A bumpy road to Carnegie Hall

A bumpy road to Carnegie Hall - The Irish Times - Fri, Jun 25, 2010: "I’M BACK on the flute. It’s one of those things that happens without reason or intent. I was at a barbeque on Saturday and there was a woman from Jamaica who sang a Whitney Houston song, and it took my breath away, and then she turned to me and asked me to sing. And before I could stop myself, I blurted out that I had a flute in the Jeep, and she said “bring it out” and I thought it would be wonderful to serenade her with a few slow Irish airs.

“Of course I will,” says I, and I headed for the Jeep.

The thing is, I haven’t been playing for a few years. My old black wooden flute has been gathering dust on the mantelpiece and a lot of practice would be required before I’d have the neck to play in public. But my infatuation with the Jamaican woman wiped out all reason."

Flatley a proud son as village honours dad

Cover of Lord of the Dance

Flatley a proud son as village honours dad - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie: "DANCING legend Michael Flatley has described his mother as 'the bravest woman in the world' for insisting on accompanying her husband to Ireland less than two weeks after suffering a heart attack.

Last night, Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley (51) made an emotional return to Culfadda, the village of his father's birth in Sligo, for the opening of the Garden of Music and Memory, where his own outstanding achievement in bringing Irish music and dance to the world stage was acknowledged."

Auditions to be held for play on flute bands

Auditions to be held for play on flute bands - Londonderry Today: "OPEN auditions will be held in Irish Street Community Centre on June 15 from 7.30pm to 9.30pm and also at Newbuildings Community Centre on June 16 at the same time, for a new play entitled The Pride by Jonathan Burgess.
The play was commissioned by The Pride of The Orange And Blue Flute Band in Newbuildings and it looks at the community that builds up around flute bands and the band culture.
Although based on research through The Pride Of The Orange And Blue, the ADVERTISEMENT

play tells a story which will be familiar to all those who have been a band member or from the band community throughout Northern Ireland."

Album review: Rua MacMillan, Tyro

RUA MACMILLAN: TYRO

GREENTRAX, �11.99
AN AUSPICIOUS debut album under his own name from Highland fiddler Ruairidh 'Rua' Macmillan, a member of the Paul McKenna Band, who last year collected both a Scots Trad Award and the Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year accolade."

Album review: Rua MacMillan, Tyro - Scotsman.com News: "FOLK

JUNE 3rd, 1968: Fleadh Ceoil is success story in Irish music - The Irish Times - Thu, Jun 03, 2010

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The resurgence of Irish traditional music during the 1960s fed into, and drew from, the success of Comhalthas Ceolteóri Éireann’s annual Fleadh Ceoil, usually held on the Whit weekend and periodically known for excessive drinking. The 1968 event, however, was a model of its time, as Michael Heney reported from Clones, Co Monaghan. – JOE JOYCE

WITH A twang and a fiddle and a beat on the bodhran, Fleadh Ceoil na hÉireann burst upon Clones yesterday like an old friend renewing a four-year-old acquaintance. He brought with him his musicians, drawn from Cuig Cuigi na hÉireann, and the by-now traditional horde of initiated and uninitiated supporters, who numbered perhaps 80,000, and who will spend, so one is told, a quarter of a million pounds in Clones this festival weekend.

JUNE 3rd, 1968: Fleadh Ceoil is success story in Irish music - The Irish Times - Thu, Jun 03, 2010:

Leslie Ann Harrison: from Cape to Ireland

Image by brentdanley via Flickr

"Cape Elizabeth native Leslie Anne Harrison plays flute for New Time Ensemble, which just released its first album, “A Year In Ireland.”

Harrison, a 2003 Cape Elizabeth High School graduate, has a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College and a Master of Music degree from New York University. She currently is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in traditional Irish flute at the University of Limerick in Ireland.
Harrison has won many awards and distinctions. Besides performing in Ireland, she has performed in Italy and Peru. Last summer, she was cast as the flutist for a production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” at Delacorte Theater in New York City’s Central Park.
New Time Ensemble’s USA tour starts next month. The group will play in Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont. Dates and locations can be found at Myspace.

How did you get interested in music?
I started playing piano when I was young, then picked up the flute as well. I started studying with a flutist named Nicole Rabata. I then studied with another flutist named Carl Dimow. Carl and Nicole had tremendous influence on me. They are incredible players and dedicated teachers. I don’t know what I would have done without them."

South Portland Cape Elizabeth NextSentry: Leslie Ann Harrison: from Cape to Ireland - May 28, 2010:

Flute Music

Michael Flatley of Riverdance / Lord of the Dance fame plays two reels accompanied by Tommy Hayes on the Bodhrán. Clip from around 1990.