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MUSIC PICKS: LOOKING AHEAD Saturday, December 1 The Glengarry Bhoys, Amazing Things Arts Center, Framingham, 508-405-2787, 8 p.m. Venue may change, check amazingthings.org. … The Clancy Legacy Christmas Show featuring Aoife Clancy, Donal Clancy, and Robbie O'Connell, Blackstone River Theatre, 549 Broad St., Cumberland, RI, 401- 725-9272, 8 p.m. riverfolk.org. … Irish Songs, Tunes, Supper Session & Breakfast! (Food donations welcome) $40-$50, Oakhurst Retreat Center, 120 Hill St., Whitinsville. Contact Katie O'Neill at kate01851@yahoo.com or at 508-344-4932. … Nowell Sing We Clear, Folk Song Society of Greater Boston, First Parish of Watertown, 35 Church St, Watertown, 8 p.m., fssgb.org. … Fiddler Brendan Mulvihill with flutist Jerry Murphy, Sean-Nós singer John Quilter, and guitarist Patsy Whelan, $15, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, 307 Old Main Street, South Yarmouth, 508-394-7100, 8 p.m. … Singer Deirdre Reilly, $30, Fiddler's Green, Hibernian Cultural Center, 19 Temple Street, Worcester, 508-792-3700, 8 p.m. Wed., 12/5 -- 6:30 p.m., Irish Dance and Céilí w/Meghan Allen, Music:Séamus Connolly, Larry Reynolds, Gasson Hall, Irish Room, Boston College, 617-552-3938, irish@bc.edu. Thurs., 12/6 &endash; 8 p.m., "A Fine Winters Night" w/Matt & Shannon Heaton, $15/18, Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. … 7:30 p.m., To Warm A Winter's Night, A Celtic Holiday Concert w/ Áine Minogue, Eugene Friesen, and DruidStone, $25, The Regent Theater, 7 Medford St., Arlington, 781-646-4849. 781-643-4488, regenttheatre.com/events/Minogue.htm, minogue.com, celloman.com. Fri., 12/7 -- Matt & Shannon Heaton, Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Rd., Rt. 2a, Shirley, 978-425-4311, Bullrun@Bicnet.net, bullrunrestaurant.com. Sat., 12/8 --Alison Brown, Narrows Center for the Arts, 16 Anawan St., Fall River, 508-324-1926, ncfta.org/music.php. … 11 a.m., Patrick Ball, Celtic Harp and storytelling for Children, Blackstone River Theatre, 549 Broad St., Cumberland, RI, 401-725-9272, riverfolk.org. … 8 p.m., Patrick Ball, "The Christmas Rose," Celtic Harp & Storytelling, Blackstone River Theatre. … Noon to 6 p.m., "Afternoon of Music" to benefit Falmouth Homeless Prevention Fund, Liam Maguire's Pub and Restaurant, 273 Main St. (across from the library), in Falmouth. Falmouth Fiddlers, Blue Cat and the Wharf Rats, Sonnay, Stanley & Grimm, Dias & Dougherty, Cape Tradition, Notescape.cod, Three Cats & a Dog. Also raffle & silent auction. 508-548-0285, 508-540-5324, 508-548-1977. Sun., 12/9 &endash; 5 p.m., Fezziwig's House Party, Blackstone River Theatre, 549 Broad St., Cumberland, RI, 401-725-9272, riverfolk.org. … 7 p.m., Matt & Shannon Heaton $10, Pingree Hall, First Congregational Church, 100 Winter St., Norwood, 781-762-3320, or pingrees.org. ... 4:30 p.m., New England Irish Harp Orchestra, Rince Cois Step dancers, (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.) Candlelight Stroll with guests, Fharriage Strawbery Banke Portsmouth, NH, 603-433-1100, strawberybanke.org. Mon., 12/10 -- 8 p.m., Boston Celtic Music Fest Presents: Celtic Music Monday, Sneak preview of the festival, featuring The Burren Youth, The New Tyme Sisters (Emerald Rae and Eden Forman), Tina Lech and Ted Davis, and Cliff and Kira McGann, $10, Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. For reservations, go to clubpassim.org. Tues., 12/11 &endash; 7 p.m., "A Classic Irish Christmas" starring Andy Cooney, with George Casey, comedian, Odette Woods, soprano, and Dublin's Traditional Irish Dancers. Fundraiser for St. Elizabeth's building fund, Billerica. Billerica Irish American Social Club, table seating. $30. Call Pauline Lane at 978-657-5476 or Sylvia Griggs at 617-548-6692. Thurs., 12/13-Sun., 12/16, Fri., Sat., 12/21/22 -- Evenings and matinee, A Christmas Celtic Sojourn w/Brian O'Donovan, Aoife O'Donovan, Solas, Dougie MacLean, Alasdair Fraser & more, $25-$75, Cutler Majestic Theater, 219 Tremont St, Boston, 800-233-3123. Ffri., 12/14 -- Black 47, $22, Bull Run, 215 Great Rd, Rt. 2a, Shirley, 978-425-4311, bullrunrestaurant.com, Bullrun@Bicnet.net, 877-536-7190. 12/14-12/-30 -- The Christmas Revels, Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, 617-972-8300, Ext. 22, info@revels.org. Sun.,12/16 -- 7:30 p.m., Matt & Shannon Heaton, Woods Hole, for Woods Hole Folk Music Society, Woods Hole Community Hall, Water Street, arts-cape.com/whfolkmusic. JANUARY Sun., 01/6 &endash; 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Boston Scottish Fiddle Club (future meetings: Feb. 3, March 2, April 6, May 4, June 1.), Pleasant St. Congregational Church, 75 Pleasant St, Arlington, 781-643-0553. Fri., Sat., 1/11-12 -- BCMFest w/Matt & Shannon Heaton + more, Boston area, bcmfest.com. Sat., 1/12 -- 7:30 p.m., Hanneke Cassel, $10, Pingree Hall, First Congregational Church, 100 Winter St., Norwood, 781-762-3320, or pingrees.org. Many thanks to Billie Hockett for much of this calendar information: music-for-robin.org.
