover
right? I am listening to Together for Christmas and I see great reasons to own this album. It contains eclectic sounds from rock, jazz to classical. I also noticed the huge efforts placed by the contributing bands, sound people and solo artists each track.
Songs from Together for Christmas is something you can listen to again and again because it is an amazing gift you want to unwrap and play either through your headphones or huge speakers. It has the great casting and track order. Lots and lots of surprises!
The Elders make perfect album opening due to the upbeat and catchy melodies of Christmas Day. Solid harmonies, strings and stirring chorus can get you up your feet. Ashley Davis moves me with her terrific voice. Fans of Sarah McLachlan and Loreena McKennitt will warm up to her haunting and captivating style in Nolaig Moon. Her voice is so good I sometimes overlook the craft placed in this song which is equaly amazing! I will definitely check more of her own projects.
John Munnelly adds that Beatlesque touch with the jolly Happy Christmas. Cherish the Ladies offers a fine instrumental track in Deck the Halls. Take it from the pros in the genre. A combination of traditional carol sounds and Irish jigs.
Kyf Brewer’s gruff vocals and upbeat pace of Whiskey for Christmas will keep you humming and tapping up to the end of the end..Emma Kate Tobia soars with her angelic soprano that adds a magical touch to this album. It creates a soothing balance like watching snow crystals fall slowly to the ground. Walking in the Air is true to its title in every way.
Track Dogs is a band with nice surprises. They do a kind of alternative rock with a touch of shoegazer sound. The Celtic Tenors top the bill with Silent Night. Those who got their album Feels Like Home will know what to expect. The Celtic Tenors are like the Three Musketeers. When they blend their talents they make powerful songs.
Happy Xmas is a popular tune originally done by Lennon and Ono. Sarah Mclachlan also covered this track. It is nice to finally hear it in another interpretation through Larry Kerwan and Ashley Davis.The Wild Colonial Bhoys surprise us with their punk inspired sound that has both the hint of The Beach Boys and Traditional Irish sound.
Damien Dempsey’s almost a capella rendition of Oh Holy Night showcases his robust voice while keeping true to the atmosphere of the song..The High Kings give us the new sheen to Driving Home for Christmas. It’s another classic! I was crossing my fingers when I saw this in the tracklisting. I didn’t want to be disappointed. And good enough, The High Kings add freshness to this classic. They make it very Irish yet preserving the spirit of the original composition by Chris Rea.
The Temple Bar Band feat. Dave Brown and Claire Pelo make a beautiful nod to 2000 Miles (originally done by the Pretenders). This time, you hear the choir of children.. And yes! Clair Pelo has a terrific voice. George Murphy Feat Emma Kate Tobia don’t need further intro with Fairy Tale of New York. This track was released as a single last year. I am glad that it finally made it to this compilation. Their talents are amazing together.
Tara O’Grady closes this compilation with her jazzy take on Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Everyone’s style stands up. The range of artistry and genre covered by the artists who contributed their talents in this release are wide. You will enjoy it!
Mark has been a blogging buddy since I started this site in 2009. This fella is a huge volcano of creativity. He is a great example for those who want to keep the Celtic Music scene alive.
From Marc:
“In addition to fine tuning my Christmas playlist, I finished a Celtic Christmas drinking songs show for the Pub Songs Podcast. I also started compiling songs two shows exclusively for the Celtic Christmas Podcast. The first goes online today!
I invite you to listen to the Celtic Christmas Podcast. It features Celtic Christmas shows from many of the top Celtic podcasts online. I didn’t update it last year, but I’m bringing it back again in 2012. Subscribe at http://celticchristmaspodcast.com/”
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Christmas Track :Snowfall-Celtic Twist/Holland and Palmley Duo
This track reminds me of a little music box. The high bell sounds are really great to hear. The heavenly voice of Phil Holland is something you don’t want to miss here. The kind of feeling you want to have when you think of this season. I think more and more, the Holland and Palmley dou are transitioning into what I can only describe as breath taking sound! They have evolved in terms of artistry and so do we!
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Jamie Smith’s MABON – NEWS – NEW TOUR DATES 2013 ANNOUNCED
Fans of the amazing Welsh Celtic band Jamie Smith’s MABON will have something to rejoice this 2013. Tour dates are announced!
According to John Eeles (Facilitator / Sound Engineer):
“The band have just wrapped up a great year, with sold out shows during the recently completed tour and widespread critical acclaim for their new album.
