irish music & june meitheamh dance...

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Irish Music &

Dance Association 34rd Year, Issue No. 6

June

2016

Meitheamh

The mission of the Irish Music and Dance Association is to , ,support and promote Irish music dance and other

.cultural traditions to insure their continuation

Minnesota Irish Music Weekend June 10-12

Registration is still open for workshops and programs.

‘The Pride of New York,’ an eminent US-based band in the Irish tradition headlines a lively, toe-tapping weekend of traditional Irish music performance and teaching at the Eighth Annual Minnesota Irish Music Weekend (MIM) June 10-12, 2016, at the Center for Irish Music, 836 Prior Avenue North in Saint Paul.

Distinguished band members and teaching artists include Cherish the Ladies founder and leader Joanie Madden,All-Ireland Senior All-Ireland Championship winners Brian Conway (fiddle) and

Billy McComiskey (button accordion), and keyboard and flute player Brendan Dolan, who is regarded as one of the most respected and inventive keyboardists in Irish music today. The event offers a free Friday night "Great Session Experience," and a Saturday night concert featuring all visiting artists, as well as workshops and lectures for children, teens and adults. Workshop and concert prices range from $6 to $225 for a weekend package and can be found online at http://www.centerforirishmusic.org/mim/.

The Minnesota Irish Weekend offers distinctive music programming, including classes for young beginners, teenagers and adults. A Beginner’s Program especially designed for children just getting started in Irish music. Adult programs are designed for intermediate to advanced-level students and include workshops in instruments such as fiddle, flute, tin whistle, piano, accordion, song, and Irish music accompaniment as well as discussions on the Irish musical tradition. All Irish instruments are welcome. Teen and adult program participants all have the opportunity to learn in a small class environment from the visiting master artists.

Additional information including pricing at www.centerforirishmusic.org.

This activity is funded, in part, by the Minnesota State Arts Board through the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008. The Center for Irish Music is a 501c3 non-profit music school located in the Midway neighborhood of Saint Paul. In 2009, CIM began "handing down the tradition" in its own permanent facility at The Celtic Junction, a flourishing Twin Cities hub of Celtic arts. CIM's staff of 18 professional musicians serves over 300 students of all ages through workshops, master classes, and year round instruction in song, fiddle, harp, whistle, concertina, flute, bodhrán, guitar and more.

Inside this issue:

The Music Hound 4

Summer Irish Festivals 5

Northwoods Songs 8

Calling All IMDA Members

An evening to recognize and celebrate the outstanding contributions of some very special members of our Irish community – that’s IMDA Honors. Over the years, IMDA has honored a wide range of very deserving community members – people who have helped to foster the lively and rich Irish music, dance and cultural life of the Twin Cities and beyond. Previous IMDA Honorees include musicians Martin McHugh, Ann Heymann, Paddy O’Brien, Tom Dahill, and Laura MacKenzie, dancer Fred Kedney, writers Lar Burke and Erin Hart, Irish language instructor Frank Joyce, newspaper publisher Jim Brooks, and community leader and entrepreneur Kieran Folliard.

The IMDA Board would like to invite IMDA members to nominate candidates for IMDA Honors 2016. The recipient must be a living member of our Irish community who has made a long term and significant contribution to our cultural life.. If you have someone in mind, please send along a note to Julia Rogers, IMDA President at [email protected] by June 30. Include as much background as possible.

