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 to learn more: Celtic
Cafe Yahoo Group • • •
Please
note:
A new page for Cafe Buzz items will appear approximately
every two weeks.
To see our Buzz for July 20-July 31, click
here.
To see our Buzz for July 6-July 19, click
here.
To see our Buzz for June 22-July 5, click
here.
To see our Buzz for June 8-June 21, click
here.
To see our Buzz for May 25-June 7, click
here.
To see our Buzz for May 11-24, click
here.
To see our first page of "newsy tidbits," click
here. • • • August
12 MICHAEL
FLATLEY RECEIVES GRIMALDI MEDAL On Friday, August 8, Michael
Flatley again stepped out of retirement to perform at one of the world's
most prestigious events, the annual Red Cross Gala in Monte Carlo, after
which he was presented with the Grimaldi medal by Prince Albert of Monaco. Click
here to see our full feature about this. You can click
here to read our earlier Cafe Buzz item about the benefit for this most
worthy cause. For more information about the Red Cross in Monaco,
see www.croix-rouge.mc. The annual
Red Cross Ball is held in the Salle des Etoiles of the Monte-Carlo
Sporting Club. Site of the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: www.ifrc.org •
• • August 11 NORTH
AMERICAN FESTIVAL OF WALES - August 28-31 The
North American Festival of Wales is the largest annual gathering of the
Welsh of North America and friends from around the world. Each year on the Labor
Day weekend, over 1000 people converge on a city in Canada or the USA to celebrate
the heritage, culture and traditions of Wales. This year they will meet in Richmond
(Vancouver), British Columbia, Canada. The North American Festival of Wales
is a 4-5 day festival of performances, seminars, tours, and community singing
and other interactive events designed to provide fun and enjoyment while exploring
Welsh culture and Welsh heritage both in Wales and in North America. Headline
attractions include: Jason Howard, a popular baritone soloist, the Dunvant
Male Choir and Mabon, the Welsh
folk group. Joining them will be scores of singers, poets, dancers, comics, presenters
and others. A highlight of the festival will be a tribute to Dylan Thomas,
one of Wales’ most internationally renowned and quoted poets. The Vancouver
Dylan Thomas Circle performance will entertain with perspectives on Dylan’s
life and readings of his works. Fifty Years From His Death, Dylan Lives!
Learn more at the North American Festival of
Wales official site: NAFOW.org
See our older feature on the Welsh Eisteddfod
by clicking here.
•
• • August 10
CELTIC CONNECTION CONCERT IN TORONTO - August 13 The
newly-formed Celtic
Connection Concert Series will hold its inaugural concert at the new Bambu-by-the-Lake
club at Harbour Front on August 13th at 7.30 pm. Pipeline,
a duo from Munich, Germany, will perform along with Calasaig,
a 5-member group from Scotland which 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.
Calasaig will be playing two nights, August 14 and 15, at Baba Ganoush in Orangeville.
Pipeline will also play
at spots around Toronto including Allen's on the Danforth, Scruffy Murphy's at
Y/E, The Bow and Arrow at Yonge and Merton, and The Irish Times Pub in Pickering.
Pipeline is Dermot Hyde and Tom Hake, and here's what Paddy
Moloney of The Chieftains says
about their CD: "Pipeline's excellently made album is a must for any lover
of the uilleann pipes and whistle, with wonderful playing by Dermot Hyde. Definitely
one to have in your collection. Congratulations!" For more information,
click here for the
Scots Market website.