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Irish Musicians Ponder the Christmas Spirit and Discuss Their New Holiday
Recordings This season has brought a fine collection of new recordings to help you celebrate the season&emdash;and maybe even help you check a few names off your gift list. BIR music reporter Susan Gedutis Lindsay spoke with five Irish musicians, from traditional to rock to contemporary Celtic, and asked each about her/his recording and what this holiday season means to them. "My folks have instilled the faith and that has always been the central focus of Christmas, and the celebration of that meaning and all that it entails. Being a practicing Catholic, there is so much joy in Christmas. Secondly, for me Christmas means the joy of family. Both my folks grew up in the West of Mayo, and did not have much… Christmas was very much the joy of being together. These things were very much instilled in my sister and me as we grew up." &emdash;Eileen Ivers Thank you, Eileen Ivers, for bringing us a Christmas album full of songs and tunes that we know and love. It is an infectiously happy album that pays tribute to the true meaning of the holiday with a joy that is natural, carefree, and loose. Ivers chose both Irish and familiar American Christmas songs, frequently spiking the traditional eggnog Irish-style with a jig or reel. In the opening track the jig "Sixpenny Money" is paired with "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Later, she does it again, pairing "Do You Hear What I Hear" in E major with the three-part reel "The Morning Dew." A highlight of the recording is an upbeat version of Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," played in a 6/8 Irish lilt feel, coupled with the voices of an African American gospel choir led by Denise Thomas, a gospel singer whose career highlights include stints with Eric Clapton and Luther Vandross. A nice touch is "Christmas Time Is Here," from "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Said Ivers: "To me, that song is just part of my personality. I gave it a little feel of a swing, and we added a jig toward the end of it. It felt like it belonged." Warm memories of childhood, family, and the true Christian meaning of the holiday are Ivers's priorities. "We wanted to bring spiritedness and a homey feel, and also a few beautiful and contemplative pieces of music that were well arranged with thought-out harmonies. … If we were to play these tunes in somebody's house, we'd be smiling. … It's just a little bit of a hug." See Eileen Ivers perform An Nollaig: An Irish Christmas, on Dec. 18 at the Capital Center for the Arts in Concord, N.H. Call 603-225-1111 or visit ccanh.com. She'll also be performing at the Ellison Center for the Arts in Duxbury. "Because of our new Christmas recording, we're really observing the holiday season this year. … Even though I've been a "no Christmas before Thanksgiving" kind of a guy, we've been rehearsing and thinking about the holiday season, and it's been really nice. It really marks the season and I'm really looking forward this to being a really special year, and hopefully subsequently it will become a tradition for us." &emdash;Matt Heaton In "A Fine Winter's Night," Boston-based guitar/flute duo Matt and Shannon Heaton have assembled an earnest tribute to the holiness of the season, an optimistic and original take that combines both Irish traditional and American folk influences into a personality-filled sound that respects its roots but is honest to its present. Throughout, Shannon's voice is fresh and subtle while Matt's light and sure guitar accompaniment sets the pace for a reeling sleigh ride. On flute and whistle, Shannon's playing is precise, confident, and full bodied. With mostly originals that they composed, Shannon and Matt lead us beyond the familiar old songs but they don't forsake