2009 Entertainers
2009 Festival Entertainers
A rotating schedule of world-known Celtic entertainers representing various countries are featured throughout the festival. Many of them also present workshops and demonstrations.
Danny O'Flaherty
www.dannyoflaherty.com
Danny’s success as an entertainer is driven by his dedication to preserving and passing on his Celtic heritage. As the last of a generation reared in the isolation of a pure Gaelic culture, Danny’s youth recalled the simple tradition kept alive on the rugged and desolate islands. His first language is Gaelic, and his first love – the ancient music played and sung around the peat fires in the evenings. Danny evokes the often-indistinguishable link between history and myth. Whether singing the timeless songs of Galway fishermen or performing his own contemporary ballads, Danny O’Flaherty keeps a unique heritage alive.
Danny O’Flaherty has captivated audiences from Old Jaffa and Jerusalem to Washington, D. C. None other than The Washington Post raved “Suddenly we were no longer in our nation’s capitol; we were on a trip across the waters as we clapped, sang along, laughed, and yes, even wept a tear at a gentle ballad. For Danny O’Flaherty is good, very good. His program wowed an appreciative crowd.” Whether it is a sold-out concert with the Tulsa Philharmonic, an invitation only performance for the alumnae of Notre Dame University, an Inaugural Ball, a World’s Fair, a command performance for a pope or President, an intimate evening at a local pub or a featured performance for the Council of Exceptional Children’s Annual Convention, Danny O’Flaherty leaves every audience spellbound. This talented musician switches seamlessly from accordion to tin whistle to harmonica to eight and twelve string guitar. His repertoire is extraordinary. Haunting ballads of loves lost and found, songs of the sea and glen, aching calls for tolerance and peace, jigs and reels; Gaelic favorites - traditional tunes interspersed with original hit recordings from his popular CDs – all this and a bewitching personality that has audiences young and old calling for more.
Jimmy Crowley
http://www.jimmycrowley.com/
Jimmy Crowley has been a central figure in the Irish folk scene since the enthusiastic reception of his debut album The Boys of Fairhill in 1977. With his band Stokers Lodge their mission was to present the street ballads of Cork city complimented by the ornate folk songs of the rural hinterland of Cork and Kerry in an exciting orchestration of uilleann pipes, concertina, autoharp, harmonium, mandolin, bouzouki and guitar in their native accent. The second album, Camphouse Ballads hurtled the band into the vortex of the folk scene; they were now performing at folk festivals and making tv appearances in Ireland, Britain and America .Both albums were produced by Micheál Ó Dómhnaill of the Bothy Band. Like Chris Twomey of Stokers Lodge, Micheál was a seminal influence in Jimmy’s musical education
Every Jimmy Crowley album after the demise of Stokers Lodge in the middle eighties has been imbued with an excitement and autonomy; has challenged conventions and has been totally different from its predecessor. Some Things Never Change, an eclectic, electric experiment featuring some of the most creative musicians in Ireland: Declan Sinnott, Keith Mc Donald and Christy Moore of Moving Hearts was applauded and voted album of the year by rock critic, Bill Graham. Jimmy’s new band, The Electric Band released a reggae version of the Cork ballad, The Boys of Fairhill which went into the pop charts.
In between recording and writing his own songs, Crowley found time to taste the rich Gaelic hinterland of his native province of Munster learning his profession as a bard and falling in love with the Irish language. The songs he learned in the Irish speaking parts of Munster found a hearth in his first Irish language album, Jimí Mo Mhíle Stór, produced by Dónal Lunny for Gael Linn records. There followed a bitter-sweet amalgam of caustic urban ballads and sentimental parlour songs which Crowley had began to endorse. The album simply called, Jimmy Crowley for K-tel records was produced by Declan Sinnott.
Crowley’s fascination with the theatre and in particular musical drama culminated in his ballad opera, Red Patriots. Set against the backdrop of Mao Tse Tung’s cultural and social policies,it’s the story of an apprentice musician who falls for a revolutionary girl. Actual events such as the mob-incited burning of the Marxist bookshop in Cork city in the early seventies induce fierce realism. The play was well-received and ran successfully at the Triskil Arts Centre in Cork City.
