Got
any newsy tidbits?
Let us know. E-mail them to: bernadette@celticcafe.comWe
started the "Buzz" section here at the Celtic Cafe as a means
of sharing some of the news and information posted to our associated mail lists,
which are devoted mostly (but not exclusively) to Irish dance and Celtic music.
For more detailed information, and to join in the discussion about "anything
Celtic," please sign up for our main list, large and very international.
Click on the following: Celtic
Cafe Yahoo Group • • •
Please
note:
A new page for Cafe Buzz items will appear approximately
every two weeks.
To see our first page of "newsy tidbits," click
here. To go to our current Cafe
Buzz items via our main page, click here. •
• • May 24 R2
- THE CELTIC CONNECTION Congratulations to the R2
Record Label, which this month celebrates their first anniversary as a
record company helping North American Celtic music fans find artists of great
interest to us! One such group is Calasaig
-- "this 5-piece band plays music from all corners of the Celtic world. Their
excellent renditions of traditional Scottish fare has allowed them to stake out
a piece of that musical territory also occupied by the likes of the Tannahill
Weavers, Ossian, The Battlefield Band and Silly Wizard."
Another is Pipeline
-- Dermot Hyde
and Tom Hake
-- of whom Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains has this to say: ""This
excellently-made album is a must… definitely one to have in your collection."
The majority of the music played by this duo is not only original but also borders
on unique. Pipeline is already sharing some musical terrain with Lúnasa
and Davy Spillane, with Dermot
Hyde's singing inducing the listener to come a little closer and hit the replay
button. Check them out at Celtic
Colours this October -- and click
here for their "Pipeline Reviews" page. These artists,
along with other R2 artists including Celine Donoghue, Maggie MacInnes, The
Peatbog Faeries, Jimi McRae, Donald Lindsay, Kirsten Easdale, Derek Williamson
and Gillian Frame, are exponents of Celtic music on the scene today in
Europe. Their contribution to the genre is fueled by an appreciation of those
who have gone before. On this same label there are CDs from The Easy Club
and Finn MacCuill. Both significant in their own way with "Sink ye,
Swim ye" from Finn MacCuill considered one of four 'Celtic Classics' by Fiona
Ritchie of Thistle
and Shamrock fame. One just can't pick up a fiddle,
bagpipe, guitar or banjo and play Celtic music. These artists have dedicated their
lives to learning and making it. R2 assures us that they, and the music they play,
are every bit as engaging as the great performers that influenced them. Click
here to go directly to their MP3 samples page. To learn more about the
R2 label and the artists, go to: scotsmarket.com/r2
• • • May 23 LONG
BEACH CELTIC FESTIVAL - August 2 and 3 We'll be letting
you know about many Celtic festivals coming up over the next few months, but there
probably are few that you can get married at! Check out the Third Annual Long
Beach Celtic Festival near Los Angeles, California -- not only do they
have a lot of great Celtic music and dance planned for the weekend of August 2nd
and 3rd, but they are set up for Celtic weddings! Or how about just getting engaged?
They have something called "Hand-Fasting" -- sounds intriguing!
Click here to go directly
to their wedding/hand-fasting page. This "Festival-by-the-sea"
is described as "where the Ancient Celtic World meets the children of the
21st century." They will even have sheep herding! Children's activities
abound, and a Celtic food marketplace will satisfy your taste buds and give you
energy for all the dancing, which includes Irish and Scottish! The wonderful
musical line-up at the festival includes both traditional and progressive bands
like the Browne Sisters with George
Cavanaugh, Tempest, Wicked
Tinkers, Golden Bough, American
Wake, Celtic Spring, Banshee
in the Kitchen, and Tintangel. The
festival offers the First Annual Irish Dance Tournament, sponsored by Cecily
Thompson Geraghty's Thompson
School of Irish Dance, open to both children and adults. Click
here to go directly to that page of information. Festival
tickets even include admission to the Queen Mary! For more information, visit
the official site at: LongBeachCelticFestival.com •
• • May 22 ROCKY
MOUNTAIN FIDDLE CAMP - August 3-10 and August 10-17 "It's
not just for fiddlers!" This is the third year that we've been more than
happy to let folks know about the terrific Rocky
Mountain Fiddle Camp that Mark Luther organizes in an idyllic setting
near Denver, Colorado. (See attached image of the lake, on right side of page.)
