Ceolas: What's New - 1998 archive

December

New Musician sites:

• Dialoud Ar Menez Breton group (in French).
• Karma Breton fest-noz group (in French only).
• Soïg Sibéril One of the best-known of Breton guitarists.

November

Amber Music is a small Newfoundland record company, dealing with Figgy Duff, Emile Benoit and other Newfoundland traditional musicians.

Dacent Folk is a picture gallery of many famous and anonymous Irish traditional musicians put together by Jim Maginn

The Session is a stylish new site featuring a new tune (in gif or abc formats) and some notes every week.

The Flow is a new site for flute players, concentrating of different styles of play.

The Shamrock Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has a local events page.

Claddagh Records' montly newsletter for November.

Kevin McCarthy has a new website with reviews of celtic and folk music CDs.

There are several new songs included in the Ceolas Clannad lyrics pages.

Concertina.Net has extensive information and reviews on the Anglo Concertina and Irish music.

New Musician sites:

• Rowan Acoustic celtic/trad quartet from Wichita, Kansas.
• Squeeze of Scotch Scottish-influenced celtic group from Saskatchewan, Canada.
• Gerry O'Beirne Irish guitarist from Patrick St. and the Sharon Shannon band.
• Vincenzo Zitello Italian Celtic Harpist.

October

abc tune-of-the-month has a new tune every month in abc format, from Jerry Holland and Brenda Stubbert.

CelticEvents.Com lists celtic music happenings in the Colorado region.

A personal analysis of the fiddle playing of seminal fiddlers Paddy Canny, Julia Clifford, Franie Gavin and Tommy Peoples, by Bernie Stocks.

New Musician sites:

• Kees Ouwejan en Makkers: Folk/celtic foursome from Leiden.
• Roundstone: Modern and traditional celtic music, from Melbourne, Australia.
• Celtic Cross: High-energy celtic-based group from Lancaster, England.
• Kila: Trad meets the dance scene... Highly popular young Irish band.
• Bangers and Mash: 'Non-profit' group playing Irish folk.
• The Poozies: Eclectic Scottish foursome, playing everything from harps to accordions. A good fan site, and an official site.
• Phil Cunningham: Ace piano accordionist, Silly Wizard member and brother of Johnny.
• Dervish: Fan site for the Sligo-based Irish traditional group.
• Michael Queally, a Co. Clare fiddler has a website for his album with Cyril O'Donoghue, The Trip over the Mountain.

• Oct 16-17: Austin Celtic Festival, Austin, Texas.
• Oct 23-25: Reno Celtic Celebration, Reno, NV.
• Nov 13-15: Clear Lake Celtic Music Festival, Houston, Texas.

August

August edition of the Claddagh new releases newsletter..

New Musician sites:

• The Irish Weavers: Ballad/Comedy group from Cork.
• Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin: Bi-lingual site for this Irish singer and songwriter.
• Pigtown: New Breton/Irish group.
• Shoognlenifty: Fancy but not very informative site for one of Scotland's top celtic/rock groups.
• The Sawdoctors: Raucous Irish folky group with a touch (only!) of traditional.
• An Ríl: Irish traditional music in ... Hawaii!
• Inishowen: Irish music from French musicians, based in Genoble.
• Battlefield Band: Official site of one of Scotland's most popular long-running traditional groups. See also this fan site.

July

Claddagh's July newsletter.

Site covering Galician music, (in Spanish).

New Festival Announcements:

• Chicago uileann pipers tionol, Sep 19.
• Cincinnati celtic music festival, Sep 11-13
• Commodore John Barry Irish Festival in Olean, NY, Sep 11-12.

New Musician sites:

• The Pure Drop: Yorkshire (England) -based band playing "a fusion of traditional Irish and contemporary styles".
• Jimmy Crowley: Inimitable and long-famed folk singer from Cork.

June

Irish Times report on the London Fleadh, one of the biggest celtic music events of the year.

Tulloch Gorm is a reference site for Scottish and Cape Breton traditional music.

New musician pages:

• Brenda Stubbert: Cape Breton fiddler.
• Kyle-na-no (Coill na gCnó): Italian celtic band based in Asti.
• Tuatha De Dannan Another Italian group, specialising in early celtic music (1400-1800).
• Claire Roche: Singer/Harpist from Dublin with a flair for Yeats poetry.
• Two O'Clock Courage: 'AmeriCeltic' music from Austin, Texas.
• Bogside Zukes: Celtic/pub/rock music, and a, well, unique name, from Peoria, Illinois.
• Tara's Thistle Gaelic music duo playing around New England.
• Jennifer Clarke Skromeda Scottish and celtic singer and instrumentalist, from Winnipeg, Canada.
• Tabache: Young Scottish traditional duo.
• Anao Atao: Top family traditional group from Cornwall.
• Pluck and Squeeze: Four-part ceilidh group from Cardiff, Wales.