2013 is already gearing up to be a busy year, both in the U.K. and abroad, with plans afoot to put a European tour in place, and dates in Canada and Scandinavia in the pipeline.”
For more information on the shows and the band go to the website :
A painter’s paradise: Eva McCauley talks about how in Ireland, “the air is infused with moisture, and because of that, there is a luminosity to the light that is very unique, and an incredible thing for a painter to experience.”
Technology has a way of bringing visual artists and musicians together. Art has become multimedia. Eva McCauley explores the mystical side of painting and print making with her installation works. Inspired by technology’s ability to create something new and her love for evocative spirit of the Irish landscape, she created haunting and beautiful artworks. These are hanging illustrations rendered in a way that light and occasional wind play tricks on them. If musicians like Loreena McKennitt, Moya Brennan, Enya and Connie Dover have talents that can transport you with their voices and melodies, then Eva McCauley is the visual counterpart of such power.
Hi Eva, welcome to The Celtic Music Fan artist of the week edition! Your prints are fascinating. Can you give us a brief background on the things that inspire your work…these are beautiful ‘ghostly’ creations of paintings printed on scrims of fabric (silk oraganza) and hung from the ceiling in multiple layers to create an installation.
My recent print media installation “In/Visible” was exhibited in Cork, Ireland this past August/September at the beautiful Wandesford Quay Gallery . As you say, the images are larger-than-life faces printed on transparent silk-like fabric (42” X 96”), making them appear almost ephemeral, wafting in the breeze as people walk by.
The images are originally created as hand-pulled prints (monotypes & lithographs) and then are digitally captured, enlarged and printed on fabric (PolyVoile) using a wide format Agfa Aquajet printer. The faces came to me as a result of my experience living in a pre-famine stone cottage on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on the rugged southwestern coast of Ireland, where I was taking part in an artist residency in a very old village called Cill Rialaig, which has become an internationally renowned artist retreat, created by Noelle Campbell-Sharpe Although I wouldn’t consider myself to be superstitious, after living and painting in this stone cottage every day for a month, I became aware of the invisible but tangible presence of human beings, who may have lived in these stone dwellings in the past.
My show, called “In/Visible”, gave these “ghosts”, or apparitions, a larger-than-life presence in the exhibition. The large faces were interspersed with large photographic images of the skies and water, so that they melded with each other, creating a multi-layered layered effect, so that the viewer could see through each ghostly image to what was behind.
Your travels to Ireland inspired most of your artworks. What was the most memorable thing about your travels there.
As a a painter I was struck by the quality of the light. Since Ireland is an island, and it rains almost every day, the air is infused with moisture, and because of that, there is a luminosity to the light that is very unique, and an incredible thing for a painter to experience. It really is a painter’s paradise. And the people in Ireland are the salt of the earth…incredibly kind, generous, always have time to talk and tell stories, in spite of the incredibly stress they are experiencing as a result of their tanking economy.
The other aspect of Ireland that influences my art is the music—I play traditional Irish music on the fiddle, mandolin and concertina, and when I’m in Ireland I become totally immersed in the local music session scene, and the local people who play the music have become great friends. I listen to the music continually when I paint, and it’s become an integral part of my work.
You have a strong affinity for things Irish/Scottish …. this is a strong influence in your art. Even your son Jacob is a world renowned Bodhran player. What was the earliest memory you have being exposed to the Celtic culture.
My father, Robert McCauley, is the Irish side of my family. He plays the harmonica and Irish tin whistle by ear (and incredibly well!), and I grew up listening to him play. He took me to Ireland for the first time in 2002, and I was instantly smitten! Since then, I have been back to Ireland 4 times (and my son Jacob often flies over with me, and then takes off on his own travels in Ireland and Scotland) in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012 (for 6 week visits), and am looking forward to returning next summer for another artist residency in Cill Rialaig, Kerry. I then hope to return to the little village of Glendree (near Feakle) in East Clare for the music and to visit friends.
You are presently the Founder & Director of Riverside Celtic College, Guelph, Ontario. What can students learn going to this place?
We offer classes in traditional Irish and Scottish music (Irish Fiddle, bodhran, Irish Flute, Scottish Smallpipes, Mandolin and Tenor Banjo, Guitar accompaniment, Tinwhistle, Introductory Violin and Celtic Song) as well as Irish Language and Irish Ceili & Set Dancing. We also host trad sessions for students, as well as traditional music concerts with musicians, (both internationally renowned and emerging), from all over the world. Often we’ll offer trad music workshops in conjunction with the concerts.