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Irish Music &

Dance Association Tune of the Month by Amy Shaw

Here is another great reel from the playing of some artists who will be featured at this month’s Minnesota Irish Music Weekend – in this case, Billy McComiskey (accordion) and our own Dáithí Sproule (guitar). They recorded it in 1991 in a trio called Trian, which also included Liz Carroll on fiddle. Billy McComiskey, a master of the B/C accordion, won the All-Ireland senior button accordion competition in 1986. Originally from Brooklyn, he has lived in Baltimore since 1980. His style of playing was influenced by East Galway accordion players, especially the late Sean McGlynn, who was from Tynagh, Co. Galway. Besides two albums with Trian, Billy has made influential recordings as a member of the Irish Tradition and the Pride of New York, as well as two solo albums. These recordings are peppered with great tunes of his own composition. According to a 2011 article in The Irish Echo,“…McComiskey over the decades has been pivotal in shattering the long-term, stereotypical, distorted perception of the button accordion as an inferior, obnoxious instrument. He has raised the profile and stature of the button accordion through the sheer luminosity of his playing. Other button accordionists in America and Ireland owe him a huge debt for helping to resuscitate an instrument that never deserved to be put on a ventilator. Every note he plays on the box proves it belongs side by side with the fiddle and flute in both dexterity and prestige. Billy McComiskey makes the accordion sing.” So you have a lot to look forward to at the MIM artists’ concert this year! Students in Billy’s classes at MIM are certainly in for a treat, too, since he has a reputation as a generous teacher. This tune is associated with the melodeon player Tom Doherty, who was born in 1913 in Mountcharles, a short distance west of Donegal town. Tom worked in Scotland and England before finally immigrating to New York in 1948. He played in an old style common to the north of Ireland and had a large repertoire of rare and unusual tunes. You can hear Tom playing this tune as a highland in E minor (a more friendly key on the melodeon) on his Take the Bull by the Horns album (track 4). According to the album notes, he learned it from his parents and later heard it played in the dance halls around Mountcharles. Usual disclaimers: The notation here is not meant to be a substitute for listening. It is simply an aid to learning the tune.

The IMDA Board is:

President: Julia Rogers

Vice President: Jan Casey

Treasurer: Kathleen Rogers

Secretary: OPEN

Board Members: John Concannon Kevin Carroll Kathie Luby Editor: John Burns IMDA Board Meetings are open to the membership. The Board meets regularly on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:00 pm at the Dubliner Pub in St. Paul. Members are encouraged to verify the time and location shortly before, as meeting times and locations can change.

Contact Information

E-mail: [email protected]

Newsletter Submissions We welcome our readers to submit articles of interest, news, and notices of events to be published in the newsletter. The deadline is the 20th of the preceding month.

Send to: [email protected]

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Irish Music &

Dance Association Follow the money," the saying goes, and we're all following the money, willy nilly, as the media cover the coming election. Enormous sums are being raised and spent to seduce us into supporting one candidate or another. Airgead is the Irish word for "money." But the basic meaning of airgead is "silver." Presumably, the word came to be used for money in general through the use of silver coins. This basic "silver" meaning leads to some interesting twists when talking about various types of coins. Gold coins can be called airgead buí, or "yellow silver." Meanwhile, airgead rua ("red silver") would refer to copper coins like our penny. In that scheme, then, what is the original silver money? While the notion of airgead airgid ("silver silver") is tempting, not even Irish speakers are that crazy. When we talk specifically about silver coins, we call them "bright silver" (airgead geal) or even "white silver" (airgead bán). We can also have airgead páipéir, or "paper silver", which is what we use for paper money. Again, airgead

is so generally used for "money" that we don't even realize the oddity of these combinations, in Irish, unless we stop to think about them. This form, airgead, may have worked its way into Irish from the Latin argentum -- the source of the chemical symbol for silver in the Periodic Table of Elements, Ag. In Irish, it also figures in the term for another chemical, "mercury," via airgead beo -- literally "live silver," but more commonly, "quicksilver." There is also "dead silver," airgead

marbh. This can simply refer to idle money, but the wonderful old dictionary by Dineen explains airgead

marbh as "money paid in earnest for land in advance by a grabber before the occupant's lease has expired!" "Dry money" or airgead tirim is money you have saved and have readily available. In other words, it is "ready cash," perhaps for that proverbial rainy day. But

in Irish, we don't save for a rainy day, we save for a sore leg or foot, le haghaidh na coise tinne. (Another term for "ready cash" is airgead boise, "money in the palm of

your hand.") And of course, you'll want to avoid airgead bréige, "lying money." It's "counterfeit." Airgead briste, "broken money,"

