Watch for some great Celtic bands
at this summer's folk music festivals!
 NEW ZEALANDS Pacific Curls combine Scots fiddle tunes with traditional Polynesian and Maori songs and original compositions. These three women make really beautiful music, and have just released their third CD, Te Kore.
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 PLOUGH features excellent old time/folk/bluegrass. The line-up includes Karla Mundy (Cleia, David Francey, The Shirleys) on vocals and banjo, and Linda Bull (The Maenads) on fiddle and vocals.
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By STEVE EDGE
Yes, summer is (apparently) upon us, and B.C. has some amazing annual events next month. You can get a head start on your plans by checking out the music of these performers on the web and you will be able to hear them on The Edge On Folk on CiTR fm 101.9 or www.citr.ca every Saturday from 8 AM to noon, Celt In A Twist on worldbeatcanada.com, and on Coop Radio's In The Claddagh Ring on Fridays from 6:30 PM to 8 PM on CFRO 102.7fm.
Vancouver Island Musicfest takes place in Courtenay from July 9-11 www.islandmusicfest.com. Fans of Northumbrian music should check out the remarkable singers The Unthanks, see www.rachelunthank.com.
New Zealand's Pacific Curls combine Scots fiddle tunes with traditional Polynesian and Maori songs and original compositions. These three women make really beautiful music, and have just released their third CD, Te Kore. You can also see them at the Vancouver and Mission Folk Music Festivals this year www.pacificcurls.com.
There are three Scottish bands coming to Courtenay. Veteran combo The Tannahill Weavers were the first band to include Highland warpipes in folk music, and they are still going strong www.tannahillweavers.com. Fans of more experimental Scottish roots music really must check out the Peatbog Faeries from The Isle of Skye.
This band combines pipes and fiddles with beats and horns in a stunning fusion of Celtic/ Latin/World Beat mayhem! They will also be appearing at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival www.peatbogfaeries.com.
Breabach is a terrific young Scots band featuring two pipers and fiddle. They made a big impression on me at last year's Edmonton Folk Music Festival www.breabach.com.
The Vancouver Folk Music Festival from July 16-18 www.thefestival.bc.ca offers a rare chance to see expatriate Scot Colin Hay, who made his name in his adopted country of Australia with Men At Work in the 1980s. These days he lives in L.A. and he is still writing songs. If anything, his songwriting keeps getting better and better, and he is a consummate entertainer www.colinhay.com.
The other week The Rogue co-presented a concert with Shore 104.3fm featuring Madison Violet, two young women with Scottish roots from Cape Breton and Ontario (I think one of them is Ashley MacIsaac's sister).
They were brilliant! Good songs, smokey vocals, fine harmonies, nice guitar/fiddle/mandolin playing, and they blew the young country rock outfit The John Henrys off the stage www.madisonviolet.com.
This will also be the only B.C. appearance this year by Crooked Still from Boston. They have a brand new CD, Some Strange Country, and they are one of my favourite bands.
The band boasts singer Aoife O'Donovan and fiddler Brittany Haas (sister of cellist Natalie), brilliant banjo player Greg Liszt (of Bruce Springsteen's Pete Seeger Sessions Band), cellist Tristan Claridge and bassist Corey DiMario www.crookedstill.com. And of course, there's Pacific Curls and Peatbog Faeries as well.
The Mission Folk Music Festival, www.missionfolkmusicfestival.ca, in Fraser River Heritage Park, July 23-25 has a wonderful Franco-Celtic-Quebecois contingent this year, with five bands from Quebec, and one from PEI, plus two exceptional Canadian Celtic bands, The Paperboys, www.paperboys.com, and The McDades, www.myspace.com/themcdades. This will be the first time that The Paperboys have played Mission, while The McDades have appeared there several times over the years.
The Quebec groups are Le Vent Du Nord, who played at The Rogue in May www.leventdunord.com, Les Charbonniers de l'Enfer five guys who sing a capella and make a joyful, danceable sound www.lescharbonniersdelenfer.com, Les Mononcles three of Les Charbonniers (Andre Marchand, Normand Miron & Michel Bordeleau on guitar, accordion and fiddle respectively, plus Raynald Dupras on bass) www.trentesouszero.com/082.html, Reveillons, www.reveillons.qc.ca, a traditional band featuring percussionist/dancer Jean-Francois Berthiaume, who also provides the rhythmic drive for the otherwise all-girl a capella group Galant Tu Perds Ton Temps, who made such an impressive debut at Mission a few years back www.galanttuperdstontemps.ca.
The PEI group is Gadelle, two former members of Barachois, plus two younger women. They perform the French music of their home province, and sound great www.gadelle.com.
They are also appearing at the Vancouver Folk Festival. And there's even more Celtic music, with the ubiquitous Pacific Curls, and Scot Findlay Napier (ex Back O' The Moon) and his superb new band The Bar Room Mountaineers www.findlaynapier.com.
Finally, on the festival front, there is the Filberg Festival, www.filbergfestival.com in Comox B.C., July 30-August 2, with my favourite Irish band Four Men & A Dog, www.fourmenandadog.com and the Canadian legends Spirit of the West, www.sotw.ca.
Further afield, Van Morrison headlines the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, www.efmf.ab.ca August 6-9, with Four Men & A Dog, Genticorum, Ron Kavana & Brian McNeill, Lau, The McDades, Tony McManus, and Kate Rusby amongst the stellar line-up.
Meanwhile, The Rogue presents Boston singer Eilen Jewell and her fine country blues/rockabilly quartet at the new CBC Studio 700 Theatre (700 Hamilton Street) on June 10, plus CD launch concerts at St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue). Gospel trio The Sojourners (with Steve Dawson and co. in the backing band) on June 18, and the excellent old time/folk/bluegrass/country combo Plough on June 23.
Plough features Karla Mundy (Cleia, David Francey, The Shirleys) on vocals and banjo, and Linda Bull (The Maenads) on fiddle and vocals. This show was postponed last fall, and now we are all desperate to hear their wonderful vocal harmonies and traditional and original songs www.myspace.com/ploughtheband.
Full details of all Rogue shows and tickets are to be found on www.roguefolk.com.
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