them, either. Shannon sings a reverent lullaby version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," but that follows an original "Julius the Christmas Cat," a song about the unsung hero whose paws silently fluffed the straw for the Anticipated One's arrival. Shannon takes us from here into a gorgeous rendition of the slow air, "Day Dawn," a tune Matt learned while subbing on guitar with the Boys of the Lough. The track ends with Matt's deft guitar playing on "Paddy Fahy's" then a nearly-unison flute/guitar duet on "Gerry Terry McMahon's." Matt's original song on the recording, "The First Snowfall of December" is a love story set in a Victorian mansion in Medford. This story has a happy ending: no grim father disapproves, no fair maiden throws herself in a river, and no soldier boy must die. Wow. This album will make you happy. Get those cookies into the oven and invite your loved ones to tea; Matt and Shannon have made music that reminds us of what the holidays are for. Matt and Shannon Heaton will be performing A Fine Winter's Night at various local venues in December. (See music calendar in this section) Purchase a signed CD from them at one of those concerts, or order their CD online at mattandshannonheaton.com.. "In the Celtic calendar, this season is Samhain, the beginning of the Celtic New Year. Winter rests, and there is a different energy; you're making a transition across the threshold into a darker time. It's an important, significant time for me as a musician and a writer. The darkest day [Dec. 21] is marked here on the Aran Islands. … but you link that very shortly into the 25th of December, Christmas. There's more of a link here to recognize the importance of connection to land and to the holy wells and the places of ritual and the old Celtic forts." &emdash;Deirdre Ni Chinneide Long before the tinsel and strings of lights, there was an evergreen. In pre-Christian tradition, on the darkest day of the year, Dec. 21, the Celts adorned their homes with greens to remind them of the renewal of spring. Many modern-day Celts still honor the cycles of nature as a reminder that morning light always follows even the darkest night. This is the journey that Dublin-born vocalist and poet Deirdre Ni Chinneide celebrates in her new recording, Celtic Passage. Organized by the seasons of the Celtic year and beginning with Samhain [winter], this deeply moving and highly spiritual collection of songs and poems was inspired by Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands, a place where Ireland's Celtic heritage feels palpable. Ni Chinneide said that this collection puts her own journey of the heart from darkness into light into a spiritual universal&emdash;exploring themes of light and darkness, the earth's natural rhythms, the redemption of love, and the triumph of joy. In songs both English and Irish, Ni Chinneide's voice hints of both classical style and sean nós. (She was a soloist with the global Mantra choir singing for His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the World Peace Conference in Belfast.) The recording includes both Irish traditional and classical instrumentation, from whistle, pipes, and fiddle, to more tribal sounding hand drums, to a string section, a classical oboe, and a keyboard. Beginning her journey as principal at an Irish-speaking primary school in Dublin for 13 years, Ni Chinneide became very interested in helping to heal some of the children's emotional difficulties. She took time out to train as a psychotherapist, first working at a trauma counseling center in Dublin then in the Balkans. That brought her to a place that she describes as "very dark." "I felt I had to find a way to express this, and integrate all of that experience into my life," she said. "For me, music was the way. The whole message of Celtic Passage is that we're not alone and that we need to link back to the wisdom of the ancestors." Celtic Passage is available from Sounds True Records, soundstrue.com or 1-800-333-9185. For more information about Deidre Ni Chinneide, visit deirdrenichinneide.com. "In the last five years since we've started Christmas Celtic Sojourn, the Christmas season has become hectic for us, but it has seamlessly blended with the family culture for us, because it is really a labor of love. Even though it has business elements, being with musicians and the preparations and people involved&emdash;our artistic director Paula Plum, dance director Kieran Jordan, and now