My new friend and poet, American Irishman Joe Devoy, owner of Tellus 360, Lancaster- a fantastic store featuring recycled and repurposed furniture and items made from wood, as well as many other handmade gifts- check it out- esp the gorgeous GUITARS made from recycled wood that Irish musicians are loving-Cindy Ross( Owner of the picture above..Writer/Photographer, New Ringwold)
Tellus360: Manufacture reclaimed wood furniture, sell Irish antiques and eco friendly gifts. I’d say that guitar is really great to have. Has anyone purchased this?
The United States still posses the biggest chunk of my readership. The UK ranks the second. I am amused by the fact that my American readers seem to prefer that I write about artists from other countries. To cite an example, the Russian band 208 Talks of Angels got a lot of traffic when the article was published and 96% of the readers were from the US. Yesterday, Marc Gunn, the Celt father topped the number of readership. Yn Chruinnaght CD review ranked the highest, the day before yesterday.
Thunderstorm! This weather is enough to drive someone into spiritual reflection.Which, was the case when I took a week off from the Internet. That included turning the phone off and avoiding people. This doesn’t happen often but it was a great experience. It feels good to realize that there is a big world out there outside cyberspace. I was able to finish reading four books and started mixing tracks for a future project with a friend who asked me to mix his next album. I am not really confident that I will do good but it is nice to be asked. He actually recorded 7 instrumental bits for me to assemble using effects. It was quite an experience.
There is a great book I finished reading. It is called Walking the Mist by Donald McKinney. The author put a lot of himself in the book. It also glimpse into the history of the Druids. Like me, Donald McKinney was also influenced by the music of Enya and that got him started into the whole thing. Just like myself. I never knew about Celtic music until I heard the uilleann pipes and whistle in Watermark. It was also my first taste of Irish Gaelic after hearing her song “Na Laetha Geal M’óige”. I think I have to credit her influence on my desire to be a music journalist. It is that feeling you get when you hear something so beautiful. You are at loss for words, but you want to describe that experience because it is that moment in your life when you reached an epiphany and you realize: this is something I want to do!
Here’s what he wrote(page 6)
Another indication was the music of Enya. Like many people, I had thrilled to the sound of “Orinoco Flow” and it even inspired me to have a Celtic Christmas that year-my partner bought me lots of Celtic items. It is almost embarrassing now to recall how powerful Enya was for me.
The author further expounds on the power of music in general(page 149):
To the Celt, music was a powerful tool. Perhaps accompanied by poetry, it was the key to the heart of man. The harpists that wandered the roads of Ireland were treated like lords and it was a great honor, well into the late Middle Ages, to have a bard attend your house.
Donald McKinney has other interesting topics covered in this book especially about meditation and maintaining the balance of mind, body and spirit. My big thanks to Paula who mailed this book to me all the way from England.
The author recommends the following albums:
Karen Casey-The Winds Begin to Sing
Anuna-Invocation
The Chieftains-Tears of Stone
Enya-Paint the Sky with Stars
Loreena McKennitt-Elemental
Loreena McKennitt-The Visit
Mary McLaughlin and William Coulter-Celtic Requiem
This video reminds me of old photographs. These guys take their late 19th century fashion seriously!
Despite the title, the Crapshooters play a good blend of Traditional Irish, American Bluegrass and German folk. The introduction of bodhran, tin whistle, concertina, banjo, acoustic guitar, bass and various percussion will make you realize that they are very serious with their musical direction. There are slow airs that will move you. The harmony vocals are good. After four songs you will be convinced that these guys are actually shooting great music! Eire is one tune that I consider captivating.
Hi readers of the page. I am still warming up after a week’s sabbatical. My friend Scott Hoye filled me in today with his reaction to my previous post. If you are not aware yet, Scott is a musician who recently released the harp/vocal album Black Rose. You can listen to samples and buy the album here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008B55XSK/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_v7-2pb1GVNZVC
To those who just tuned in, please see my previous post in which Connie and I discussed what’s going on with the 2012 Olympics.
Scott Hoye:
The Olympic Corporation sucks. That needs no debate. They strong arm any one who uses the word Olympic in their business. Case in point: my local butcher in Chicago, Greek immigrants in business since the 1960s, were forced to change their name from Olympic Market to Olympia Market, when the Olympic (TM) Corporation showed up to check out the City for 2016. Ridiculous! Greeks can’t use the word? It falls in the realm of commons.
As far as the world of internet commerce and music, two things have happened: the internet has and MP3s have made everything more available, and services like D Baby make it affordable for EVERYONE to share sell their music on I-tunes and other sources. Pirating still takes place, and the price of a single is now well below what inflation should account for a fair price. But the gate keepers of the record industry are all gone, now replaced by the cheap skates of e-commerce, CD Baby, I-tunes, etc. Studios are no longer necessary to work with, and mastering can be done for a fraction of the cost as well, ether with studios or at home.
My experience as a musician working under the old guard of gatekeepers, in the 1990s, and the recording studio system informs what my experience is today. I used to have to create cassettes to send to A&R people at studios, and to send hard copies of the same to radio stations for airplay. Now, for small fees, digital press kits can be obtained, and distribution for the same, at the click of a mouse. So from this perspective, it is a brave new world for many people, and though most musicians are not household names, the possibility of publicity, earning a living and doing it with ease has become easily accessible.
On the other hand, artists are generally not respected in the common culture. America was described by Henry Miller long ago as a country where everyone wants to be a banker. Europe and other cultures still lend more credence to artists as opposed to the US. This is not to say that arts cannot survive in a market driven world, but Oscar Wilde was right in stating that the cynic is he who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. This is the shadow side of market driven art, and perhaps the land of the free, home of the free market best illustrates this.
People generally don’t consider not paying tens of thousands of dollars for an auto. Art, they would rather pilfer it. The gatekeepers screwed the artists via distribution control, and scarcity for years. The new gatekeepers have cheapened the price of much in the realm of music; mp3s are ubiquitous, as is the ability to create the product. Perhaps ultimately it is the journey of the artist to navigate the new world of commerce. I hope that it is a bit fairer than the world of the old guard, where one waited to be picked, and the odds were terribly stacked against them.
Celtic Music Fan 