By now Jimmy Crowley had established himself not just as a tradition bearer, ethnographer and Gaelic language enthusiast but also as a stylish songwriter. His song about the sailing ship Asgard, My Love is a Tall Ship, was adopted as an anthem for sailors everywhere and was used in the documentary film on the Tall Ships’ Race made by the National Television service, R.T.É The eponymous album that followed presented all original songs backed by a small string orchestra ,subtle rhythm section and songwriter Dave Murphy’s piano skills. Her Excellency, Mary Robinson was the subject of the quasi-bassanova style skit, Mrs. President which finally proclaimed to those who pigeon-holed Jimmy Crowley as being the “voice of Cork” and nothing else, that there was much more to this man.
Disheartened at the demise of the Irish language and Celtic traditions and the endorsement by the Irish government of cultural globalisation, Crowley began work on his Celtic Utopian novel, Hy Brazil. Its the story of a new resurgence and autonomy set slightly in the future; exhorting Plato’s Rule of the Wise, a poetical, didactic dismissal of everything the Celtic Tiger stands for.
There followed his first live solo album, Uncorked and the establishment of his own record company, Freestate Records. The Coast of Malibar endorsed both his love for the sea and his affection for the double-string instruments like bouzouki, mando-cello, dordán, mandola and mandolin. Jimmy is joined here by an old friend, Tríona Ní Dhómhnaill of the Bothy Band .His new album, Irish Eyes, is a swing-jazz reverential treatment of John Mc Cormack, Bing Crosby and Flanaghan Brothers Irish-American sentimental songs which Crowley feels are part of the legitimate legacy of Irish song. Here he breathes fresh life into old chestnuts like Danny Boy and When Irish Eyes Are Smiling and displays creditable crooning skills.
Almost all of Crowley’s older vinyl albums have now been digitally remastered and Freestate Records present an excellent catalogue of his recorded work. Jimmy now lives in Dunedin, near Clearwater, Florida.
Celt Iberia
Celt-Iberia Website
The North of Spain has a long Celtic history. The provinces of Galicia and Asturias, in particular, have their own music and dance forms, and regional dialects of Spanish. The traditional instrumentation includes bagpipes, flutes, voice, and percussion.
The great flamenco guitar virtuoso Sabicas was a Spanish Gypsy, who was born in the North (Navarra), and he must have heard much of the Celtic folklore in his childhood. During his career, he composed many pieces based on these Celtic themes, imitating the bagpipes, flutes, and percu
ssion on his guitar. Other flamenco guitarists followed his lead, such as the Galician-born flamenco guitarist Xesus Pimentel. Some of today's top flamenco guitarists, including Juan Manuel Cañizares, Vicente Amigo, and Isidro Muñoz have recorded with Spanish bagpipers Carlos Núñez and José Ángel Hevia. The result is an exciting blend of flamenco and Celtic sound.
Lucia and Valdemar are continuing this tradition of flamencos interpreting the music and dance of Celtic Spain. Using flamenco instrumentation, they are recreating the sounds of the gaita (bagpipe), flutes, voice, and percussion, and like the great Spanish Dance companies (Jose Greco Sr, the National Ballet of Spain, etc), they are recreating the folkloric dances alongside the flamenco dance.
Lucia Rodriguez-Sanchez and Valdemar Phoenix have been performing together with their gorup Gitanerias Flamenco since 1983. Their work, firmly based in the essence of traditional flamenco, also reflects a contemporary approach to the art.
Lucia y Valdemar have performed at major international festivals, at college campuses, schools, and arts events throughout Texas, where they are based. Their work has also taken them to Alabama, Louisiana, New York, the New England States, Canada, and Washington. They have toured through the Texas Commission on the Arts since 1983 and performed under the sponsorship of Young Audiences. They are also on the touring roster of the Mid America Arts Alliance. They were the subject of a Houston PBS documentary, and they are the producers of Grafico, a made-for-TV video production, which was broadcast through Time-Warner. Their first CD, Nuestra Sangre Flamenca was released in 1998, and their second CD, Ritmo Azul, was released in July 2005.