refers to small change. But to be briste as airgead, "broken out of money," is to be "broke." That's the opposite of being lofa le hairgead, or "rotten with money" -- an equivalent to "filthy, stinking rich." Of such a person it might be said, "Tá cairéal airgid aige," "He has a quarry of money." He's "loaded." How did he get so rich? Chuir sé bláth ar a chuid

airgid. Bláth means "flower", and this phrase means, "He put his money to good use." But the more literal, and more enjoyable, translation is, "He made his money bloom." As in English, there are others ways of referring to money. A ciste is a "fund," not the concrete money you can feel but the more abstract source of money, in the sense of "state funds" that pay for services. A ciste is a "chest" or "coffer" that could be filled with money. But it is also used for "treasure," including someone you treasure, someone you love. You can address such a person with A chiste!, much as you may have seen a similar phrase, A stór! At Gaeltacht Minnesota, we're blessed to have enough

money for our needs, thanks to the generosity of many

donors earlier this year. Of course, our needs are fairly

modest, as teachers and other helpers volunteer their

time. To learn more about us, visit www.gaelminn.org. Is é an t-airgead údar gach oilc "It's money that is the author of every evil", or "Money is the root of all evil"

--Will

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Irish Music &

Dance Association

An LeabhraganAn LeabhraganAn LeabhraganAn Leabhragan (The Bookcase)

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Maggie O'Farrell

HarvestBooks/Harcourt Brace

Cu Ceoil (“The Music Hound”)

" Music to the Irish is a living delight, a mysterious key to a host of undiscovered emotions hoarded in the

secrets of the soul." Mairtin Byrnes

Our music hound this month is Jim Moss. Jim is a member of the band InishMohr. He plays bouzouki, Scottish small

pipes, whistles, Irish flute and recorders. Having a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the Univ. of Pennsylvania, in

Philadelphia, remains a life long influence on his pursuit of Celtic music. He also plays recorders in a Renaissance and

Medieval recorder group.

If I were sequestered off on a desert island where you could miraculously play an endless number of CDs, At First Light, (Compass Records COM-CD 7 4330 2, 2002) featuring John McSherry and Michael McGoldrick, along with fabulous backing musicians, would be at the top of my list for the Irish Traditional music genre. In Ireland, it won best traditional album of the year in 2001 and, although it was released a while back, the Ireland Journal claimed it as “a timeless masterpiece” - and it truly is. By now the virtuosity of Michael McGoldrick and John McSherry is truly legend, but they must also be very nice guys, absent the big egos endemic in other stellar musicians. As founding members of Lunasa, they are still quite friendly with and sometimes play with the current Lunasa members, even after leaving the band many years ago. You might think of Michael McGoldrick as chiefly an Irish flute player, of course, and John McSherry as an uilleann pipe player. However, their talents exceed far beyond those realms. Several of the outstanding sets on At First

Light include their extremely innovative playing of low whistles. Their judicious use of low whistle harmonies catapults them into a whole other realm of traditional Irish music. They seamlessly blend traditional elements with the contemporary nuances that make for sublime listening throughout. There are no filler tunes on this CD. In light of the McSherry/McGoldrick virtuosity it would be easy to overlook the talents of the backing musicians; but that would be an injustice. Just listen to Paul McSherry’s guitar playing on The Braes of Busby or the guitar parts on The Bloom of Youth for a perfect sense of space and lightness. Manus Lunny also offers some memorable bouzouki and guitar contributions. Of course you could learn all the tunes by ear, if that’s your talent and proclivity, but one of the outstanding advantages of acquiring a CD of this age is that all the music for the tunes on the CD are available in ABC format, midi format as well as PDF format via web sites such as https://thesession.org/recordings/104. The CD is of course available on many web sites (prices vary considerably) and you can download individual tune sets via Spotify, Amazon and certainly iTunes to name a few. You can easily make a Pandora channel featuring At First

Light for more extended listening and be turned on to other fabulous musicians of traditional Irish music. If you don’t have this CD, I say it is a must-have, so go for it however you can. If anything has all the promise of a new dawning day at first light, John McSherry, Michael McGoldrick and their talented friends certainly deliver quite brightly. Musician credits include: Michael McGoldrick (flute, whistle, pipes, bodhrán), John McSherry (pipes, whistle), with Paul McSherry (guitar), Dezi Donnelly (fiddle), Aidan O'Rourke (fiddle), Manus Lunny (bouzouki, guitar), Andrew White (guitar), Ed Boyd (guitar).

