Celtic

Exclusive Interview:Matthew Gilsenan of The Celtic Tenors.

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I love almost all kinds of music. I remember that Classical music was the first that I heard as a child that made me ‘feel’ in  certain way and  that was overwhelming. Growing up, Celtic music found its way into the mix. The marriage of both is just stunning. Classical, Folk, Rock, Jazz…it doesn’t really matter. They are part of the bigger picture which is music.

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A couple of years ago , I got myself a copy of a magazine called “The A to Z of Irish Music”. It’s got artists like Enya, Christy Moore, Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, Andrea Corr and bands like The Cranberries, U2 and others. That’s where I read about Matthew Gilsenan and The Celtic Tenors. Fast forward a few years and I got the CD Feels Like Home which is the title track and also a great song originally done by Chantal Kreviazuk for the TV series Dawson’s Creek.

I have my personal favorites and among them is the Mary Fahl pinned Going Home from Gods and Generals which opens the album with Uilleann pipes leading the way. Right now the CD is blasting in my stereo speakers and it’s been months since I got my hands on this gem and the experience never wanes.

Mathew took time to let CMF fire away these questions.

The Irish music scene is a relatively polar one. rock, opera, folk and traditional all tend to stay away from each other. There are of course notable exceptions, but it is hard when you are trying to carve a new genre which is really what we’re doing.

I have Feels Like Home and it is a rewarding listening experience. What are your own favorite tracks in the album?

Galileo was the surprise for me. I found it hugely challenging initially and really thought I couldn’t do the great song justice but living and living with it and with the lads and Martin’s skill and encouragement along with Gavin’s inspirational arrangement of the orchestra, I think we nailed it. I think it’s one of the great love songs of our time. not just that it’s my solo

How did you train to become a classical crossover singer?

I have been singing as a natural singer from when I was 6 but I have always had an interest in training. Catholic Ireland made sure that the nuns got me for my first few years I did grades and did well. I then felt it was totally uncool so I stopped aged 11 or 12. Then began again when I went to university.I joined the college of music in Dublin and from there I was smitten with learning the technique and I’m still at it. Mary Brennan was the teacher I’ve learnt most from but the icing for me is my current guy, Peter Alexander Wilson from Scotland. a fine tenor himself and he just knows his SH**.

What’s great about being part of The Celtic Tenors?

Apart from the obvious joys of singing songs that I love it’s that I work with people I really like. The team really works and it’s always huge fun.
You guys have been busy since late last year promoting the album. What’s memorable about 2011?
The most memorable thing for me about 2011 was probably singing on the top of the Irish consul general to the UN’s apartment in Manhattan at Christmas time. New York is a stunning city and I’ve never seen it look so beautiful as on that night. Also the sheer joy of making this record. It’s the first time we’ve been directly involved with actually producing one. We got what we wanted, but the next one will be even better….haha

The next one? Gotta wait for that one too! According to my research, you also worked as an Engineer. How  do you balance music and career ? Well, we can say that this is your musical career which is really rewarding. But to be a man with two worlds, this is very interesting.

I do have a BE from University College Dublin and worked, full time as an Engineer for almost 5 years. I worked for Baker Perkins in the UK as a process engineer specializing in high power microwave. But in 1998 I took 6 months break to explore singing as a career. One thing led to another and I ended up founding the Celtic Tenors in 2000 with James and another singer. So I took a longer break from the engineering and have been singing full time since.
I will always be an engineer, I do believe that it is a state of mind so I do feel like I’m both, living in symbiotic craziness.

Photo by Barry McCall 2011.

DARYL SIMPSON, MATTHEW GILSENAN and JAMES NELSON Photo by Barry McCall 2011.

I am sure there is a child out there who aspires to be like you one day. What would you suggest to people who want to make it in the music scene?

Listen to people who have been in the business and take only the tips and “must-dos” try to take advice from people who are successful in the business. There are many people who don’t make it work, It is hard but not impossible.

Your albums are successful in your native country as well as other parts of the world. What’s the state of the Irish music scene when it comes to this genre that you are involved with?

The Irish music scene is a relatively polar one. rock, opera, folk and traditional all tend to stay away from each other. There are of course notable exceptions, but it is hard when you are trying to carve a new genre which is really what we’re doing. We have our detractors but in the main we are being hugely supported by most of the traditionalists and Classical people as well as the rockers and folkies. Our aim is genuinely trying to produce something of musical merit and quality that is at least trying to be progressive.
Do you get bookings or invitations on your own? How are they like?

I do solo work from time to time. I love it, I get to sing just the songs that I like, no compromises it’s a slightly different vibe show. I miss the guys but I could do it as a thing at a push.

10 things you can’t live without when you are stranded on a ..let us say a remote island.

1. A heard of goats eating and drinking
2. Excellent Computer with high-speed internet.
3. Pen and Paper
4. A piano
5. A microphone.
6. A fresh water spring.
7. My Family.
8. sun cream,
9. A nice apartment.
10. A sea plane fuelled up.

