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| HANDS
ACROSS THE WATER |
 A
benefit for the children of the tsunami, The CD release of Hands Across the
Water on Dec. 20 brings together those in the world of Celtic music with their
counterparts in American roots and country, including Vince Gill, Altan, John
Prine, Maura O'Connell, Rodney Crowell, Paul Brady, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Sharon
Shannon, Alison Brown, Lúnasa, Jim Lauderdale, Pauline Scanlon, Jerry Douglas,
John Cowan, Jon Randall, Darrell Scott, Máirtín O'Connor, Ciaran
Tourish, Blue Merle, The Duhks, Danu, Mindy Smith, Solas, Tim O'Brien, and more.
Kudos to Compass
Records and organizers John Cutliffe
and Andrea Zonn for a most worthwhile
project. Click on the image to go to HandsAcrossTheWater.com to learn more! •
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| DRONE
ON!
The High History of Celtic Music |
 Winnie
Czulinski has written this book about "The High History of Celtic
Music" in not only a most informative and engaging manner, but one that
seems ideally suited to those of us who came to "Celtic culture" as
a result of Irish dance shows like Riverdance and Michael Flatley's Lord
of the Dance, which she includes in her coverage. Click
on the image to read an excerpt from the book at Amazon.com to get a delightful
taste of her writing style, and watch out for our full feature on this terrific
tome and a contest, coming SOON!
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| | BOHOLA |
 bohola
prefers its name in lower-case letters, but as Earle Hitchner writes,
"there's nothing lower-case about the music performed by this Chicago band,
named after a jig and a town in Mayo... ...bohola
has taken its rightful place among the most stimulating and engaging Irish traditional
bands in America today." Indeed, we at the Celtic Cafe were knocked out by
their recent performance at the Skamania Irish Festival, and urge fans
of GREAT Irish traditional music to be sure to see them if the tour comes to a
city near you! Click
on the image above to read much more about bohola and their four CDs, and be sure
to check out the music samples. Their official site with tourdates can be found
at www.bohola.com. You will LOVE them live!
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CORA SMYTH & BREDA SMYTH |
 Cora
and Breda Smyth, sisters from County Mayo who have won over 40 All-Ireland
titles, are long-time favorites of the Celtic Cafe for their years of touring
with Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames.
They come from a family with not only a strong musical tradition -- brother Sean
Smyth is a founding member of the fantastic group Lúnasa
-- but all three are medical doctors! Cora
and Breda have just recently collaborated on an exciting self-titled album which
represents the music they've loved and shared together. Learn more about it by
going to CoraSmythBredaSmyth.com by clicking on the image above. See
Cora's fiddling burning up the stage in Celtic Tiger!
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QUAGYMYRE'S NEW CD |
|
 Of
Cabbages and Kings is the latest release of the band Quagmyre of Toronto,
Canada!
Click
on the image to go to their official site to learn more. Hint: You'll encounter
the amazing Jon and Nathan Pilatzke, brothers who perform with the Chieftains
when they're on tour, and the lovely Cara Butler, who dances up a storm
with them! •
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|
 Keltika
Magazine, a very fine publication in Italy, features articles of great
interest to us, however the articles are in Italian only! Click
on the image to read about the current issue of Keltika, and click
here to go to their Music Column Editor Alfredo De Pietra's own
website.
Click
here to see a larger version of the Keltika cover. Click
here to go to the new Keltika website! Click
here to go to Alfredo's special corner of the Celtic Cafe's Music section,
with some of his interviews and reviews... with more coming soon! | |
DANCE
SPECIAL FEATURES!
| Click
here for some of our Dance features,
including interviews with some of the best dancers on the world stage today.
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OLIVE HURLEY ON DVD |
 Olive
Hurley's videos "Irish Dancing Step by Step, Vol. 1 & 2" have
helped thousands of Irish dancers around the globe perfect those steps! Now
available on DVD, they're great for everyone, and especially fun for those of
us who aren't Irish dancers, but admire the talented performers in the Irish dance
shows we love, and wouldn't mind learning a few steps in our own living rooms!
Click
on the image above to learn more about the premier Irish dance instructional
tapes at Olive's own site "LearnIrishDancing.com" or OliveHurley.com.
Click here
to go directly to the page which offers sound and video clips of the new DVDs! Click
here for our Celtic Cafe feature about this marvelous woman! •
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CELTIC
TIGER: Ready to Roar | |
 Michael
Flatley put Irish dance on the world map. His latest show "Celtic
Tiger" goes far beyond what came before.