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Irish Music &

Dance Association Irish Festival Preview Irish Festival Preview Irish Festival Preview Irish Festival Preview ---- !!!!Save These DatesSave These DatesSave These DatesSave These Dates

Oshkosh Irish Fest, Oshkosh, WI – June 11 – 12. The Oshkosh festival is held at the Leach Amphitheater in Riverside Park, downtown Oshkosh. Gaelic Storm will be back in "Oshkonsin" again this year. Details at www.oshkoshirishfest.com (Oshkosh is 280 miles from St. Paul – about a 5 hour drive.)

Dublin Irish Festival, Dublin, OH – Aug. 5, 6 & 7.Dublin rolls out the green carpet with a wonderful festival in a town park and transportation from area hotels to the festival grounds. Featured bands include: Gaelic Storm, Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Solas, We Banjo 3,

Willis Clan, Slide, Scythian, Gailfean, Socks in the Frying Pan, Enter the Haggis, Goitse,

Seven Nations and our own Wild Colonial Bhoys. Details at www.dublinirishfestival.org

Iowa Irish Festival, Waterloo, IA – Aug. 5 - 7. Trinity Irish Dancers, Derek Warfield &

the Young Wolfe Tones, Dublin City Ramblers, the Elders, Red Hot Chilli Pipers, the High

Kings, The Screaming Orphans, Scythian, Tallymore and our own Twin Cities favorites – The Sweet Colleens and Tom Dahill and Ginny Johnsonare some of the groups that you can enjoy in a lovely, relaxed park setting just a few hours from the Twin Cities! Get the whole story at www.iowairishfest.com.

Milwaukee Irish Fest, Milwaukee, WI - Aug. 18 thru 21. The granddaddy of them all – featuring 100acts on 16 stages. Special focus this year on the Celtic World including: Barrule, Calan, Celtic Fiddle Festival, Dallahan, Dardanelles, De Barra, Moya Brennan,

Myzerk, Ten Strings and a Goat Skin, and Wrigley Sisters. The lists of artists is incredible – be sure to check out the website at www.irishfest.com to plan your weekend. More artist information will be announced over the next few months.

Kansas City Irish Fest, Kansas City, Mo – Sept. 2-4 (Labor Day Weekend). Kansas City Irish Fest is held at the Crown Center in downtown Kansas City. Hotel accommodations often include tickets to the festival and several hotels are connected by skyway to the festival site. The festival features seven stages. KC’s own The Elders are a mainstay of the festival. Watch for more information on artists at kcirishfest.com.

Rochester Irish Fest, Rochester, MN – Sept. 2 & 3 (Labor Day Weekend).The dates are set and planning is under way. Keep an eye on the website for future details – www.irishfestmn.org.

Michigan Irish Music Festival, Muskegon, MI – Sept. 15-18. Scythian, Blackthorn,

Kennedy’s Kitchen, Moxie Strings and Seamus Kennedy for a start. Muskegon is just across

Lake Michigan from Door County. Leave your car and take the ferry for a great weekend of

music! Details and updates are posted at www.michiganirish.org

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Irish Music &

Dance Association

IMDA Community Calendar June 2016 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 7pm Irish Social Dance 9pm The Langer’s Ball Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls

2 6:30pm Pub Quiz 8pm Pub Quiz Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7pm Irish Music Session J. Grundy’s Rueb ‘N’ Stein, Northfield

3 6pm Irish Music Session Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Bedlam Charlie’s Pub, Stillwater 8pm Celtic Session Merlins Rest, Mpls

4 7pm Belfast Cowboys w/ St. Dominic’s Trio Turf Club, St. Paul 7:30pm Bedlam Charlie’s Pub, Stillwater

