Canadian artist Lizzy Hoyt ventures into history and timeless sentiments.
Have you listened to a new track by Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter and step-dancer from Edmonton, AB by the name of Lizzy Hoyt? I like her name…it is so perky just like the band Thin Lizzy. And mind you, she is pretty. Her music has a crossover appeal brought about my her foray into Jazz, Folk and Pop.
More about the video:
The Battle:
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was the first time all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces fought together under a Canadian-born commander. It marked a change in out-dated war tactics and strategies (demonstrated by the blood-bath at The Somme). It has been cited as a defining moment in the creation of a united Canadian identity.
The Song:
Lizzy’s song “Vimy Ridge” was written after her first visit to the Vimy Ridge Memorial in 2005. It was named a finalist in both the John Lennon Songwriting Contest (2010) and the USA Songwriting Competition (2011). The song was recorded on her second album HOME which received a Canadian Folk Music Award Nomination in 2011 for Traditional Singer of the Year.
Producer: Sarah Hoyt
Created by: aspecialperson.com & Lucho Soldevilla
Art Direction/Archival Editing: Gaby Benicio
Make-up/Hair: Aurélie Martin
Dress: Koshka Mashka
Production Assistant: Ian Surdhar
I mentioned yesterday that March is a month of great concerts. After four decades in the music scene, the Battlefield Band is in the middle of their Australian tour. The new album Line-Up received positive reviews upon its release late last year.The song That’s How Strong My Love Is proves to captivate and warm you with its lyrics that is straight forward and at the same time ingratiating. The beautiful male vocals of Sean O’Donnell is embellished with instrumental arrangements that define the band’s experience in captivating listeners around the world. A’ Bhriogais Uallach (The Pompous Trousers) showcases that amazing bagpipe parts. I love the mixing in this track because everything sounds crunchy and lush. The vocal harmonies are also haunting. Lovers & Friendsis one of those rebel songs that is very relevant considering the current political climate all over.
I have been following this band since early last year and they get better and better with time.
Vocals and guitar: John Connolly, Keyboard: Todd MacLean, Fiddle: Cynthia MacLeod.
Recorded live at The Carriage House, Beaconsfield Historic Properties in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Jan. 24, 2011
Audio production: Daniel Ledwell, lead camera and video editing: Patrick Ledwell, second camera: Christian Ledwell. Produced by Sustain Creative (http://www.sustaincreative.com)
Carrefour mondial de l’accordéon – Andy Cutting
One of those accordion pieces that makes your eyeballs roll with pleasure.
Frigg performs at Middle Earth in Bradford, Vermont on May 3, 2007.
The strings make you want to jump and dance. It is like that feeling of a rubber being pulled back and forth. The sound is really flexible and bouncy.
Ronan McGinley & Sophie Griffin – JCB Song
The beauty of the song is through its simple arrangement and lots of space. I love Ronan’s accent.
The Flyin’ Fiddle – Ghost O!!
The title track from their album released August 2011.
The Flyin’ Fiddle are a five-piece folk band from the lough neagh area of County Tyrone and County Derry. Their second album is due out summer 2012. Find us on facebook to find out any more details
One of the most beautiful tracks I heard this month from a very fashionable looking band. People, keep your radars on. This band is going places. “I will never forget where I come from”..that sticks with me. The young and the beautiful….
Recorded for RTE 1’s “The View”, Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
You gotta be from another planet if you don’t know the band Caladh Nua!
The Punch Brothers brought the cool and slick in Bluegrass music. I am totally addicted to these guys and I admit Chris Thile turns the mandolin into Poseidon’s trident-electrifying.
Christina Martin performing live for us in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia for Nova Scotia Music Week.
I spend the rest of my afternoons looking for new music either on the web or through friends. I have a close knit circle that loves Celtic music. My taste is eclectic. That is why I run another site called http://www.spheremusic.wordpress.com. There are times when I think the the music is appropriate for this blog or on that blog. There are also times when it is hard to decide so it is either this or that. The point is: music speaks a universal language.
In the end it doesn’t really matter. Labeling is a marketing strategy to help consumers decide where they should look if their interest is specific. But you always know when you need to get that record regardless of the genre. You always know that there is somethings special about the songs that grab you. Such is what I found when I listened to the tracks of Brendan O”Shea. The guy is down to earth and he is sending me his newest CD in the mail. He agreed to have an interview as well.