In 2012 we’ve had concerts with musicians like renowned fiddlers Tony Demarco & Patrick Ourceau, brilliant Galway fiddler Maeve Donnelly with guitarist Andy Hillhouse, the amazing Irish flute player and singer Nuala Kennedy with fiddler Dana Lyn and guitarist Andy Hillhouse, and look forward to upcoming concerts with the new trad trio Nua (fiddler James Law, guitarist Graeme McGillivray and bodhran player Jacob McCauley) as well as a joint concert in December featuring Bua and North Atlantic Drift.
We have 52 mutual friends in facebook. And you are also very active in networking. But tell me, how effective is social network sites in terms of getting people to attend shows…especially in terms of those you invited within Ontario.
I think that it’s a great way to get the word out, as more and more people are on Facebook. And it’s an excellent way to keep people informed of what going on in one’s life and career, especially if you’re travelling, and touring around Ireland and having shows!
The Riverside Celtic Society is turning lots of heads these days. Can you tell us more about it?
I founded Riverside Celtic College in the village of Elora Ontario, in 2003, when I was first getting into learning how to play the fiddle. I was instantly addicted to the instrument, and traditional Irish music, but was having trouble finding instructors to teach Irish fiddling.
I started the school, partly because I wanted to learn how to play, but also wanted to turn other people on to the music. I also found that after my trips to Ireland, I would come back to Ontario and crave the intimacy and richness of the Irish culture that I’d left behind me, and had a desire to create that same feeling of community in Ontario.
So, in addition to starting the school, my close friends and I started a traditional Irish pub session at the Shepherd’s Pub, in Elora, Ontario, Canada, that has been going for almost 13 years! Since then, the school has evolved into a really special and unique non-profit organization that seems to attract the most wonderful folks to its classes and events.
Riverside Celtic Society has recently received a major catalyst to its growth and evolution as an organization: we received a generous two year grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which has proven to be a very positive development, allowing us to offer a new educational outreach series of music/dance performances called the “Kitchen Party”, as well as hosting an exciting new concert series (including music workshops), called the RCC Traditional Music Concert Series “Live Trad at the Albion”.
We have also recently received generous donations from a group of former students, to create a a new traditional music scholarship, in memory of a dear former student who, sadly, passed away in June 2011, the Tom Kelly Music Scholarship. Ar RCC, we’ve essentially put our energy towards creating a community of like-minded people, who love the music and culture of Ireland and Scotland, and want to share that passion.
What albums are you listening to these days and what music would you recommend to us?
The most recent recording I’ve been excited about is the soon-to-be-launched EP of the new trad trio, NUA (full length CD to released in 2013), with fiddler James Law, guitarist Graeme McGillivray, and bodhran player, Jacob McCauley, which features some really exciting original music that, while grounded in traditional Scottish music, is really innovative and experimental in its approach.
A addictive traditional brew is being served courtesy of award-winning fiddle player James M Law, versatile & tasteful guitarist Graeme McGillivray and award-winning bodhrán player Jacob McCauley. Stylish, delicate at times and mostly energetic, Nua is a trio that’s sure to captivate and please listeners. I am a big fan of Jacob McCauley’s drumming style as he brings layers of expression to the bodhran. Graeme McGillivray’s wispy strums create an envelope of steady rhythm to the laser preciseness of James M Law’s fiddling.
NUA live in Guelph, April 2012. Original composition by NUA
NUA is an innovative new trad trio, bringing a fresh and unique sound to traditional music, creating their own distinctive flavour with both original and traditional compositions from Ireland and Scotland. Based in Toronto, Canada, NUA consists of three members: award-winning fiddle player James M Law, versatile & tasteful guitarist Graeme McGillivray and award-winning bodhrán player Jacob McCauley. The interaction between the three is what really makes the music shine, whether it be their soaring melodies or tasteful grooves. The trio is also well known for their exciting incorporation of odd time signatures and poly rhythms, which give the music an electrifying lift and spontaneity.
Each member adds their own distinctive sound and influence to the music. Although they are a trio with a sole melody player, the brilliant multi-tasking of each member is demonstrated countless times with perhaps a guitar-driven flat-picked melody, rhythmic fiddle playing, or melodic bodhrán playing to add to the mix. The ability for each member to take on multiple roles is one of the staples of NUA. This adds to a thrilling live experience, and a “you just don’t know what’s coming next” approach!
NUA is currently preparing for the release of their first E.P and their debut album to be released early 2013.
