Tarja Turunen

Lorena McKennitt

Eleanor McEvoy

Celtic Woman

Emma Shapplin

Enya

Inva Mula-Tchako

Mary Black

Sarah Brightman/ remix Enigma/Hooverphonic

Era / remix by DJ Quicksilver

Papagena & Papageno

I love the way their voices harmonize, it's so pretty.

Be Still My Soul, Libera:

Be Still My Soul, of course. ;-) This one is longer than the other one I have on my blog.

I only listen to Traditional Christian Music (as in Fanny Crosby, Amazing Grace, ect.) Celtic/Irish/Scottish music and some classical music. The only thing I listen to that isn't one of those is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra but it's sort of in the classical music catagory.

However, I like musicals so I'll include this one too:

The Phantom of the Opera, from the Phantom of the Opera movie.

:-D I love that movie, it's one of my favorites! I often annoy my brothers by humming or singing this song.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

~Birdwhisperer

Mediaeval Babes

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel

Sarah Brightman

Celtic Woman (Hayley Westenra)

Thanks to a Friend

A great part of me feeling better now is thanks to the song “Walking in the air”, sung by Chloë Agnew from Celtic Woman. I have intended for a long time to listen to it, but somehow I never did. Then, after my new mp3-player arrived yesterday, I loaded a random bunch of songs onto it for the present. Well, while I was doing the newspaper round, the piece started playing, and I was immediately completely taken with it. I had shivers running down my back all the time and it gave me goose bumps. It is such a beautiful song! It represents to me that beautiful childlike way of dreaming, fulfilling the dream of being able to fly. Flying through a moonlit sky, who has never wished for that? Having your own enchanted adventure, and the people below rubbing their eyes in wonder as they see you. I cannot express how much this song touches me and makes me want to weep and laugh and dance whenever I hear it. In the evening, I went out onto the street with my hoop and danced. I was so happy, turning and dancing with my beloved hoop in the sunset light, listening to this song. When have I last felt this happy? I definitely plan on buying one or two of Celtic Woman’s CDs before I leave for Australia, they seem to be just what I love in music.

Sadly, I have a severe cold - my nose is running, my throat and lungs hurt, I cough all the time and it's just not nice in general. And that in summer! I hope it goes by quickly. But as it is said, "A cold comes three days, stays three days and leaves three days." So I'm in for at least a week of discomfort.

Eu já conhecia a música, porém, apenas orquestrada numa interpretação da National Philharmonic Orchestra. Eu não conhecia a letra da canção e foi essa a razão que me fez escrever este post.

O HOLY NIGTH é, na verdade, de origem francesa. Foi composta em 1847 por Adolphe Adam, maestro, compositor e crítico musical, nascido na França, que a intitulou Cantique de Noël, em português Cantiga de Natal. Oito anos depois (1855), John Sullivan Dwight, editor do Dwight's Journal of Music, a traduziu para o inglês mundando o título desta.

Conhecida em português por Oh Noite Sagrada, essa canção sempre atraiu músicos dos mais diversos instrumentos, no entanto, é possível que você já tenha escutado uma versão em saxofone, haja vista esses músicos serem freqüentemente fisgados por essa deslumbrante canção que cai muito bem nas ondas sonoras de um sax. No Natal, Oh Noite Sagrada é entoada em igrejas e celebrações em todo o planeta.

Leiam, logo abaixo, a tradução para o português -- profunda e marcante --  e, em seguida, assitam à belíssima e espetacular interpretação das vocalistas de Celtic Woman, em inglês. Não vou comentar a letra, acho que iria atrapalhar.

The word Celtic conjures up images of Old Ireland: well worn narrow cobblestone streets; the running hill country; the huge granite heights, deep mystical glens and magical wooded valleys. Last night my wife and I were transported to ole Ireland and were mesmerized for over 2 hours in Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium in our second Celtic Woman Concert. How do I describe the experience? It was amazing, soaring, uplifting, joyous, captivating, heavenly……… but words fail me, since I feel these adjective may be understating the experience.

I caught our first glimpse of Celtic Woman during a rerun of a PBS airing of the Celtic Woman concert, recorded in the Helix Theatre, Dublin in September 2004. I’ve always loved Irish music, but these ladies were something quite special.. I immediately went out and bought their DVD and casually played it one evening for my wife and saw the same reaction that I experienced, rapture. That is when I booked tickets for their show in Fresno in 2007. That show was brilliant and we became devoted fans of the singing group.