The calibre of the instructors is top notch, some teaching both weeks, August
3rd to 10th, and then again the second session of the Camp on August 10th to 17th.
Click here for
the Artists Page at the Rocky Mountain
Fiddle Camp website, which provides photos and biographies, and links to the
instructors' own sites. There's traditional music and dancing for everyone! The
names include Celtic Cafe favorites like Seamus
Egan and Winnie Horan of
Solas, Marie
Reilly of Cherish the Ladies,
Andy Stein and Pat Donahue of NPR's "A
Prairie Home Companion" and many others. More artists to be added,
but here is what Mark Luther has so far: Abby Newton, Andy Stein, Barbara MacDonald
Magone, Bonnie Carol, Brian Theriault, Bruce Molsky, Bruce Patterson, Carl MacKenzie,
Dan & Jennifer Levenson, David Greenberg, Doug MacPhee, Ed Miller, Frank Edgley,
Hank Troy, Iain Fraser, Jennifer Sordyl, Jerry Holland, Judy Hyman, Ken Perlman,
Larry Edelman, Laurie Riley, Loretta Thompson, Marie Reilly, Mary Flower, Paddy
League, Pat Donahue, Richard Greene, Seamus Egan, Steve Scott and Winifred Horan. The
Celtic Cafe had a representative at the Camp a couple of years ago, resulting
in a very special interview with the great Buddy
MacMaster. Click here
to see that, and listen to the audioclip of him greeting the Celtic Cafe community
and playing a tune for us! The official Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp website is
at: RMFiddle.com
•
• •
May 21 SPIRIT
OF THE DANCE - Tonight Show with Jay Leno The "Tonight
Show" with Jay Leno on NBC features an occasional segment entitled
"Roadside Attractions," hosted by actor/director/producer Kevin
Smith. Known for Clerks, Silent Bob, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Good Will
Hunting, Gigli, Jersey Girl, many other films and, of course, the media
celebs Ben Affleck
and Jennifer Lopez,
Smith takes Tonight Show viewers on a "road trip" with him, sometimes
with hilarious results. On May 16th, the Roadside Attractions
segment in Missouri included Spirit
of the Dance! This popular show has six troupes performing around
the globe, and its success is due largely to the fact that it incorporates dance
styles from around the world, not only Irish dance. They introduce the audience
to Salsa, Flamenco, Ballet, Ballroom, Tap, Jazz and much more. The Branson company
of SotD was featured at the end of the segment, and you must see Kevin Smith doing
some "Irish dance" at the close... no, not what you'd expect. It must
be seen to appreciate how funny it is! View the segment on Kevin Smith's official
site, ViewAskew.com -- click
here for the direct link to the page with the May 16th videoclip. Absolutely
hilarious! They start off with a visit to the St. Louis arch, then to the American
version of Stonehenge, Chinese acrobats, "waltzing waters," a talking
dog, and the segment concludes with Spirit of the Dance. How
did this show come about, anyway? Click
here to read an interview with David
King, the producer, about its birth. We're hoping to do a major feature
on SotD in the near future, but meanwhile, check out their official site at: SpiritoftheDance.com •
• • May 20 GERRY
O'BEIRNE This Irish songwriter, guitarist and singer Gerry
O'Beirne is not only a self-taught master of the six- and twelve-string
guitar, he is a renowned songwriter and producer who we have been wanting to have
as a Featured Artist of the Month ever
since we heard his solo album Half Moon Bay (Click
here for some MP3 samples). His songs tell of a yearning for home, romantic
love, and the spiritual qualities of place. Gerry has called many places home
--- Ireland, Africa, England, California, Mexico -- but it is clear that home
is anywhere he can sit with his guitar and play. Gerry's just
come off a tour with Andy M. Stewart,
and is now traveling in the U.S. both solo and with the Willow
Band. See the calendar
at his site for where and when. After the solo show in Nashville on June 8, he's
heading back to Ireland for the summer, for some producing and some writing for
a film score, as well as some recording towards his next album -- and producing
an album for Maura O'Connell.
