Irish
Cultural Center
1106 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
602-258-0109 www.azirish.org
|
Irish
Cultural Center
|
Michi Regier and Sarah Marie Mullen Fri. Mar. 23 7:30 P.M. $5 |
FIDDLE - MICHI REGIER
Early on, Michi's favorite places to play included: the Mesa Amphitheatre, Gammage Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, Koussevitsky Shed, and a cabin by the water in Sweden, Maine. Over 17 years of training; the usual round of competitions, symphonies, and scholarships sent her to the Tanglewood Institute....but in the meantime, Michi learned to spin, weave, and busk on the streets of Renaissance festivals. The romance of reenactment kept Michi fiddling through her college years, co-founding "Knot Sisters" and later "The Bringers." Always jamming with other bands between shows, Michi began working in the studio with groups such as "Volgemut," "Three Pints Gone," and "The Muses." She was inspired to record her own CD, Curved Space. in 2002. A solo performer now, Michi acts as a musical ambassador, bringing stories and music back from her travels to folk at home. In 2003, Michi made her way to Ukraine. At first, she was looking for gypsies. Not finding any, she came home with other treasures; an education in folklore and a passion for Ukraine. Michi's next project, "Tales from the Fiddle Tree," due out in November 2006, came from this adventure and was first performed in the L'viv Philharmonic. In 2004, Michi packed up her car and drove to Mexico, where the orphans of "Casa de Elisabet" were starting to learn violin. She became such a part of the family, even bringing her mom down for Christmas, that now they return with donations whenever possible. |
HARP - SARAH MARIE MULLEN Artist: Sarah Marie Mullen Sarah Marie Mullen has been in love with the harp since kindergarten, and it shows! Drawn most often to the 32 or 34 string Celtic harp, Ms. Mullen has a lovely style and feel to her playing. The arrangements on this CD are quite beautiful and you can tell that a great deal of thought went into their preparation. Although an instrumental album, The Wild Woods is meant to "evoke a story of a young knight and his fey love of a faerie princess," according to Mullen. Sometimes sprightly, other times wistful, the tracks on this CD have one thing in common no matter what the sound--they are classy through and through. Whether it is the years of experience she has in playing the instrument or just her innate musical talent that brings such a fresh sound to her playing is hard to say. The album has a particularly refreshing arrangement of the traditional "Greensleeves" that really highlights Mullen's ability and style. Her fingers fly over the strings and you can actually feel the expressiveness come through--a tough thing for a harpist to do. Those who love to listen to Celtic harp will be quite pleased with this CD and will love the amount of tracks it holds as well--17. Transformative and uplifting, this is a really nice group of songs and they are extremely well-played too. |
 |
 Calendar |
 Venues |
||
 Organizations |
 Festivals |
 Links |
 Articles |
|
|
Irish Cultural Center |
This site © 2005
Arizona
Irish Music Society
Fiddle
and Harp
From
"The Wild Woods" by Sarah Marie Mullen 