There you go guys, Matthew Gilsenan of The Celtic Tenors. Matthew it has been an honor for  CMF to be able to get in touch with you and ask you these questions directly. I am sure you have countless fans out there who want to find out things about you and The Celtic Tenors but which other magazines or media failed to print. They can use this site as reference. For that thank you so much. You can purchase a copy of Feels Like Home through their website http://www.celtic-tenors.com/ as well as Amazon uk.

P.S. Thanks to Anita Daly for sending me the album/

Bluegrass and Celtic

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Thanks to the wide success of the Punch Brothers, Bluegrass is making waves again! I was able have a little chat with Luke Fraser of The Bombadils  before he headed to the concert and that’s when he recommended two bands: The Creaking Tree String Quartet and The Foggy Hogtown Boys.

Creaking Tree String Quartet:

Genre: Acoustic Instrumenttal Roots MUsic.

Members:

Andrew Collins – mandolin
Brad Keller – guitar
Brian Kobayakawa – bass
John Showman – violin

From: Toronto, ON

Website: http://www.creakingtree.com/

Blurb:

They earned a Juno Award nomination for their 2003 debut CD. Their follow-up “Side Two” won the Pushing The Boundaries trophy at the 2005 Canadian Folk Music Awards, was named Instrumental Album of the Year at the Indie Acoustic Project Awards, and “Old Crow” won Instrumental Song of the Year at the International Acoustic Music Awards. Their third album “The Soundtrack” was nominated for the Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year, and won two Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Now, after 8+ years as a band, The Creaking Tree String Quartet present their fourth and finest album “Sundogs” a collection that highlights the group’s lauded versatility with depth and maturity. It’s the group’s most far-reaching and ambitious recording project to date; a diverse and inspired collection of 12 new works that not only push the quartet into new territory but bring an elite group of renowned guests along for the journey. Adam Warner and Sly Juhas on drums, Michael Davidson on piano and Burke Carroll on pedal steel, all perform on the record.

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The Foggy Hogtown Boys

Genre: Country/Bluegrass

Members:

Max Heineman-Bass

John Showman-Fiddle

Andrew Collins-Mandolin

Chris Coole-Guitar

Chris Quinn-Banjo

From: Toronto,ON

Website: http://foggyhogtownboys.com/

Blurb:

Although, the group draws a great deal of inspiration and material from the “golden age” of bluegrass and country music, solid original songs written by members in the band blend well among the old chestnuts.  In 2005 they released “Northern White Clouds” – a 100Canadian content bluegrass album that features some excellent writing from all the members of the band. In 2007 – “Pigtown Fling” – a collection of original bluegrass and old-time instrumentals.Their latest album “The Golden West” (2008) is a mix of original and traditional bluegrass music with elements of old-time music and honky-tonk thrown in.

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Jimmy’s Playlist

My friend in Lyon France has his own idea of the new and the cool so he always has his own comer in this site. Enjoy!

Scotland’s Aaron Jones and his partner Claire Mann make up half of a brillant new Celtic-German group called Litha. They just released their new album “Dancing of the Light” with contemporary folk and traditional jigs and reels, songs and instrumentals from Scotland, Ireland, and Germany. Really worth a listen, very pleasant 🙂-Jimmy

Created by David Lemm through Muckle Hen Productions. The song is from Chris Bradley’s debut album ‘Voices’. http://www.myspace.com/chrisbradleymusic

THE STEEL WHEELS – “Rain In The Valley” . . . from their soon-to-be-realeased CD, “Lay Down, Lay Low”. Always great to be back in WNCW’s Studio B. Thank you Martin Anderson and Dennis Jones. Be sure to see The Steel Wheels at Merlefest 2012. http://www.thesteelwheels.com

Album: The Ravishing Genius Of Bones

Wow, I haven’t seen a parking lot performance like this before. Epic!-Me

Genticorum concert at the beautiful Ellen Theatre in Bozeman,Montana, February 1, 2011.Reel Circular, from the album Swim Rowers (2011)
Reel-Circular (Daniel Boucher, Bristol, CT)
The Trans-Lanaudière-Express (Pascal Gemme)

http://www.genticorum.com

Filmed by Jem Moore: www.descantproductions.com

 
The music video for ‘Paper Airplane’ from Alison Krauss & Union Station’s new album “Paper Airplane”. Available April 12th on Rounder Records.
Get it here: http://tinyurl.com/4d2sn7f
The song is “Tha Mo Ghaol Air Àird A’ Chuain” by Julie Fowlis. I know this song off her album Mar a Tha Mo Chridhe-Me

canu rhydd by Fernhill

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Heavenly Welsh Band Fernhill

I heard about Calan and Fernhill from Idris Morris Jones of BBCRadio5 Radio Cymru which is focused on Welsh music. I was trying to come up with a project about pipe music and he was my target reference. But he told me that he is not the right person to talk about it so instead gave me the names of Ceri Rhys Matthews of Fernhill and Patrick Rimes of Calan plus their contact infos.

I am familiar with Ferhill because I wrote about them years ago and now they are making a comeback in my consciousness.  Now let us take a closer look at Fernhill.