We're particularly intrigued by the album he's producing in Dingle this summer
for piper Eoin Duignan -- it's music
based on the stained glass windows created by Harry
Clarke in a chapel there. Click
here for an image of this extraordinary work... it's quite obvious how
this stained glass beauty can inspire music! In the Autumn Gerry will be back
on the road with solo gigs. There are just so many interesting
things to share about Gerry O'Beirne and his life, but that will have to wait
until the Featured Artist of the Month focus
at the Celtic Cafe... he's toured around the globe with several bands and artists
including Patrick
Street, The Sharon Shannon Band, Midnight Well (which featured his unique
slide guitar playing), The Waterboys,
Andy M. Stewart, Martin
Hayes, Kevin Burke and Andy
Irvine. He has performed at the White House, opened for the Grateful
Dead, and played electric guitar with Marianne Faithfull. We enjoyed
especially his appearance on the great Garrison
Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion,"
broadcast on NPR Radio. You can listen
to an audio snippet of that on Gerry's site and hear what he told Garrison
about how he first learned to drive a car. Funny! Check out
GerryOBeirne.com for much more
than we could fit here! • • • May
19 RONAN HARDIMAN, COMPOSER Happy
Birthday to someone very special to many of us at the Celtic Cafe! Ronan
Hardiman is a brilliant composer whose music first transfixed millions around
the globe through the "Lord of
the Dance" soundtrack. For many of us, the music was a "wake-up"
call about Celtic music in general, and we sought out the traditional tunes that
some of the music is based upon. Thanks, Ronan! We have a little
feature about one of Ronan's recent projects, the television and cinema commercial
for Ballygowan Irish Spring Water.
Click here to read
a bit about it and see some stills from the shooting in County Wicklow, Ireland.
Ronan's score involved a full orchestra and 50-piece choir -- very epic indeed!
The video of it can be seen on Ronan's official site: RonanHardiman.com
Ballygowan's
official site is at: Ballygowan.ie It's
interesting that not only Irish dance shows build on Celtic Myth and Legend --
this advert's storyline involves the Irish legend of The Children of Lir! •
• • May 18 ED
PEARLMAN: From PortlandAmerica to Highland Soles Folks
in the Celtic Cafe community have known about Ed
Pearlman and his great reputation mostly through his 11 years with Portland
America, which made available those sometimes hard-to-find CDs from Scotland,
Nova Scotia, key artists in Ireland, Brittany, Wales and from the U.S. Celtic
scene. A few months ago he passed the business along to new owners, which, for
the most part, are carrying on in the same direction as before. See PortlandAmerica.com He
now can focus on his first love, fiddling, and working with dancer
Laura Scott, along with some
fresh new performers, to more seriously develop the innovative mix of Scottish
and Cape Breton music and dance they've been offering for the past 20 years: high-flying
Highland, hard-hitting Cape Breton step, feisty Highland folk, and choreographies
to present them (including traditional dance moves adapted to slow airs), with
traditional and original tunes. High-quality, rooted in tradition, but not the
usual one might expect. The new website is at HighlandSoles.com
-- check it out for information about the show on June 21, and for details about
their performances and workshops. Ed will be teaching fiddle at the Ohio
Scottish Arts School June 28 - July 3 with Bruce
MacGregor of Blazin' Fiddles
and Mairi Rankin
of Beolach; and will perform, teach, and judge the U.S. National
Scottish Fiddle Championships July 11-13 at Skagit
Valley Highland Games north of Seattle. Laura and Ed have worked
with many great Celtic artists; as director of the Scottish Fiddle Rally
in Boston for 15 years, Ed brought together, each spring, a Cape Breton fiddler
and a Scottish fiddler, and worked with them to work out musical arrangements,
group numbers, ceilidhs etc. This included Alasdair
Fraser, Aly Bain, Buddy MacMaster,
Natalie MacMaster (when she was
19 and 20), Carl Mackenzie, Jerry Holland, Joe Cormier, Iain MacFarlane, Charlie
McKerron, John McCusker, Wendy MacIsaac, JP Cormier, Dave MacIsaac, Tony Cuffe
-- and Laura worked with all of them as a dancer. She choreographed and performed
with Alasdair Fraser's Skyedance
band, the Battlefield Band,
and toured with Joe Cormier and has taught several times at the
Gaelic Roots Festival
in Boston, at Alasdair Fraser's school in California, and performed in the Celtic
Revels in Houston. Click on: HighlandSoles.com
for more information about Laura and Ed and the Music and Dance of Scotland,
Cape Breton and Beyond!