Pipeline is at Pipeline-Music.com
and Calasaig
at rowanarts.co.uk/Calasaig/index.html. •
• • August 9 DANCE
OF DESIRE OFFICIAL SITE Our Celtic Cafe coverage of Dance
of Desire, including interviews with some of the lead performers, is almost
ready. This hot new Irish dance show is currently playing at the Ambassador Theater
in Dublin, but will soon be travelling internationally -- hopefully coming to
a theater near you! Click
here for the Celtic Cafe's schedule for Dance
of Desire to see a few of the U.S. dates scheduled for early next year,
and check out the official DoD site, now online at: DanceofDesire.com •
• • August 8 LARRY
SANGER CNN.com
had a very interesting article about Wikipedia
on August 4th: "An expert on any topic can find a home in 'Wikipedia,' a
know-it-all Web site created by thousands of plugged-in volunteers. It's described
as a free encyclopedia logging over 140,000 articles sent in by people from all
over the world. What is unique is that, not only is it free and easy to use, it
also allows users to go in and edit an entry. Wiki comes from the Hawaiian term
for 'quick.' And like a Web log, it's a fast and easy way to publish online."
Click
here for the full article at CNN.com. There is also Nupedia,
a complementary encyclopedia project. Wikipedia is open to participation by everyone.
The Nupedia editorial process, by contrast, is extremely rigorous and controlled,
and not as open to participation by everyone. Wikipedia is self-monitoring, while
Nupedia requires an editor-in-chief. Encyclopedia
Brittanica has some competition in store from these "open content"
encyclopedias: "Our goal is to grow Nupedia indefinitely, to set a new standard
for breadth, depth, timeliness, and lack of bias, and in the fullness of time
to become the most comprehensive encyclopedia in the history of humankind."
The person who was instrumental in getting both Wikipedia
and Nupedia set up is
Larry Sanger, who earned his Ph.D.
in Philosophy from Ohio State in 2000. Larry's specializations are Epistemology
(the theory of knowledge) and Early Modern Philosophy, but he regards himself
as a generalist. He is also a fiddler and teaches Donegal style. (Think Altan,
Tommy Peoples, Paddy Glackin, etc.) Learn more about "An
Appreciation of the Donegal Fiddle" by clicking
here. Here's an excerpt of the Nupedia entry Larry wrote
about Irish Traditional Music: "The traditional or folk music of the Irish
people as well as of the Irish diaspora, that is, descendants of Irish emigrants
in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Irish
traditional music as it is known today is the result of a centuries-old tradition
of melodically-rich dance music and song. It was formerly played without harmonic
accompaniment such as guitar and usually learned "by ear" rather than
from written music. Irish dance music is typically lively, and Irish songs are
often highly ornamented and complex. This music is usefully contrasted with the
Irish pub ballad tradition (which has made, for example, the song "Whiskey
in the Jar" famous) and the modern "folk" tradition, as well as
what goes under the name "Celtic music." The term "Celtic music"
usually combines Irish traditional music with various other traditional musics,
including those of Scotland and the Shetland Islands; Cape Breton Island, Nova
Scotia, Canada; Wales; the Isle of Man; Northumberland, northern England; Brittany,
northwest France; and sometimes Galicia in northwestern Spain. The term, though
widely used, is eschewed by many traditionalists..." We at the Celtic
Cafe would ask, so, "traditionalists," give us a better "catch-all"
description of the music, please! Click
here to read more of Larry's very interesting entry at Nupedia.com. Let's
hope that more folks join in and contribute to articles about "things Celtic"
-- especially the music and dance! Larry Sanger's fiddle student website:
www.learnceol.com •
• • August 7 WILLSON
& MCKEE Among the headliners of the An
Rí Rá Montana Irish Festival on August 8-10 is Kim
McKee, the winner of the prestigious national Contemporary Irish Songwriting
Contest sponsored by the Milwaukee Irish
Festival and by Walton's Irish Music of Dublin. Kim is one half of the
duo, Willson and McKee, and has been
selected first place winner for her song, "The Pattern." As each songwriter
was allowed to enter two songs, her second song, "Lost Souls Grave,"
took second place! Kim and her partner, Ken
Willson, will appear on the Festival stage in Butte on Saturday, August
9. The festival line-up includes Lúnasa,
the Makem Brothers, Ken
O'Malley, the Trinity Irish
Dance Company, Denver's Michael
Collins Pipe Band and Montana's finest Irish musicians and performers.