Teribus
http://www.teribusmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/teribusmusic
TERIBUS is a bagpipe and drum trio playing Celtic and Tribal music influenced by musical traditions from around the world. Led by Kevin Hartnell, Richard Kean, and EJ Jones the TERIBUS lineup has many years of experience playing pipes and drums at outdoor festivals. Their love of performance in a variety of settings is evident from the high energy and spirit of fun they bring to every show. Although their classical training and desire to please the musical academics in the crowd is always in the back of their minds, TERIBUS is equally likely to engage in antics never before seen in concert halls, creating the perfect combination for any festive event.
Richard Kean has over 25 years experience as a bagpiper and has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America. Richard began his career under the tutelage of his father Pipe Major Eric Kean and continued to learn under several prominent Scottish bagpipers. In 1996 Richard formed a performance group with P/M Lindsay Davidson and began to develop the bagpipe beyond its traditional role in music. During this time he studied other types of bagpipe music in addition to exploring ways to integrate dance and audience interaction within a musical performance. In 2001 Richard co-formed the group Tartanic to continue his interested in taking the bagpipes outside the norm. In his spare time he rummages for unique instruments and listens to some very strange music.
Kevin “Nevik” Hartnell has over 32 years of studying drums beginning his professional music career at age 12. He has focused the last 11 years of study to various world hand percussion and teaches workshops based on his hand-book, the “Tekronomicon”. Since 1999 Kevin has been active in the medieval and renaissance music scene with performances at festivals across the United States and various performances around Scandinavia and Europe. Kevin has performed with La Notte, Wolgemut, and Tartanic. In his spare time, he enjoys graphic design and photography.
EJ Jones has over 20 years experience as a bagpiper with great success in both the concert and competitive aspects of Scottish piping. He began playing the Texas Renaissance Festival as a bagpiper with the group Clandestine in 1991 and the Rogues in their inaugural year 1994. EJ competes at the Professional level in the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association and won the Houston Highland Games Professional Piobaireachd competition in 2006. In his spare time EJ makes Scottish smallpipes in his home workshop and plays the flute.
Dennis Stroughmatt
http://www.creolefiddle.com/
Dennis Stroughmatt, a featured speaker on the Missouri Humanities Council "Program Bureau," and a touring master artist on the Mid-America Arts Alliance Artist Tour and Illinois Artist Tour is an Illinois native who was first introduced to American French culture as a teenager near Old Mines, Missouri. It was there that he spent two and a half intensive years recording, observing, and learning many of the Creole French traditions still alive in "Upper 
Louisiana." The knowledge that he gained there included a centuries old French Creole fiddling style from fiddlers Roy Boyer and Charlie Pashia, fluency in Illinois-Missouri Creole French, and a wealth of stories and songs from story tellers and singers like Rose Pratte, Annie Pashia, Kent Beaulne, and Eli Robart; all of which have been handed down generation to generation in Missouri and Illinois for nearly 300 years.
Dennis went on to live and work in southwest Louisiana as an assistant curator at the Vermilionville Folklife Center in Lafayette, LA and also became fluent in “Lower Louisiana” Creole Music and Cajun/Creole French. There he encountered fiddlers Canray Fontenot, Faren Serrette, and Black Allemand and quickly grasped old-style Cajun and African Creole fiddling with fervor. After earning a Masters Degree of History at Southern Illinois University and eventually a certificate of Quebecois Studies and Language at the University of Quebec, since 1999 Dennis has been a touring French Creole musician and speaker working across the United States, Canada, and Europe. He keeps in constant contact with Creole populations in Missouri and Louisiana and still tours with Louisiana Creole greats Morris Ardoin and Dexter Ardoin when time allows. Dennis can also be seen performing publicly in Old Mines, MO the first sunday of October, every year at the "Fete d'Automne." Not only a musician, Dennis is a preservationist who focuses on creating an understanding of French Creole culture and music, and why cultural diversity is one of the greatest gifts we have in the United States.