music director Seamus Egan&emdash;it's very much an extension of a family welcoming to a weekend of music. Because of the genre of music that we're dealing in and the people we have been lucky enough to have join us in it, it's really just tremendous fun." &emdash;Brian O'Donovan This year, O'Donovan and company celebrate the release of their first DVD and CD (sold separately), documenting last year's sold-out show, including behind-the-scenes interviews and vignettes. Artists include the the Mulcahys from Abbyfeale, Co. Limerick, guitarist Tony McManus with clarinetist Billy Novick, Robbie O'Connell joined by Boston fiddler George Keith and flute player Shannon Heaton, and singer Karan Casey with her band, which included Niall Vallely on concertina, guitarist Robber Overson, and bassist Chico Huff. Also included is the a cappella harmony of Navan, Paddy League on percussion, and the dancing of Kieran Jordan and friends, as well as the singing of Brian O'Donovan with wife Lindsay and daughter Fionnuala. Celtic Sojourn sits at the more contemplative end of the holiday spectrum, opening with Navan's heartfelt "Song of Night" sung in Irish, followed by a full-cast version of "Silent Night" sung in both English and Irish, then a solo from Fionnuala on "Mary's Boy Child." Holiday favorites on the recording also include "O Holy Night" and "The First Noel," alongside newer compositions "Christmas in the Trenches" and "Mrs. Fogarty's Christmas Cake." Overall this is a more sophisticated Christmas celebration&emdash;there's likely to be more white wine than beer at this "holiday party." The recording is released on Rounder Records and available at the Christmas Celtic Sojourn concerts and on the WGBH website. Ticket sales for this year's concerts at the Emerson Majestic Theater on Boston's Tremont Street have been strong.. Shows are December 13-16, and December 21-22. Times are Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday matinee performances at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at 1-800-872-8997 or online at maj.org/P2008/Celtic.html. "As an emigrant, you're always thinking back to Ireland but oddly enough I've just come from a tour of Ireland with Black 47, so I've had enough of it for the time being. But you think of your early years in Ireland and the celebrations are just so different. It's pretty much over here on Dec. 26, but in Ireland it's a holiday that stretches to January 2.. The roots of Christmas are so strong in Ireland. It's much less commercial. It's much more of a letting go at the end of the year. … But I'm a New Yorker now, so life goes on. … To be frank when I came first and used to stay and not go home, and I used to stay pretty tipsy the whole time … it was just a way of dealing with homesickness. Now I can't take the hangovers, so [laughing] I'm much more sober!" --Larry Kirwan, Black 47 The pine needles litter the floor, the gifts are given, and it's time to wind down -- or time to wind up for New Year's Eve. That's where New York-based rock band Black 47 comes in with this live recording filmed entirely on New Year's Eve 2006 at Connolly's in Times Square. According to bandleader Larry Kirwan, the DVD captures the excitement and nervous energy around Times Square on New Year's Eve: "Times Square New York is like the center of the world on that night." The DVD also includes interviews of band members and fans done on the night of the show. One feature is a brand new song the band unveiled that night, titled "New Year's Eve in Old Times Square." You watch the band literally learn and rehearse the song during sound check, then, as Kirwan says, "pull it off, for want of a better word, on the night." The DVD includes some of their most well-known pieces as well, including "Green Suede Shoes," "Funky Ceili," and "Forty Shades of Blue." The DVD was scheduled for release on Nov. 30. Get a copy at black47.com, or buy it directly from them on Fri., Dec. 14, at the Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 8. Tickets are $22 in advance, $26 day of show. For more information, please visit the website bullrunrestaurant.com For dinner and seat reservations please call 978-425-4311. |