Celtic Woman is an all-female vocal ensemble performing various traditional and contemporary Celtic-based songs. Often compared to such artists as Clannad, Enya, and Loreena McKennitt, Celtic Woman also put on a live stage show that shares much in common with similarly minded shows such as Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. The fiddler, vivacious Máiréad Nesbitt is from Tipperary. The singers, Lisa, Chloë Agnew and Méav Ní Mhaolchatha are from Dublin, while Órla Fallon hails from Wicklow.

Last night’s show was production perfected and the women were in top form. We are always amazed that their music is almost dead on perfect compared to their CDs and DVDs, and we typically hear people in the audience say that it must be lip synced. I know that this is not true since I always bring a pair of binoculars and we can clearly see and hear every note and breath. They are truly amazing and we will be seeing them again.

Another group that exhibits Irish pride is Celtic Thunder comprised of 5 males ranging in age from the mid teens to my age (undisclosed at this time). I hope that more of these types of acts find success in the US and get to touring here. We are definitely going to see them when they come in December, since we have been watching their DVD and it’s spectacular.

Actually, the trip to Publix went by without much entertaining or interesting happening.  On the drive home, I commented, "That was an unusually smooth trip, wasn't it?  Nothing like last week for sure."

"I wanted to tell you, after our trip last week, I called Publix and spoke with their manager for several minutes about not having any five pounds of flour stocked", she replied.

"Grandma, please tell me you're yanking my chain."

"No, I called and we had a good talk about the flour.  He promised me they'd do a better job keeping it stocked.  I also told him how the attitude around there was bad last week."

I took in a deep breath, and exhaled very slowly, weighing my next words carefully in my mind.

"Hey grandma, do you remember when I was younger, what you used to tell me quite a lot?  From the time I was around ten until I was well into my teenage years?  About getting old?"

"No, what?"

"You used to tell me, very emphatically, that if you ever started acting like a meddling old woman who gets herself out of sorts over stupid things and makes a habit out of complaining about trivial imperfections in service, that you wanted me to tell you without being mean about it.  You said you never wanted to be like that."

But alas, one of the things that happens in old age seems to be that you forget how foolish stereotypical old men and women came across when you weren't one yourself.  All of a sudden, those things that were not worth complaining about, like keeping five pound bags of flour in stock, become worthy of not only  in-store tirades, but follow up phone calls to further drive the point home.

"But I have always used five pound bags of flour.  I told that there manager if he couldn't keep 'em stocked, we'd just shop somewhere else.  I told him good."

Again I took a deep breath, slowly exhaling as I thought my next words over.

"Grandma, you can't go raising hell every time a store doesn't have bananas that ripen quickly enough, or the employees don't tapdance over to you and offer to rake your front yard.  It's just not a good thing to do."

She had dug in by this point though.

"If we don't make a stand and get businesses to do right, they'll keep on giving us a bad deal."

"Make a stand?  You make a stand for human rights, or freedom of religion.  You don't make a stand over bags of flour."

But it was pointless.  Another thing that happens as people grow older is that they pick very odd and minor things to get themselves tied in knots about.  Then they find out who to complain to, and they abuse the privilege without mercy, knowing most people won't just tell an elderly person to bugger off.  It's almost as if they are so miserable with getting old that they have to find some stupid way to vent the misery instead of just admitting they hate feeling old.  It's easier to blame someone or something else.

"They should keep that in stock, it's important.  And it's important to let businesses know when they let you down."

I wanted to shoot back that they didn't let her down, they ran out of an item a lot of people purchase.   But I didn't.  My feelings of amusement and silent laughter had turned to sadness for her state of mind.  I know how awful it feels to turn into something you always said you hated and didn't want to be. 

My father was an alcoholic, and his drinking made me miserable.  I always swore I wouldn't have a hard time knowing when to say when, but I developed my own drinking problem in my early adulthood years.  I remember how hard it was to see my face in the mirror, knowing I was turning into the alcoholic train wreck of a human being my father had been.  The thing I least wanted to become, I became.

So for once in my life, I kept my mouth shut when I felt I had a point to make.  I decided that deep inside the corners of her heart, she knows what she is becoming, and that knowledge has to be difficult enough of a burden to bear without me piling on.

I know I can be pretty tough on the elderly on my blog, so I wanted to tell this story in order to prove I don't hate the elderly, just some of their less endearing traits.

One good thing about being an Asperger is that if we think something is the right thing to do, we'll do it regardless of what the slack-jawed gawkers around us think.  A lot of NT's will only do the right thing if they see another NT do it first. 

One night I took my lovely wife to see Celtic Woman perform at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.  We arrived a bit early, and found our way to our seats in the balcony.  We were pretty high up, and the stairs at the Fox are rather steep.  We just sat talking, listening to the orchestra warm up, enjoying a night out. 