Dennis is available to perform and offer educational programming for a wide range of settings in English or Creole French. Bilingual programs and performances have been given across the United States at diverse institutions such as Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, North Central College, Shepardstown University, Eastern Illinois Univesity, University of New Orleans, Southeast Missouri State University, Highland College, Coffeyville Community College, The Center for French Colonial Studies, The Missouri Folkore Society, and at the National Collegiate Honors Council conference in New Orleans, Louisiana
Jed Marum and Lone Star Stout
http://www.myspace.com/lonestarstout
http://www.lonestarstout.com/
www.jedmarum.com
A strong mix of Irish, Scottish and original songs and tunes. From driving, up-beat airs to beautiful, narrative songs expertly performed with humor and style. A fast connection of Celtic to American Celtic roots with unique instrumentation and refined musicianship. Seasoned professional per
formers.
Biography
Jed Marum and Lonestar Stout use an unusual combination of instruments for unique and exciting sounds in traditional and modern Celtic music. They perform outstanding arrangements of Celtic music's best loved songs/tunes and they perform a number of powerful originals in the Celtic style. They are seasoned and comfortable performers with an easy and humorous presentation style.
In addition to licensing original songs to other recording artists, Jed Marum has licensed songs and recordings to a Black Hawk Productions television series called TRUE LIVES that ran on the Playboy Channel in 2007/8. He has written songs for the 2008 film release, BLOODY DAWN by Lone Chimney Films - which played on PBS and in select theaters. Jed will produce the sound track, which includes original compositions, for the next Lone Chimney Film called BLACK FLAG. This film is also expected to play on PBS after a run of independent theater showings.
InstrumentationJed Marum; guitars, banjos, banjola, vocals
Hugh Morrison; Button Accordion, vocals
Mason Brown; guitars, banjos, pardessus viol, vocals
Pete Dawson; Irish Flute, Whistle
Poor Man's Fortune
www.poormansfortune.com
Poor Man’s Fortune plays new music... no fairy tales, just fiery tunes that happen to be a century or so older than your average hip-hop jam, arranged for modern ears and played on traditional instruments with verve and exuberance.
Poor Man’s Fortune plays old music... dance music, happy music, sad music. Real music that’s been around awhile but still sets toes tapping.
Poor Man’s Fortune plays unique music... Traditional music without the cobwebs... modern music with tradition. Schottishes and congas, jigs with didgeridoos, gavottes & darbukas, a haunting ballad with soaring bombardes. A two-step in four time and a six-step in seven. Bagpipes, flutes, fiddles, pennywhistles, accordions, dulcitares, electric violins and a jazz bass... delicately combined to explore the endless possibilities of old and new music alike.
...Prepare yourself to laugh, to dance and to be moved!
Jim Flanagan
http://www.jimflanagan.com
A native of Ballyvourney, a small village in the heart of the Muskerry Gaeltacht (an Irish speaking area) in County Cork, Jim Flanagan now lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He has performed at major festivals (Milwaukee, Dallas, Colorado, Atlanta, New Orleans, Savannah, Austin, Jackson) and in regular pub performances over the years has established himself as a significant force in Irish music in the Southeastern United States. Steve Winick (Dirty Linen) compares him favorably to Daithi Sproule (of Altan) and the great traditional singer Joe Heaney (Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) - in whose company any Irish singer would be proud to be placed.
Ballyvourney is an area long recognized as a center of poetry, music, and dance. It is the birthplace of many highly respected poets and musicians, among these the famous poet Seán Ó Riordáin. Many great Irish musicians have lived in the area, including Seán Ó Riada, Jackie Daly, John Connell, and the great source singer Elisabeth Cronin. Flanagan draws on this wellspring of tradition with pride of place in his stage performances. He provides a mix of both Irish language and English language songs; songs based in the old style (sean nós) tradition as well as contemporary ballads, many of which lend themselves well to audience participation. His performances are interwoven with his compelling Irish humor, the stories of Ireland and his memories of home, leaving one with a feeling of having been entertained and enriched as well.
