Super Article On Celtic Woman The Republican Springfield,MA

[Don]

Music of Celtic Woman 'spans divides'
Thursday, June 21, 2007

M?ir?ad Nesbitt, the fiddle player with the group Celtic Woman, began playing piano at age 4 and violin at age 6 at her home in Loughmore, County Tipperary, Ireland.

"All of my family are musicians," she said in between recent performances in Boston. " It's something that came naturally to me."

But it was the sound of her mother playing the fiddle that cast the biggest spell over her.

"The main thing was hearing my mother. I wanted to play with her as a form of communication," she said.

"You can really touch people with music. I wanted to be good enough to play with her."

M?ir?ad now communicates with audiences around the world as the instrumentalist playing with four female vocalists in Celtic Woman, which performs at the MassMutual Center in Springfield tomorrow at 8 p.m.

The group - singers Chloe, Lisa, M?av and Orla, plus M?ir?ad and music director and composer David Downes - has played to enthusiastic U.S. audiences since its March 2005 debut and a popular special that was broadcast that year on the Public Broadcasting System.

The tour is a follow-up to the release earlier this year of Celtic Woman's latest CD, "A New Journey." The group also did another PBS special last year, "A New Journey, Live at Slane Castle."

"It spans the divides," M?ir?ad said earlier this month about the music the group plays on the tour and the new CD.

"People who don't have a background in Celtic or Irish culture have accessed this. We have classical music, contemporary songs ... there is something for everybody."

The repertoire combines songs that many people know, such as "Scarborough Fair" and "Over the Rainbow," with classical music by such composers as Vivaldi - and, of course, Irish standards ("Dulaman," "At the Ceili," "Caledonia" and "Mo Ghile Mear.")

M?ir?ad, a former all-Ireland fiddle champion, studied both classical and traditional music.

She studied the techniques for both separately, learning different bow-holds and differing methods of playing, such as reading sheet music for classical and improvising Irish music and playing by ear. She also brought in elements of jazz.

"Once you get to a certain level, you can bring a few elements from Irish music into classical music and vice versa," she said.

She has since played on the original soundtracks of the shows "Riverdance," "Lord of the Dance" and "Feet of Flames" and on three world tours as the lead fiddler in "Lord of the Dance" and "Feet of Flames."

As for Celtic Woman, she said, "We wanted to convey five angles of the modern Irish woman today.

"We wanted to bring across the idea that women in Ireland and people all around the world don't just listen to music from their background."

And she said that the concerts derive extra intensity because the five soloists are women.

"I think it gives a very strong feeling. We're not afraid to be feminine," she said. "We have a strong female presence in Ireland. We feel this is important to get across on stage."

She called their performances very passionate.

"The audience takes that away with them. A lot of people say they find the music very healing and inspirational," she said.

"We hope that will continue. It goes through all the emotions, from happy to sad."

By RONNI GORDON
rgordon@repub.com
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Always Remember All Things Are Possible With God !!

[Senngetal Galdar]

Well, i think that Miss Nesbitt is more than a professional person, she had been "touched by God" heh, with her very cool preparation and her charisma and inteligence, her presence and such i think that she is very special, not only for CW, for all the people in the world.

And well, she is right, Celtic Woman is not only celtic music, they combine a lot of type of music

[celtic_girlakp]