Cambridge, Beverly hosts in waiting for 12th St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn

By Sean Smith, Special to the BIR
February 27, 2019
Sean Smith, Special to the BIR

Ireland’s Friel Sisters, Cape Breton/Scottish fiddle-piano duo Katie McNally and Neil Pearlman, and Quebecois mainstays Yann Falquet and Pascal Gemme, along with New England guitarist-vocalist Keith Murphy, are the featured acts at this year’s 12th annual St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn.
Also joining this year’s cast will be a quartet of dancers from the Liam Harney Academy of Irish Dance in Walpole.

Starstruck at first, Lunasa finds it easy to make music with Natalie Merchant

By Sean Smith, Special to the BIR
February 27, 2019
Sean Smith, Special to the BIR

It would seem like an unlikely collaboration: Lúnasa, the masterful traditional Irish band known for its enthralling, layered instrumental arrangements, and Natalie Merchant, who headed up the cornerstone alt-rock group 10,000 Maniacs for several years before branching out on her own as a singer-songwriter.

What’s more, the collaboration had its beginnings in an equally implausible setting: Hawaii, where Merchant saw the quintet perform some years ago and floated the idea while talking with them after the show.

Collins readies the holiday breakfast table in new venue

By Jennifer Smith, News Editor
February 27, 2019
Jennifer Smith, News Editor

The bagpipes are getting closer, along with the dulcet tones of the Massachusetts political class, because the St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast is just a few weeks off.

Set for the Flynn Cruiseport in the Seaport District on March 17, State Sen. Nick Collins will host the annual event of good-natured political jabs, cringe worthy jokes, and the dual celebration of Boston’s Irish community and Evacuation Day, the commemoration of the 1776 ousting of the British forces.

The power of music charms all in ‘Once’

By R.J. Donovan, Special to the BIR
February 27, 2019
R.J. Donovan, Special to the BIR

Mackenzie Lesser-Roy was about to enter her junior year at Boston Conservatory when she was offered the opportunity of a lifetime - to play Girl, the female lead in the 2016-17 national tour of the musical “Once.” She left school to join the show.

Many roles and performances later, she’s returning to Boston to recreate the same role, this time in the SpeakEasy Stage Company production of “Once.”  Nile Scott Hawver plays Guy.  Performances run through March 30. 

THE BIR’S CALENDAR OF IRISH MUSIC EVENTS

By Sean Smith
February 27, 2019
Sean Smith

Arguably the high-tide month for Celtic/Irish events in Greater Boston is here, with “A St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn,” the Lúnasa-Natalie Merchant collaboration at The Wilbur, and Celtic Thunder member Colm Keegan’s appearance at the Irish Cultural Centre of New England [see separate stories] among the highlights. Here are some more happenings:

‘See You at the Hall’ A trip back to the golden era of Irish Dance Halls in Boston

By Peter F. Stevens, BIR Staff
February 27, 2019
Peter F. Stevens, BIR Staff

The accompanying article was first published in the Boston Irish Reporter in the summer of 2004. Its focus was a new book by Susan Gedutis that spoke to a time in the city’s history when Irish music and dance had plenty of spaces in which to flower and plenty of participants eager to listen and take to the floor.

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