A performance by the innovative duo Liz Knowles and Kieran O’Hare, and a return appearance by Chieftains co-founder Michael Tubridy highlight this fall’s Gaelic Roots Music, Song, Dance, Workshop and Lecture Series at Boston College.

The series, directed by Sullivan Artist-in-Residence and master fiddler Séamus Connolly and sponsored by the Boston College Center for Irish Programs, brings to campus acclaimed musicians and experts in Irish, Scottish, and other related Gaelic music traditions for free public events.

This semester’s edition of Gaelic Roots begins Oct. 2 with a performance in the Walsh Hall Function Room by Knowles (fiddle) and O’Hare (uilleann pipes, flute, whistle). Individually and as a duo, the two are highly respected throughout the Irish music scene, known for their mastery of traditional, contemporary and original material.

Their credits include stints with “Riverdance,” Cherish the Ladies, Celtic Legends, the String Sisters and even artists such as Bonnie Raitt and Paula Cole; among the venues where they have performed are Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, L’Olympia in Paris, and on Broadway. O’Hare and Knowles play with bouzouki player and vocalist Pat Broaders as the trio Open the Door for Three, which this year released its debut CD.

On October 21, Kieran Jordan ’96 — a renowned Irish dance teacher, performer and choreographer who is a member of the Irish Studies faculty — will lead a participatory Irish dance and ceili evening in the Gasson Hall Irish Room. Connolly will be a featured musician at the event along with Tubridy, a flute, whistle, and concertina player who co-founded legendary Irish group The Chieftains; Tubridy played at last year’s ceili event.

Capping this semester’s Gaelic Roots schedule will be a holiday concert on Dec. 5 in the Irish Room, which will include BC musicians.

All events start at 6:30 p.m.
For information and updates on Gaelic Roots, check bc.edu/gaelicroots.

Canadian-American Club fundraiser set for Nov. 3

Cape Breton fiddler Andrea Beaton will be the featured performer at a fundraiser early next month for the Canadian-American Club, one of the Boston area’s most storied venues for traditional music. The event will take place on Nov. 3 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the club, located at 202 Arlington Street in Watertown.

For 76 years, the club has played a vital role in Greater Boston’s Canadian Maritimes community as a center for social, music, and dance events, and also has served as an important focal point of activity for the local Reynolds-Hanafin-Cooley branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, which holds its monthly meetings there. The club has hosted performances, dances, and other events that have showcased a distinguished roster of musicians representing Cape Breton, Irish and other Celtic traditions, among them Buddy MacMaster, Larry Reynolds, Kimberley Fraser, Joe Cormier, Brenda Stubbert and Jimmy Hogan.

A native of Mabou, Beaton boasts an impressive family musical heritage. Her fiddle-playing father Kinnon and pianist mother Betty are both acknowledged as among the most influential Cape Breton musicians of their generation. Beaton’s forebears also include grandfather Donald Angus Beaton and grandmother Elizabeth Beaton, and she is a niece to Buddy MacMaster and cousin to MacMaster’s daughter Natalie, all of them revered in the Cape Breton music tradition.

Beaton’s first CD, “License to Drive ‘Er,” earned her a nomination as Roots Traditional Solo Artist of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards (ECMA), and her follow-up release “Cuts” was nominated for the 2005 ECMA Instrumental Recording of the Year. Last year, she released “Little Black Book,” an album of original instrumental compositions.

Accompanying Beaton will be pianist Janine Randall, a mainstay of the local Celtic scene. Other performers slated to appear include Comhaltas musicians, Four on the Floor, and members of Dance New England, as well as Gordon Aucoin and many other fiddlers who are regulars of the club. There also will be Irish and Cape Breton dancing, free food and a cash bar. A donation of $20 is suggested.

For more information, see canadianamericanclub.com.
– SEAN SMITH