The Irish Music Scene November - December
ARIZONA IRISH MUSIC SOCIETY
The Irish Music Scene
The Irish Music Scene November - December
George L. O'Brien
Over the last several months, the public visibility of Irish music in Arizona has made considerable strides. Even more is expected.
For example, the Clare Voyants opened for three touring bands: Brother, the Young Dubliners, and the Fenians. This is part of a long range plan to increase the visibility of local Irish music to people who are not aware of the local Irish music scene. The Brother (the Austrailian Celtic group) performance produced an almost immediate response when a couple of weeks later, a bunch of Brother fans showed up to see The Clare Voyants wearing their kilts.
The Sharlot Hall Folk Festival in Prescott (October 7-8th) had a strong Irish/Celtic presence that was emphasized by the Arizona Irish Music Society booth. We distributed a special flyer identifying the Irish/Celtic performers including the Bringers (Phoenix), Round the House (Tucson), Irish Coffee (Tucson), Home Brew (Prescott), The Granite Creek String Band (Prescott), Celtic Spirit (Prescott), the Amazing Ripples (Snow Flake) along with Mary Bouley (harpist from Celtic Reel of Tucson) and piper Mike McKee (Mayer). There were also several folk musicians that do Irish/Celtic such as Greg LaCosse, Joe Bethancourt, and the Rick and Steve duo. In addition we made contact with new performers such as The Frayed Knots (Flagstaff) and Ken & Lyn Mikell (Cottonwood).
The official "Irish Jam Session" at the festival drew more than 25 musicians. During the day there were numerous Irish seisiuns and one point there were three informal Irish seisiuns going AT THE SAME TIME. On Saturday evening, an informal seisiun was organized at a restaurant in Prescott led by Sharon Goldwasser (Round the House) which was very well received.
On October 18th, One Eyed Fiona returned to Patriot's Park to do a noon day concert. One Eyed Fiona is rapidly becoming a "name" band (their CD is now being played on radio stations of more than six countries). One Eyed Fiona has been busy, playing at the Friday night ceili for the Phoenix Irish Feis, the October 21st Fiddler's Dream Folk festival (their third performance in five months at the premier folk venue in the Valley) as well as playing at Griffin's Pub three times in October.
There have been many "outreach" efforts by the various Irish/Celtic bands through out Ariozna. Home Brew has done well received concerts on the Courthouse grounds in Prescott, Bill and Patty Cummings in Flagstaff have done several outdoor concerts including one that was broadcast on the local news. The Amazing Ripples played at the country fair in Show Low and other outdoor events.
Round the House in Tucson has done innumerable concerts and remains the most active Irish/Celtic band in Tucson.
Probably the biggest "outreach" effort ever is the Irish involvement with the Arizona Music Forum Festival (AZM Fest) on Sunday, November 12th at Club Rio in Tempe. This benefit (for Christmas House) will include five stages and is expected to draw from 6,000 to 10,000 people. One of those stages will be entirely Irish music and feature bands such as The Clare Voyants, Seanachie, Ashling, One Eyed Fiona, Bill Craig, Bringers, Trinity, Molly Malone, Pat and Rosie Maloney, Rossettistone, CJA and the Irish dance schools. The stage will be located next to the main entrance to the festival and immediately across from the VIP tent.
There have been a number of other Irish music events this fall. The Christmas Feis (McElligott School) held a fund raiser in early September that featured One Eyed Fiona. O'Connor's Pub had a "halfway party" that featured a combination of Ashling and Seanachie that wowed the afternoon crowd (they were followed by Mike Donovan and Pat & Rosie Maloney).
The Phoenix Irish Feis (October 20-22nd) has become a major music event with a ceili on Friday featuring One Eyed Fiona, a Saturday afternoon concert by Round the House (following a music competition) and a ceili on Saturday evening with The Clare Voyants. They have a dance competition as well. (Oh, all right, that IS the point of the event.)
In Tucson, the Emerald Isle Society will hold a Tir na nOg (Irish New Year/Halloween party) on October 27th. Featured will be costumes -- Celtic, mystical, magical and creative; traditional Irish fare, live music from The Clare Voyants; dancing, singing and merrymaking.
The following week (October 4th) in Tucson will feature the Tucson Highland games. There will be Irish music from One Eyed Fiona and dancing by the Bracken School. Rillito Downs Race Track, 4502 N. 1st, Tucson, AZ 85718. Independent of the games, there will be a concert by Solas at the Berger Center that evening.
The Irish Foundation Picnic will be at Cactus Park (between 37th and 39th Ave) on October 29th and feature an Irish music jam seisiun. The Irish Foundation Christmas Party will be on December 2nd and feature an informal Irish music performance.
The weekend of December 9th and 10th will feature the Christmas Feis at the Crescent Hotel -- immediately across from O'Connor's Pub which will have The Clare Voyants that weekend.
On Sunday, December 17th will be the Arizona Irish Music Society Christmas Party at the Dubliner (40th St. and Thunderbird) from noon on. In addition to Irish music, dancing, and raffles; the Welsh Choir is scheduled to perform. We will encourage some "mixed band" experiments and hope to get some "out of town" bands to come by to get introduced to the local Irish music community.
In other news, two new Irish seisiuns have been established.
The Arizona Uilleann Piper's Society Seisiun is meeting on Monday's at Bandersnatch Pub at 8:30 PM (following practice by Tempe Police Pipe Band). This seisiun features less familiar Irish and Scottish instrumental pieces and is targeted toward advanced musicians. Call Caven Clark at 602-279-0678 or e-mail at azuilleann@yahoo.com
The West Side Seisiun is being hosted by the Bringers at O'Brien's Pub and Grub (at 35th Ave. and Northern) on Wednesday's starting at 8:00 PM. This seisiun will focus on singing, so everyone can participate. (For people who don't know the words, there is an extensive Irish lyrics section on the AIMS web site at www.azirishmusic.com.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The Arizona Irish Music Society sends out weekly e-mail calendar and newsletter to help keep people up to date on everything that is happening in the Irish music scene in Arizona. To get on the list, just send an e-mail to aims@azirishmusic.com.
The AIMS web site www.azirishmusic.com not only has calendar information, but also news, articles, lyrics, directories of bands and Irish/Celtic organizations, locations of pubs and other venues (including maps), biographies and links to major recording artists, a directory of Irish festivals, and links to over 400 Irish/Celtic/music web sites from around the world.
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