I also realize that apart from maintaining this site and posting songs, I need to act like a disc jokey too. So therefore I need to talk to you my readers. It isn’t so hard after years of experience in customer service hahahahaha. Time is really precious. Once we have it, we can do a lot of things. I wish we have more time to discover new music. And I hope you all stay with me through this journey.
Jamie Smith’s MABON – Spring Tour / Taith y Gwanwyn
Tuesday, 6 March 2012 at 19:00 until Saturday, 24 March 2012 at 22:30
Tuesday, 6 March 2012 at 19:00 until Saturday, 24 March 2012 at 22:30
Milton Keynes / Reading / Powys / Solva / Somerset / Winchester / Bristol / Norwich / Cumbria / Caerleon
A perfect chance to catch the fearless five-piece on fine form as they prepare to record their new album in April.
New music will feature alongside established repertoire, songs alongside instrumental music, all bound together by consummate musicianship and joyful performance.
Dates are all in MARCH as follow:
WAVENDON, Nr Milton Keynes – The Stables Theatre – Tues 6th;
READING – South Street Arts Centre – Thurs 8th;
POWYS – Llanbedr Village Hall – Fri 9th;
SOLVA Memorial Hall, Pembs – Sat 10th;
BRIDGWATER Arts Centre, Somerset – Fri 16th;
WINCHESTER – The Discovery Centre – Sat 17th;
BRISTOL – The Thunderbolt – Sun 18th;
NORWICH Arts Centre, Norfolk – Weds 21st;
COCKERMOUTH, Cumbria – The Kirkgate Centre – Fri 23rd;
CAERLEON Town Hall, Gwent – Sat 24th.
Dewch i ymuno a ni wrth inni baratoi am albwm newydd eleni – cyfle gwych i weld y band mewn cyngerdd agos, personol. Fe ddwlen ni’ch gweld chi yno!
Come and hear what tunes are in the pipeline for this year’s new recording…!
Weaving a Celtic Past – Moya Brennan, Cormac De Barra, Edel Bhreatnach
Click
The Society welcomes Edel Bhreathnach and musicians Moya Brennan and Cormac de Barra to its headquarters for their presentation “Weaving a Celtic Past.” Through song, history, music and images of books and manuscripts protected by Irish Franciscans, Brennan, de Barra andBhreathnach weave a vivid portrait of Celtic history. Edel Bhreathnach is a historian of medieval Irish history and literature, and is deputy director of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute for the Study of Irish History and Civilisation at University College Dublin. Moya Brennan is the lead singer for Grammy award winning Irish band Clannad and Cormac de Barra is a traditional harpist. The program is a narrative lecture, interspersed with songs and music performed by Brennan and de Barra. Bhreathnach says the presentation is “the story of preserving and reviving the memory of Irish identity.”
Abby Green takes us into the the recording adventure she undertook for the second album “Fig for a Kiss”. She explains to us the joys and hardships that came into fruition as the album was finally completed. But this was without the “frustration and gnashing of teeth”– things that happen when you want something best to be put out.
Abby Green - Trillium 5-course Irish Cittern / Bouzouki & voice* EJ Jones - Scottish Smallpipes, Flute, Borders Pipes * Michelle Levy - Fiddle * Cayla Cardiff - harmony vocals * Ceridwyn Mizera - harmony vocals * Randy Miller - Mixing, mastering * Cecily Johnson - Photography
Such a joy when a postman delivered this wonderful CD to me.Though, I had to wait a while since I live on the other side of the globe. But music transcends borders. The album cover is grass green. Just like the over all atmosphere of the album. There is that dominant organic feel to it. Her first album Éiníní already received praises.
What inspired you to put up the Fig For A Kiss Album?
A recording project is a way a musician can take a snapshot of your musical growth, love, experiences. As long as I am collecting songs, performing, learning from other musicians, I will be inspired to do another recording project. These are the 10 of the many songs I have loved, learned and developed over the last few years.
What’s it like working on the tracks?
