Cottars' Artists to Visit Vancouver Island
NANAIMO - For six years, Ciarán and Fiona MacGillivray have travelled the world as lead singers and instrumentalists with the multi-talented Cape Breton Celtic band The Cottars.
This April they return to Vancouver Island to reprise their 2005 hit shows that "blew audiences away" as they continue to blaze their own trail in the Celtic/Pop fusion world. Performances on this visit to the Island are a fundraising project for Celtfest 2007, a summer school and concert series incorporating an east meets west theme supporting a revival of Celtic Canadiana.
The MacGillivrays have toured in Japan, Denmark, throughout the United States and crossed their native Canada many times. They've appeared at the Newport Folk Festival (where Bob Dylan shared the bill!) and in 2006 completed a 25-city tour of the U.S. with The Chieftains with an unforgettable evening at Carnegie Hall.
They've recorded three CDs, won two ECMA's and 2 MIANS Awards, starred in several television specials and shared the stage with such entertainers as Natalie MacMaster, Bruce Cockburn, The Barra MacNeils, Ireland's Altan and Danú, and many, many others.
Just 16 and 19 years of age, the MacGillivrays sing and stepdance, and each is a multi-instrumentalist - playing between them piano, guitar, tin whistle, Irish bouzouki, Irish flute, bodhrán, and Celtic harp.
Claire Pettit, the youngest member of the band, is 16-years old and a gifted instrumentalist, singer, composer and dancer.
The band's lead guitarist is Bruce Timmons, one of the most respected accompanists in the Maritimes today, he specializes in not only Celtic music but also jazz and contemporary. Scotland's legendary songwriter Dougie MacLean calls this foursome "brilliant."
"We're thrilled that The MacGillivrays are returning to British Columbia to perform a benefit concert for our Summer School Scholarship fund," says CeltFest 2007 director Carolyn Phillips-Cusson.
"This fund was set up for the education of young Celtic musicians and dancers from around the world who travel here to the Island to study. Cape Breton is an important Gaelic culture hearth that we are proud to present and preserve."
The MacGillivrays sing in Gaelic and Ciarán has made it his mission to become totally bilingual. Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald has just opened a government department dedicated to preserving the Gaelic language and culture. This is part of a huge revival here in Canada and Scotland, particularly among the youth.
Tickets for the April 12 appearance at Victoria's Alix Goolden Hall are available at the Royal McPherson Box Office and in Nanaimo at the Port Theatre Box Office for the April 13 concert. For more information, call Carolyn or René Cusson at 1-866-301-CELT or visit: www.celtfest.ca.
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