Saturday, June 24, 2000
Thursday, June 15, 2000
"On Song in Portadown" - Máire Brennan Takes Part In A Very Special Event
Thanks to a tip from an
anonymous reader, we find out that Máire Brennan took part in a very special concert
event in Portadown, Northern Ireland on the night of May 30th. The event took place in St. Mary's
catholic church on the Garvaghy Road in the form of a very special concert featuring
Máire Brennan, James Galway and a young choir called People in Harmony consisting
of people from both the catholic and protestant communities. You can read more information
on the event from an article titled "On Song In Portadown" by
John Cutliffe from the online.ie web site.
The concert was attended by some of the leading politicians in the province including David Trimble,
Brid Rogers, Gary McMichael and Peter Mandleson. However, the event, as the author points out in
the story, was not about politics, it was about people, and according to the organisers,
"raised awareness that ordinary people can and do work towards living together peacefully in
Northern Ireland".
RTE TV Special "Gay Bryne Presents" to Include Máire Brennan
Thanks to another anonymous
tip, we find that Máire Brennan will be part of a special RTE TV (Ireland) broadcast called
"Gay Byrne Presents" with the long time RTE broadcaster, Gay Byrne. The special, which should air
sometime in July or August, will also include such noted musical guests as Altan, Ronan
Keating (of Boyzone), and others. More information on this to follow. Thanks again
for the anonymous tip.
"Fathers To Daughters" PBS TV Special Delayed
From a recent posting to
the IRTRAD-L (Irish
Traditional Music) mailing list, we find that the long awaited PBS (U.S.) TV special "Fathers To Daughters",
originally planned to be broadcast this weekend to coincide with Father's Day in the U.S., instead
has been postponed to air sometime this fall. The "Fathers To Daughters" video featuring musical
dads and their daughters such as Paddy Maloney, Matt Malloy, Tommy Peoples,
the Clancy Brothers (with sons and daughters) in Ireland and in the States -
daughters with their dads such as Liz Carroll, Marie Rielly, Dierdre
Connolly, Mary Rafferty, Joanie Madden and Mary Coogan - along with Michael
and Rose Flanagan and their 2 playing/dancing daughters - Jimmy and Maura
Kelly - Patty Conway Furlong and many others. Maire Brennan was also
to be included in the special along with her musical father Leo Brennan. The
PBS television network is available across the U.S. on local public television stations,
as well as on satellite.
Saturday, June 10, 2000
"Celtic Tides" Video on Bravo TV Network
The special video
"Celtic Tides" will be shown this weekend on
the Bravo network in the U.S. The "Celtic Tides" video includes interviews and performances
of various Celtic musicians. Clannad is shown on the video from their 1982 performance
of "Harry's Game" on the U.K. TV program "Top Of The Pops". Also a short interview
of Máire Brennan from the early 90's is shown on the program with Máire talking about
Clannad and the orgins of their music. The video "Celtic Tides"
will be shown at 5 PM ET on June 10th, and repeated at 11:00 AM ET on June 11th. The Bravo TV
network is available on cable and satellite across the U.S. and Canada.
Clannad Music Used on PBS's "The American Experience"
House Of Blues Review of Máire Brennan's "Whisper To The Wild Water"
Clannad Music Available for Legal Download
More online
music sites are starting to offer select Clannad albums and songs as music downloads
in either the mp3, Real Media, or Liquid Audio Music formats. The on-line music retailer
emusic.com offers
the entire Clannad album Clannad 2 (Shanachie Records) or
select tracks from the album in the mp3 format for legal download. Another on-line
music retailer Liquid Music Network offers
the new Clannad compilation album Clannad - The Celtic Voice (Erin Records)
in either Real Media or Liquid Audio music formats. Again, you can choose either to download the entire
album or select tracks from the album.
Clannad "Greatest Hits" CD Available in the U.K.
Thanks to Barry in the U.K.
on informing us that one of the recently released Clannad compilation CDs Clannad - Greatest Hits is
now availble in the U.K. after first being released in the U.S. a couple months ago.
Yahoo! Music Clannad Section
The be-everything
web portal Yahoo! now
has a new area titled Yahoo! Music - Clannad. This
Yahoo! Music - Clannad page offers a
Biography, discography, photo gallery (courtesy of RollingStone.com), a place to
find legal mp3 and other music downloads, and a (so far empty) message board
for the group Clannad. There also exists another section at Yahoo! devoted
to Clannad at Yahoo! Clubs - Clannad which
hasn't seen much activity lately.
Thursday, June 8, 2000
Review of Máire Brennan's "Whisper To The Wild Water"
A review is
available on-line for Máire Brennan's latest solo CD "Whisper To
The Wild Water" in the monthly "CD Review" section of "Visions" magazine, a regional
magazine with circulation in the Tidewater, Williamsburg and Richmond
Virginia areas and made available by Steven M. Hewitt on his web site.
German Translation of Máire Brennan's Recent CD Lyrics
A web site in Germany has
the lyrics of Máire Brennan's "Perfect Time" (1998) and "Whisper To The Wild Water" (1999)
translated into German. The web site is by David Decker in Germany.
Origins Behind Clannad's "The Jug Of Brown Ale"
There is a interesting thread that has
appeared recently on the IRTRAD-L (Traditional Irish Music) mailing list. The IRTRAD-L
is a mailing list discussing traditional Irish music with many contributions from
various musicians who play Irish traditional music. The thread is titled
"Old Man Dillon" and can be followed in the IRTRAD-L archives for June 2000.
As someone has pointed out in the thread, "Old Man Dillon" is an O'Neil title, after the
fiddler he got the tune from, as he recounts in his book Irish Folk Music. The tune
"Old Man Dillon" is the same as Clannad's "The Jug Of Brown Ale" from their 1976
album Dulaman. It was pointed out that Clannad probably confused the title
with the tune's original name "Mug Of Brown Ale" (also known by the name "Paddy
In London"). The "Mug Of Brown Ale" is the older name for "Old Man Dillon"
as pointed out by O'Neil.
The interesting thread goes
on with the ABCs for the tune discussed and the different ways it has been played. Interesting
reading, as always, with the origins and stories of Irish tunes.
More News Items Available in the May 2000 Archives...
Do you have any news relating to Clannad or comments about the web page?
Please forward them to the following address for the Unofficial News Page (only)...
clannad.news@ireland.com
The
Unofficial Clannad News Page
(Web Page Design and Page Concept) Copyright 1999-2000, by
Harry
Sarkas
The
Unofficial Clannad News Page is written on an Apple Twentieth
Anniversary Macintosh and served by
Eircom.net from Ireland.
The
Unofficial Clannad News Page is not endorsed by members of the
group Clannad nor the group's current record label,
WEA/Atlantic
Records,
nor Máire Brennan's current record label,
Word
Records. Any
information contained on these pages should be considered unofficial
unless stated otherwise. For official information, be sure to
visit the official sites listed.
The
Unofficial Clannad News Page is not affiliated with any fan club nor does it
accept advertising of any kind. However, the author of the page will gratefully
accept offers of Guinness at any time.
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