Globe’s heart-pumping fusion of music, dance, and percussion

AMONG THE highlights of the upcoming Baboró children’s festival is the pulsating music and dance production Globe which has been put together by bodhrán-virtuoso Robbie Harris and Dave McFarlane.

Globe is a theatre of cultures and a celebration of rhythms which are universal to music, dance, and singing in almost every culture. A heart-pumping, acrobatic spectacle, the show features brilliant individual performances and the combination of different instrumentation, movement, and percussion from around the world.

Blurring the line between performer and audience, the show features 10 world-class performers, who trade and fuse their music, dance, percussion, and singing skills to achieve an extraordinarily original, fresh, and energetic spectacle that challenges you to remain in your seat.

Globe features Punjabi drummer Johnny Kalsi; Congolese guitarist and singer Niwel Tsumbu; samba from Brazilian dancer Kelly Baldonado; South African singer Nono Madolo; Spanish flamenco from dancer Bernardo de Barros; Japanese taiko drummer Kumiko Suzuki; and the Capeoira styling’s of Brazilian dancer Adelson Maia. The cast also includes Daire Bracken on fiddle, Robbie Harris on bodhrán, and Seána Davey on harp.

Globe’s heart-pumping fusion of music, dance, and percussion:

MHM Brings Scottish Folk To Town

Mountain Home Music will present a special concert on Thursday, Oct. 13, featuring the Scottish folk band, North Sea Gas.

The show will take place at the Blowing Rock home of Sarah Borders, at 134 Lyn St. The event begins with a potluck dinner at 5:30 p.m., and the music will start at 7:15 p.m.

Advance tickets are required, and admission is $18 per person.

Going for more than 30 years and stronger than ever, the band entertains with guitars, mandolin, fiddle, bouzouki, bodhran, whistles, banjo and vocals, featuring tremendous three-part harmonies.

Over the years, North Sea Gas have recorded 17 albums and are constantly adding new material to their show. Their show consists of traditional, contemporary and self-penned material, all put together with a style of their own.

Continually touring the world, their stops include America, Canada, Germany, Austria, Scotland and many other destinations, including Estonia and Turkey, every year.

TV and radio appearances on both sides of the Atlantic include “Late Night Saturday,” “Bound for Glory,” “Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour” (shown on PBS in the U.S. South) and “Song of the Mountains” (also shown on select PBS stations in the U.S.).

In 2008, North Sea Gas recorded for Chinese television with an estimated audience of 800 million, a highlight of any band’s career.

To reserve your seat, contact Sarah Borders at (sarahborders@aol.com) Email is preferred, but interested parties can also call (704) 929-6527.

Because of limited seating for this concert, reservations and prepayment are required.
Please bring “light supper” food for the potluck. The host will provide lemonade, tea, coffee and Scottish shortbread.

MHM Brings Scottish Folk To Town - Mountain Times

Accolade for centre near Broadway (From Evesham Journal)

"A BUSINESS near Broadway has been named Cotswold Leisure Break of the Year. Farncombe Estate, which runs a wide variety of leisure and study courses, scooped the business achievement award from the publication London & Home Counties Today.

Senior editor Joshua Holtom said: “Throughout the year, the directors at London & Home Counties Today select organisations that have best demonstrated a proven ability to go that extra mile in not only meeting but exceeding the needs of their clients. Our award programme recognises business excellence across a wide range of disciplines and the business achievement award is recognised both locally and nationally.”

Farncombe programme manager Mandy Morrison said: “We are delighted to win this award, which reflects our commitment to customer care and the many hours of work that go on behind the scenes.”

Popular programmes include Everyone Can Sing and Go Gospel and students can learn to be a guitar hero or play the Irish drum – Bodhrán. Other courses range from astronomy to the history of the Olympic Games."

Accolade for centre near Broadway (From Evesham Journal):

Standing ovation for Irish music legend (From Salisbury Journal)

THERE was standing room only in St Elizabeth’s Hall on Saturday night when legendary Irish musician Davey Arthur came to play.

Accompanied by his son Patrick on bodhrán and percussion and Steve Layton on guitar, he provided a great variety of music which had the crowd stamping and calling for more.

Many of the songs reflected the familiar Irish concerns of hardship, migration and homesickness, such as the Ralph McTell song From Clare To Here.

The sadness was leavened by some lively instrumental dance sets and some more romantic ballads including the Fureys’ popular success Sweet Sixteen.