Willson & McKee are a
duo that specializes in traditional Irish, Scottish and contemporary original
acoustic music, and have been invited to the Milwaukee
Irish Festival to perform the winning songs on the main stage on August
16. We like what they offer to schools in the way of "educational residencies
of Celtic music and dance, culminating in a student performance." "We
are committed to the ancient form of learning, which is an oral tradition. We
work with students without technology, no videos, no computers, no written word.
Every culture passed on its history this way, from one generation to the next.
And it is through this window of oral traditions, that you can gaze into a culture,
and view its people as living history. For instance, when we learn a tune from
a traditional player, as well as teaching the tune, he recites who he learned
it from, and who the person before him learned it from, and so on. The music and
dance has its own "genealogy"-- which is just as important as the tune
itself! Our intent is not to give students life-long Celtic music skills, but
rather to introduce the FUN of traditional music and dance! If they have a positive
learning/performing experience with traditional music, perhaps they will look
into the music and dance of their own ancestry, and perhaps be inspired to pass
it on to the next generation." Click
here for more about that. An
Rí Rá Montana Irish Festival website is at: mgcsonline.com
and the Milwaukee Irish Festival
website is at: IrishFest.com The
Montana Standard newspaper will have a web-cam covering the festival!
Click here to go to
their website. Willson
& McKee's official site is at: Jigheads.com •
• • August 6 FEAKLE
INTERNATIONAL TRADITIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL - August 7-11 Feakle is located
approximately 16 miles from Ennis Town Centre, 36 miles from Galway city and 21
miles from Limerick city, and much too far away from those of us who would
LOVE to be there over the next few days, but can't! What a line-up! Niamh
Parsons, Matt Molloy, Martin
Hayes & Dennis Cahill, John
Carty & Francis Gaffney, Kitty Hayes & Eoin O'Neill, Colm O'Donnell, Jessie
Smyth & Emmett Gill, Paddy Canny & Kieran Hanrahan, Seamus Begley &
Jim Murray, Lasairfhíona Ní
Chonaola, Matt Crannitch & Sliabh Notes, Tim Dennehy, more. Loads
of workshops include Set Dancing with Mick Mulkerrin and Mairéad Casey,
and "Poems of East Clare" presented by Joe Noonan. Outdoor sessions
will take place throughout the weekend... can you imagine the craic?!
Check
out the official website at: feaklefestival.ie •
• • August 5 COWBOY
CELTIC Yes, that's right... Cowboy CELTIC. From the website:
The music of David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic
has been called a “beautiful evocation of just how much Celtic music inspired
the melodies played around the campfires in the wild, Wild West.” Over the
last ten years, David Wilkie has devoted much of his time to one of his favourite
passions – the seeking out of Celtic origins of traditional cowboy music.
The result has been the release of three highly successful Cowboy Celtic CDs,
The Drover Road (2001), Cowboy Ceilidh (1997) and Cowboy Celtic
(1995). David Wilkie and Cowboy
Celtic are becoming well-known for the connections they are making between
western (traditional cowboy) music and the music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and
England. The ‘Celtic and cowboy’ musical marriage on their recordings
has struck a chord with music lovers on both sides of the ocean. As one reviewer
put it, “This is more than music. It’s theatre and imagery and history
and storytelling and more, all wrapped up in sagebrush and tartan.” These
musical and historical connections, and the influence of Celtic music on traditional
cowboy songs, come to light in the group’s music, where they combine old
world Celtic instrumentation and music with cowboy songs. One Celtic melody that
has survived the centuries and the distance across the Atlantic is that of “The
Cowboy’s Lament” (also called “The Streets of Laredo”), popular
among cowboys and fans of western music. The melody is that of the old Scottish
song “The Unfortunate Rake” and the Irish song “The Bard of Armagh.”
