by WGO staff
Featuring an exciting transatlantic collaboration, a selection of traditional and contemporary tunes for listening and dancing, outstanding performances of some classics, and a jaw-dropping display of musical minds at work and play, this seventh volume in the Celtic Colours Live series offers a few highlights among the many that occurred during the 2019 Celtic Colours International Festival.
Recorded at venues all over Cape Breton Island during the Festival, Celtic Colours Live – Volume Seven kicks off with a very special collaboration between Cape Breton’s Beòlach and Breabach from Scotland, captured during the Kicking Ash concert in Mabou where this year’s Artists in Residence were featured. The tunes continue throughout the album with older and traditional tunes by Newfoundland and Labrador trad stars The Dardanelles and Celtic Colours first-timers Chartrand Babineau from Quebec, and more contemporary tunes from the Scottish contingent including Kinnaris Quintet, Ùr: The Future of our Past, and Breabach.
Of course, for Cape Bretoners, tunes are inextricably linked to dancing, and Kenneth MacKenzie, Kolten MacDonell, and Orianna MacNeil beautifully illustrate this as they play a Scotch Four set for dancers John and Bill Pellerin, Dawn MacDonald-Gillis, and Helen MacDonald during the Close to the Floor concert at Strathspey Performing Arts Centre in Mabou. Dance also took centre stage briefly during Their Lights will Shine at the Highland Arts Theatre in Sydney as Ottawa Valley fiddler, dancer and singer April Verch danced her way through some tunes with expert accompaniment from her cracker-jack bandmates Alex Rubin on guitar and Cody Waters on clawhammer banjo.
And then there’s the guitar duo of J.P. Cormier and Tim Edey, in a category all by themselves as they embark on a 45-minute musical journey through time and space, playfully mixing and matching trad tunes with jazz standards and the occasional folk song or movie theme thrown in for a laugh. The first six or so minutes of their musical odyssey are included here.
In between the tunes in this collection are some outstanding performances of some really well-known songs including “Red is the Rose” by The Chieftains with Alyth McCormack on vocals; “Caledonia” by the Barra MacNeils and their extended family; and Lennie Gallant’s classic “Peter’s Dream”, performed by The Outside Track during soundcheck for the On the Beautiful Coast concert in Belle Côté before the concert had to be cancelled due to a power outage. Julie Fowlis sings “Camariñas” in Gaelic and Galician to round out the thirteen tracks of Festival highlights on Celtic Colours Live – Volume Seven.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jamie Foulds and produced by Declan O’Doherty, Celtic Colours Live – Volume Seven is available now at celtic-colours.com and streaming on most platforms. Celtic Colours 2020 is scheduled for October 9-17. Full lineup and schedule will be released Friday, June 19 with tickets going on sale Tuesday, July 7.