The hard part about recording is that it’s forever. The snapshot part I said before is both good and bad… well exciting and scary. I love this music, it’s exciting to record it and be able to share it. The scary part is that it’s forever. Did I sing my best? Did I arrange the song in a way that tells the story with the rise of conflict and resolution? There are so many things to think about and consider. I want each track to be enjoyable, unique, and representative of my abilities and love. There is much frustration and gnashing of teeth in the process, but in the end, I admit that I actually really like my CD! So the reward is a project I can be proud to present.
I agree with what you said about recording as ‘forever’ because it is there for life. Do you consider yourself as a perfectionist?
I want it to be the best I can do right now… Sometimes it’s hard to capture the best performance when you have the mic on and a studio full of sound technicians. When it comes to editing, though, I find that I want the overall FEEL of the track to be a certain way, but the specific solos and scientific precision doesn’t interest me so much. In fact, the slight imperfections make music real. For me, music is all about feeling.
What are the valuable lessons you learned working with this kind of project?
I learned that I have some amazingly talented and creative friends. I already knew that, but they made it quite obvious with the way they played and sang and added to the songs on this CD.
Who are the musicians you dreamed of working on future projects?
I don’t dream of anyone specific, just the people who share my musical loves and desire to learn and share music. I always look forward to meeting more people who fit that description.
Tell us about the instruments( mandolin and cittern) you always use and what made you choose them.
I play a Davy Stuart octave mandolin named Molly, and I play a Trillium Irish cittern named Trixie. I started learning to play(cittern) this type of instrument because I love tunes AND songs. This instrument has a low enough range that it is nice to accompany singing, and because it is tuned like a mandolin or violin, I can work toward playing tunes – the tuning works well under the fingers theoretically.
Your great voice simply belongs to Gaelic tracks of your album. I will cite Trua Gan Peata. You sound like someone whose Gaelic is her first language. I do know that it is not. How did you cultivate this?
First, I believe non-native speakers or learners of any language should respect the language and tradition they are tackling. Take the time to learn even a little. I went to classes to learn Irish for a couple of years….. that’s not a long time, but it was enough time to at least give me some knowledge to start with AND to make contacts with teachers across the globe. Now, I approach each song with the lyrics written in front of me, a recording or a native Irish speaker, and access to teachers who will help me put a few pieces together. Second, you have to be willing to let go of the fear of butchering the language. If you fear it, you will mess it up. I teach mini workshops where non-speakers can learn a song or two. The hardest part is letting go of the idea that you will offend an Irish person if your Irish is a bit off. I think most Irish think it’s flattering that their language is so special that there are people willing to take the time and just try it. The songs will die if everyone is afraid to try them. Try it, you don’t have to go into a recording studio next week, just try it, enjoy it, appreciate the language for its uniqueness, and sing!
Molly Ban is such a tragic song. How did it find its way into the list?
A friend recommended that I listen to the Chieftains and Alison Krauss version of Molly Ban. There are recordings on YouTube. It’s been on my list of songs to work on for years and now I play it regularly even at my most lively shows.
What are the songs in this album that you can consider close to your heart?
They all really really are. Between the work that my fellow musician friends added and the time and energy it took to make each one something worth hearing, they are all very special… most of them so much so that I still cry to hear them. Even down to the album photography. It honors me so much to be surrounded by such talented people.
I love pipe music and Ae fond Kiss has a lovely one. Was this decision to include that an accidental one or was this intended?
Definitely(intended). That song was always going to have pipes. Some tracks, the ideas would change along the way, but that one was always planned to have pipes.
Amazing answers Abby. Last words?
Last words? Hahaha. I love what I do – I love the travel and the meeting people, sharing music with all sorts of musicians and listeners. I love learning and growing through my work with others. Traditional music is all about learning from others and being willing to pass it on. We miss out on that idea with all of our computers and TVs and iPods. I highly recommend going out and singing, playing, learning something new… or at least participate by being in the audience.
Today we have a special guest. We get a fresh perspective about Celtic music through the mind of Christi Broersma. A native of Michigan, her life has been shaped by the music we all come to love. She just arrived from her trip to Ireland and this beautiful article says everything !
Celtic Nations, And Beyond: Introduction to Celtic Americana
by Christi Broersma
When it comes to Celtic music, I got hooked very early. I learned to love the fiddle, tin whistle and pounding beat of the bodhran first because the love of that type of music that existed in my father’s Irish family. But the music actually became a part of my life with the first Irish groups that graced the shores of America.