5 Noon: Traditional Music Session Kieran’s Pub, Mpls 3pm Scottish Music & Song Classes The Celtic Junction, St. Paul

4pm Learners Irish Session 6pm Advanced Irish Music Session Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls 8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

6

7 7:30pm Pub Quiz Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 9pm St. Dominic’s Trio Driftwood Char Bar, Mpls 9pm Irish Brigade Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

8 7pm Irish Social Dance Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls

9 6:30pm Pub Quiz 8pm Pub Quiz Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7pm Irish Music Session J. Grundy’s Rueb ‘N’ Stein, Northfield 7pm Celtic Music Showcase Underground Music Café, Falcon Heights

10 Minnesota Irish Music

Weekend

The Celtic Junction, St. Paul 6pm Irish Music Session Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Northerly Gales Charlie’s Pub, Stillwater 8pm Celtic Session Merlins Rest, Mpls

11 Minnesota Irish Music

Weekend

The Celtic Junction, St. Paul 7:30pm Northerly Gales Charlie’s Pub, Stillwater 9pm Irish Brigade Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

12 Irish Music Weekend

The Celtic Junction, St. Paul Noon: Traditional Session Kieran’s Pub, Mpls 3pm Scottish Music & Song Classes The Celtic Junction, St. Paul 4pm Learners Irish Session 6pm Advanced Irish Music Session Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls 8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

13 7:30pm Sea Shanty Sing Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

14 7:30pm Irish Set Dancing w/ the Twin Cities Ceili Band Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Pub Quiz Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 9pm St. Dominic’s Trio Driftwood Char Bar, Mpls

15 7pm Irish Social Dance 9pm The Langer’s Ball Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls


17 6pm Irish Music Session 9pm Tiller Black Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Broken Spoke Charlie’s Pub, Stillwater 8pm Celtic Session Merlins Rest, Mpls

18 7pm 3rd Saturday Ceili The Celtic Junction, St. Paul 7:30pm Broken Spoke Charlie’s Pub, Stillwater 9pm Bedlam Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

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Irish Music &

Dance Association

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

19 Noon: Traditional Music Session Kieran’s Pub, Mpls 3pm Scottish Music & Song Classes The Celtic Junction, St. Paul

4pm Learners Irish Session 6pm Advanced Irish Music Session Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls 8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

20

21 7:30pm Pub Quiz Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 9pm St. Dominic’s Trio Driftwood Char Bar, Mpls

22 7pm Irish Social Dance Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls


24 6pm Irish Music Session Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Four Pints Shy Charlie’s Pub, Stillwater 8pm Celtic Session Merlins Rest, Mpls 9pm The Careys Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

25 7:30pm Four Pints Shy Charlie’s Pub, Stillwater 9pm Irish Brigade Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

26 Noon: Traditional Session Kieran’s Pub, Mpls 3pm Traditional Singers Club W A Frost, St. Paul 3pm Scottish Music & Song Classes The Celtic Junction, St. Paul 4pm Learners Irish Session 6pm Advanced Irish Music Session Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls 8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

27 7pm 4th Monday Shanty/Pub Sing Merlins Rest, Mpls

28 7:30pm Irish Set Dancing w/ the Twin Cities Ceili Band Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Pub Quiz Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 9pm St. Dominic’s Trio Driftwood Char Bar, Mpls

29 7pm Irish Social Dance 9pm Irish Brigade Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls

30 6:30pm Pub Quiz 8pm Pub Quiz Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7pm Irish Music Session J. Grundy’s Rueb ‘N’ Stein, Northfield 9pm Sister Tree Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

1 6pm Irish Music Session Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 8pm Celtic Session Merlins Rest, Mpls

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Irish Music &

Dance Association Northwoods Songs: Irish Songs from Lumberjacks and Great Lakes Sailors

By Brian Miller

Northwoods Songs features a new song each month pulled from my research into old songs collected in the pine woods region that

stretches from New Brunswick west through northern Minnesota. In the 1800s, a vibrant culture of singing and song-making

developed in lumber camp bunkhouses and on Great Lakes ships. The repertoire and singing style were greatly influenced by Irish

folk repertoire and Irish singing styles. Many singers in the region had Irish background themselves.