I invite all Celtic musicians from around the world to jam with The Cherry Cokes when they go to Osaka, Japan. I can describe the band’s sound as energetic, oftentimes melodic and always gorgeously stylish. You can get info from their website but it is in Japanese and Google translate doesn’t help much. I will have to ask a friend who is fluent Japanese speaker soon.Their new album Black Revenge is out.
Now I am going to talk about this video called Rascal Trail. I would have preferred it in colored though because I think they have chosen a great spot to shoot. I have to say, I like the accordion player because she really hammed it up there. Everyone performed in an exceptional manner here. I think the rain was a cool addition. It must have been a cold shoot. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! This discovery is very interesting. I will have to look for more Japanese Celtic bands!
My friend Pafka Steidl and his band Cheers jamming in Rock Café Prague. He will appear in our interview soon. It will be amazing! Pafka is witty, friendly and he takes his career in Celtic music seriously! Please watch out for that interview because there will be two great tracks that will be available for download.
With Lucie Šmahelová, Alexandra Šantorová, Ladislav Veselý, Obludný Neználek, Tomáš Pergler, Jan Brabec, Jaroslav Macháček and Veronika Perglerová at Bar Klub U Svatého Rocha.
I was so excited when the mailman gave this to me, that I stopped all chores and put this in my CD player. Celtic Twist is a duo that will win more followers with their brand of Celtic music.
There’s a lot of artistic polishing done to the recording of Twist in the Tale by the duo Celtic Twist (Phil Holland and Dave Palmley). Only an arrogant listener with the heart of ice will fail to appreciate these enchanting pieces. The first track, Maids of Mourne (based on Sally Gardens) opens with the sound of seagulls by the shore. Then, we have the guitar and harp by Phil and Dave. The song soon builds up into an Enyaesque piece complete with vocal layering that sounds like church choir.
There are lively tracks like The Raggle Taggle Gypsies/The King of The Faeries, Ye Jacobites, Gerdundula, Toss the Feathers/Scotch Sally and Whiskey You’re the Devil that will sweet you up your feet with their refreshing and energetic styles. These are all wrapped in jigs and reels.
The remaining half of the album are tracks that convey relaxation and reflection. These are elegantly crafted compositions. One song called Looking For Moss(third track), is already familiar because Phil already uploaded this track on youtube for friends to hear. Hearing it compiled here is a treat! I also need to commend her rendition of She Moved Through the Fair. In this traditional song, Phil puts aside her classical singing style, to make way for the lighter, airy spirit of Irish music-more like Kate Bush meets Moya Brennan.
Takes Forever expresses that hopeful longing for someone. The melody just breaks your heart. The Far Away Child is a vocal track with harp and guitar. Once again, I noticed the lighter and sweeter voice of Phil. Heart of Ice sounds like a song about heartbreak or loss. Cold wind, Cold heart, Still life, Torn apart, Walls of ice, Carpets of snow, Cannot stay, And cannot go….
The album ends with Climbing Pendle. Have you heard how a harp sounds like through an effects pedal? This will tell you how. I thought it was a didgeridoo or something. It used used during the intro and the last part of the track. Climbing Pendle is one of the most memorable instrumentals I have heard in quite a while. If you like the music of Loreena McKennitt, Enya, Clannad, Chieftains and even Kate Bush then you will appreciate Twist in the Tale.
Order of tracks: 1: The Maids of Mourne Shore 2: The Raggle Taggle ypsies/The King of The Faeries 3: Looking For Moss 4: She Moved Through the Fair 5: Ye Jacobites 6: Takes Forever 7: Gerdundula 8: The far Away Child 9: Toss the Feathers/Scotch Sally 10: The Wild Geese 11: Heart of Ice 12: Whiskey You’re the Devil 13: Climbing Pendle
The exciting and dynamic fusion of two such versatile musicians creates a sound that is as varied as it is unique. Rooted in Celtic music but drawing from their diversified musical backgrounds, Dave Palmley and Phil Holland bring to this musical communion all their decades of experience and insatiable passion for making music. Their contrasting yet harmonious vocal styles give added depth and texture to an already fascinating weave of instrumental sounds. Their repertoire consists of many traditional Irish and Scottish classics and lesser-known songs, jigs and reels, but Dave and Phil have also combined their song writing and compositional skills to create their own inimitable sound. Dave Palmley: Guitars(acoustic and electric),mandolin, bass, bodhran and vocals. Phil Holland: Celtic Harp and Electric Harp, violin, keys, bass and vocals.
Celtic Music Fan 