CELTIC WAVES LIVE
Recording Engineers: Chesley Cannon, Jason Taglionetti
Editors: Chesley Cannon, Lawson Cannon
Album Design: Chesley Cannon
Photography: Ryan Armstrong
Notes: Lawson Cannon
This is the blog for "CELTIC WAVES...LIVE," the CD released by the traditional Celtic band "Celtic Waves" in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2007.
Celtic Waves plays acoustic Celtic music on traditional instruments. The band was organized in late 2002. We began playing Irish pub gigs in 2004. In 2006 we started playing with our current musicians:
Clark Ratliffe - Irish wooden flutes and whistles
Katie McClellen - Celtic harp, octave mandolin, penny whistle
Kevin Craven - fiddle
Lawson Cannon - Celtic guitar, Irish bouzouki
WaiWai - bodhran (Irish frame drum)
In 2006 we were privileged to play two concerts, one each in Honolulu's two most exclusive small venues for live acoustic performance. This CD contains excerpts from the field recordings made at those two concerts.
The "down" side of live recordings is that you cannot play a piece over again, or digitally fix a mistake, as you can in studio recording. What you played that one time is what you get on the recording. And sometimes the acoustic qualities of the room may lend themselves more to listening than to quality recording. The "up" side of live recordings is that they can often include "extra" sounds made by an enthusiastic audience or an excited and inspired musician. Sometime they even seem to capture part of the "spontaneous magic" that can be created between live performers and an audience.
After listening to the recordings of these 2 concerts, we decided that there were enough of these "good" moments to share them with you on this "live" CD. Now you can listen to CELTIC WAVES...LIVE on your own CD player.
TRACKS 1-8 were recorded by Chesley Cannon in May 2006 during a live performance at the rRed Elephant, a state-of-the-art acoustic music venue located in Honolulu's Chinatown. We were honored to be one of the first groups invited to perform in the new facility. Sadly, the venue is now closed. Those musicians who performed there will always remember the highest quality of the sound and light provided by Joey and Paul. Thanks, guys, for your devotion to acoustic music in Honolulu! Chesley is a professional videographer, and he combined the audio input from both the boom microphone on his camera and a "line in" graciously provided by Joey Wolpert from his elaborate mixing board. Although you will hear occasional glitches in the combination of these 2 audio sources, you will also hear a sound quality that greatly excedes most audio tracks taken from live video recordings.
Dodi Rose, playing metal flute and penny whistles, was a part of our ensemble on Tracks 1-8.
NOTES ON THE TUNES: All of these tunes are traditional.
1. Lagan Love: Unfortunately, we only have a few bars of this aire, played so beautifully by Clark on his Irish wooden flute.
Lark in the Morning: This 4-part jig is a standard at most Irish sessions. We fill up the sound with bodhran (Irish frame drum), bass line on Katie's Celtic harp, and both flute and whistle melody lines, provided by Clark and Dodi.
2. Chickens Are a'Crowing: This reel demonstrates the whimsical lack of connection between the names of traditional Irish tunes and their meaning, which is often NONE. The piece starts slowly, with the fiddle solo, and then builds to a feverish pace. This tune is in the key of Dminor, as is the one which follows it in the medley. See if you can hear the transition from the first to the second; it occurs after the third repetition of the first tune, which is traditional in Irish session medleys.
Julia Delaney: This Dminor reel, a "classic" in the tradition, switches to unexpected major chords in the B section. You will clearly hear Lawson yell "HO!" to signal the end of this tune.
3. Aran Boat Song: This is a slow aire. It "speaks" of the isolation of the Aran Islands, in sight of the coast of County Clare in the west of Ireland.
The Butterfly: This is a very well known 3- part "slip jig," which means that it is danced with slower steps than a normal jig, with higher kicks and spins; it is in 9/8 time signature, which gives it a lifting bounce. We like the 3 voices of harp, fiddle and flute singing this for you. What you cannot see is the three Irish step dancers who performed during this number. The applause is for THEM: Delia Suankum, Keili Suankum, and Kiara Young.
4. Sally Gardens Reel: Sally is the lady that the gardens in Dublin were named for; the tune was named for the park, not the person. Notice that Katie is playing this fast reel melody on her harp, while Lawson and Susan pound out the rhythm.
Drowsy Maggie: This is one of the first tunes learned by people who take up playing traditional Irish music. We don't know who Maggie was, but we certainly know that she was NOT drowsy.
5. Cliffs of Moher: The Cliffs of Moher are one of the most visited and photographed natural wonders in Ireland. These gray granite vertical walls rise some 1000 feet out of the Atlantic ocean in County Clare. They have inspired this jig, which we play slowly and beautifully, in the style of an aire. Kevin starts with a fiddle solo and is joined by Katie on harp and Clark and Dodi on flutes.
Swallowtail Reel: Lawson on guitar and WaiWai on bodhran provide the rhythmic transition to this up-tempo reel. Katie picks up their accompaniment by playing the bass line on her harp!
6. Temperance Reel: This is another very popular session tune which is know by most players in the Irish genre; it is also referred to as "The Teetotaler's Reel."
The Flowers of Edinburgh: The title of this reel refers to the "ladies of the night" found in Scotland's capital city. That's Dodi on the high notes on her penny whistle. This is a very popular tune for ceili dances.
