Category: music
One of Greater Boston's most popular Irish pubs, The Burren in Somerville's Davis Square, has relaunched its "Backroom" series of concerts featuring top-notch Irish/Celtic performers from the Boston area and elsewhere. Read more
Regaled as the grand "ambassadors" of traditional Irish music, The Chieftains will get St. Patrick's Day festivities started early in Massachusetts with performances at Worcester's Hanover Theater (March 9), the Amherst Fine Arts Center (March 10), and the Lowell Auditorium (March 11). The band also has collaborated with Ry Cooder to produce a new album, "San Patricio," inspired by the story of the San Patricio Battalion of Irish-Americans who deserted the United States Army to join the Mexican side in the Mexican-American War of 1847. Read more
One month to go - Just a few more weeks to go before the 7th annual BCMFest on January 8 and 9, including performances by The Makem and Spain Brothers; Tina Lech and Ted Davis; David O'Docherty; The Gobshites; Liam Hart; Sean and John Connor; Tri; Colm O'Brien; Flynn Cohen and John McGann; Calum Pasqua and Susie Petrov; Kate Chadbourne; Nancy Mulrey; Michael O'Leary; Laurel Martin, Kieran Jordan and David Surette; Bento Boxty; Gordon Aucoin and Lloyd Carr; Cedar Stanistreet and Max Newman; plus a family-oriented musical story, "The Fiddler's Wish," and a special one-of-its-kind ensemble that will evoke Boston's classic big-band Irish sound. Read more
Transcribing an interview with Girsa – the all-female, high school/college-age Irish-American band from Rockland County, NY, that is catching ears and turning heads in ever-increasing numbers – is a prospect only slightly easier than, say, reforming the American health care system.
Members of Girsa enthusiastically, and often not a little mischievously, finish one another's sentences – or quickly weigh in with their assessments of what's been said, or not said, or should be said. And there are more than a few fascinating tangents explored on the way to answering a question. Read more
Are you one someone who sings at the drop of a downbeat? Aside from the social aspects of sharing a tune, would you like to explore the skills involved in traditional Irish singing? Then the Irish Song Circle Workshop at Springstep in Medford may be for you.
Jointly taught by Shannon Heaton and Liz Simmons, the Song Circle is a six-week course touching on the techniques and emotional connections involved in the art of Irish singing. Read more
One of these mornings
You're gonna rise up singin'
You're gonna spread your wings
And fly to the sky...
-- From "Summertime," composed by George Gershwin for Porgy and Bess (1935).
Jerry Holland did just that last month: rose up singing, flew to the sky...after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 54. Read more
Local friends and fans of Jerry Holland are mourning the death last month of the Cape Breton fiddling legend, who maintained close ties to both the Greater Boston and Irish music communities.
Mr. Holland, who had been battling cancer the past two years, died on July 16 at the age of 54. A memorial service and celebration of his life was held in Bras d'Or, Nova Scotia, on July 21. Read more
Eileen Ivers ranks as one of the world's premier Irish fiddlers. Although born in the Bronx (her parents are from County Mayo), she spent her childhood summers in Ireland, winning nine All-Ireland Fiddle Championships. Read more
For more than 30 years, Seamus Kennedy has presented his distinctive blend of Irish folk songs and ballads, contemporary and popular songs, and stage patter that invariably elicits belly laughs, chuckles, groans, and the occasional "did-he-really-say-that?" gasp of disbelief from the crowd.
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Every year for the past two decades and more, Cambridge resident and violin maker Bob Childs has organized a family reunion that is unique in a few ways - including the fact that none of the participants are technically related to him. Read more