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CEOL AGUS CRAIC CelticLounge.com:A Site for 'Friends' Of Irish Culture In writing my Christmas feature this month, I discovered a new website: CelticLounge.com. It is a social networking site intending to be the Celtic version of MySpace, a place where people interested in all things Celtic can find each other and network online. Oops, let's backtrack for a minute. What's MySpace, right? On MySpace, folks post their profiles and interests online, with photos, music, and videos if they like, then other folks search the database to find people with like interests. One of the marks of this phenomenon is what is called "Friends"&emdash;once you find someone with like interests, you ask to be one of their friends, then they add you and your photo to their list and it's a badge of honor to have a long list of friends. People who use MySpace to its full potential have thousands. The point of these friends is to develop an extended network. It's particularly helpful in the case of music. If you like Irish music, you can go to MySpace and seek out others who do, too. Friends tell friends about music they discover, and the word spreads much faster than a single ad in any newspaper. It's well known in the music industry that word of mouth is the most powerful way that people find new music these days&emdash;and several bands have broken on a national scale through MySpace. Of course, MySpace is big. As of September 2007, it claimed to have 200 million "accounts," meaning separate entities who have signed up. That's a lot of people to narrow down. Enter CelticLounge.com, which was started in Summer 2007 by Irish Voice music writer Mike Farragher and Irish Echo columnist Larry Kirwan (who also is the lead singer of the Irish rock band Black 47). "I was kicking around the concept of a writer's social network," said Farragher. "Writing a novel is a very lonely life, and I wanted an online crying post for people slogging away at their novel all by themselves. In the meantime, Larry was thinking about putting together a 'MySpace for Celts' concept for musicians. Irish music is rarely heard on the radio, and he wanted to put a new online mechanism to promote our culture. So, we combined our ideas and resources to create CelticLounge.com. I think the end result far exceeded what we dreamed about in our own individual incarnations!" At CelticLounge.com, people with a love of Celtic culture can network with one another, post pictures, build a profile, and make new friends. The site has a radio player that plays all Irish music all the time, from trad to pop. Farragher and Kirwan say they tried hard to ensure that it includes old favorites as well as new sounds. The site also features a user-driven online magazine of Celtic arts news and reviews delivered by both new and established writers. So far, the site has more than 2,000 members, mostly artists and the fans of that art, according to Farragher. "Many musicians are attracted to the radio station/music player, and they're telling their fans. So, a Black 47 fan gets turned onto the site through Larry's newsletter; they tune into the music player and fall in love with Enter the Haggis. They start conversing with Haggis fans online, and chat about their love of Black 47. The Haggis fan finds a new favorite band in Black 47." Farragher and Kirwan hope to make it a true Celtic cultural center that will appeal to the 46 million or so people who claim Irish and Scottish ancestry. The site's current members have come almost entirely through word of mouth, but the work is just beginning. Kirwan and Farragher hope that upcoming music and writing contests will help spread the word. "We are trying to redefine what it is to be a Celt in general and Irish in particular," said Farragher. "If you Google an image of Celtic, you get drunken leprechauns, pots of gold, and witchcraft imagery. In my years covering artists in my Irish Voice column, I didn't encounter any drunks in Aran sweaters! They were vibrant, renaissance thinkers with a bottomless pit of creativity. That's what we wanted to represent that vibrancy online." It seems like a great idea. So good that, beginning in January, I will post extended versions of my Boston Irish Reporter articles online every month, including full interviews with artists, more complete CD reviews, and other musings. Watch the January issue for the full story, and in the meantime, check out CelticLounge.com. I send you warm and merry wishes for Christmas. Thank you sincerely to those who have provided feedback&emdash;and a plea: Feel free to send more! Keep in touch, at irishmusic@bostonirish.com. - Susan Gedutis Lindsay |
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