201201 Jan IMDA

January 1 Irish Music & 2012 Dance Association Eanáir 30th Year, Issue No. 1 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. Since last year, the Irish Music and Dance Association has: Inside this issue: ♣ Hosted more than 6,000 people at our 303030 ThThTh St. Patrick's Day Irish Celebration and 999ththth Tune of the Month 2 Day of Irish Dance at Landmark Center. Gaelic Corner 3 ♣ Hosted IMDA Honors Lar Burke in November; an evening celebrating and honoring IMDA Honors Lar Burke January Calendar 8-9 the contributions of a writer, actor, and founding member of Na Fianna Irish Theatre Company. An Leabhragán 12 ♣ Honored 10 dedicated Irish dancers from four Irish dance schools with the IMDA Cu Ceoil 13 h Decade of Dance award. This was the 6 year of the award, with a total of 68 dancers The Ceili Calendar 14 receiving the award to date. Smidirini 15 ♣ Awarded an IMDA Educational Grant to a young bagpiper to allow him to continue his study of the bagpipes at the famed Balmoral School of Piping’s weeklong summer session. ♣ Sponsored the IMDA Music Workshop Tent at Irish Fair MN in August. In 2011, workshops offerings included bodhrán, whistle, harp, guitar and singing workshops. ♣ Continued our partnership with the Great Northern Irish Pipers Club by hosting of the quarterly Celtic Music Open Mic evenings, providing a showcase for new bands and musicians and giving established musicians a venue for trying new things. ♣ Continued our partnership with Irish Fair Minnesota by organizing the “Best Legs in a Kilt Contest” at the Fair. Enthusiasm for this event continues to grow bringing additional participants as well as great visibility for Irish Fair. ♣ Supported the Celtic Junction by participating in the Grand Re-Opening Halloween Bash doing face painting. ♣ Represented Ireland in the Street Fair preceding the musical “Steerage Song” at the Fitzgerald Theatre in June, promoted the event and worked with Theatre Latte Da to secure discounted tickets for IMDA members. ♣ Promoted Irish music and dance to the larger community through the calendar and events information on the IMDA website, updated weekly to reflect the dynamic nature of live music in the Twin Cities. ♣ Promoted Irish music and dance to the wider community through the IMDA Facebook PagePage. The IMDA Facebook Page currently has 556 “fans”, including fans in Ireland, Canada, England, Australia, France and Norway as well as across the United States. ♣ Kept our members informed about Irish happenings and community news through the IMDA Monthly NewsletterNewsletter and Music CalendarCalendar. ♣ Served the greater community by providing information about Irish music and dance groups, céilís and other Irish events through the IMDA Community Resources List, which is available year round on the website and distributed at our St. Patrick’s Day festivities and at Irish Fair Minnesota. This list continues to grow, including an ever- expanding list new bands, merchants and venues. ♣ Provided a referral service to community members wishing to book Irish musicians and dancers for their own events ♣ Served as fiscal agent for individuals & community organizations seeking grants and raising funds. ♣ Sponsored a hotel package for Milwaukee Irish Fest in August. The Irish Music and Dance Association would like to thank our sponsors and donors for their generous support in 2011: Kivel Electric ♣♣♣ Reflections ♣ St. Paul Irish Dancer Our many volunteers www.IMDAwww.IMDA-at St. Patrick’s---MN.orgMN.org Day and throughout the year Irish Music & 2 Dance Association The IMDA Board is : Tune of the Month by Amy Shaw President: Lisa Conway Treasurer: Mark Malone The Chicago-based band Bua, featuring our own Brian Miller on Secretary: Jan Casey Down the Green Board Members: Suin Swann guitar, has released an excellent new CD titled Ruth McGlynn Fields . If Santa didn’t bring you a copy for Christmas, you really Patrick Cole Editor: John Burns must go straight to Irish on Grand and buy one! And you won’t want to miss Bua’s concert at the Celtic Junction in St. Paul on February IMDA Board Meetings are open to the membership. rd The Board meets regularly on the First Tuesday of each 3 (watch http://thecelticjunction.com/ for details). month at 6 pm at Perkins in HarMar. Members are encouraged to verify the time and location shortly before, The Milliner’s Daughter has been a favorite tune of pipers. Francis as meeting times and locations can change. O’Neill collected it from piper Bernard Delaney and it has been Contact Information widely recorded since. It certainly makes a great fiddle and flute Write to: tune, as Bua demonstrates. Irish Music and Dance Association 236 Norfolk Ave NW Elk River, MN 