Issue 7 12/98

Ceolas - Fred Morrison's new Gaelic project
Scotland. International champion piper Fred Morrison (photo) has a new Scottish band with young musicians from throughout Gaeldom. Ceolas is bringing the lyricism of old Gaelic airs and the raw energy of Highland jigs, strathspeys and reels to the Nineties' concert stage.
The exciting band features Fred Morrison (border pipes, whistle), Ken Fraser (fiddle), Ronan Martin (fiddle), Ross Martin (guitar), Will Lamb (bouzouki) and Alasdair Codona (vocals). Following their recent sellout debut at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during the Big Big World Music Festival, next possibilities to experience them is at Celtic Connections in 1999: 15th January at The Fruitmarket, and 26th January in a Gaelic concert at the Royal Concert Hall. Further Infos: Ceolas Homepage and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall/Celtic Connections Homepage

Swedish-Irish Connections
Sweden/Ireland/England. There are exciting relationships between Irish and Swedish music traditions, while in Sweden the Irish and Swedish scenes are generally not very close to each other. Experts of Irish-Swedish traditions are the Anglo-Swedish Swap. This will be a theme in an article soon to come.

...been hunting for strings for a charango or a rubber ended bhodhrán beater? A low whistle or a rosewood flageolet?
"Erbses Bauchladen", running an online-Shop in the internet since June 1998, is dealing in musical instruments and accessories which are sometimes a little hard to come by. At

The FolkWorld Live Act Top Ten 1998 (compiled by the editors)
Flashback on the most memorable concerts of 1998. Here are the editor's three best live acts of 98 and their seven, also highly recommended, follow-ups. These are great craic and high quality entertainment.

1. The best of 98: Chris Sherburn & Denny Bartley with Jane Sherburn seen at Gosport Easter Festival
   Maybe the funniest and craziest act of the English folk scene: Chris Sherburn & Denny Bartley with Chris' always smiling sister Jane on the bodhran. The audience always laughs tears about their silly jokes and their strange treatments of well known trad songs. Chris is one of the best concertina players around; Denny is a guitar player and singer. Their interpreations of well-known songs and tunes are very unusual - you cannot recognize all these well-known Irish ballads when they play them. The quality of the live act originates especially in the great sense of English humour of this duo. Jane brings in not only the rhthm section of the trio, but also a not ending smile.
   This one's for us the best live act of 1998; high quality music with much laughing!
   Read the FolkWorld interview with Chris Jane & Denny (the craziest-ever FolkWorld interview)
   

2. The second best of 98: Peatbog Fairies seen at their late night's concert at Warwick Folk Festival
   The late night extra concert starting at midnight with the Peatbog Fairies from Scotland with their eclectic and dancy Scottish trance music. They get any audience dancing with their music based on pipes and flutes of Peter Morrison, with a modern backing section. Their musical quality as a live act was proven the morning after this late night gig: At a morning concert they managed to impress the still very sleepy audience even at this - for folk musicians - strange morning time. Go and catch them if you can!
   Watch out for an interview with the Peatbogs in the next issue of FolkWorld!
   

3. The third best of 98: Keep it Up seen at their Visemøllen's concert at Tønder Festival
   A highly amusing and entertaining set. The band features four of the best, but especially four of the funniest musicians the Edinburgh folk scene has to offer. Their music is superb; they play mostly slow music to show the full beauty of the tunes, but they are by far not boring as they are all very skilled musicians. What makes the band most entertaining are the crazy introductions of the tunes.
   Read the FolkWorld Tønder Review and the interview with KIU's Simon Thoumire
   

4. Bleizi Ruz in Herne/Germany in the Sonne. Breton Five Piece Band with Breton Pipes, Percussion, Accordeon, Guitar and Breton and French singing.
   Watch out for an interview with Bleizi Ruz in the next issue of FolkWorld!

5. Hoven Droven open air in Unna/Germany. Modern folk band from Sweden, creating an exciting dancy mix of Swedish traditions, Dance, Rock, Jazz etc., with a Nordic feeling.
   Read the FolkWorld interview with Hoven Droven

6. Deaf Shepherd in concert with Tabache and Jim Malcolm at Gosport Easter Festival/England. A real Scottish 'dream team' for a folk evening, with the young Scottish band Deaf Shepherd in superb shape.
   Read the FolkWorld live review of Gosport Easter Festival

7. Swåp at Gosport Easter Festival/England. An exciting music mix of two Scandinavian and two English musicians.
   Read the FolkWorld live review of Gosport Easter Festival; and watch out for the interview with Swåp in one of the next issues

8. Anne Martin & Co. at the Heart of Scotland Music Festival in Aberfeldy. Anne, the Gaelic singer with the beautiful voice, with her very special ‚Co' band. Finale concert at Aberfeldy Festival.
   Read the FolkWorld live review of the Heart of Scotland Music Festival

