Irishfest

[low_delta]

Cindy and I went to Irishfest on Saturday.


This is one of the accordionists of Beoga. They were quite good. The percussionist did a pretty amazing solo on the bodhrán.

This is Sharon Shannon.

She was quite... excited. Her music was a lot of fun.

Then Carlos Núñez.

Here he is playing the gaita, or Galician bagpipes. His brother Xurxo is on percussion.

He is from Galicia, in northern Spain. Calicia is very Celtic. It is not considered one of the Celtic nations, because the people there don't have their own Celtic language, but that's about the only difference between them and the other Celtic Nations.


Pancho Álvarez on acoustic guitar, and Stephanie Cadman on fiddle. She's got tap shoes on, and is quite a dancer too. Carlos, Pancho and Xurxo are from Galicia, and Stephanie is Canadian.


Stephanie's an attractive target for the camera. Primarily a dancer, then fiddler, singer and actor. She's got tap shoes on, and she did a lot of that too. She's a member of the country trio Belle Starr - all the members play fiddle, but Stephanie dances percussion too. Oh, and you should see her tap to Bach. She's got her own trio. She's got a lot of choreography credits.


Carlos was funny. He was so filled with wonder! Everything was the greatest thing ever. He was all about the Celtic music. The Chieftains, Latin Celtic music, Brazilian Celtic music, Mexican Celtic music. He had a lot of local musicians and dancers onstage with him. Billy Mitchell Pipe Band, Trinity Irish Dancers, Caledonia (Scottish) Dancers. One of the Caledonia boys danced a Latin infused number with Stephanie. Then Carlos asked for volunteers to come up on stage. They danced with the Scottish dancers. Then they formed a line and danced around the stage in a loop for a while. Then everyone lined up and did the Macarena. A Spanish dance for the Latin-Celtic music. It did get a little old, watching the crowd do the Macarena for a several-minte jam. It seemed like the volunteers wanted to move on, but Carlos was emphatic about how wonderful it all was. But despite all that goofiness, it was still a good show, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Comments

Irishfest

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Really cool. I forget the reach of Celtic culture. Sounds like a fun concert (even with the Macarena).

Re: Irishfest

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

They say most of mainland Europe was Celtic until it was pushed back by the Romans and the Germanic peoples.