There has been an increased interest in Celtic music in NZ Folk Clubs in recent years, helped by some very talented immigrants from Scotland, Ireland and Canada. And some very good Celtic albums have been recorded, with some traditional tracks, and some composed by the musicians themselves.Some of the compositions are quite distinguishable as being of New Zealand origin, like Rua's Commonwealth Suite, Bob Bickerton's Bonny Harvest Moon, Tony Clark's Irish Music, and Vic McDonald's outstanding In Memorium.
Others, like Bob McNeill's Covenant series, could only have been written in NZ beause the composer could live here in a Celtic community that had freed itself from the constraints of the old lands.
Albums
2006
Westumbria - Stepping stones
Members are: Sieff LaTrobe (vocal, guitar, mandolin, dulcimer); Sylvia LaTrobe (vocal, fiddle, viola); Ian Bartlett (vocal, Northumbrian smallpipes, whistle, harmonica, percussion); Jo Hill (bass guitar). On this recording they have the assistance of accordionist Shanta Foster.
In Stepping Stones, the group's first CD, the emphasis is on traditional Irish music, although there is also a little English, American and New Zealand material. The group clearly enjoys playing with the arrangements of some of the tunes, for example the 5-minute version of "The foggy dew" in Spanish disguise.
The LaTrobe composition "Farewell to Tahora" has the sort of chorus that will get audiences singing along in tribute to that back-country folk-festival's thirty-year tradition.
The track notes, although brief, are pretty much to the point and there are authorship credits, a list of who does what and notes of what was recorded away from the main studio. The only really useful information missing is the track timings. Review by Mitch Park
2002
Twisty Willow - Maybe Someday
|
Since
1990, Aucklanders Barb and Wes Bycroft have formed the nucleus of
the Irish pub band Twisty
Willow and have produced several CDs. In 2001 they were joined
by Belfast-born London rock guitarist, Duane Thompson, recently arrived
in Auckland.
|
Duane Thompson has always had a love of traditional and contemporary Irish music, and Twisty Willow's latest album, Maybe Someday, has ten of Duane's new songs, all with a celtic rhythm, and some with an antipodean theme.
The title track is autobiograpical,
recounting how he has spent his life singing down by harbours, from Northen
Ireland, where an SLR was "...poked through a window at me," to Auckland,
the more peaceful "... city of sails at the end of the earth." Maybe
Someday MP3
With Barb and Wes Bycroft's wonderfully full backing, this track, like the others on the CD, is as rich, smooth and satisfying as a jar of Guinness. See the Twisty Willow website for further information and more MP3s.
Montgomery and Considine - Mountain Air
| "Mountain Air is unquestionably
buoyed by Brendyn's feeling for wide open spaces and a healthy respect
for silence." The Irish Times |
Four of the tunes were composed by Brendyn himself.
In Jan 2003 Brendyn was completing an M.A. in Traditional Irish music performance at the University of Limerick.
More information at the Brendyn Montgomery website
2001
Bob McNeill - Covenant
Congratulations, Bob.
Music from Scotland, Ireland, England, Brittany and New Zealand is played on Irish bouzouki, shuttle pipes, fiddle and flute. Covenant features original music by Bob ( now living in Dunedin) who was inspired by the story of Margaret Wilson, a Covenanter executed in 1685 at Wigtown in the south west of Scotland. Aged only 18, she was drowned at the stake in the Solway Firth after refusing to take the Oath of Abjuration.
More information at the Covenant
webpage.
Bob Bickerton - Island Mist CD
 The Bob Bickerton Big Band |
- Bonny Harvest Moon,
- words by Otago poet John Barr (1860), tune by Bob Bickerton,
- The Close Shave,
- about a gold miner waylaid by a beautiful young woman (tune, trad),
- Marcelle's March,
- a harp tune Bob composed to play at Marcelle and Linus Turner's wedding.
Helen Webby and Davy Stewart - The Peacock's Dance
Davy also was a member of Jimmy Stewart's band Rua.
2000
Marannan - Marannan, the CD
Lothlorien - Greenwood Side CD
It has 3 originals and 8 traditional tracks, 4 instrumentals and 7 songs.
Instruments featured are high and low tin whistles, fiddle, bouzouki, mandolin, mandola, guitars and brief appearances by Celtic harp and hurdy-gurdy.
Obtain it here.
Peter Mack and Noel Rutherford - Uncertain Futures CD
- Tune for Emma-Lee,
- written by Peter for his daughter, is a delight,
- Waitohi
- by Neil, invokes the unending sound of the river of his childhood, affirms his belief in the continuity of life.
There are also 16 traditional celtic tunes and a jazz piece.
Available from Noel
Rutherford
Shiner - Kiss The Kilkenny CD
- The
Stable Lad,
- Hooray for the Swag and the Shiner,
- Hooray for the Swag and the Shiner,
- and two songs written and sung by Vic:-
- Otago is My Home
- praising Otago's Scottish pioneers.
- In Memorium,
- But they'll not be
forgotten / for the price they had to pay.
for their children's children's children / will still march on Anzac Day
Available from Kevin McLoughlin, NZ$25
1999
Celia Briar & Mary Hubble - An Phis Fluicht. (The Garden of Daisies) CD
Available from Celia Briar.
1998
Owen Hugh - Exits and Entrances CD
Our favourite of Owen's is 'The World Keeps On Turning,' about the old bothy ploughmen James knew. It is so evocative of that old man near Levin we used to watch ploughing with his Clydesdale horses. Alas, it is not on this CD.(JA)
1996
Bob Bickerton - Music in the Glen CD
1989
Rua - The Commonwealth Suite CD
When recorded it went on to be voted the "Best Folk Album of the Year" (1990-91) at the New Zealand Music Industry Awards.
Available from Ode
Songs
- McKenzies 's ghost
- Mihiwaka
- Bonny harvest moon (lyrics)
- The close shave (lyrics)
- Canterbury Jig (tune)
Celtic Kiwi kids songs
Bob Bickerton has written a very useful music/social studies resource kit for teaching children about those New Zealanders of Celtic ancestory. The kit's webpage contains the lyrics of several songs with a great variety of moods and origins, like:-
- Irish Music by Tony Clark
- .... Di di diddle
I diddle I di, di di diddle I diddle I di,
Di di diddle I diddle I di, di di diddle I di.
I love to live in Aotearoa / I love to have my friends at home,
But I'm saving up to go to Cork / To kiss the old Blarney Stone... - Jimmy of the Hielands by Bob Bickerton
- v4. I did a bungie
jump its true / The rope it broke and down I flew,
But I used my kilt as a parachute / I'm Jimmy of the Hielands. - Mammy
- v4. Mammy, Oh Mammy,
give me food or I will die / Oh my dear, Oh my dear,
The pratties they are rotting / Oh my dear.
Celtic Music Clubs etc
Tir Na N'Og Folk Music
Club
Meets 4th Saturday each month, 8pm, Irish Society, 29 Great North Rd., Newton,
Auckland
NZ Uilleann Pipers Association
Events and Sessions
are listed at celticmusic.co.nz