1 Irish Music & March 2013 Márta Dance Association 31th Year, Issue No. 3 The mission of the Irish Music and Dance Association is to support, coordinate, encourage and promote high quality activities and programs in Irish music, dance, and other cultural traditions within the community and to insure the continuation of those traditions. Inside this issue: St. Patrick’s Day Irish Celebration has Tune of the Month 2 Something for Everyone! Gaelic Corner 3 IMDA Grants Info 4-5 IMDA’s St. Patrick’s Day Irish Celebration on Saturday, March 16 has Day of Irish Dance 6-7 entertainment to delight everyone – whether you’re Irish or only Irish for the day. Irish Events in March 8-9 March Calendar 10-11 Love Irish music? We have a direct connection with Ireland this year with special Northwoods Songs 14 guests Paddy O’Brien and Máirtín de Cógáin . Paddy is a master of the two-row An Leabhragán 17 button accordion and a serious collector of traditional tunes, with a repertoire of Smidirini 19 more than 3,000 compositions. Máirtín is a singer and champion storyteller with a winning way with audiences. It will be a day full of great traditional tunes and songs from 40 Shades of Green, the Eddies, Barra and Locklin Road . And the Hounds of Finn, the Langer’s Ball and Broken Spoke will have your toes tapping! And don’t miss the wonderful Center for Irish Music Advanced Youth Ensemble. Be sure to check out both main stage and the F.K. Weyerhaeuser stage on the lower level – it’s music and dancing on both stages all day! Looking for a taste of Riverdance? Enjoy Irish dance all day long with dancers from our wonderful local Irish dance schools: córda mór irish dance , North Star Irish Dance, O’Shea Irish Dance , Rince na Chroi , Rince Nua , St. Paul Irish Dancers and Shamrock School of Irish Step Dance will delight you. And performances by Biddies Galore with Emerald Isle , Green Fire Irish Dancers , Knocknagow Irish Dancers and Mooncoin Céili Dancers complete the dance offerings. Need a nice cup of tea? Make your way to the Tea Room on the 3rd Floor for tea and a treat – and some lovely music in a quieter setting. You’ll hear traditional instrumental music from Rumgumption, Clairseach, Dunquin, Heritage and the Center for Irish Music An Luan ensemble plus songs from Handful of Fun and the Giggin Siles. New this year is the Bellows Brothers (Tom Klein on uilleann pipes and Dan Newton on piano accordion ). The Tea Room is definitely a wonderful spot all day long. Looking for the perfect Irish gift or souvenir? You’ll find wonderful choices in the Celtic Marketplace. Did you bring the little ones? The kids always enjoy the great craft activities in the Children’s Area on the 2nd floor – and facepainting artists will be about as well! The Children’s Stage on the lower level has special music and dance activities just for them. Need some food for the mind? Ann and Charlie Heymann’s presentations on the Gaelic harp are always popular. This year, they will focus on the role of the harp in presentations of Irish poetry. Ann and Charlie recently returned from an extended fellowship in Ireland. Gaeltacht Minnesota will teach a bit of the Irish language in “Irish for Tourists.” Locklin Road will give you the background on the Irish roots of Bob Dylan’s music. Máirtín de Cógáin will be telling "Fairy Stories of The Other People and the worlds that surround us." Check out the complete schedule on our website – www.IMDA-MN.org - so you don’t miss your favorites! www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org Irish Music & 2 Dance Association The IMDA Board is : Tune of the Month by Amy Shaw President: Lisa Conway Treasurer: Mark Malone I missed the Kevin Burke concert at the Celtic Junction last fall, but my Secretary: Jan Casey friends were raving about it. One of them put me onto Across the Black Board Members: John Concannon Juli Acton River , Kevin’s CD with guitarist Cal Scott. That album includes Reel of Paul McCluskey Rio, a tune that is occasionally played in sessions around here and one that I Editor: John Burns really should finish learning. Now’s my chance, I guess. IMDA Board Meetings are open to the membership. Reel of Rio has been widely recorded and it appears in many printed The Board meets regularly on the First Tuesday of each collections, usually unattributed. Not until now did I realize it’s actually a month at 6 pm at Perkins in HarMar. Members are encouraged to composition of the Co. Tipperary fiddler Seán Ryan (1919-1985). A verify the time and location shortly before, as meeting times and number of Seán’s 250 tunes have become such standards of the traditional locations can change. repertoire that people don’t even associate them with their composer. The winner of several All-Irelands, Seán