Patrick Arthur’s bodhrán playing was sensitive and discreet, and he played a solo piece in which he almost made the traditional Irish drum sing.

Steve Layton’s guitar work was superb, from simple accompaniment to some lovely jazz-tinged frills which added contrasting colour to the songs.

There was no room to dance, but the rousing finale brought a standing ovation.

The evening opened with a short set from Salisbury singer Jadiie Pepperell accompanied by Ryan Whitston on guitar. Pepperell’s powerful soulful singing won the crowd over, and the duo were called back for an encore which they obviously weren’t expecting. They carried it all off with such confidence that it was a real surprise to learn that this was their first public performance.

The evening had been organised by Irish Music On Tour under Finbarr Sheehan, who swears that this will be his last Irish Music On Tour gig.

Sheehan has been bringing the best of Irish music to Salisbury for more than twenty years. The gigs have provided a showcase for many local musicians such as Pepperell and Whitston and have raised funds for several charities.

The beneficiary for the last few years has been the Salisbury Hospice, and Finbarr estimates that his concerts have raised more than £20,000. He is entitled to a rest after that, and this splendid evening with Davey Arthur was a fine way to bow out.

Review and picture by John Palmer

Standing ovation for Irish music legend (From Salisbury Journal)

Album review: Beoga, How To Tune A Fish

Image by Amber Wilkie Photography via Flickr

Compass Records 7 4561 2, £14.99

The Co Antrim quintet, fronted by twin button accordions and one female singer/fiddler, are dangerous, devious and a downright delight.

Their casually dynamic, tight, unstoppable grooves are driven by their masterful pianist and their All-Ireland Champion bodhran basher.

No trad purists, these five extract all the rhythmic juice and subtle harmony from this acoustic essay into the byways of Americana, fractured funk, music hall and, naturally, Irish trad.

Guests include Brian Finnegan whose heart-filled flute soars over and blesses their Ballymacaldrick.

Album review: Beoga, How To Tune A Fish - Scotsman.com News

Related articles

• Catskills Irish Arts Week set for July 10-16 (irishbodhran.blogspot.com)
• Irish Music Summer School - Tradschool Summer Workshops (irishtradmusic.blogspot.com)
• Girsa Entertained Enthusiasts With Their Traditional Irish Music (irishtradmusic.blogspot.com)

Catskills Irish Arts Week set for July 10-16

Image via Wikipedia

This year’s Catskills Irish Arts Week (CIAW) has been set for the week of July10-16 and this year marks the 17th celebration of Irish art, music, language, and culture in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

The CIAW gives musicians and dancers a chance to learn and perform with their fellow artists. The organizers “have assembled another terrific faculty of teachers and entertainers who will continue to make the CIAW the place to be for serious fans of Irish traditional music and dance and for those who want to learn more and improve their skills in a wonderful social setting with an Irish Village atmosphere.”

The Arts Week offers classes in a wide variety of Irish art forms, culture, and music. Fiddle, uilleann pipes, button accordion, singing, bodhran, flute, tin whistle, piano accordion, concertina, tenor banjo, dance, painting, Irish history and language, storytelling are just some of the subjects that Arts Week faculty will offer classes on.

The visual arts and a variety of crafts have been included in the Arts Week for more than a decade and the program has been expanded this year. Included this year several types of Celtic jewelry, stone and wood carving, in studio painting and “en plein air” and a brand new class in St. Brigid’s Cross weaving.

The Arts Week culminates with the Andy McGann Traditional Irish Music Festival on Saturday, July 16th. It will be held on the M.J. Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre Pavilion Fields. It is still the biggest assembly of traditional Irish musicians and dancers performing in North America with more than 100 artists scheduled to appear. The Catskills Irish Arts Week Faculty provides much of the entertainment for the day but special guests will also be in attendance. Food and craft vendors and refreshments will be available for the entire day.

The Irish Emigrant - Catskills Irish Arts Week set for July 10-16

Related articles

• Irish band Kelly to perform Sunday at PAC (theirishfiddle.blogspot.com)
• Kallet, Larsen play at Alamoosook (irishwoodenflute.blogspot.com)
• Versatile Beoga play two Galway gigs to celebrate new album (irishbodhran.blogspot.com)
• Gráda @ Monroe's Live (irishbodhran.blogspot.com)
• All-female Irish band will give three concerts (irishtradmusic.blogspot.com)

Versatile Beoga play two Galway gigs to celebrate new album

Image via Wikipedia

The Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell - tribunegroove@live.ie
Bodhrán player Eamon Murray is in ebullient form as his group Beoga celebrate the launch of their fourth album How To Tune a Fish.
“Keeping busy now,” he says. “It’s all go, thankfully. It’s a good way to be.