7. Haste to the Wedding: We constructed this medley as much for the story suggested by its titles read in sequence as for their individual significance. What do you think of such a series of events?
Merrily Kiss the Quaker's Wife: No comment.
Smash the Windows: the logical outcome to follow the first 2 titles, eh?
8. St. Anne's Reel: This tune originated in the Celtic lands in the maritime provinces of eastern Canada and worked its way backwards across the Atlantic to Ireland. The recording that you hear joins this tune "in progress" as Delia, Keili, and Kiara were dancing their leggings off again; this explains the enthusisastic clapping...for the dancers as well as for the musicians.
Whiskey Before Breakfast: The title of this tune suggests a custom that can only be Irish. The clapping for the musicians and dancers continues right through to the end of the concert.
TRACKS 9-17 were recorded by Jason Taglianetti in December 2006 during a live performance at the Atherton Studio for the Performing Arts, an intimate acoustic music venue located at Hawaii Public Radio. This was the first of our annual "Celtic Winter Solstice" concerts which have become a regular part of the stations's performing artist series. Jason was kind enough to make a 2-track recording of the sound signal which he mixed on HPR's professional sound board and then relayed to the studio via his fine JBL speakers and then recaptured through his well-placed microphones. This also provides a recorded sound quality that excedes most live recordings, as it was "pre-mixed" by Jason before it was recorded; thank you, Jason and HPR.
9. Thanksgiving Aire: Clark found this slow aire in O'Neil's, a classic publication of traditional Irish tunes. He played it for an actual Thanksgiving performance and has been playing it beautifully on the low Irish whistle ever since.
10. Sheehan's Reel: Katie on octave mandolin and Lawson on guitar kick off this tune as a duet. Clark joins them on flute for the B section. Feel the surge as Kevin on fiddle and WaiWai on bodhran jump in with them for the second repetition of the number.
The Cameronian: Clark suggested playing this reel in a medley following Sheehan's. Notice the dramatic change of keys. Kevin and Lawson get it started; WaiWai joins during the B section. Clark and Katie hop back on the bandwagon for the second repetition. We enjoy "layering" in and out of tunes, and we hope that you do, too.
11. Christmas Eve: Since this was a concert to celebrate the Celtic Solstice, which pre-dated but also conincides with the Christmas holiday, we decided to include a traditional Irish reel which is named "Christmas Eve" but otherwise has no connection to the Christian holiday!
12. Derry Aire: Derry is an old walled town on a hill within the newer city of Londonderry, which is located in what is now called "Northern Ireland." This is actually a separate country made up of 6 counties which chose to remain part of the British Empire rather than join the Republic of Ireland in 1921. Derry (city and county) has been the site of great hostility and even bloodshed between loyalists and republicans, Protestants and Catholics, ever since. The older, already well-established Irish instrumental melody that we play on this recording is over 200 years old. Over 100 sets of lyrics have used this tune. "Derry Aire"was "adopted" by the English composer Fred Weatherly for the lyrics to his song "Danny Boy" in 1913 after his own melody failed to make the song popular. "Danny Boy" is now loved the world over as the quintessential Irish ballad. Clark and Kevin prefer to play it as the original slow aire in 2-part harmony; Lawson loves backing them on Celtic guitar the second time through the tune.
13. Christmas Day I'da Morning: This is another seasonal quirk: 2 Irish jigs named after Christmas Day "in the" morning.
14. Planxty Irwin: All 3 tunes in this melody were composed by the itinerant Irish harper Turlogh O'Carolan in the early 18th century. "Planxty" means "in honor of" and precedes the name of his host patrons in many of his compositions. These 3 tunes were most likely written while staying in their castles. Lawson plays Irish bouzouki to help Katie accompany this medley.
Fanny Poer: We thought this tune sounded enough like "Planxty Irwin" to play them one right after the other.
Lord Inchiquin: You can sense the key and tempo change as Kevin starts the third tune in the medley.
15. The Boys of Ballysadare: This tune is name for an unknown group of males from a town in County Sligo, on the west coast of Ireland, homestead of Clark's grandparents. Notice the sweet combination of guitar, flute, and harp as the piece begins.
Huey Shorty's Reel: We learned this one from Phil Harrald, who has played mandolin and banjo for many years with The Pub Scouts of Chico, CA, when he stopped in Hawaii during his trip around the world playing Irish tunes.
The Gypsy Princess: This is technically a "barn dance." We dare you to actually try to dance to it! Clark has a fine comment on the value of Irish beer at the end of this mad dash.
16. The Earl's Chair: We can only imagine who the Earl was, and what was significant about his chair, but we enjoy playing this medium-paced reel nonetheless. This medley features another appearance of the Irish bouzouki, a relatively new Irish folk instrument in the mandolin family, derived from the Greek instrument with the same name.
Belfast Lasses: Belfast is a seaport on the North Sea and is the capital city of Northern Ireland. Its lasses are know to be as stately as this tune that is named for them.
17. Swinging on a Gate: This tune was our "hana hou" (Hawaiian for "work again") or "encore" (French for "again") at the concert. After a joking introductory "set-up" by Lawson, Kevin muffs the dramatic start, and--after great laughter by all--totally nails it. Audience participation such as this clearly demonstrates why we enjoy live perfomances so much!
WE HOPE THAT YOU ENJOY HEARING CELTIC WAVES...LIVE!