• Gaelic Roots at Boston College, June 21-27

May

The Irish Times has a nice review of acclaimed Irish traditional band Dervish.

Hugh O'Conor has written an interesting online essay on Music and Verse in the Irish Tradition.

The 'Scottish Jedi' (!) site has MIDI versions of 60 traditional Scotish tunes.

New musician pages:

• Black Irish Band: Irish, Italian and American music mix from the Gold Country of California.
• Julie Henigan: Irish and American folk singer from Missouri.
• Stonecircle: Progressive celtic group from Salt Lake City.
• L. E. McCullough: Innovative and seminal whistle player, based in Indiana.
• Ashplant: Irish/Danish trad group based in Copenhagen.

New Festival Announcements:

• Johnston Folkfest, Pennsylvania Sep 4-6

April

Version 2.1 of the Fiddler's Companion, Andrew Kuntz's mammoth listing of over 35,000 published fiddle tunes.

Now even albums have their own websites! I'm not considering covering all of them here, but The Bridges of Cape Breton County(s), is a particularly nice one, featuring the fiddle playing of many of the greats of Cape Breton music.

A site by 'Niklas and Hasse' has a few dozen Irish tunes with both midi and staff notation displayed.

New musician pages:

• Bolingey Troyl Band & Dancers: Cornish and other traditional music and dance.
• Morgana Keast: Celtic Harper in Australia.
• DeReelium: Trad Irish band from Hanover, Germany.
• Buttons, Strings and Cora O'Donovan: Another German trad Irish band, this time from Hamburg.
• The Hibernians are - you guessed it - from Germany too, and feature the trad-cyber-media star, Marcus Metz (sorry Marcus!).
• Dalriada: Celtic Rock Australian band.
• Llan de Cubel: Asturian folk group with celtic influences.
• Peadar O Ceannabháin: Sean-nós singer from Connemara, Ireland.
• Dan Ar Braz: Famed Breton celtic guitarist.
• Déanta: Young Irish group with a hauntingly beautiful sound.
• Tommy Peoples, the influential fiddler of the Bothy Band and much else, has his own site, and a new album.

New Festival Announcements:

• Valley of the Moon Scottish fiddling camp, Aug 28-Sep5, Northern California.
• The Guinness Fleadh is in New York (Jun 12-13), Chicago (Jun 20) and the San Francisco area (Jun 27).
• The Pittsburgh Irish Festival, Sep 11-13.
• Celtic Music Festival in Lawrence, Kansas, Aug 8.
• Cincinnati Celtic Festival, Sep 11-12.

March

Folkworld is an online bilingual magazine (English and German) covering folk and trad music in mainland Europe mostly: CD and concert reviews, news and gossip, and an extensive links section.

The website at ingeb.org has a decent collection of lyrics and MIDI files for Scottish, Irish and Welsh tunes, amongst others; more MIDI tunes in a traditional collection from Robert Blakeley

The monthly Claddagh newsletter is out; Clannad fans check out the rescue and reissue of their first album ever!.

Festival Pages:

• Happy Folknight in Deerlijk (Belgium), Mar 6-7.
• Southern Illinois festival of Irish music and dance, Carbondale, April 24-25.
• NCTA Irish Folk Festival Washington, DC, Sep 5-6.
• Folkfestival Na Fir Bolg in Belgium, last weekend of June.

New musician pages:

• Gan Ainm: Australian band based in Canberra. Website requires Shockwave.
• Madra Rua an Irish/celtic band based in Wales.
• Eamon O'Tuama: New-York based Irish singer-songwriter with a rockish twist.
• Josephine Marsh: Accordion player from Ennis, Co. Clare.
• Highland Sun: Celtic Band in Los Angeles area.
• Jacky Tar: Wellington, New Zealand based celtic-rock outfit.
• Eric Bogle: The legendary Scottish folk singer, now living in Australia.

February

Brad Hurley's expanded flute guide has moved to a new home.

New musician pages:

• Benachally Ceilidh Band: Scottish ceilidh band with impressive lineup.
• Paddy Keenan: widely reknowned piper, from the Bothy Band, Moving Hearts and more.
• Nomos Energetic and rising Cork-based Irish trad group.

New festival pages:

• San Francisco celtic music festival, Mar 7-8. One of the biggest in the country.
• Irish Week by the Sea in Nova Scotia, Aug 2-7.

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