9. Altan at the Getaway in Solingen/Germany. One of Ireland's finest trad bands in a disco - quite an experience.
   Watch out for the live review of this concert in one of the next issues

10. Edward II - Carnival Caribe at the Bahnhof Langendreer in Bochum/Germany. Celtic Roots Reggae with a superb live performance - not only great for carnival...
    Read the German-only FolkWorld live review

Concert for Omagh a success
Belgium/Ireland. The Omagh concert in Brussels announced in last FolkWorld was sold out, having raised more than 2 million BF for the Omagh funds! Stephen D'Arcy reproted from the concert night: "What a superb concert at the Ancienne Belgique! The list of artists was a real "Who's Who" of Irish folk and it is unlikely that - even at a folk festival - we'll ever see such a gathering again. A great night, and great credit to the organisers. The Omagh appeal fund will have been seriously boosted by the concert and raffle proceeds. One moan. A great pity about those (Irish among them) who drank and shouted in the side bar while Mr O Dwyer, chairman of the Omagh appeal fund, was speaking on stage. Is your need for alcohol so strong and are your manners always so bad?"
It must have been an indee memorable line-up. Who knows, maybe we will receive a live review from anybody who has been there for our next issue?

Magnetic Music, Label, Agent and Organiser, is recognized in Germany's Celtic music scene as the market leader and adding to this, an important impulse giver and think tank internationally. Magnetic Music can be termed as an embassy for culture where the door has opened for artists, record companies, media people and music lovers alike.
In FolkWorld, Magnetic Music from now on presents its news in a column. This time, you can find there infos on CDs and Tours of Rawlins Cross, Barachois, Jennifer Roland, Midnight Court.
If you are based in Germany you can take part in competitions to win: CDs of Cross, Barachois and Jennifer Roland; Concert tickets for Barachois in Germany; T-Shirts!

Euro
Europe/FolkWorld. The first of January 1999 marks an important date in European history: The Euro as a common currency will be introduced, bringing Europe even closer to each other. From the symbolic side of things this is a great moment, as we are now drawn to our European neighbours as friends. Hopefully this all will result also into more cultural exchange between the European countries - there is so much to discover in the trad scene of our neighbours!
FolkWorld takes tribute to the new currency, and has now its advertisment price list in EURO prices.

Ex-Runrig Singer becomes Rector
Scotland. The announcement that Donnie Munro is to be the first Rector of the University of the Highlands and Islands has been welcomed by Local Labour Party members in the North. Speaking in Alness, local Labour Party constituency secretary Mary MacDonald said, "We are all delighted for Donnie, we all know that he will bring something special to the Rectorship of the UHI. Donnie always has the needs of the Highlands and Islands at heart and I'm sure we can rely on him to make a great success of the job. - The University of the Highlands and Islands is of prime importance to the people of our area and only deserves the best folk to help drive it forward."
Donnie Munro is the labour party's candidate for the Ross, Skye and Inverness West seat in the Scottish Parliamentary elections.

Snapshot - the Fun Photo Competition
Who are the happy persons on this snapshot?
Name us at least one (better even both) names of these popular Scottish folk musicians, and WIN 3 CDS at once (of your choice out of a selection of six folk music (promotional) CDs)!!!!

This competition is out of date, for new competitions look in the latest issue.

One Year FolkWorld
FolkWorld. The Online Music Magazine celebrated its first birthday on the 1st of November. In this first year, FolkWorld has reached a bigger following and readership than the editors would have imagined a year ago. We like to thank all our supporters and friends for supporting the project!

25 years Edinburgh Folk Club
Scotland. In October, the Edinburgh Folk Club celebrated its 25th anniversary. Always taking place in the pleasance cabaret bar at 60, The Pleasance in Edinburgh, the club has become an institution of the Edinburgh scene. Congratulations from FolkWorld!
Infos on the club from Graham.

In the German news you can find as additional news:

• LAG Folk News birthday: for five years now northern German (Schleswig Holstein's) organisation LAG Folk SH publishes a news letter
• Eastern German songwriter Gerhard Gundermann has died
• German Profolk association annouces newcomer award
• The Galcian (northern Spain) band Berrogüetto has two German dates in january
• New German high quality Irish music band called "An Tor"
• German Folk band Wachholder in spring on tour organised by German agent Concert Idee (advertisement)
• Swedish band Trio Patrekatt in Germany on tour

To first FolkWorld news page

To the (older) FolkWorld News of Nr. 6
To the (newer) FolkWorld News of Nr.8

To the content of FolkWorld online music magazines Nr. 7

© The Mollis - Editors of FolkWorld; Published 12/98

All material published in FolkWorld is © The Author via FolkWorld. Storage for private use is allowed and welcome. Reviews and extracts of up to 200 words may be freely quoted and reproduced, if source and author are acknowledged. For any other reproduction please ask the Editors for permission.

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