Each installment of Northwoods Songs is also published online at www.evergreentrad.com along with a video of me singing the

song of the month. My hope is that others will learn some of these songs and make them their own as I have. -Brian Miller

LOVEL (REVISITED).

As Lovel was a-walking a-walking one morning He espied two peddlers two peddlers a-coming

He boldly stepped up to them and called them his honey Saying “Stand and deliver boys for all I want’s your money.”

Lol te de a de um, Lol te de a dum.

“O we are two peddlers two peddlers are we sir And you are Mr. Lovel we take you to be sir

O we are two peddlers that have lately come from Dublin And all that we have in our box is our beddin’ and our clothing.”Lol te de…

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Irish Music &

Dance Association As Lovel was walking up Kinsberrymountain

He espied two rich misers their guineas they were counting First he cocked his blunderbuss and then he drew his rapier

Saying “Stand and deliver boys for I’m a money taker.”Lol te de…

“O Lovel, O Lovel my poor heart’s a-breaking For little did I think my love you ever would been taken

And if I had’ve known that the enemy was a-coming I’d have fought like a hero although I’m but a woman.” Lol te de…

“O Polly, O Polly my poor heart’s a-breaking

If it had not been for you my love I never would been taken For while I was a-sleeping not thinking of the matter

You discharged my pistols and loaded them with water.”Lol te de…

As Lovel was walking all up the gallows ladder He called to the sheriff for his Irish cap and feather Saying “I have robbed money but never killed any

I think it hard that I must die just for grabbing money.”Lol te de…

We return this month to this wonderfully obscure and fun-to-sing variant of “Whiskey in the Jar” recorded in 1924 from Akeley, Minnesota singer Reuben W. Phillips (see N.S. Sep. 2014). I am thrilled to announce that the original field recording of this song, along withmany others, is now online on the new Minnesota Folksong Collection site! Visitors to www.minnesotafolksongcollection.org can access (for free) over 40 field recordings of Minnesota singers recorded in 1924. Many of the songs featured in Northwoods Songs over the past four years appear in the collection. The site is currently relatively bare-bones but over the next few months I will be adding features to help encourage visitors to learn songs from the collection and to learn more about the Minnesota-based source singers. The site does feature sheet music transcriptions of the song melodies (a labor-intensive feature for me to create but, hopefully, something that helps users decipher the very low fi recordings). When folklorist Robert W. Gordon recorded Minnesotans Reuben W. Phillips and Michael C. Dean, he typically only captured one or two verses of each song—rationing out the valuable space on his wax cylinders. Luckily, both Phillips and Dean supplied Gordon with complete written texts for most of the songs they sang. I have combined their texts with the field recordings on the Minnesota Folksong Collection site just as I have done above and in previous Northwoods Songs. Phillips’ handwritten manuscript of song texts is full of many nonstandard spellings of words which I have altered to more standard spellings above and on the website to help users access the texts more easily. I have also opted to shift some of the transcriptions into keys I feel are more suitable for sight reading. I would love to hear some feedback from NorthwoodsSongs readers regarding the functionality of the new site! Please check it out at www.minnesotafolksongcollection.org and drop me a line to let me know what you think ([email protected]).

The Lost Forty recently arranged Phillips’ version of Lovel and our June Lost Forty Project video shows us performing it at the beautiful Stone Saloon building in St. Paul (www.stonesaloon.com). As always, you can find the video and a blog post version of this article at www.evergreentrad.com.

Visit a full archive of all Northwoods Songs columns and songs online at

www.evergreentrad.com

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the

Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and

cultural heritage fund.

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Irish Music &

Dance Association

The Center for Irish Music

Come check us out at

The Celtic JunctionThe Celtic JunctionThe Celtic JunctionThe Celtic Junction 836 Prior Avenue, St Paul MN

Please check the website for information on our full range of instruction in traditional Irish

music, language , culture and fun.

