Music

October Rising

/ mrbaxteria2008 / 4 Comments

Hi CMFs!  The month of October is going to be exciting because there will be more music . As the cold season sets in and there are less sunlight , there are people who get moody. Wanna hang out with me? Wanna have a walk on the foggy side? Just listen to my lists of bands and you will know what is it to be in this mind.

To be honest, it’s been more than two years when I set this site up, but whenever I face the screen and start to touch the keyboard, I still don’t feel that confident. I have done interview with musicians-which is easy because I know the formula. But doing something in between. Like covering music or writing a feature is something else.  I don’t want this site to be too ‘academic’ not too informal. I also don’t want this to be just a blog where I confess my sins. I want this to be a lot of things. But I really don’t know what to expect after typing away and sending my message in a  bottle.

I have been moody all day which explains why I have been away from facebook. If I am there all I’d do is post sad songs and that is not helping either. It’s just something in me that I can’t explain when the season is in transition.  There is a risk involved though. I don’t know how many friends are going to be put off by this. It’s the dark months-ah wonderful mysterious time of the year.

My friend Fiach Moriarty is releasing an album and he needs your help. Please go ahead and listen to his songs by visiting his website and his facebook page. I made an interview with him which i enjoyed so much. Fiach is truly a hard working irish musician and he deserves the love:

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Fiach Moriarty-Be a part of my second record

Location
In Studio
Created by:
More info
About a year ago I signed up for www.slicethepie.com, a site where you upload your tracks and allow other members to rate them. If, after a certain period of time, your songs are rated above 75% you qualify for a showcase. I was lucky enough to qualify and got to choose an amount to raise from other members to record my second record. I opted for €3000 which translates as $4000 according to the people who run the website. You can pledge as little as $5 or go up to $500. In exchange for this there are a list of treats such as free gig tickets, signed copies of album, your name on the album sleeve, free download of all tracks on slicethepie.com and more. If the target is not hit, everyone that supported will get a full refund. Check it out here:
http://backstage.slicethepie.com/artist/fiach

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Caladh Nua at ChristChurch Waterford

One of those traditional Irish bands I love to follow. Be part of their performance:

Time
01 October · 20:00 – 23:00
Location
Created by:
More info
See http://www.caladhnua.com/christchurch.pdf for booking information

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Moya Brennan, Cormac De Barra LIVE VOICES & HARPS, Liffey Bank Sessions

Ah yes the First lady of Celtic music is promoting her latest album and please please do check it out because it’s worth your money and time. Now is the time to promote Celtic music because I noticed the decrease of sales due to the popularity of mainstream music. So get off your coaches lazy bears and go out there on the street and do your souls a favor by supporting and promoting these artists I mention here.  Yes Moya and Cormac will uplift your spirits.

Time:11 October · 20:00 – 23:00
Location:The Grand Social
Created by:Moya Brennan
More info
Moya and harpist, Cormac, continue their series of extraordinary performances.


Site Makeover

/ mrbaxteria2008 / 4 Comments

As you can see I made some changes in the design of my site. It still has that old flavor but I want it to have a classy look. You can see that the title The Celtic Music Fan is in French script. A lot of changes happened in my life recently and most of them are too personal to add here. But I can tell you, I will be writing more and more to deliver you what’s new and what’s out in music.

I know someone out there is a person who is driven to write to exorcise whatever madness lurks within the soul. I hope you find this and I also hope the music here will soothe your soul and ease your mind.

It is not easy to have so much passion inside you especially when it is not directed to what is helpful. Music is helpful and the more passion you have, the more driven you are to give just the best performance. Because without that outlet, life will be hard. Especially when passion is dependent on people  than in art.

I think lately I have been feeling that kind of shift. So I am asking you to help me go back to that useful passion which is music. And yes writing about it. The more words I make, the more energy I spend and then I will be too tired to bother about other personal things. We all need something to save us from helpless passion. And I hope my thoughts will make you realize that there is nothing in this world that is worth serving other than Art..because it is a jealous master. Material things can fail us..but never Art!

Celtic Music on the Run

/ mrbaxteria2008 / 2 Comments

 

Tremolo Band: Bringing their music both on the road and the Web

Tremolo Band: Bringing their music both on the road and the Web

This piece is a tribute to music going mobile. I know of someone (you know who you are) who doesn’t like the idea of having an iPod-or in general making music mobile, believing that it is a private experience.

The good and the bad:

I read about  the time when music was an indoor experience. It was a family affair with people gathering  in front of their Victor turntable and listening to collections upon collections of music recorded on vinyl. I am talking about the 70s when bands used to have their songs on 45s and LPs.

Now music became a solitary experience. People listen alone. And sometimes people listen to the hum and not really to the music. They just splice the tracks as background music while most of their attentions are focused on the task. No wonder the recording industry is cashing out on young artists who can sing lines like ” baby, baby oh or I want your love oh yea” again and again with decent beats and pass it off for music. I can’t blame them. This generation has low attention span. And music like that caters to people with no special leaning to the arts.

But if you are an artist you know what you want and you care for what you want. More and more Celtic musicians are advertising and selling their music in different formats. You have iTunes, bandcamp and even rhapsody.

