Tag Archives: Celtic

March 19 Celtic concert in Peterborough

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Saturday, March 19, 8pm

St. Pat’s Fancy at Sadleir House in Peterborough, ON.

The third annual concert celebrating Irish music, with some of the proceeds going towards the Market Hall to help fund its new renovations. Sadleir House is an historic house in Peterborough, near the corner of Parkhill and George Streets. Market Hall is a much loved folk music and general arts venue in the middle of downtown Peterborough. There will be lots of great music from the likes of Cairdeas, Fiachra O’Regan, and The Jenish Sisters, as well as guest spots from the usual crew of local musicians. Tanah Haney will be playing Celtic Harp on a couple of harp-and-fiddle sets with John Hoffman (hence the harp component!).

For more info, you can visit the official Facebook page for the event or email Tanah at soloharp @ celticharper.com (minus the spaces).

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Enjoying the great outdoors…

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Si Bheag Si Mhor, one of O’Carolan’s most popular tunes, played by Mark Harmer on Celtic harp.

“Flying to the fleadh”, slip jig by Patrick Davey, played by FairyHarper, with “accompaniment by the crows and birds of ireland”.

If I were a blackbird, Kim Robertson, La Crosse Irish Fest 2008

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Apologies for the lack of updates recently, real life has taken over in a big way and computer activities are at a minimum right now (most harpists can relate to the craziness of the holiday concert season; add major home renovations on top of that and you get the general idea). My goal is to get the Harp Blog back into its usual swing in the new year. In the meantime, here’s a video of the incomparable Kim Robertson, who I had the honour to meet and chat with at the Northern Lights Harp Fest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK_HnPZwsC0&feature=PlayList&p=2D02B1104D8263B7&index=3&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL

To find out more about Kim and her music, you can visit her website at www.kimrobertson.net. You can see more videos of Kim at La Crosee ’08 via the LAXIrishFest YouTube channel (or by following the links in the video above).

Alan Stivell: Brian Boru on gold harp

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atxyOCHFd8U

Very cool version of Brian Boru’s, from the master of Celtic fusion himself.  I had only ever heard (and played) the traditional march version of this tune before, but it works surprisingly well as a song.  Complete lyrics are included below (they’re pretty much identical on all the online lyrics sites, including the notes in French and English, presumably taken from the liner notes of the CD).

The Harp Blog posted Brian Boru’s as a tune of the month way back when, which you can download here.  Following the link to Chubby Sparrow Music will take you to a midi version of the tune (along with a bunch of other free trad Celtic midi files).

A summary of Alan Stivell’s career and influence on Celtic & harp music can be found here (and of course the standard Wiki entry, here).  Alain’s official website is www.alan-stivell.com (trilingual in Breton, French & English).

LYRICS:

Marv Brian Boru ‘rein buhez ‘n Iwerzhon
Dihan e Bro-Ulad ha ba ker Dulenn
Undedan tiegezhn unded an dud-man
Unded ar Gelted hag an douar

Maraiodh Brian Boru chun beatha nna heireann
Siochain in gcuige Uladh agus i mbaile ‘cliath
Aontacht an teaghlaigh, aontacht na dtuath
Aontacht an domhain is na gCeiltteach

Diouzh nerzh ar c’hadou da nerzh an ehan
Diouzh ‘bed doueek bennozh ar c’haroud
O neart an chata go neart na siochana
On brith dhiaga beannacht an ghra

Duirt siad gurbh i seo sochraide ar muintire
Gur choir duinn bheith sollunta fein
Biodh nach Raibh bronach

Marv Brian Boru ‘rein buhez ‘n Iwerzhon
Dihan e Bro-Ulad ha ba ker Dulenn
Undedan tiegezhn unded an dud-man
Unded ar Gelted hag an douar

Ta muid ‘nos ha haimsire
Go hairid an ghrian
Agus thogh muid ait bhog cois abhann.

NOTES:

Brian Boru :
Nom d’un chef irlandais qui fut vainqueur posthume des Vikings.
Brian Boru, chef de Tuath, chassa les Danois du Munster,
conquit le Leinster, devint le roi-suprème de l’Irlande en 1002
et battit les Vikings en 1014 à Clontharf.
Mais il fut assassiné dans la soirée par un fuyard alors qu’il se reposait.

