Ethnicity

Steven Hawson: Shamus and Steve’s Crazy Celtic Journey to Glasgow, Vol. 1

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STEVEN HAWSON: Shamus and Steve's Crazy Celtic Journey to Glasgow, Vol. 1

 Winner:Clean and intelligent fun with Steven Hawson’s Shamus and Steve’s Crazy Celtic Journey to Glasgow, Vol. 1

1 – Top O’ Da Morning
2 – Here We Go, Amigo
3 – Only One Room Left
4 – The All-You-Can-Eat Celtic Buffet Sketch
5 – The Boyisshecrankie Sketch
6 – Hold the Mayo
7 – Rockabye Steve

For those who are in need of something informative but at the same time entertaining then I better introduce you to something I stumbled upon this weekend. The album is called Shamus and Steve’s Crazy Celtic Journey to Glasgow, Vol. 1. by Steven Hawson. It’s  an audio comedy presented the creator’s notable talent for voicing different characters. He also created an interesting plot that really works.

The main characters of this story are Steve and his twin brother Shamus. Steve plays an accordion while his twin plays the banjo. Steve works as a manager of a fish and chips store while Shamus is a free-spirited entomologist. Their personalities are complete opposites. Steve is uptight while Shamus is cocky and loves adventures. It’s Shamus who actually dares Steve to go on a road trip. The aim is to attend the first annual Glasgow Celtic music festival in  Montana, with hopes of playing on stage with the great musicians. I found myself drawn to the banter between the two.

Steve: What’s really amazing in how negative in effect your exiting the womb three minutes before I did has had in your personality-

Shamus:I am the older and wiser than the two of us. It’s not your fault really, I simply have three more minutes of life experience than you do. So you need to follow my lead. It’s a clan obligation!

I am sure you will enjoy the Steve and Shamus series. A volume two is coming very soon. Although this is Celtic culture project, the recording also celebrates the cultural diversity of  the United States. There are several references that point to the connection of the Celts to other cultures. This happens when they start their journey.

For example, there is a part that explains the  deep connection between Mexico and Ireland as Steve and Shamus stop to buy burritos from their Mexican friend. For the delicious Indian curry, it is explained how India is deeply connected to the Celts. A quick stop to buy Chinese food( The All-You-Can-Eat Celtic Buffet Sketch)  uncovers a Scottish Celtic ensemble based in China. History goes further as how the Celts reached the tropics  in the 10th century. This little known but significant history happened in March 17 1065 in Northern England(The Boyisshecrankie Sketch). Wait until you get to  Hold the Mayo where Steve pretends to be Irish in order to impress the motel residents only to find himself in embarrassing situations. The recording closes with both of them halfway through their journey. I can’t wait to get the volume 2 and find out if Steve really got to become an accordion superstar during the Celtic music fest. It remains to be seen. Bring on volume 2!

If you want clean and intelligent fun, then better keep Steven Hawson in your Celtic radar. He is the funny man with great love for Celtic history. Buy the album here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/stevenhawson2

Huzzah!

Now it is time to help out of Celtic musicians to make their projects come true and also to spread the word. Let’s do what we can to keep the spirit of Celtic music alive.

HELP MAXIM AND GERVAIS CORMIER MAKE AN ALBUM!! Watch the video and go to the indie gogo page for details.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-maxim-and-gervais-cormier-make-an-album

Promotional video by John Breen:

Wezen by Alicia Ducout

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wezen

Alicia Ducout (piano, harpe celtique et chant), Florian Baron (guitare et oud), Kenan Guernalec (flûte traversière irlandaise), Marc Blanchard (arrangements électroniques), Anthony Debray-Laizé (percussions)

The world can be a dark and scary place. That is why we have music to escape to when things start to get chilly. I would recommend Alicia Ducout’s (who also goes under the name Luascadh) ambitiously atmospheric project called Wezen. It is a CD-Book with accompanying artwork . Her works are always marked with her classical, renaissance and Celtic influences. This is an album that’s a treasure to own because this is not something you can find in mainstream music.

I like the Celtic harp because it conjures  images of Tolkien’s characters. Alicia Ducout is based in France. A detailed information about the album can be found below. Wezen is not just eclectic in the musical sense but also in its use of different languages. This calls to mind works of groups like Dead can Dance and artists like Loreena Mckennitt (for the eclectic instruments) and Connie Dover (for the multi lingual approach).

I love it when artists venture outside the English language or from their own native languages. I think language is essential for an album in addition to the instruments and arrangements. I think it adds to the authenticity of the sentiments you are trying to create and also the feeling of the song. It gives that feeling of being transported into the native soil of the composer and not in an urbane setting which is always characteristic of English songs. This is not to belittle the English language because it is what i use to blog, but being bilingual myself, I appreciate the beauty of being able to walk in the two worlds of spoken and written words.

Back to the harp, the beauty of her playing is her understanding of the emotional range of the Celtic harp or other harp instruments. Ducout studied drama at Lyon, and after 10 years of piano practice, she joined several medieval ensembles. The artistic  journey opened the doors of Celtic civilization and ancient traditional music to her and now we have Wezen.

Wezen is a tale  written in 2008 by Alicia Ducout. It tells the story of a strange character and the essential question: how to fight fear? This story deals with issues of identity, trust in yourself and others. The graphic novel and its soundtrack  was released in December 2012.
To echo a history, music is at the crossroads of several traditions, as shown by the choice of instruments: harp, bodhran and Irish flute for the Celtic sound. Oud for the Eastern source. The nyckelharpa for Northern anchor (Swedish), the piano like a familiar linking that connects us to our own history. The electronic sounds are even more subtle we can say connect this traditional matter and to present to the world today, bringing a breath of timelessness work.
This alchemy is born a minimalist style (inspired by Philip Glass, Bruno Coulais, Steve Reich) speaking we can say here instrumental or sung in several languages.

A journey through the sounds of German, English, Norwegian, Irish, Spanish, Aramaic, and even Elvish!

http://www.aliciaducout.jimdo.com/

http://projetwezen.tumblr.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaMFQmnTDT4

Cornwall’s 1982 PanCeltic entry

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Do you know this band?

Originally posted by Matthi Clarke in the Pan Celtic Festival. The song is in Cornish. It is called ‘Yth yw hi byw’. I am extending my help in posting this for the general public. If  you know more about this group and if they are still recording, please share your info by posting on the comments section.

Shelta

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What’s Up with Shelta?

Shelta is a language spoken by the Irish travelers -also  known as Irish gypsies. It is also a name of  a Celtic band based in Rhône-Alpes. Ten years and still going strong, they have played gigs all over Europe. Their next gig is on Friday, June 22 at 9:00 PM. The place is La Lune Rousse. You can see the full tour schedule in this page. 

Shelta are:

Tania Buisse: bodhran
Romain Chéré: wooden flute, whistles, banjo
John Delorme: violin
Fabien Guiloineau: guitar
Guy Vesvre: accordion

 

here is the band website

http://shelta.legroupe.free.fr/

Listen to clips and buy the album here: http://shelta.legroupe.free.fr/musique.htm

Also, add them in facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shelta/125419444161088?ref=ts

Thanks to Jimmy for providing the fb link.

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I am in the process of doing an interview with world renowned Canadian piper   Peter Purvis of Gaelic Storm. If you remember they first appeared in the movie Titanic.  You can check out his bio here: http://www.peterpurvis.com/

Thanks to Tim for giving me the link to http://planetpipe.com/wp/ which got me started.

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Want to know what Marc Gunn is playing? Marc is the voice of the indie Celtic music. Listen and download the podcast here:

Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #123