THE BARRA MacNEILS
All At Once
The Barra MacNeils from Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia is one of Canada’s premier Celtic groups. The diverse and talented family group is steeped in Cape Breton tradition with strong Celtic roots.
The group’s first album in five years, All At Once, was almost three years in the making. This CD goes back to their Celtic roots and contains mostly band originals or MacNeil arrangements of traditional jigs and reels.
“The tide is coming in for folk acts. Fans want what’s real and they want more folk music,” says Barra MacNeils leader, Stewart MacNeil. And by way of proving this point, he said, “Newfoundland’s folk-pop group Great Big Sea have also responded to the loud and clear message from legions of fans, and have just released their latest album of traditional seafaring and rural Newfoundland folk songs, which is now the third best selling pop album in Canada.”
The six-piece family band have just been joined by brothers Ryan (piano, uillean pipes) and Boyd (fiddle, guitars, mandolin). The Barra MacNeils now boast a full compliment of MacNeil siblings, along with fiddler, guitarist and mandolin player Kyle, and singer, fiddler, harpist and step-dancer Lucy.
The Juno Award-winning Barra MacNeils have teamed with fellow Juno Award winner Rita MacNeil to play Rita MacNeils Cape Breton Christmas Tour. Cape Breton tenor Peter Gillis also joins the tour’s roster.
The tour will be in Western Canada, starting from November 24 to December 7. To find which date they will be in your area, check-out their website at: www.barramacneils.com.
Tracks on All At Once are: Haven’t Got A Care; A Thousand’s Miles; The Keeping It Reel; One Wild Rose; Dougie Mac; Gearan Na Maighdinn; You Couldn’t Have Come At A Better Time; Craobh Nan Ubhal; Dance With Me Daily; Horses, Geese And One Old Man; Penny Hill; Tiree Love Song; and Michael Anthony’s Birthday.
It may have taken five year’s in the making, but all at once, All At Once, is the Barra MacNeills best. Visit their website for tour dates or more information at: www.barramacneils.com.
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NEWGRANGE
A Christmas Heritage
Six of acoustic music's brightest and most influential players come together for the first time to create a unique holiday collection. A Christmas Heritage explores holiday traditions from the roots of Americana to carols from around the world.
The artists on this album are: Philip Aaberg; Darol Anger; Alison Brown; Mike Marshall, Tim O’Brien and Todd Philip.
A Christmas Heritage provides fresh renditions of familiar holiday classics and the music is sweet, dreamy, reflective and tugs at the heartstrings. It is guaranteed to get you into the holiday spirit as you decorate the tree, wrap those gifts, or just daydream as you sit in front of the fireplace.
The musicians are just excellent and a joy to listen to, while the vocals of Tim O’Brien add just the right tenor and touch to these holiday gems.
Tracks the album include: Greensleeves; Christmas Eve; Shalom Aleichem/Breakin Up Christmas; Go Tell It On The Mountain; While Roving On A Winter’s Night; Newgrange; In The Bleak Midwinter; Gypsy Winter; Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel; The Promise of Spring; It Came Upon A Midnight Clear; Charity; On A Quiet Night and Patapan.
Newgrange, A Christmas Heritage is released on the Compass label. For more information, visit, www.compassrecords.com.
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EMMA & JOYCE BEATON
Off the Beaton Track: Music from the Celtic Tradition
The Qualicum, British Columbia, mother and daughter team of Joyce and Emma Beaton has just released their second CD entitled Off The Beaton Track. This album is a collection of their favourite tunes all from the Celtic tradition.
The Beaton’s have also just returned from Scotland where no doubt they were busy soaking up more of the Celtic traditional music to add to their repertoire.
In 2004, Joyce and Emma were also part of a another Celtic group called Celtic Chaos and they released an album under that name. When the Beatons record a CD there are also a lot of other people who benefit from the sale of their music.
For instance, the group Celtic Chaos raised over $10,000 for cancer research from the proceeds of their CD sale and 50 percent of the sales from Off The Beaton Track will also go to cancer research, with the other half toward a better cello for Emma.
Tracks on the album are: Thirty Years; Boys of the Lough; P.E.I. Jigs; Hard Dang It. Hard; Les Gros Danseuis; En Timme I Ungein; Heio; Breton Dance; Ora Lee; Strathpeys; I’m Too Sexy for My Djembe; Drakskeppet and Auld Lang Syne. The liner notes on the CD also have a background of each of the tracks.
Off The Beaton Track is instrumental of reflective Celtic listening music that at times has the sounds of East coast kitchen music. The only singing on the album is on Auld Lang Syne, which is beautifully sung by Mairi Campbell.
For more information and to purchase Off The Beaton Track, e-mail: jbeaton@shaw.ca
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