Transmuter l’énergie de guerre en énergie de paix.
Mort brian Boru donnant vie en Irlande
Paix en Ulster et dedans Dublin
Unis les Celtes et la terre !
De la force des combats à celle de la paix
Du monde divin, bénédiction de l’amour.
ALAN STIVELL.

They said that we were shameless celebrating our love
With devastation all around us
We are like the weather, specially the sun
And we choose a soft place by the river.
CAITLIN MAUDE, from Amhran grà Vietnam.

April Tune of the Month: The Cliffs of Moher

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Right click and choose 'save target as' for a printable version

This upbeat tune is popular at the Celtic sessions in our area. It lies fairly easily under the fingers for harp (especially the B part), so with practice you should be able to play it at a decent clip. Click here to listen (right click to download the midi file).

We often play Cliffs of Moher in a set with Tenpenny Bit.

The HarpBlog Tune of the Month is courtesy of Chubby Sparrow Music . For a printable version, right click on the picture and choose “save target as”, or pop over to the Chubby Sparrow Free Music page for more detailed printing instructions (note: if you just left click and try to print directly from the browser, it probably won’t print at the right size).

March 14 Celtic Concert in Peterborough

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Sat. March 14, 2009 – St. Pat’s Fancy
A celebration of Traditional Irish Music to Support Market Hall

Cairdeas: Featuring Steafan Hannigan and Saskia Tomkins.
With: Carried Away, Glen Caradus, Tanah Haney (Celtic Harp), and the Convivio Chorus.

Market Hall Performing Arts (on George St. in Peterborough, ON).
8pm, doors open 7:30pm.
Tickets: $15.00, available at Showplace.
Phone: 705-742-7469
www.markethall.org

Concert to be followed by a traditional Irish session.

Sounding Harps Books

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For anyone who has been looking for the Sounding Harps series of books from Cairde na Cruite (I’ve personally recommended them to several of my students, who’ve had difficulty tracking them down), all four of them are now available through both Melody’s Traditional Music and Sylvia Woods.

More specifically (since trying to find them through the search functions can be a pain), you can get to them on the Melody’s site here and on Sylvia Wood’s site here.

If you want to shop locally and save on shipping and customs, you could also try taking down the pertinent info from the websites and ordering them through your local music store.

There are four books in total, and they’re all excellent collections of Celtic Music. Many of the arrangements will fit on smaller harps (esp. those in Vol. 1), and Volumes One & Four have arrangements suitable for beginners through early intermediate. For more advanced players, the arrangements in Books Two & Three are intermediate to advanced. Even the easy arrangements are put together very nicely, so the tunes sound great.

Hope everyone had a good November, and that you’ve all been keeping your hands and harps warm despite the snow and wind.

April Tune of the Month: Lord Inchiquin

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Apologies for the infrequent posting; I’m caught up in April Fools (another monthly writing challenge, to help spur on the finishing of the first draft of my novel), and in the madness my websites are feeling a wee bit neglected. Here’s a cheerful tune for April, by the famous Irish composer and harper, Turlough O’Carolan. (Although it’s hard to believe it’s spring today – here in southern Ontario it’s been quite wintery for five days now, below zero and snowing!).

Lord Inchiquin by O'Carolan

The HarpBlog Tune of the Month is courtesy of Chubby Sparrow Music . For a printable version, right click on the picture and choose “save target as”, or pop over to the Chubby Sparrow Free Music page for more detailed printing instructions (note: if you just left click and try to print directly from the browser, it probably won’t print at the right size).

February Tune: Drowsy Maggie

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Drowsy Maggie is an example of the type of quick reel that is often played in sessions. We usually do this in a set with several other E minor reels. The chords are fairly simple, mostly alternating between Em and D in the A part; and D, A and G in the B part.

The HarpBlog Tune of the Month is courtesy of Chubby Sparrow Music . For a printable version, right click on the picture and choose “save target as”, or pop over to the Chubby Sparrow Free Music page for more detailed printing instructions (note: if you just left click and try to print directly from the browser, it probably won’t print at the right size).