• • • May
17 WEST COAST CELTIC CAMP Renowned
Irish dance instructors Tony Comerford
and Patricia Kennelly present
the First Annual West Coast Celtic Camp: A Spectacular Week of Dancing
and Music from August 4-10, 2003, at the University of Puget Sound in
Tacoma, Washington, near Seattle. Attendees will have a great time all week,
and the public gets to share in the excitement via the concert on Saturday night,
featuring instructors and selected students of the Celtic Camp. Instructors include
the following luminaries: Sylvan Kelly, The Jackson Kelly School,
Ireland; John Carey, Twelve-time
World Champion, England; Dearbhla
Lennon, The Monna Roddy School, Ireland; Sally Houston, Ard Na
Greine, Canada; Breda Smyth, fiddle and whistle, Ireland; and Michael
and Shay Black, of the celebrated Black family of singers and musicians. See
our feature on John Carey at the Celtic Cafe by clicking
here. Space is limited, so sign up now via the registration forms
available for download on the websites of the Comerford and Kennelly Schools:
TonyComerford.com or KennellySchool.com
Phone number for further information: 1 (866) 799-1111. •
• • May 16 AN
AMERICAN FLEADH! The brainchild of artist/author/performer
Larry Kirwan of Black
47, the first-ever American Fleadh (pronounced Flah
and meaning festival) will hit 9 cities in June/July, with a terrific
line-up of Irish and Irish-American musicians. How did Larry come up with
this brilliant idea?
”Last Memorial Day, The
Saw Doctors and Black 47 played
a double-header at the big Chicago Gaelic Park Festival. When the Docs
finished, about half of the audience of 6000 left the tent and went to the bars;
by the time Black 47 came on, the tent had filled to capacity again. Then it hit
me, what if you got four or five bands with avid followings, and something in
common, and put them on tour. You'd have a hell of a festival.”
This traveling extravaganza of musicians, writers and dancers, spreading Irish
and Irish American culture across the country, will kick off in Baltimore on June
19th, and will travel to Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh,
Buffalo, Milwaukee and Chicago in June and early July.
This year the American
Fleadh will feature Floggin' Molly, The
Saw Doctors, Black 47, Hothouse
Flowers, Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul,
The Prodigals and special guest
stars. There are no headliners on this tour, as each band is a headliner
in its own right. All with outstanding live performance reputations, these
artists broaden the Irish musical experience with their highly individualized
styles. Floggin' Molly come from a Californian punk background and are true heirs
of the Pogues moshpit tradition. The Saw Doctors mix scintillating pop and country
with their West of Ireland roots. Black 47 adds a political, urban, reggae edge
to their Irish-American anthems. Hothouse Flowers combine blue-eyed soul with
Liam O'Maonlai's compelling Traditional Irish raves.
Eileen Ivers, who revolutionized Irish fiddle playing in her star turn
in Riverdance, adds a World Music
roots edge with her band Immigrant Soul.
And the Prodigals add rock and punch to
their accordion-based jigs and covers of traditional tunes.