The very first taste I had of the Celtic music came with the Irish Rovers who graced us here in the States with their first album The First of the Irish Rovers. I played this LP so much that I wore the record out! With songs so easy to sing along with it was hard not to, and I memorized many of them. With songs from “The Irish Rover,” to “Many Young Men of Twenty,” to the rollickingly “Donald Where’s Your Trousers” they offered a real taste of Celtic songs.
There were other groups to follow who had albums on the American folk scene at the time that caught my ear. One such group was the Clancy Brothers. Their second album, Come Fill Your Glass With Us is what gave me a first taste of the tunes that became the rage in my high school along with Peter Paul and Mary and others of the folk genre that was exploding on the scene in my little part of the Midwest.
From there I played anything I could find, which sadly wasn’t much until the Chieftains graced our local record stores with their very Irish instrumental sound. Their first album in 1963 was titled The Chieftains, and what made their music really popular here were of course the traditional pieces they wrote for the movie, “Barry Lyndon,” with Ryan O’Neil. Though the movie tanked the music really caught on in much of the folk loving music circles of the time.
From then on I haunted the stores for any albums of Irish music I could find. I was of course still a folk music lover at heart, but found I had such a yearning for those ballads and especially the jigs and reels that became synonymous with the typical Celtic fare of the time. You see, it wasn’t really considered Celtic music back in the 60s. What we might know as Celtic music today actually came out of the early songs and music that we actually know as country music in the U.S. Many of the Irish and Scotch immigrants settled in the South and especially in Kentucky and the Appalachians Mountains. With their wagons, horses and household goods they brought their music to the world which became the bedrock for truly American form of music that grew and changed as these people integrated into American society.
A real history of my favorite music truly began with the early sounds of country and especially bluegrass music. When the music re-hit our shores in the 60s there was a receptive Irish America community ready to welcome that old, and new music. The East Coast and Chicago of course welcomed the music and the cultural traditions that were attached to the music such as step dancing and Irish instrument playing. They did not want Irish-American youth to lose the feel and love for a home they never got to know. What grew up to encourage the children and youth in the Irish communities opened the whole city to the music and the fun that has always been associated with the Celtic sound.
Often within the Irish American communities who taught and valued the music and those traditions of the old country there was a growing need to have a place to meet, celebrate and teach so as the communities grew many large American cities developed centers. Irish Arts Center (begun in New York in 1972) or the Heritage Center (begun in Chicago in 1976) along with many small groups that grew and flourished in smaller cities all over the country.
Did the music flourish and grow here on American soil? Oh, yes it did! It grew and expanded through the songs and efforts of groups like The Dubliners, the Corrs, Clannad and so many more. It took root and their music fostered the beginnings of an Irish/American sound that stepped out of the of the old tunes and into a pop/rock genre that has helped that Irish music sound develop into a world-wide music explosion. From the Irish group U2 to Enya and back to the traditional roots there has been a reawakening of the Celtic sound in groups like the Elders out of Kansas City, and Cherish the Ladies (a New York Irish band) as well as an off shoot of that group called Girsa that honors the traditional music and gives it their own American flavor at the same time.
The great result here has been a true explosion of Celtic music that has grown to include the music of the Celtic nations, and beyond. From Canada to Japan, Poland and Russia there are fans and groups that cherish the Celtic sound and are helping grow the music beyond the borders of the traditional jigs, reels, and ballads. And yet, the music always seems to find it’s way back to the soil and the sound from where it came with a resurgence of those old familiar tunes. The sound that is so Celtic has become a sensation I still love to follow. From the pub songs, jigs, reels, to those songs of rebellion the music has grown to stand as great music all over the world, now. After my visit to the auld sod I am more excited about the music than ever. The pub where ever I went had the music both old and new that expressed the pains and joys of life so well.
The Irish and all the Celts know how it is to sorrow together, but also they’re the best by far at simply celebrating life in song!
The harp, which serves as the Guinness emblem, is based on a famous 14th century Irish harp known as the “O’Neill” or “Brian Boru” harp, which is now found in the Library of Trinity College in Dublin. The harp itself has been synonymous with Guinness since 1862.
Celtic Music Fan 