Beoga, who fuse world influences with Irish traditional music, play The Crane Bar this Friday and Saturday, June 17 and 18 as part of the Galway Sessions festival. Their band’s line-up is Eamon (bodhrán/percussion), Damian McKee (accordion), Seán Óg Graham (accordion/guitar), Liam Bradley (piano/keys) and Niamh Dunne (fiddle/vocals).

Having recorded the previous album, The Incident in regular studios, the Antrim based Beoga decided it was time for a new approach with How To Tune a Fish, says Eamon.

“From February we spent three months recording it – at home this time,” he explains. “Seán Óg, the accordion and guitar player, has a studio in his house. We literally recorded it in his living room, bathroom and kitchen, the whole lot. We took over his house for a few months and locked the doors!

“At home you can take your time and work a bit later, mess around a bit more” he adds. “You’re not under anyone else’s time. It’s a bit warmer and homely; we took our time with it and got it right.”

They experimented with how instruments sounded when played in different spaces, a process that yielded some interesting results!
“I spent a lot of time in the toilet with one of the lads with me,” he says. “That’s where some of the stuff happened, but other than that I preferred the living room – for obvious reasons! Between those two locations we hopefully got it right.”

A combination of geography and a competitive streak first brought Beoga together in 2002.

“Myself and Seán Óg grew up playing together and we always wanted to have a band,” says Eamon. “We got together with Damien and Liam at the All Ireland Fleadh there in Listowel in 2002. Seán knew the lads in a roundabout way and we just sat down and had a night’s craic, made big plans. One of those times where you hit it off musically; we sort of took it from there.”

Eamon was particularly successful at the Fleadhs – he is a three-in-a-row All-Ireland Fleadh bodhrán final winner. How does the competition work?

“You just get up and play a couple of tunes with a musician that you have provided,” he explains. “One of my sisters used to always play at the Fleadh so we’d go up and play. It was nerve-wracking. I decided to leave it for a while. I got a three in a row and I said ‘that’ll do me.’ Anything else would be pushing your luck.”

Beoga’s music has a real freewheeling feel to it and, though they write set-lists, the band can shake it up too.

“We kind of plan as best we can,” says Eamon. “You’d need to have a rough idea of what you’re doing and then sometimes, depending on the gig, you might cut something or throw something extra in. Depending on how you think everyone’s reacting; some people

love the faster stuff and some love the slower stuff. It’s horses for courses. We like to know, to some extent, what we’re doing.”
How To Tune a Fish is a peculiar, but memorable, title. Eamon recalls how it came about.

“Myself and Liam came up with that. We were sort of bashing around names, and that’s often the hardest thing. Whenever you listen to the way we play there’s a few unexpected turns in the music. We thought, you know, why not do something that’s a bit of craic and doesn’t box you in. We didn’t want to call it The Rolling Glens of County Antrim!”
The title of Beoga’s album reflects their desire not to be boxed in and Eamon feels the band don’t fit neatly into the ‘trad’ genre.

“I think it would be something else; I don’t know if you’d actually call it anything,” he muses about their music. “There are a lot of purists who say it wouldn’t be their cup of tea, put it that way. That’s grand, it’s not supposed to be a purist’s cup of tea – it’s supposed to be a bit of craic, and is what it is. There’s plenty of twists and turns, and well and good. It’s successful.”

“I don’t think you could call it trad, I don’t think you could call it folk,” he adds. “It’s something anyway, and I hope the people that are listening to it look at it that way too.”

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.

Versatile Beoga play two Galway gigs to celebrate new album | Connacht Tribune | galwaynews.ie

Related articles

• Michigan Irish Music Festival showcases top class Irish bands (irishtradmusic.blogspot.com)
• It's Cavan or 'busk' (irishtradmusic.blogspot.com)
• Thumbs up for TradAthy (irishtradmusic.blogspot.com)
• Craic agus ceol with Comhaltas at the Offaly Fleadh - Lifestyle - Offaly Express (irishtradmusic.blogspot.com)