Focus on ‘Unity’
April Verch, doesn’t just perform music, she exudes it. The internationally renowned Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter and stepdancer has a passion for performing and her goal is to touch the lives of those who are listening at any given moment. “The world is this amazing puzzle that we can’t fully understand and music is the joy that pulls it all together and helps us make sense of it,” says Verch, with a dynamic excitement and confidence that makes you believe her in a heartbeat. Tickets $15
Sagapool Thursday April 5 at 7:30pm With its contagious joie de vivre and its vibrant music, this band of six musicians has created an original and dazzling repertoire that reflects the colourful influences of Montreal’s cultural mosaic. Conceived in the hallways of the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal on a sunny day in 1999, Sagapool – previously known as Manouche – recently celebrated its ninth year with the release of its third album, Épisode Trois.
Erica developed an interest in music at an early age. At the age of seven, she was competing in fiddle contests with kids twice her age. At age nine, she was traveling throughout New England, Canada, and even Louisiana with the Maine French Fiddlers. Erica also performed as a special guest with Mac McHale And The Old-Time Radio Gang for five years. Currently, she has her own bluegrass band, Erica Brown & The Bluegrass Connection, which performs all over New England. Erica is also a member of The Stowaways, Darlin’ Corey and The Record Family Band.
Since their formation in 1990, The Irish Descendants have garnered a loyal fan base in their native Canada, and captured the attention of an ever-growing international audience. The band’s award winning recordings range from lilting ballads to toe-tapping reels, and their high energy, humorous live performances have made them a popular attraction at home and abroad.
When the great Bluesman B.B. King first heard Alexis P. Suter sing a few years ago, he was visibly impressed – and said so after her opening set. Shaking his head in wonder in his characteristic way, he remarked: “It’s a rare thing to share the stage with great talent like that young lady.”
Irish born artists, Aoife Clancy, Robbie O’Connell, and virtuoso accordion player Jimmy Keane present Celtic Christmas for its first tour in Maine. This celebration of mid Winter season has a distinctly Celtic flavor and extends from the little known Kilmore carols of Wexford to the Irish-American vaudeville stage. Robbie and Aoife, accompanied by Jimmy, will explore the Christian and Pagan traditions surrounding the Winter Solstice in a mixture of songs, poetry and instrumental pieces.
Singing in English, Scottish Gaelic and Irish, Lewis MacKinnon has performed in coffee shops, pubs, convention centres, theatres and concert halls throughout Eastern Canada since 1994. Born in Cape Breton and raised in Antigonish County Nova Scotia, MacKinnon has played in every Atlantic Canadian Province, Ontario and in both Scotland and Ireland. In the fall of 2007 he was a featured performer at the Féile Ámhranaíochta (The Irish Song Festival in Belfast) and also in the internationally acclaimed Celtic Colours Festival, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
2010 JUNO Award nominees and “Canada’s ambassadors of musical diversity” Sultans of String thrill their audiences with their global sonic tapestry of Spanish Flamenco, Arabic folk, Cuban rhythms, and French Manouche Gypsy-jazz, celebrating musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar while a funk bass lays down unstoppable grooves. Acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound, while world rhythms excite audiences to their feet with the irresistible need to dance.
Musically speaking, the Heatons play the heck out of their instruments (Irish wood flute/accordion, guitar/bouzouki). After years of study in Chicago, and many nights of music in Clare, Galway, and their adopted home of Boston, Irish Music Magazine’s John O’Regan wrote, “their duet playing is tight, sweet, and tasteful, lacking nothing on either technical expertise or instrumental virtuosity.” As for their singing, when Matt and Shannon perform centuries-old songs, it feels current, conversational. They make traditional music relevant to American audiences. O’Regan wrote “songwise [there are] hints an older domestic sound, the familiar down home harmonies of The Carter Family and Tim and Mollie O’Brien.”
Widely regarded as a composer – the classic Cape Breton jig, Spin-N-Glo, is one of his compositions. Frank Ferrel is considered to be one of the leading North American fiddlers performing today. In a recent Boston Globe article, music critic Scott Alarik referred to Mr. Ferrel as “One of the finest living masters,” of that genre.Frank began his fiddling at age 8, influenced first by his grandfather, a traditional musician and native of Ohio and West Virginia. His father’s family originally came from the Longford area of Ireland via Maritime Canada. Frank rekindled his interest in traditional fiddling under the influence of local Irish, French-Acadian, and Canadian Maritimes fiddlers while stationed at the old Charlestown Navel Shipyard in Boston in the 1960′s.
The Toughcats Saturday October 15 at 7:30 pm Pop quiz: What could cause a band to play a Devo-esque robotic klesmer melody in the middle of a poppy, bluegrass dance [...]
Emily Smith is one of the leading singers of the contemporary Scottish folk scene. Her powerful, clear vocals have gained her award winning, worldwide recognition. As a songwriter Emily has been likened to ‘a Scottish Joni Mitchell’, but as a passionate collector she is equally adept at presenting fresh and evocative interpretations of traditional songs. Emily’s childhood was spent dancing to music, rather than performing it, in her mother’s dance school. She grew up assuming everyone knew how to do a highland fling and weekends were spent dancing at ceilidhs rather than nightclubs.
The ingredients of Kyle Carey’s music include the songs of the American Folk Anthology, the Appalachian poetry of Louise McNeill, and weekends spent working at Caffe Lena (in Saratoga Springs, NY) and listening to the best musicians in contemporary folk. The results are well described by Bill Fox of Skidmore College: “Kyle’s songs are ‘classic’ in the best sense of the word. None of the immature ‘reading from a diary’ silliness of so many singer-songwriters, but rather perspective—subtle expressions of human experience from a variety of perspectives.” In the winter of 2011 Kyle traveled to Western Ireland to record her debut album, ‘Monongah’.
Ashelin is a band of five sisters – Cassy, Joesie, Kaliyan, Shaelin, and Thea from Newfoundland Canada. The sisters began singing and dancing to Newfoundland and Irish music as far back as they can remember while learning to play a stunning variety of instruments. Although they never expected this childhood passion for all things musical to be anything but family focused, they were soon embarking on a musical journey that is winning them attention and fans around the world.
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