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Na Rósaí
Today’s featured performer is Na Rósaí https://youtu.be/zcp4xw-wvGE The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome Na Rósaí! Website | Facebook | Instagram In 2010, Erik Killops returned to his hometown of Portland, Oregon after receiving his bachelor’s degree in Irish Music & Dance at the University of Limerick in Ireland. Shortly after he met recent New Jersey transplant, and bouzouki player, Richie Rosencrans and California native, and uilleann piper, Preston Howard at sessions around Portland. All three were eager to start a project and discovered common interests in regard to traditional music. After a few house gatherings, a weekly performance began at a local watering hole the East Burn. In…
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Dréos
Today’s featured performer is Dréos https://youtu.be/3t0_QujaJ08 The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome Dréos! Website | Email Dréos is a Celtic ensemble of performing composers who create new music and reimagine old music using a traditional vocabulary. Combining the blazing piping of Eliot Grasso, virtuosic fiddling of Brandon Vance, and powerhouse accompaniment of Glen Waddell, Dréos offers listeners exciting, handcrafted music in a living tradition, and brings audiences and students into a centuries-old cultural-artistic dialogue. Dréos has been engaging listeners in North America and in Europe since its inception. The word “Dréos” comes from Scottish Gaelic and translates into the English word “blaze” with the idea that it…
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Biddy on the Bench
Today’s featured performer isBiddy on the Bench! https://youtu.be/mi_y2cZ2qiw The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome Biddy on the Bench! Website | Bandcamp The versatile combination of traditional acoustic instruments and vocal harmony lends itself equally to high-energy Irish rebel songs and shanties, lively session tunes, and mournful Gaelic ballads. Grounded primarily in the folk style of Irish music pioneered by bands such as “The Dubliners”, “Planxty”, and “The Bothy Band”, Portland’s own “Biddy on the Bench” breathes life and authenticity into old standbys of the genre and lesser-known tunes alike. The band approaches each song, each melody, with a passion for the music and sharing it with others.…
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Pipedance
The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome Pipedance, featuring husband and wife duo Gary Burman and Nora Sherwood. Formed out of a true love for Irish music and dance, their sound is complemented by Nora’s percussive sean-nós step dancing making this duo is not only fun to listen to, but fun to watch, too.
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Dan and Fran
The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome Dan Compton and Fran Slefer. They’re especially fond of the music of southwest Ireland — that region known as Sliabh Luachra — with its repertoire of slides, polkas, and danceable reels and jigs. But they’ll play a tune from anywhere if they like it, so you can expect to hear them borrow from the traditions of the Québec, Brittany, Britain Scandinavia, and other cold, damp places.
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Hanz Araki
The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome flautist, whistle player, singer, and Juno Award winner Hanz Araki who has been lauded by publications and audiences alike and is considered one of the most talented Irish musicians in America today.
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Colleen Raney
The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome vocalist Colleen Raney, who has been referred to as “among the best in her genre”. (Irish Music Magazine) and “one of America’s best traditional singers.” (Tradconnect)
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D’n’A
The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome Celtic duo D'n'A, who play traditional music from Europe and North America. Doug Heydon plays guitar, banjo and bass, plus a touch of percussion (spoons, bones, mouth harp) and the French vielle à roue (hurdy-gurdy) and the Appalachian mountain dulcimer. Amey Herman focuses on fiddles: 4-string and 5-string, and the 9-stringed Norwegian Hardanger fiddle.
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Eliot Grasso
The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome performer and scholar Eliot Grasso. His artistic and academic work as a performer, recording artist, composer, and researcher has earned awards from the traditional music community, the recording industry, and the academic establishment.
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Lumina’s Heart
The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome Lumina's Heart, a duo specializing in music from the Celtic lands and original songs.