55330 Usual disclaimers: Any transcription errors are my own. The Call: 612-990-3122 notation here is not meant to be a substitute for listening. It is simply E-mail: [email protected] an aid to learning the tune. Newsletter Submissions We welcome our readers to submit articles of interest, news, and notices of events to be published in the newsletter. The deadline is the 20th o f the preceding month. www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org Irish Music & 3 Dance Association The Gaelic Corner By Will Kenny Recently, at our regular conversation group meeting that is méileach . But when a goat is bleating, that's with Nancy Stenson (a brilliant teacher who, bless her, meigeallach . (And a man who is wearing a goatee is also got me into this whole Irish language thing in the first referred to as meigeallach , meigeall meaning a "goat's place), we were reading a recollection of what beard" whether it is on a goat or on a human.) Christmas was like in the Aran Islands during the boyhood days (early 1940's) of bilingual writer So if you have tried talking to the animals and had little Breandán Ó hEithir. He mentioned, in passing, that it success, maybe you have simply been using the wrong was the custom to speak English vocabulary. to horses and dogs, but to speak Irish to cattle and cats. Thanks to everyone who took part in our annual Christmas Dinner --our And that is not the only odd 30th -- in late December. In addition thing about, as Dr. Doolittle to our instructors and students, it is might say, talking to the animals. Although we don't always a special delight to welcome the family and think about it much in a modern, urban environment, friends who support everyone's efforts, as well as to see talking to animals is something all of us have done, and old friends of Gaeltacht Minnesota who pop in and make we know that there are different calls for different things a little merrier. Speaking of which, that merry old animals. elf Martin McHugh brought along a couple of friends to give us some tunes, and we had great entertainment from So if someone shouting, “Come! C’mon, boy!” there's a our in-house thespians and singers. good chance there's a dog involved. And even us city- dwellers can imagine chanting, “Here, chick, chick, A huge thank-you to Suin, who does so much of the work chick” when it is time to feed the poultry. needed to pull off this event. And congratulations to Shari, who became the first person in our history to take In rural Ireland of some time ago, naturally, people who home the fabled traveling trophy for a second time. spoke to the animals enjoyed, shall we say, a more diverse audience. We are aiming for our annual January fundraiser on the last Sunday afternoon of January, the 29th, but we have The call of Pis! Pis! ("pish! pish!") is used to get a cat's not confirmed the details as of press time. Please stop attention. It is no coincidence that the words pisín ("pish bywww.gaelminn.orgor e-mail [email protected] if you -een") or piscín ("pish-keen") mean "kitten." But a dog need information about this event, or want to donate. This was more likely to hear Sas! Sas! ("sahs"). single fundraiser sustains our activities throughout the entire year. At least in the old days, there were fine distinctions among the farmyard birds as well. Tiuc! Tiuc! (close to Or stop by our web site, sign up for our free e-newsletter, "chuck") might be used to gather the chickens, but the The GaelMinn Gazette , and your January 25 issue will ducks got Fíní! Fíní! ("fee-nee"), while the geese heard confirm the fundraiser details. Beadaí! Beadaí! ("baddy"). Is fearr marcaíocht ar ghabhar ná coisíocht dá fheabhas. And what do these creatures say back? English- Riding on a goat is better than the best walking. speaking ducks clearly enunciate "Quack! Quack!", as everyone knows. But Irish-speaking ducks are more Will likely to say Vác! Vác! ("vawk"). Now, in English, both goats and sheep "bleat." But in Irish, they apparently bleat with somewhat different accents. When that cute little lamb is bleating away, www.IMDAwww.IMDA- ---MN.orgMN.org Irish Music & 4 Dance Association MINUTES Irish Music and Dance Association – Annual Membership and Board Meeting Dec. 3, 2011 – 2:00 PM Merlins Rest, Minneapolis, MN Attending: Mike Casey, Jan Casey, Patrick Cole, Tom Klein, Mark Malone, Ruth McGlynn, Suin Swann Approval Minutes of November Meeting. Approved as written. Patrick moved, Suin seconded. Treasurer’s Statement – Mark Malone, Treasurer Mark’s report was distributed. IMDA Highlights 2011 – Jan Casey, Secretary A summary of IMDA activities and accomplishments in 2011 is attached.

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