A woman my mom's age and what I would assume was her mother came through the passageway to our section and looked fearfully at the upper part of the area.  The elderly woman sighed and leaned on her companion and they took a very difficult first wobbly step towards their seats.  It was obviously a tremendous effort on the elderly woman's part, and they still had four or five dozen steps to go.

There were several men in seats around the bottom of the stairs, but they all shifted uncomfortably in their seats and turned their heads in the opposite direction. 

"F*** this", I muttered under my breath, rising from my seat.  I walked purposefully down the steps, stood next to the struggling old woman, and smiled, which is not really a natural act for me.

"All right, pretty lady.  You put all your weight on me, and we're gonna get you to your seat."

She nodded and threw an arm around me.  She did what I said, putting every ounce of her weight on me, and the old girl was heavier than she looked.  But I got her up those steps and helped her into her seat.  She and her daughter both thanked me, and I returned to my wife.

After I sat down, the woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said, "That was an incredibly sweet and thoughtful thing you just did."  I felt my cheeks beginning to burn red, and simply said, "It was the right thing to do."

There was an entire row of nothing but women who had obviously come to the show together sitting a couple of rows behind us.  One of them blurted out, very loudly, "We are all so impressed! Chivalry's not dead! WOOHOO!!"

Then the entire section begin to break into applause.  My wife was enjoying it, but she was giving me the quick little pats on my arm she gives me when she knows I am uncomfortable.  At this point I was quite embarrassed.  I gave a feeble, borderline dismissive wave of acknowledgment, like political dignitaries do.

So anyway, I know I can be tough on the elderly, but I'm not on a crusade against them, I could just very much do without some of the things they tend to do.

All right, dear readers, that's all for now. 

After they performed, Celtic Woman did their thing for about 2 1/2 hours!  It was fantastic!  My only advice to them would be to sing more Irish songs and less American ones!  But then, that's just my personal preference.  I'm particularly fond of the Irish fiddle and getting to see Mairead Nesbitt play that thing in person was such a thrill!!!!This girl is ultra-talented!  All in all, it was an enchanting evening! 

Getting home was another matter.  We drove through some of the most HORRIBLE blinding snow (what's going on? SNOW in mid-APRIL??) I've ever encountered.  Thank God we chose to drive the 4-wheel-drive vehicle.  We have had a very nasty winter and the freak snowstorm yesterday just capped it off.  It's still snowing today, but very lightly and it's NOT sticking.  I am SO ready for summer that I can't put it into words.  Seriously. 

Foto: Peter Rieger

All-Areas-Magazine (Pressemitteilung) Köln, 17.04.2008

Nach ihrem grandiosen Erfolg in den USA, in Kanada, Japan, Australien, Neuseeland und Südafrika werden Celtic Woman im Rahmen ihrer Europatour erstmalig auch Station in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf und Berlin machen. Nachdem die Tournee im Oktober letzten Jahres bedauerlicherweise verlegt werden mussten, wurden jetzt die neuen Celtic Woman Termine für die Deutschlandtournee bekanntgegeben: die irischen Sängerinnen werden von einem Orchester begleitet am 29.09. in der Liederhalle Stuttgart, am 30.09. in der Jahrhunderthalle Frankfurt, am 04.10. in der Phillipshalle Düsseldorf und am 05.10. im Tempodrom Berlin auftreten. Der Vorverkauf für die Celtic Woman Tournee startet am Freitag, den 11. April 2008.

„Sie singen engelsgleich… Die Stimmen der Celtic Woman verschmelzen so zart miteinander, man möchte denken, sie harmonisieren schon zusammen, seit sie in der Wiege gelegen haben.“
(David Hinkley, New York Daily News)

Celtic Woman setzt sich aus vier herausragenden Vokalistinnen und einer virtuos aufspielenden Geigerin zusammen. Die Show bietet Platz für die zauberhaften Stimmen der Sängerinnen: sowohl als Solistinnen, jede in ihrem ganz eigenen Stil, als auch für ein ergreifendes Ensemble, wie der überwältigende Erfolg der Gruppe weltweit seit ihrem Debüt im März 2005 unzweifelhaft beweist.