The web generation has taught artists to be resourceful . They no longer wait for execs to find their craft and sell it. They do the advertising and some even go as far as doing the album art. I know a few who do these things without sacrificing the beauty of their music.

back to my idea of the good and the bad:

The good:MP3 downloads are practical and also a fast way of getting the music our there with the click of the thumb.

The bad: Too many choices too many things to consider.

I love the way how the music industry is evolving and empowering those without access to major labels. Most of my discovery came from youtube. And I see myself posting more and more youtube videos in the future. And I also look forward to post from friends. let us all spread the beauty of Celtic music.

 

Welcome to the Musical Dublin

/ mrbaxteria2008 / 1 Comment
True Grit

True Grit

Essay of life as a Dublin musician in her own words 

by Rachael McCormack

I met Rachael through Fiach Moriarty whom she calls as Dublin’s local music hero. You always start from somewhere and that’s when you meet other people in the business. It is a thriving community of interesting people from all walks of life. Some of them even came from other parts of the globe but got marooned here and well, the rest is history.

She is from north of Dublin and got exposed to music at such an early age. Here are her thoughts about her city and why people never want to leave when they get there:

Well what can I say,100 words wouldn’t be enough about how much I love my hometown of Dublin, it’s one of the only cities that caters for unsigned musicians.
Down every street, every side alley your bound to bump into a musician playing guitar to violin to drums to even the odd thin whistle, especially around Temple Bar the carnival atmosphere in the square is pretty special, I myself would be seen walking the streets with the guitar on my back going to a gig.
As a very young child I’ve always wanted to play music.

courtesy of the Temple Bar website

courtesy of the Temple Bar website

I can think as far back as 6yrs of age when I’d be tugging at my mams jumper saying I want a guitar, or I’d make one out of a shoe box and shoe laces hahahaha. So Dublin to me is one big song with many choruses. Let’s face it, us Irish know how to party, so adding the music element is like water from a tap: It comes naturally I guess,we’re a nation of storytellers and the songs are there to guide us along the way.

With our famous exports as The Frames to The Script (and lets not forget U2),there’s something special about singing in front of a packed live audience. I recently visited the Glor Sessions which is a poetry/singer/songwriter night, where there is no mikes, no amps, just you and your voice and guitar.It’s really intimate and you feel that when you finished each song. I myself have always just wanted to play for people, at so many of my gigs I get at least one person coming up to me saying, I really loved your set, and that one person makes the whole night worth it, and that’s what music should be about, not will I ever be discovered?Or will I ever make it?

To me, I’ve already made it. I’m a musician and that to me is an achievement, from supporting Slumberjet, a Dublin based rock band in the renowned Sugar Club venue,to upstairs in Whelans for the battle of the bands Dublin final, it’s a fantastic city of acceptance, musically speaking, Irish audiences love you for who you are on stage and how unique you are. Us Dubliners are known for being a noisy bunch at gigs. But are always remembered for and are welcomed, and that’s what music is about: a celebration of local talent.

Hopefully in the coming years will just grow and grow in this fastly cosmopolitan city, but the thing is, I’m lucky I’m right in the heart of it, and that’s the best gift of all; the charm of the city will always make me want to play. I once played for 3 people and a dog. Now I’m playing for 300 people in the middle of Marrion square park for the rising stars of 2011. Things can only get better for the Irish music scene.

Dublin, River Liffey at night

Dublin, River Liffey at night

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The Heart’s Sweet Sob: Kate Rusby

/ mrbaxteria2008 / 2 Comments

My friend and I posted the songs of Kate Rusby a lot recently . These are days when songs of her’s create a beautiful backdrop against life’s stressful activities. But it is more than that. She addresses some of the most common human conditions .

For instance the song Wandering Soul from the album The Girl Could Not Fly, talks about finding one’s true home after countless times of fumbling and stumbling. I think I can relate to this, especially that I found a special circle I call home. I have been in different circles but this one is like a crater formed after a meteor drop-a truly life altering experience.

I often joke to one of my friends that if this is made into a movie,  it’s gonna be a story shot in different locations in the world with quirky characters and nice cinematography. And yes, lots and lots of music. There will always be other circles- little ones but not like this where you find everyone who appreciates the kind of music that I blog about here.

You will realize that friends whom you met through music are friends who stay with you much longer. Because when everything fails, there is always music to talk about. And even if you don’t have to talk, you let the music do the talking for you.

There two memorable paragraphs from an article I read about her:

She lost two close relatives while putting the album together and the split with husband John McCusker meant she needed a new producer. With indomitable Yorkshire practicality, her decision was to face that problem herself and with help from her brother Joe, Awkward Annie sees her not only doing the songwriting but also the knob-twiddling.

Still, it’s a long standing truth that from hard times comes fine art, and Awkward Annie is testament to that. While Kate describes the making of the album as “extremely tough” in her notes, the resulting songs have a refreshed vibrancy and depth that was occasionally lacking on The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly

-BBC Review(Kate Rusby in a wonderful return to form…) Chris Long 2007-09-07

Kudos to Kate and her beautiful music : a combination of English, Scottish and Irish folk  styles resonating the sweet, and sometimes trying times we often face in life, as we journey through relationships. It is a hard road but in the end there is always the door to what you can call a home. And someone whom we can call our true love.