Click
on the image to learn more, and click
here for a 30-second video clip of the show at the Celtic Tiger
official website. Hear
music samples from the Celtic Tiger CD at composer Ronan Hardiman's official
site by clicking here. Want
to discuss Celtic Tiger? Join our CelticCafeFLATLEY e-mail group by clicking
here. Scroll down to the MIKEroCosm link for our Celtic Cafe microsite
for even more. Interested
in all the Irish dance shows, Celtic music, books, etc.? Sign up for our main
Celtic Cafe mail list/Yahoo Group! Click
here to get an idea of the information posted to our Celtic Cafe community.
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Visit our Celtic Cafe
microsite devoted to Michael Flatley and his work, and connect up with
fans from all over the world! Here
you will find information about anything connected to Lord of the Dance
and Feet of Flames, and if it's not in the MIKEroCosm itself, you'll be
able to find other great sites through our LINKS page there! Click
here to go to our CelticCafeFLATLEY discussion group, where you
can browse messages related to Da Man and his Lord of the Dance troupes. Click
here for the feature about Michael Flatley, receiving an award at the
ICCUSA's Celtic Ball,
here for our feature about him and his Lord of the Dance troupe at the
Monaco Red Cross Gala, here
to read about Michael with Nelson Mandela in South Africa, and here
about his participation in the Boxing Debate at the UCD Law Society. Recent features
include University College Dublin's special honorary degree ceremony (Dr.
Michael Flatley!), The Wild Geese organization's award to Michael for
his outstanding
achievements in promoting and preserving Irish culture and heritage, a focus
on his life in an episode of "Life of Luxury," hosted by
George Hamilton, and "Pushing
the Envelope" on behalf of the National Literacy Trust of the
UK. Join
us at the 'Cosm simply by clicking
here, won't you? We think you'll be impressed! And you would definitely
be impressed by Wunderkind Alexander Servas' original movie trailer "teaser"
for the MIKEroCosm. Click
here!
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SATALLA
 There
is an exciting and wonderful venue in New York City to hear not only some of the
best names in Celtic music, but World Music in general: SATALLA!
Click
on the Satalla image to see recent photos of some of our very favorite musicians
gracing the Satalla stage, and be sure to check out this cross-cultural club's
World Music entertainment calendar by going to Satalla.com.
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| | TRISTAN
AND ISOLDE
 A
Celtic Legend | Gwenno of Wales and Cornwall has many fans at the
Celtic Cafe due to her days travelling the world in Michael Flatley's "Lord
of the Dance." However, she's traded in her high kicks for high notes,
launching her musical career with Sain Records of Wales.
CoverDriveRecords
will be releasing a new single with Gwenno's vocals gracing the musical version
of "Tristan and Isolde" -- capturing the real essence of this
beautiful 6th Century Cornish legend. Click
here to go to the official site, and watch for our upcoming contest to
win the "collector's item" advance CD single.
Click
here for our Music section
and see other wonderful artists we've featured at the Celtic Cafe.
Click
here for interviews with luminaries in our Dance section. | | |
Join
the Celtic Cafe's Discussion Groups!
We
have a considerable number of Celtic Cafe e-mail discussion groups!
Please click here for more
information or enter your email address below!
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RIVERDANCE
The
Ten Years
 Feb.
9, 2005 marked the Tenth Anniversary of the touring show that put Irish dance
on the map -- worldwide! Irish dance and music fans had much to look forward
to last March, including a new Riverdance program on public television
stations in the U.S., a North American tour, and a Riverdance CD that was
released on March 8! Click on the CD cover image above left to learn more about
the Original Cast Recording Tenth Anniversary Special Edition.
Learn
more about composer Bill Whelan by going to his official site at BillWhelan.com. Go
to the Riverdance website directly by clicking
here.
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• • CELTICA
MAGAZINE
 Celtica
Magazine of Italy
We just love knowing about magazines around the world
devoted to things Celtic, even if we can't read them! Unfortunately, Celtica
is just in Italian as is our dear "Keltika," but the Celtic music
on the CD that comes bundled with each copy of the magazine can be enjoyed in
ANY language! Click
on the above image to go directly to their official site, www.Celtica.it
-- and click
here to read (in English) about the contents of the July/August edition
of this fine publication. At
Celtica.it you can even listen to samples of the great Celtic music that comes
bundled with the magazine!
Click
here for a larger version of the image above, the cover of the current
issue.
 Keep
up with what's new in the world of Irish dance, Celtic music and more by joining
our Celtic Cafe Yahoo Group! Click
on the Celtic circle logo for "newsy tidbits" in our message archives
for "anything Celtic." Join
us and post your own, won't you? • •
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