Celtic Woman haben weltweit bereits über 4 Millionen Alben verkauft, ihre drei Alben (Celtic Woman, Celtic Woman A New Journey und Celtic Woman A Christmas Celebration) erreichten zusammen mehrfach Platin-Status. Zudem hält das Ensemble den Weltrekord auf Platz 1 der amerikanischen World Music Charts: insgesamt 95 aufeinander folgende Wochen lang waren ihre Alben dort zu finden. Das Billboard Magazin kürte sie zum Number 1 Top World Artist in ihrer Jahresauswahl 2007 und das Rolling Stone Magazin bejubelte die DVD Celtic Woman, A New Journey live from Slane als Nummer Top 5 der zehn besten Musik DVDs des Jahres 2007!

Aber nicht nur CDs und DVDs sind Bestseller, Celtic Woman werden ebenso als Live-Act gefeiert. Ihre klanglich wie optisch beeindruckenden Shows sorgen weltweit für ausverkaufte Tourneen mit umjubelten Auftritten in der New Yorker Radio City Music Hall, The Greek Theatre Los Angeles, der Carnegie Hall in New York, der Orchard Hall in Tokio und The Point Theatre Dublin, um nur einige zu nennen.

David Downes ist musikalischer Leiter, Komponist, Producer und Mastermind hinter der unvergleichlichen Zusammenstellung zeitgenössischer Hits (Beyond The Sea, The Prayer, Scarborough Fair, Over The Rainbow), Klassik-Highlights (Nella Fantasia, ‚Rain’ aus Vivaldis ‚Vier Jahreszeiten’), irischer Folksongs (Dúlaman, Danny Boy, Mo Ghile Mear) und völlig neuer Songs, ganz speziell für die Solistinnen geschrieben (At The Ceili, The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun, The Blessing & Sing Out!).

Komponist und musikalischer Leiter: David Downes
Producer: Scott Porter
Executive Producer: Dave Kavanagh

Peter Rieger Konzertagentur und Semmel Concerts präsentieren:
CELTIC WOMAN
live in concert 2008

29.09.08 Stuttgart
30.09.08 Frankfurt
04.10.08 Düsseldorf
05.10.08 Berlin

Alle ausführlichen Termine (Venues) im:

All-Areas-Magazine [Kalender]

Tickets an allen bekannten Vorverkaufsstellen.
Bundesweite Tickethotline: 01805 – 57 00 00.
(0,14 € / Min. - Mobilfunkpreise können abweichen)

Tickets im Internet unter http://www.eventim.de.

Veranstalter:

Peter Rieger Konzertagentur GmbH & Co. KG
Sülzburgstr. 13
50937 Köln
Tel: +49(0)221 942002-0
Fax: +49(0)221 942002-2
Website: http://www.prknet.de

Semmel Concerts
Veranstaltungsservice GmbH
Am Mühlgraben 70
D-95445 Bayreuth
Tel: +49(0)921-74600-0
Fax: +49(0)921-74600-705
Website: http://www.semmel.de

 
Offizielle CELTIC WOMAN Website:
http://www.celticwoman.com

Actually, the first time I heard them, I wasn't crazy about them.  I decided to listen to one of their concerts one night...............................boy, am I glad I gave them a second chance!  Now, for those of you who are so deprived as to not know who Celtic Woman is...........................they are a group of 5 or 6 Beautiful Irish girls!  Anyone can see how much they love doing what they do by the light in their eyes!!!!!!!!!

from left to right: Lisa Kelly, Chloe Agnew, Orla Fallon, Meav, and Mairead Nesbitt.

My fave girl is Lisa Kelly:

Now as to Celtic Thunder: Hmmmmmmmmm..........................they rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love Keith Harkin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He is sooooooooooooooooo adorable, although Damian McGinty's rendition of "Puppy Love" is unbeatable!  I'm sorry I don't have any pictures but Celtic Thunder is new!       ----------   sorry, i just realized that i have used exclamation marks too much in this post  ------------

NOTE: I am going to post a couple of Celtic Woman and Celtic Thunder videos. i know that Orinoco Flow is controversial because alot of people feel "bad" for Enya.  I love Enya alot too, so there is no malic intended.

I came across the following video this morning while i was skimming Youtube in hopes of finding an interview with renown digital artist Kagaya, but instead i only found videos containing his work. This video, titled "a celestial dream" caught my eye for an obvious reason :) To my amusement it combined 3 things that i'm quite fond of- Kagaya art, & the song is sung by Celtic Woman, titled "walking in the air" from the movie "The Snowman"(which was a childhood favorite of mine.) Check it out,

farewell winter

.

4/17/2008 Paramount Theatre - Seattle presale password 1/25/2008

4/18/2008 Paramount Theatre - Seattle presale password 1/25/2008

4/19/2008 Paramount Theatre - Seattle presale password 1/25/2008

4/20/2008 Paramount Theatre - Seattle presale password 1/25/2008