Drowsy Maggie
http://www.myspace.com/drowsymaggie
Far from drowsy, this young, Lafayette-based band delivers high-energy Louisiana-flavored Irish music. Though the music could be defined as contemporary, Drowsy Maggie still clings to the deep-set traditions of Ireland, using rich vocal harmonies and tunes that reach new, pyrotechnic heights. No strangers to the stage, the band has performed across the Gulf South for festival crowds and more intimate audiences over the course of the past 8 years. The trio includes Julia Higdon on the bagpipes, Pete Dawson on Irish flute and tinwhistle and Mike Lahey on guitar.
Julia is a champion Highland dancer, winning best overall dancer at the Louisiana and Mississippi Scottish Highland games at the age of 15. She also brings bagpipes, vocals, bodhran and tinwhistle to the band.
Pete is an award-winning Irish flute and whistle player, placing first in both instruments in 2000. He’s recorded with Irish balladeer Danny O’Flaherty and shared the stage with the Chieftains. In addition to singing, he brings his dynamic stage presence to Drowsy Maggie.
Mike has played guitar with everything from large jazz ensembles to intimate blues trios. He sings, plays bodhran, and brings his jazz and rock influences to Irish music with Drowsy Maggie.
Constant Billy
http://www.constantbilly.com/
Take the traditional music of Britain and Ireland. Shake and stir in a little Rock, Classical and Swing using “an incredible, eclectic repertoire of intricate harmonies” from “probably the best all-around folk a-cappella singers in Houston.” Add in the accompaniment of Bodhran, guitar, tin whistle, recorder and bouzouki to create “stuff you just don't hear every day.” Add a dash of “hilarious between-songs banter,” and you have a duo that will leave you reeling. Constant Billy is Today's Trad.
Emily Standish - vocals, tin whistle, recorder and percussion. After years with Houston Symphony Chorus, and as featured soloist with several theater groups including Houston Revels and Trinity Opera Theater, Emily began singing with smaller ensembles in 1997. Has worked with the popular folk group Furagh Larq and the Early Music a cappella group Voces Dei. A powerful and passionate performer, Emily “sings with a purity of sound that is a joy to hear" and has "A voice like honey melted into crystal."
Bill Galbraith - vocals, guitars, and bouzouki. Began playing in a rock group at 12, switched to Trad in 1977 as a founder of Freeborn, the first professional Celtic band in Texas. Moved on to the folk-rock group Four Bricks out of Hadrian’s Wall and sang doo-wop in Dr. T and the Tuxtones. Later worked with the a cappella band Nobody’s Reel. Has performed at festivals and clubs in Britain and America, and has extensive TV and radio credits including appearances on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and live internet performance.
http://www.myspace.com/faroucheband
http://www.celticcajun.com
Fa·rouche (fa-roosh') adj. - wild; savage; fierce
Farouche, based in Lafayette, Louisiana, plays an upbeat and exciting blend of Celtic and Cajun music.
Michael Barney
Uilleann pipes, War Pipes (Great Highland Bagpipes)
Faren Serrette
Fiddle, guitar, vocals
Bodhrán, darbuka, ghatam, other percussion
Andy Blanton
Andy Blanton is a traditional Celtic folk singer and musician. He started playing guitar at the age of 13 and experimented with various musical genres before finding his true medium. After researching his family history and becoming more aware of his Scottish, Irish, and Welsh heritage, he was drawn to Celtic music. Following an impromptu performance of several Irish and Scottish ballads at an open mic night, he was asked to perform with the Celtic band Suilean Dubh and the Lone Star Pipe Band. He was also invited to perform at several Robert Burns dinners, celebrating the most beloved poet of Scotland. He is currently performing at various venues in Southeast Texas and Lake Charles with the aforementioned bands and as a solo artist. With his melodious tenor voice and adept skill at guitar and mandolin, he provides stirring and authentic renditions of traditional Scottish and Irish songs.
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