The American
Fleadh will also offer a literary tent featuring well-known Irish and Irish-American
authors and poets and the festival will also be joined by dance troupes
and local performers from each of the different cities. Every date for the
American Fleadh is an all-ages show and set up to accommodate and entertain all
the generations of the family.
Shows confirmed to date include June
19: Pier Six Concert Pavilion, Baltimore, MD; June 21: Fleet Boston
Pavilion, Boston, MA; June 22: Meadowlands Fair, East Rutherford, NJ; June
26: Tower City Amphitheatre, Cleveland, OH; June 27: Amphitheater at
Station Square, Pittsburgh, PA; June 28: Festival Grounds at the Pier,
Buffalo, NY; June 30: Milwaukee
Summerfest, Milwaukie, WI; with more dates to be added.
Larry
Kirwan and Black 47 were our Featured Artists of the Month in December
of 2001 --
click here -- and watch for an upcoming focus at the Celtic Cafe about
the FIRST AMERICAN FLEADH!
• • •
May 15 SECRET
GARDEN - Dublin Concert on Saturday, May 31 Fionnuala
Sherry and Rolf Lovland are Secret
Garden, and practically revered here at the Celtic Cafe -- if you have
heard their music, you'll know why! We had the incredibly exciting experience
of seeing them live with a symphony orchestra a few years ago (click
here for after-show photos), and if you are in Dublin on Saturday,
May 31, you couldn't do better than booking tickets for The
Helix! Secret Garden will combine for the very first time with
the RTÉ Concert Orchestra
and conductor Gareth Hudson in a celebration of their extraordinary career,
which blends Celtic/Norwegian fusion with classical, traditional and popular influences. The
concert will include not only the Orchestra, but the 90-piece RTE
Philharmonic Choir... a rare and spectacular event, and one not to be
missed! The location simply could not be better... Mahony
Hall has been designed for acoustic excellence! Ireland's President Mary
McAleese officially opened The Helix just last October, at a gala celebration.
The venue gives Ireland a truly world class facility at last, and comprises three
different auditoria: Mahony Hall, The Theatre and The Space. Secret Garden
will thrill and enchant in Mahony Hall; for photos of this wonderful facility
and to learn more about the Helix, click
here. For ticket information, click
here. Soon we'll have a major feature about the scintillating Fionnuala
and Rolf, including a review of the concert on the 31st, but naturally, the best
place to click to for more information is their official website: secretgarden.no Oh,
those lucky folks in Ireland who can be at the Helix at the end of this month!
•
• • May 14 COLIN
DOES THE TANGO! Colin
Dunne is going to be lending his dulcet tones to Irish radio via a four-part
radio series on the history of Tango for Lyric
FM, Ireland's premier classical musical station, sometime in June or July.
Is this the start of a new career path? Not exactly... Colin has been based
at the Irish World Music Centre
at the University of Limerick for
the last 18 months, and has been hard at work creating some new solo material.
This brilliant dancer has previewed some of it in the U.S., most recently at
Vail International Dance in Colorado, and as guest of the Charleston
Ballet West Virginia, where Dance Critic Rick Justice commented: "It
was quite intriguing to see how he, like all great artists, has stolen a little
here and a little there and then added just a little of his own… we think
that at the end of his “Flight of the Bumble Bee” that
the Bee in question fell prey to the flying feet that seemed intent on stomping
it to its end!” There are few dancers we're as excited about as Colin
Dunne, and we are most eagerly anticipating his new work! Some lucky folks
will be able to see those Celtic Feet up close and personal, at the Blas
2003 International Summer School for Irish Traditional Music and Dance from
June 23 to July 4. Colin is a tutor at this school which "provides access
to some of the finest exponents of Irish traditional music, song and dance from
both artists based in Ireland, and from the strongholds of Irish music and dance
internationally." Click
here for more information. Colin was in Paris celebrating his birthday
on May 8th with none other than the seminal Kronos
Quartet. Can we look forward to a collaboration? Keep up on the latest
news of this most talented and innovative dancer at ColinDunne.com! •
• • May 13 DANCE
OF DESIRE - The Music Our Celtic Cafe rep in Dublin returned
from the performance of Dance of Desire simply raving about this new Irish
dance show, with principal choreography by the brothers Daire and Cian Nolan.
