Tonight!  Irish Ceili Dance at First Christian Church

For those not attending the Big Muddy Folk Festival tonight, how about coming out for a bit of dancing and music?!
Tim Langen will provide fiddle tunes and Kat Difoxfire will be teaching and calling the dances.

Beginners' lesson from 7:00 to 7:30
Dances start at 7:30.

All ages are welcome -- this is a family-friendly event!  No experience and no partner necessary.
$5 admission for adults, kids 17 & under attend free.

Refreshments are provided.

Location: First Christian Church is at the corner of Tenth and Walnut. Enter through the back door, facing Ash Street (glass door under the portico).  Free parking.

Summer Arts Program -- revised/updated schedule!

Musician, singer and linguist Brian Hart will be our artist-in-residence this summer, teaching a variety of classes for adults and youth.  We have expanded the length of the class session to eight weeks, as Brian does not have to be in Chicago to start his new job until the end of August.  So we will have classes from June 11 to August 9, skipping the week of July 4.

(You can read more about Brian here:  http://www.moceltic.org/2007/brian_hart.html )

In addition to the classes listed below, Brian will be teaching a traditional singing class, and Kat Difoxfire will be teaching an Irish set dancing class, both for 4 weeks beginning June 11, through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at MU. http://extension.missouri.edu/lifespan/ (registration for these two classes is done through Osher.)

I've made a few changes to the schedule of classes offered by CMCAA. The traditional singing class will meet once per week rather than twice, but will be a longer class period, so it is still more instruction (ie intensive).  On Monday nights we added a Tunes By Ear class for players of any folk instruments.  Instruction will emphasize learning new tunes by ear, but sheet music will be provided for all tunes taught at the end.

The Just-For-Kids classes will take place on Thursdays -- ages 6 -12 in the morning and ages 13 - 18 in the afternoon.  Combining these into one day affords us the opportunity to bring special guests from out of town to teach and perform for both groups.

The full schedule of classes and details are here:
http://moceltic.org/2007/summer-classes.html

All classes will be held at Unity Center of Columbia, 1600 W. Broadway.

Here is a summary:
Evening classes, June 11 - Aug 9
Irish language -- meets Monday and Wednesdays 5:45 - 6:45.  $110
Traditional singing class -- meets Wednesdays  6:45 - 8:30 pm $85
Beginning Tin Whistle -- meets Tuesdays  5:30 - 6:30 p.m.   $60
Improvers Tin Whistle -- meets Mondays 6:45 - 7:45 p.m.  $60
Tunes by Ear -- meets Mondays   7:45 - 9 p.m.  $60
Beginning concertina and accordion: meets Tuesdays  6:30 - 7:30 p.m.  $60
Improvers concertina and accordion: meets Tuesdays  7:30 - 8:30 p.m.  $60

Just -For Kids Classes, June 11 - Aug 9

Children's Irish Arts Class for ages 6 - 12  (enrollment limited to 10 kids) 
Meets Thursdays from 9 am - noon,   $125

Irish Arts Class for teens (ages 13 - 18)  (enrollment limited to 10 kids)
Meets Thursdays from 1 - 5 p.m.  $125

For details, registration info and payment policies, please see http://moceltic.org/2007/summer-classes.html

Summer Arts Celebration
There will be an evening program and ceili to celebrate the end of the Summer Arts Program, the success of our students and to give Brian Hart a big thank you send off.  The date for this will be either August 4 or 11.  Stay tuned for details.

Concert Reminder!
Saturday, April 28 7:00 p.m. -- Craobh Rua   (pron: crave roo-ah)
Brilliant traditional Irish music straight from Belfast!
Location: Unity Center of Columbia, 1600 W. Broadway
Tix:  $12/8/5  Buy tickets online: http://moceltic.org/2007/craobh_rua_tix.html

Printable PDF poster for the show:  http://moceltic.org/2007/craobh-rua-poster.pdf
Please print a couple and hang them up or give to friends!

"Craobh Rua are free advertisement for everything that's good about Irish traditional music. They play it from the heart and they play it superbly." - Belfast Telegraph 

Craobh Rua takes a refreshing, clean, unpretentious but uncommonly skilled run at some of the greatest music in the world. The band consists of four impeccable musicians who mix traditional instruments such as uilleann pipes, tin whistle, fiddle and bodhran with banjo, mandolin, guitar, bouzouki and great vocals. 

Tenor banjo player Brian Connolly founded Craobh Rua in 1986 while still in school and the band has been one of the hardest working bands on the folk scene, traveling and touring extensively for the past twenty years.  Based in Belfast, all the members are from the Ulster counties and their music reflects it with the shadings of Scottish bounciness and driving beat that characterizes the Northern dialect of trad music.
CRAOBH RUA  translates from Irish to Red Branch --  a name that is well known in Celtic history.  The  Red Branch Knights of Ulster protected the King of Ulster and Emain Macha (Navan Fort in Co. Armagh).  Cúchulainn (Finn MacCool) was said to be their greatest warrior.

http://www.craobhrua.com/

St. Louis Tionol News   (April 20 -22)

If you are still pondering whether to go soak up some Irish music next weekend at the St. Louis Tionol, consider this:

• You can go for the weekend, or just go for the Friday or Saturday concerts
• Friday night concert at Schlafly's Tap Room with Misla (I think), followed by a ceili (with Christine Harker calling) and around any corner you can find a group of musicians sessioning.
• Saturday concert -- the 19 featured guest performers and teachers will all be performing, individually or in groups.  It's a music festival in a can!
• Saturday workshops -- learn from the masters!  Workshops in fiddle, flute, bodhran, whistle, pipes, hammered dulcimer, Irish language,  guitar (open tuning or standard tuning), banjo, mandolin, harp, keyboard accompaniment, and ballad singing. 
• Raffle for a handmade Michael Burke tin whistle and a custom made silk whistle case (holds 10 whistles)!

http://www.tionol.org

Southern Illinois Irish Festival (April 27 - 29)
http://www.silirishfest.org/

Performers include: 
Craobh Rua (Friday evening concert)
Liz Carroll and John Doyle (Sat evening concert)
Sat Celtic fair performers:
* St. Louis Irish Arts
* The Dorians
* Dan Keding (Storyteller)
* Highland Games
* The Fine & Bawdy Wenches
* Chris McBrian, Storyteller

Sunday Theme: Celtic Roots, American Traditions
Featuring:
The Gordons, Dan Keding, Ancient Athletes,  Blackberry Blossoms, Dan Cheatum, The Dorians, The Bankester Family, The Tomato Kings, and many features of the Saturday Celtic Fair.

Complete local and regional Celtic Arts calendar:
http://moceltic.org/calendar.html

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