Gaelic Vocalists, Fiddlers, Harpers, Bagpipers
Embrace Living Tradition in Concert
SEATTLE, WA - Embrace a rich living tradition. Surround yourself with Scottish Gaeldom's leading musical talents sharing the stage in a rare North American appearance.
The date is June 6 at 7:30 PM at the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater, Fort Worden in Port Townsend, WA.
The concert, a highlight of Féis ShiBtail (pronounced: FAYSH hee-AT-ill) 2008, a week-long Gaelic educational festival composed of pre-paid classes, evening céilidhs or social gatherings, and the single public concert, runs from June 3-8.
Registration remains open for all classes until May 15. Contact www.slighe.com or voicemail in Seattle at (206) 903-9452. Instruction is offered in Gaelic language courses and in traditional music of the Highlands.
Sponsored by Seattle's Gaelic Language and Cultural Society, Slighe nan Gaidheal, (pronounced: SLEE-uh nun GAY-ull), the week brings the tradition bearers together only once every two years.
It provides students of Gaelic and traditional Celtic instruments the chance to study with eight presenters in a misty seaside setting at a fraction of the cost of an overseas trip to Scotland.
Anne Lorne Gillies, a well-known Scottish singer and television personality will make her first appearance at the festival's concert along with Gaelic language presenters Rachel McPherson and Finlay Cunningham.
Gillies, a National Mod Gold Medallist, is author of the award-winning book, Songs of Gaelic Scotland. McPherson is Deputy Head Teacher in Scotland's exciting new Glasgow Gaelic School. Cunningham is a teacher at Stornoway's Nicolson Institute.
Returning performers include Canada's Cape Breton fiddler, Wendy MacIsaac; Scottish harper Mary MacMaster; and piper Allan MacDonald.
MacIsaac has performed with the Chieftains, Capercaille, and has her own band, Beoloch. MacMaster began her career as half of the harp duo, Sileas, and went on to become a founding member of the popular four-piece band, The Poozies. McDonald is at the forefront of efforts to introduce alternative styles in piping, reuniting piobaireach with Gaelic language in rhythms and song.
Muriel Fisher and Catriona Chaimbeul, both native Gaelic speakers, will join the performers on stage at the Wheeler Theater. Fisher is the dynamic founder/director of the Tucson Gaelic Institute, teaching widely at home and abroad. Chaimbeul edited the popular Gaelic-English print, audio, and video program, Speaking Our Language. She is Lochaber High School's Head of Languages.
These eight tradition bearers will introduce their audience to the broad appeal of the music and stories of the Gaelic culture, the culture of an eloquent, imaginative, sensitive, and witty people, according to Gillies.
Individually, the presenter-performers have appeared at such world-renowned festivals as Glasgow's Celtic Connections, Cape Breton's Celtic Colours as well as on BBC television and radio shows.
Concert tickets are $18, $15. They are sold through Port Townsend's Wandering Angus Celtic Traders, 929 Water Street, telephone (360) 385-3317 and at the theater box office, concert night, June 6.
Washington State makes an ideal location for Féis ShiBtail 2008 because many descendants of Scottish settlers are included in the area's diverse populations.
Gaelic, once the dominant language of Scotland's Highlands and Islands, is spoken by some 60,000 on its home ground. Gaelic language societies in British Columbia, Seattle, and Tacoma, have been in existence for 100 years.
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