Ann Keller writes:
"Dance of Desire has a great future. From the first moments,
the deeply dramatic story unfolds on a stage filled with colour and atmosphere,
richly set in mythological time with exotic costuming. The talent of the performers
is superb, the music full of energy and rhythm, and the whole show is bound together
and fired by the outstanding, extremely innovative choreography which is a dazzling
blend of traditional and modern Irish Dance with hints of jazz, Arabian, ballet,
tango, and subtle touches of night club eroticism..." We're working
on a full feature about the show at celticcafe.com,
but meanwhile, check out the stellar talents involved with the soundtrack! All
music composed, arranged and produced by Eric Cunningham. Some of the
participants and their musical affiliations are: Eric Cunningham:
whistles, flute and percussion; Susan McFadden: vocals (You're a Star
fame); David Agnew: oboe (RTE Concert Orchestra); Keith Donald:
sax (Moving Hearts); Ronan Browne: uilleann pipes (Afro Celt/The Gangs
of New York); Derek Hickey: accordion (De Dannan); Colin Farrell:
fiddle (brilliant young player from Manchester); Gavin Ralston: guitars
(Waterboys/Sharon Shannon); Jason Duffy: drums (Lord of the Dance/Picture
House); Eoghan Horgan: keyboards, programme, orchestration; Dean Smith:
bass; Scott Maher: backing vocals. Guest fiddler in the live performance,
the incomparable Ella Haluk, has
been profiled before at the Celtic Cafe.
Click here. See our earlier Cafe Buzz items for more information
about Dance of Desire by clicking here.
For showdates and ticket information, click
here. • • • May
12 RUA and the WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
in Tel-Aviv Liz Madden
and Gloria Mulhall, the lovely ladies from Ireland with even lovelier
voices, comprise RUA. They have been invited to headline at this year's
World Music Festival being held in June at the Israeli Opera House
in Tel-Aviv, Israel. They are in the unique position of being accompanied by the
Israeli Opera Orchestra for this festival! In addition, they
have just completed their second album titled DREAM-TELLER. They say "it
was a wonderful experience for both of us. It features 12 brand new tracks including
our unique version of the song Ride On written by our good friend, Jimmy
MacCarthy. Apart from voice and violin, instruments used include string
orchestra, pipes, whistle, bodhran, brass ensemble, guitar… and the list
goes on!" Learn more at their website, www.RuaWorld.com •
• • May 11 FRANK
McCOURT READS: BABY NAMES OF IRELAND Today being
celebrated by many as Mothers' Day, it seems appropriate to feature a Cafe
Buzz item about a Baby Names site! Not just any baby names site, mind
you, but one of IRISH baby names... complete with sound bytes of how to pronounce
the names by none other than Angela's
Ashes author Frank
McCourt! We at the Celtic Cafe are such huge fans of this Pulitzer Prize-winning
author, and it's a true delight to hear him read descriptions and meanings of
names that we have become familiar with online... but some we might not have heard
pronounced before! BabyNamesofIreland.com
is a wonderful site, with contributions about Irish myth and legend from the children
at Coolderry National School of Ireland. (Notice how the names of the
students reflect the tremendous growth of Gaelic names in Ireland, from 27 different
ones in 1901 to over 180 in 2002.) The website includes
some of the loveliest baby items we've found online... not to mention the most
adorable "Step
Dancing" Doll!
See for yourself by clicking here.
Site owner Martin Sheerin, shown in the accompanying photo with Frank McCourt,
looking up from the BabyNamesofIreland website, has done a superb job!
• • • Read the first-ever Cafe Buzz items by clicking
here.
Feature: Bernadette
Price
Original Web Design: Alexander
Servas
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