Arts and Entertainment
Despite cold temperatures throughout and a snowstorm on its closing night, BCMFest (the Boston Celtic Music Fest) enjoyed a highly successful 17th year when it took place January 16-19. The Harvard Square-based festival, which celebrates the rich trove of... Read more
Westwood native Ashley Smith-Wallace can cite time-honored reasons for her success as a youthful Irish step dancer, and then as a multi-style dancer/choreographer and rising actress and singer – things like hard work, patience, support from family and... Read more
by R. J. Donovan
Ralph Waldo Emerson once noted that ”music and wine are one.” Kristen Lee Sergeant is living that conviction to the fullest.
A native of Manchester-by-the-Sea, she’s a jazz vocalist and composer who has blended her passion for music and... Read more
Bob Bradshaw, “Queen of the West” • With every album he makes, Bradshaw, a Cork-born singer/songwriter who has been living in Boston for some years now, has shown himself willing and very able to take bold steps forward and try out new things.
This time... Read more
In addition to BCMFest, January’s Irish/Celtic area happenings will include another Boston visit by Galway Irish-Americana quartet We Banjo 3, which will perform at the Somerville Theater on Jan. 25 at 8 p.m., as part of the Global Arts Live series.
“WB3... Read more
In addition to BCMFest [see separate story], January’s Irish/Celtic area happenings will include another Boston visit by Galway Irish-Americana quartet We Banjo 3, which will perform at the Somerville Theater on Jan. 25 at 8 p.m., as part of the Global... Read more
BY R. J. DONOVAN
SPECIAL TO THE BIR
Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham is celebrating the holiday season with “Miracle on 34th Street,” based on the classic 1947 film of the same name, starring Maureen O’Hara and Natalie Wood. Directed by Ilyse... Read more
By Sean Smith
Special to the BIR
Liz Carroll and Haley Richardson, outstanding Irish fiddlers from different generations, and Newfoundland folk/traditional singer Matthew Byrne are featured in this year’s “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn,” the holiday show... Read more
By Sean Smith
In addition to “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn” (see separate story ), there are – unsurprisingly – plenty of other Irish/Celtic-related holiday music events in Greater Boston and Eastern Massachusetts over the next few weeks.
•The Irish... Read more
BY SEAN SMITH
Martin Hayes & Brooklyn Rider, “The Butterfly”
Hayes is a paragon of East Clare fiddle, with its somewhat slower, relaxed feel compared to other traditions, marked by long, fluid bowing. He’s also shown himself adept at bringing East... Read more
Irish music singer and scholar, Dan Milner plumbs integration of New York’s ‘Unstoppable Irish’
Time frame: 1783-1883
By Sean Smith
Special to the BIR
Dan Milner has an enviable triple-threat musical quality: He’s equally good at writing and talking... Read more
By Sean Smith
Special to the BIR
Understand, it’s not as if Bob Childs wants Childsplay to end. For more than three decades, the Boston-based all-star fiddle ensemble for which Childs serves as artistic director as well as namesake has gathered almost... Read more
By Sean Smith
Special to the BIR
For Boston musician, singer, dancer, and composer Christine Delphine Hedden, memories don’t always reside solely in the mind. The red bow adorning her fiddle’s pegbox, for example, is a remembrance of her second visit to... Read more
By Sean Smith
Kevin Crawford, Colin Farrell and Patrick Doocey, “Music and Mischief” • One of the many reasons to appreciate Lúnasa is that even when they’re not performing or recording as a full band, they cultivate opportunities to play together in... Read more
In addition to the Childsplay farewell tour (see separate story in this edition), here are some other Irish/Celtic music happenings in greater Boston this month:
•The annual Massachusetts Fiddle Hell, which takes place Nov. 7-10, at the Westford Regency... Read more
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, on an otherwise beautiful fall day, terrorists hijacked four planes in the skies over America. All of them were intentionally crashed; two into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one... Read more
By definition, a corner house sits at the edge of a crossroads, in close proximity to all manner of passersby happening through the intersection. In the same vein, Boston quartet Corner House lies at a musical crossroads, its doors and windows open to the... Read more
By Peter F. Stevens
BIR Staff
To say that Brian Kennedy has defied the odds is an understatement. The acclaimed Northern Irish singer and songwriter came of age in Belfast’s war-torn cityscape during The Troubles, and his gifted voice proved to be his... Read more
By Sean Smith
Special to the BIR
A spur-of-the-moment creative impulse by two Greater Boston residents during a Thanksgiving sojourn has now, nearly four years later, culminated in a unique video project that offers a new perspective on traditional Irish... Read more
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By Sean Smith
This month’s column focuses on recent recordings by a pair of Irish/Celtic trios with Massachusetts and New England connections.
New Leaf, “New Leaf” • Based in Western Massachusetts, this band comprises fiddler Kira Jewett, a former pupil... Read more
