Celtic Woman Fan Site Forum Index
 
 
Time In Ireland Is
Great Article About Mairead And Hayley

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Celtic Woman Fan Site Forum Index -> Máiréad Nesbitt
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Don
Site Admin


Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Posts: 546
Location: Near Fort Knox Ky

PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 4:45 pm    Post subject: Great Article About Mairead And Hayley Reply with quote

By Bob Karlovits
TRIBUNE-REVIEW MUSIC WRITER
Thursday, March 8, 2007

Mairead Nesbitt, the firefly of a fiddler from Celtic Woman, is finding success brings on many challenges.

Not only does it mean being out on the road longer, it also is making her create ways of staying on her feet while learning a new set.

"Obviously, when you're playing, you can't look down," says Nesbitt, whose onstage prancing during her fiddling has become one of the trademarks of the popular show. "We've had lots of rehearsals, but I have had to stay and try to get even more familiar with the stage."

The group of four Irish singers, the fiddler, and an orchestral and choral backup group will make its third annual appearance Downtown on Tuesday and Wednesday. The group returns to New York City for its St. Patrick's Day concerts at Radio City Music Hall.

"That's where we were two years ago when it all started," Nesbitt says of the third appearance in New York on the Irish holiday. "It just seems like the place to be on that day."

The group is familiar with tradition. Its music is shaped around such songs as "The Last Rose of Summer" and also "Mo Ghile Mear" in Gaelic.

But it also has New Age songs such as "Orinoco Flow," classics such as "Scarborough Fair" and, new to the group, "Shenandoah."

"That is such a beautiful song and when we come over here we don't want to sing it badly," she says of "Shenandoah."

The band has broken with tradition in another way, too, but even that has a traditional leaning. Hayley Westenra, a New Zealand singer with Irish roots, will be in the group at the concert here, part of a monthlong stay in which she replaces Meav Ni Mhaolchatha.

David Downes, orchestrator of the "Riverdance" show and music director of this one, came up with the idea of blending singers, who all were having good solo careers, and marketing them together.

That led to the mix of Nesbitt, Ni Mhaolchatha. Chloe Agnew, Lisa Kelly and Orla Fallon.

Westenra fits into that category, Nesbitt says, and will offer Ni Mhaolchatha a bit of a break on this 4.5-month tour which has 68 dates, up from 50 last year.

"We all have so much to do, I'm sure Meav will use the time to work on other things," Nesbitt says.

The new singer will use it to advance her new album, "Celtic Treasure."

Westenra, 19, has done some touring in the United States with the Boston Pops and in visits with other orchestras. She says this stretch with Celtic Woman will allow her to "reach out to a new audience."

It also pushes her "out of my comfort zone a bit and makes me grow as a performer," she says.

She has a great comfort zone for performing, though. She says she's been singing "since I could talk," was busking at 11, did her first concert at 13 and started touring at 15.

When she leaves the group in April, she will return to England, where she lives now, before going to Japan, Australia and New Zealand to promote her album. She then will return to the group for another stint in May.

Celtic Woman has a new album, too, bearing the same title as this concert, "A New Journey."

That project also is accompanied by a like-titled DVD of an outdoor concert at a Irish castle.

Nesbitt says the title points to efforts to make shows different enough to be fresh while similar enough to provide that for which they are well liked.

For instance, she says, listeners can count on hearing "Orinoco Flow," a song that has become something of at theme.

"It's such a beautiful number, it is a delight to sing," she says. "You end up doing something different every night, so it is never a chore."

Fans also can expect her fiddle choreography. She laughs when she is complimented on her "foot speed," and says it just makes sense as a way of blending music and a form of dance.

It isn't easy, she says, but that's the point.

"Of course it's difficult," she says, "otherwise everybody would be doing it."
_________________
Always Remember All Things Are Possible With God !!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Celtic Woman Fan Site Forum Index -> Máiréad Nesbitt All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group