Their latest album is called “canu rhydd” and I am attaching their bandcamp site so you will be able to enjoy their brand of Welsh Celtic music. The sound is distinctive and have that perky kind of delicacy.

There are 8 tracks in the album and I am listening to them right now.

julie murphy-voice, sruti 
christine cooper-fiddle, voice 
tomos williams-trumpet, flugelhorn 
ceri rhys matthews-guitar, flute, voice 

canu rhydd… literally ‘free poetry’, is written according to the free will of the poet. it is unconstrained by patronage or by the twenty four accredited meters of the secret craft of bardic poetry as laid out by einion offeiriad. from its sixteenth century flowering, came tumbling the multitude of unattached verses kept safe on the tongues of unselfconscious singers over the centuries. with these we start our songs… 

this album was recorded at dartington college of arts in july 2010, shortly before the college left its devon home for good. the album is one of many thousands of sparks of dartington’s creative legacy which are scattered throughout the country. 

recorded and mixed by nick marshall at dartington college, devon 
mastered by jens schroeder at dreamworld studio, pembrokeshire 
cover by noel hefele 

1. adar(Free) The carefree chord combinations and soft guitar strumming reminds me of lazy afternoons and the visions of being at sea.

2.when i was in my prime- I already heard several versions of this song and this one is a different arrangement. Fernhill added their fresh twist to this traditional track. With the simplicity of the guitar, it adds wings to Julie Murphy’s beautiful singing with a voice that reminds me of Mary Hopkins.

3.diddan-Beautiful tune in Welsh. It has that toe tapping appeal and the instruments just wash over. The strumming and  fiddling are superb.

4.forest-Sang in the form of a hymn, it has that soothing trumpet sound in the middle.

5.glyn cynon-The track opens with a flugelhorn. Now this kind of instrument is seldom  being used by World/Celtic acts. Having that in the album is a plus. The soft guitar plucking follows. Then there’s that lark singing of Julie. Something Jazzy, something soothing. Good for your nightcap. It ends with a step dancing tune. Now who needs coffee?

6.glyn tawe-A lilting voice and guitar in Welsh. The flugel horn occasionally embellish the lines. A beautiful poetry in English cuts through the singing..images in full color.

7. y fwynlan o serch- Guitar strumming and Ceri Rhys Matthews contributing in the vocals . The guy has a remarkable voice!  This makes you declare that Welsh is the language of the elves.

8. like the snow-This track closes the album. A haunting enveloping lament with vocal harmonies and lyrics about loss. Then, it builds up tempo in the middle with that typical Welsh dancing tune.It leaves its footprints long after you finished listening.

canu rhydd is  a beautiful transporting experience into the lush Welsh country side. You don’t have to be there to feel it all. Just listen to the music and it will bring you there. Away from all cares. Away from life’s hardships, and for just a moment…just a moment you feel this is heaven.

 

World Charts

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This ‘video’ of ours on You Tube has had nearly 10,000 views. That’s pretty amazing, I think. The track is the opening number on Jiggery Pokery (on CDBaby) and also the first track on our first ever album. I like some of the comments.
http://youtu.be/n8KDKqpphQo–Jeremy Poitin

World Charts everyone? Jeremy posted this update. Looking at the list of artists I am embarrassed to admit I still need to expand my knowledge. I am proud to see two friends : Poitin and Marc Gunn(also of Brobdingnagian Bards).  For those who are expanding their knowledge of Celtic music in the world, you better check this out: http://www.soundclick.com/genres/charts.cfm?genre=World&subgenreID=155&currentpage=1

Here’s one for traditional Irish: http://www.soundclick.com/genres/charts.cfm?Genre=World&SubgenreID=159

Thanks Jeremy for the links. It was fun posting on your forum 🙂

The McDades:Pure Vibrations!

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The McDades:The fusion that works like potion.

My friend Christi introduced me to this band yesterday. And since then I could not get rid of these headsets off my head. Whither you are listening to large surround speakers or the intimacy of your earphones, you could not stop your  feet from shaking and tapping.

Throbbing bass, hypnotic hand drumming, high-octane playing; the things that make the sound of   siblings Jeremiah, Shannon and Solon – The McDades. I am writing this article while  moving my head and smiling. I couldn’t help it. Theses guys are sugar and pepper. All the more reason for  listening and collecting Celtic music we now know as  hip and refreshing. Forget your mediocre top 40 radio and college campus music, this is it! This is high energy , the thing that  new Celtic music should be like.

The band are another export of the burgeoning Canadian Celtic music scene. The fusion of Jazz, World music and even some of that French folk makes their music sound like a buffet . Yeah after a full listen to Bloom it’s like having that full meal surrounded by a garden of exotic flowers…makes you  feel the good vibration.

Musical style: Celtic, World, Jazz

Origin: Edmonton, Alberta

Achievements: Bloom – Free Radio Records 2006 (2007 Juno Award Winner – Best Roots/Traditional Album (group), 2007 Independent Music Award Winner – Best World Album Traditional [1], two time Canadian Folk Music Award Winners Best World Group & Best Instrumental Group)

http://themcdades.com/

http://www.myspace.com/themcdades

 

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