For class schedule and other information call or email

651-815-0083 @ .admin centerforirishmusic org

Or visit our website

. .www centerforirishmusic org

Dedicated to Handing Down the Tradition

Smidirini* (*Irish for ‘Bits and Pieces’)

By Copper Shannon

♣ Deepest Sympathy to Jim Rogers and family. Jim’s wife Jeannie Rogers recently passed away. Jim is the

director of the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas, regular contributor to Irish Fair of

Minnesota and recipient of Irish Fair’s Curtin-Conway Award. Beannacht Dé ar a hanam. (God’s

blessings on her soul.)

♣ There are a couple of new music groups in the Twin Cities. Mary Vanorny (of Forty Shades of Green and

the Twin Cities Céili Band) and Ryan Johnson (of the Twin Cities Ceili Band) are Common Reel, playing

traditional Irish music, taking the commonly played jigs and reels of Ireland and artistically performing

them on fiddle and piano. Sheri O’Meara (of Locklin Road) and husband Tom Greenwald are O’Green,

performing a blend of folk and Americana from old masters and new and incorporating blues, Celtic,

their original work and more.

♣ And there’s a new pub down Apple Valley way – Celt’s Craft House at 7083 – 153rd

Street W. With an

Irish Trinity Knot as a logo – and plenty of beers on tap plus food and cocktails – it’s worth a visit.

♣ Comhghairdeas le (Congratulations to) Chuck Dougherty and his team at Charlie’s Irish Pub in

Stillwater! Charlie’s was named “Best Patio in the Twin Cities” by the St. Paul Pioneer Press readers - for

the second year in a row! And Charlie’s offers live music every weekend.

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Irish Music &

Dance Association

Ceili Corner By Bhloscaidh O’Keane

Irish Céilí Dance:

Third Saturday Night Céilí - The Celtic Junction, 836 Prior Ave., No. St. Paul.

Irish Dance Classes:

Céilí Dancing - Wednesday Nights

Dubliner Irish Pub - 2162 University Avenue in Saint Paul. Learn Irish dancing in a genuine Irish pub with a wooden floor that has known a whole lot of dancing feet. Steps and dances are taught by Paul McCluskey and Kirsten Koehler. Basic beginning steps are taught beginning at 7:00, with advanced lessons and dancing continuing until 9:30 PM. Year-round; no children, and must be of legal drinking age. Free.

Set Dancing - Tuesday Nights

Dubliner Irish Pub - 2162 University Avenue in Saint Paul. Set Dancing at 7:30 pm on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month, music by the Twin Cities Ceili Band. The cost is $5 for the band, beginners welcome, for more information call Geri at the Dubliner (651)646-5551.

Check www.lomamor.org for all up-to-date Irish folk dancing information.

Update on IMDA Membership The Irish Music and Dance Association would like to remind members of a change in policy regarding membership. Because of rising costs in printing and postage, the Irish Music and Dance Association asks that members who want to receive their newsletter by U S mail support the IMDA by contributing at least $35 a year. All members have the option of receiving their newsletter by e-mail for faster delivery and color photos! We welcome your financial support of the IMDA at any level and that support helps us continue our work to promote Irish music and dance in the Twin Cities and beyond. You may also become a newsletter-only member without making a financial contribution. Whichever membership option you choose, we appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at a concert or dance event soon!

Name: Today’’’’s Date:

Address:

Where did you hear about us?

Membership Type (circle one)

Supporting Corporate Newsletter Support Level _______

Interests (circle all that apply)

Music Dance Theatre Gaelic Volunteer

E-mail Address: Phone Number:

Your monthly newsletter is delivered electronically via e-mail. Please advise us at [email protected] if your e-mail address changes .

Supporting members who contribute at least $35 annually may receive their newsletter by U S Mail. ___ Request US Mail

Revised 11/2013

Tear out the above form and send it with a check made out to “IMDA” to: The IMDA Membership Coordinator c/o Jan Casey 400 Macalester St. St. Paul, MN 55105

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irish music & june meitheamh dance...

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