The 18th Atlanta Celtic Christmas on TV

This month, Georgia Public Broadcasting (Channel 8 around Metro Atlanta) will air a video production of the (2010) 18th Annual Atlanta Celtic Christmas Concert, recorded live at Emory’s Schwarz Center last December.  For full press release and details, click here.

The ATLANTA CELTIC CHRISTMAS CONCERT An Atlanta Tradition for 19 Years! Saturday, December 17, 2011 8:00 pm

 Visit http://www.celticchristmas.org/ for ticket information.

A Celtic Christmas has been a popular Atlanta tradition for almost two decades. A rare union of the secular with the spiritual and featuring many of the region’s most revered traditional instrumentalists, singers and dancers as well as highly acclaimed artists from around the world, the production has become a yearly heart-warming tradition for young and old alike!

The cast of the nineteenth Celtic Christmas heartily welcomes several guest performers: Singer Mary Jane Lamond hails from Nova Scotia and is considered a leading exponent for Scottish Gaelic song there. Cape Breton Island fiddler Wendy MacIsaac represents a long line of fiddlers with a refined yet earthy style that’s irresistibly danceable. And returning to our Celtic Christmas celebration this year will be the irrepressible mirth maker & musician Joe Craven. A native of Atlanta, Joe has been making his holiday pilgrimage from California to Celtic Christmas since 2005.

Truly a cross-cultural Celtic experience, Atlanta’s Celtic Christmas features fine Irish and Cape Breton Island fiddlers, Scottish Highland and Irish uilleann pipers, Celtic harp, seasonal songs in English and Gaelic, Scottish dancers and Irish step-dancers. Also featured is the offspring of the combination of Celtic, British Isles and African music – Old Time Appalachian string band music and Southern Sacred Harp singing.

Regional performers include: The Buddy O’Reilly Band (John Maschinot, Lisa Edwards, Ray Campagnoli, Lauren McDonough, Evan Kinney); The Rosin Sisters (Barbarah Panter-Connah, Jan Smith, Ann Whitley); Whit Connah, Kelly Brzozowski, Henry Frantz, Fran Frantz, John Recknagle, Tim Cape, Leah Calvert, The Atlanta Irish Dance Troupe, The Glencoe School of Scottish Highland Dance, The Atlanta Junior Ceili Band and the long-awaited return of the wild and wonderful Gateway Performance Productions Mummers!

CILLIAN VALLELY and RYAN McGIVER House Concert in Roswell Friday, December 16, 2011

An Evening of Traditional Irish Music

Cillian and Ryan

Contact:  GaryWhite,gary@southeastpipersclub.org
or *Ken Mitteldorf, ken@mitteldorf.net, 678.559.6796

Piper Cillian Vallely was born in Armagh, Northern Ireland and studied at the Armagh Pipers Club with his mother and father, Brian and Eithne, and then with the late Armagh piper Mark Donnelly.  He plays traditional Irish music on the Uilleann pipes and low whistle and has been a member of the band Lúnasa since 1999.

Ryan McGiver is a guitarist and sought-after accompanist on both sides of the Atlantic and is regarded as one of the best of his generation. Ryan plays Irish and American traditional music with equal facility.  He has toured in America, Europe and Asia, taught workshops at home and abroad, and shared stages with performers like Clare concertina player Pádraig Rynne, Connemara fiddlers Liz and Yvonne Kane and many others.

A Little Christmas Concert with Moira Nelligan on afternoon of Sunday December 11, 2011

A Family Christmas Concert for Kids of All Ages

 LITTLE CHRISTMAS with MOIRA NELLIGAN

DATE:  December 11, 2011  3:00 pm

WHERE:  SYCAMORE PLACE GALLERY

120 Sycamore Place, Decatur (downtown Dec next to Fellini’s)

TICKETS:  $15 ADULTS / $10 KIDS under 12.

For tickets call 404.441.4878 or visit

http://moiranelligan.ticketleap.com/little-christmas

Limited seating- call today!

 

A kid friendly family Christmas concert with old fashioned songs, fiddletunes, dances and stories from Celtic lands, Appalachia and right here in Georgia. Featuring fiddler/singer Moira Nelligan of The Music Class program for young children, her band the Dixie Jigs featuring George Norman and Mickey Nelligan, and also featuring actor/artist Michael Hickey presenting the ancient art of Irish mask theater called mumming. Irish Dancing and Sing Alongs included!

More information on Facebook!

Nelligan School of Traditional Music

 

Public Voting for the 2011 Irish Music Awards

*First* check out the bio blurbs on who is up for votes here:

http://www.irishmusicawards.com/

It looks like voting closes in early January.

You have to register at http://irishmusicassociation.com/imassociationmembers/

Then go to

http://www.irishmusicassociation.com/phpBB3/

and click on

Public Voting for the 2011 Irish Music Awards
Free members voting for the 2011 Irish Music Awards.

which takes you to

http://www.irishmusicassociation.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=16

To vote in a category, such as Fiddle, click on that:

http://irishmusicassociation.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1042

[see comments by Teada fiddler!]

WRFG’s fall pledge drive! Please phone 404 523 8989 to pledge your support!

We at the Celtic Show would LOVE to get a phone call from you today at 404 523 8989 to pledge $$ to WRFG Atlanta 89.3FM.

We have loads of great CDs to send out as deal sweeters (aka premiums).

Sean O Riada died on 3rd Oct 1971

We’ll acknowledge his extraordinary influence on the course of Irish music on The Celtic Show today.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%A1n_%C3%93_Riada

JJ Sheridan (Irish pianist) interview on WRFG today!

He’ll be talking about his mamouth CD set of the 1840 Buynting collection

Scottish guitar legend Bert Jansch dies

I had the good fortune to see Bert play a commanding 45 minute set in May 2010 at the Fox in Atlanta, opening for Neil Young.

See comments from Archie Fisher and Dick Gaughan here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8808301/Bert-Jansch-guitar-wizard-dies-aged-67.html

and

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/06/bert-jansch-tribute

Canadian fiddler April Verch at Eddie’s Attic this Sunday

Somehow we missed the fact that Canadian fiddler April Verch is playing at Eddie’s this Sunday. She plays lots of celtic fiddle tunes, and we’ve been playing here for years on The Celtic Show on WRFG.

Eddie’s blurb:

APRIL VERCH & JOHNNY ROQUEMORE AND THE APOSTLES OF BLUEGRASS

Why Come: ‘Cause by the age of ten, APRIL VERCH was winning fiddle contests and touring Canada, releasing two solo albums before graduating from high school. Her new album, “Steal the Blue,” brings forth her confident and winsome voice to lead the April Verch Band through songs from familiar roots writers like Ron Block, Sarah Siskind and Larry Cordle, all while step dancing and playing her fiddle simultaneously. John Culter of Journal Star added, “Her clear soprano voice sounds like a mix of a young Olivia Newton John and a younger Dolly Parton. Add to that her Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Championship, and Verch’s image smacks of eclecticism!” Her songs range from bluegrass to “newgrass,” with flourishes of jazz and melodic old-timey music. Come see the vibrant Canadian fiddler, singer and step dancer grace the Attic stage.

Check her out with your ears here: http://www.byoaudio.com/website_audio/W1d6TR4Z