frequently appeared on radio and Contact Information television broadcasts. Many of our readers will be aware that our own Write to: Irish Music and Dance Association Paddy O’Brien made his first trip to America in 1968 while touring out east 236 Norfolk Ave NW with Seán and his wife Kathleen, who played the piano. Elk River, MN 55330 This reel has a curious title. One explanation is that it was “so named by Call: 612-990-3122 Rev. John Quinn for its samba-style feel” ( The Companion to Irish E-mail: [email protected] Traditional Music , 2 nd edition). The Fiddler’s Companion adds, “According to Seán’s son Brian the tune suggested a Latin beat, hence the Newsletter Submissions title’s reference to the Brazilian city, although the title is also a pun on the We welcome our readers to submit articles of interest, name of the grain (rye). Seán Ryan’s nickname was ‘Rio’ (pronounced ‘rye- news, and notices of events to be published in the newsletter. o’), and thus another layer of word-play in the title.” The deadline is the 20th of the preceding month. Send to: [email protected] Usual disclaimers: Any transcription errors are my own. The notation here is not meant to be a substitute for listening. It is simply an aid to learning the tune. www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org Irish Music & 3 Dance Association The Gaelic Corner By Will Kenny "Congress," our national legislative body, might be comhchogar ("co-whispering = conspiracy"), with translated by the Irish word comhdháil , based on the devious leaders who comhordaigh ("co-order = co- word dáil , which can refer to a "meeting," but in this ordinate") several comhchoirí ("co-accused = sense means an "assembly." Of course, you've probably accomplice"). And there is no doubt that politics can seen use of the phrase "The Dáil" to refer to Ireland's make for many a strange comhleapach ("co-bedding = national legislative body (technically the lower house of bedfellow"). their parliament). That comh-prefix in comhdháil is Alas, in the comhthéacs ("co-text = used in many places where "co context") of comhaimseartha ("co- -" is used in English, and the timed = contemporary") political life, prefix can refer to "equal," few members of Congress seem to "even," "mutual," and so on. treat other members as "colleagues". A comhdháil is kind of a Interesting that: the Irish word for "co-assembly," then, and the "colleague" is comhghleacaí , formed word is used for things like "conventions" and from the comh-prefix and the word gleacaí. Gleacaí professional "conferences," but it would also be used to means a "wrestler" or "fighter," or sometimes a refer to our Congress. Many Irish words beginning with "trickster" or "dissembler." comh- correspond ( comhfhreagair, or "co-answer") Seems like the Irish version of "colleague" describes straightforwardly to English concepts, but perhaps not members of Congress rather well! directly to English words. People who are the same age Our spring one-day workshop , sponsored by the are comhaosta ("co-aged"). A word that is Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas, comhchiallach ("same-sensed") with another is its will be held on the Tommie St. Paul campus on "synonym," while a word that shares a "co- Saturday, April 20 . All levels are taught at this event, name" ( comhainm ) with another is its "homonym." And and completing the beginner class will gain you access to trees that are all the same height, which some our regular weekly classes. Registration forms and politicians apparently prefer, have comh-airde ("co- additional details will be available shortly on our web tallness"). site. Our comhdháil or Congress is a place where they We have also scheduled our summer weekend don't seem to be able to comhoibrigh ("co-work = co- workshop for Saturday and Sunday, July 27-28 , on the operate") on anything. Far from being able to make any campus of St. John's University in Collegeville. Great comhghéilleadh ("co-yielding = compromise") with one setting, great workout in Irish! another, members seem to have trouble even having a For more about our workshops and other activities, decent comhrá ("co-say = conversation") with one visit www.gaelminn.org . And while you are there, join another. Not that they deserve our cobhrón ("co-sadness 600 subscribers around the world by signing up for The = sympathy"). GaelMinn Gazette , our free monthly e-zine with tips (in It's not as if we're asking them to form some kind of English) for studying Irish and announcements of our comhrialtas ("co-government = coalition"), like the events and activities. ones that are found in many countries that belong to An An té nach ngabhfaidh comhairle glacfaidh sé Cómhargadh (the "co-market = Common Market").