The cowboy song’s melody and theme are the same as the older Celtic songs,
but the words differ in all three songs. (Click
here to go to Red House Records'
site with the audio samples.) Cowboy Celtic will be performing at Red's
Ranch, near Elko, Nevada, on August 16th, in a benefit for the Western
Folklife Center. See the website at westernfolklife.org
for details. For more about the band, and these very interesting "cowboy-celtic"
connections, go to cowboyceltic.com •
• • August 4 CUSTY'S
TRADITIONAL MUSIC SHOP We ran an earlier
Cafe Buzz item about Custy's
Traditional Music Shop soon after they started putting videoclips online
at their great site at CustysMusic.com.
Well, they have a lot more of them now, and what a great way to get an idea of
the wonderful independent traditional musicians that these folks are so much in
support of! Click
here to go directly to the "In Session" section of the Custy's
Music site and see what new videoclips they have to offer. Custy's is situated
in County Clare, an area regarded as one of the heartlands of traditional Irish
music -- and the "in-session" clips demonstrate how great the local
talent is! Here in the Celtic Cafe community we have folks with wide-ranging
tastes, and we try to provide information about artists in the entire panoply,
whether it's "pure drop traditional" or even more "new-age"
-- as long as there's some kind of "Celtic connection." For those
who prefer the very traditional, please check out Paul
Carr's section at the Celtic Cafe by clicking
here. The music he writes about is pretty much the kind of thing you can
see and hear performed in those wonderful videoclips at Custy's
Traditonal Music Shop! www.CustysMusic.com •
• • August 3 THE
BEO FESTIVAL - August 12 -17, 2003 The
National Concert Hall in Dublin celebrates Irish music, culture and heritage
with its fourth Celtic music festival, ESB BEO, running from 12-17th August.
This year's Beo festival will showcase some of Ireland’s most celebrated
artists, with a strong international flavour represented by artists from North
America. From the website at NCH.ie: The
title of the festival ‘BEO’, meaning ‘live’ in Irish, represents
the life and energy inherent in the music to be heard at the festival. It also
reflects the National Concert Hall’s role as a platform for our living musical
culture. Commenting on the importance of staging an Irish Music Festival, Judith
Woodworth, Director of the National Concert Hall, states "we are delighted
to play host to some of the world’s leading Irish and International artists
for what has become an important date on the concert calendar- ESB BEO. Promoting
the best of Irish arts and culture, this Celtic Music Festival promises to be
a thoroughly exciting week for Irish Music enthusiasts."
This
year's ESB Beo Celtic Music Festival has something for everyone. Click
on artists' names for official websites: Tuesday 12 August 8.00pm
La Bottine Souriante
Wednesday 13 August 1.05pm
Lasarfhíona
Ní Chonaola
Wednesday 13 August 8.00pm
Danú,
Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul
Thursday 14 August 1.05pm
Zoë
Conway
Thursday 14 August 8.00pm
Gráda,
Alison Brown Quartet
Friday
15 August 1.05pm
Meav Ní Mhaolchatha
Friday 15 August 8.00pm
The Seville Suite & Other Irish Classics
with the RTE Concert Orchestra and Special Guests
Zoë Conway
(fiddle),
Eilish Egan (accordion),
Declan Masterson (uilleann pipes) and
Robbie
Harris (bodhrán) Proinnsías Ó Duinn conductor
Saturday
16 August 8.00pm
Matt Molloy &
West Ocean String Quartet, Anúna
Sunday 17 August 8.00pm
Slide, The
Dubliners
National Concert Hall
website: www.nch.ie •
• • Read the first-ever Cafe Buzz
items by clicking here.
Read
the second page of Cafe Buzz items by clicking
here.
Read the third page of Cafe Buzz items by clicking
here.
Read the fourth page of Cafe Buzz items by clicking
here.
Read the fifth page of Cafe Buzz items by clicking
here.
Read the sixth page of Cafe Buzz items by clicking
here.
Read the seventh page of Cafe Buzz items by clicking
here.
Feature: Bernadette
Price
Original Web Design: Alexander
Servas
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