September 1 2015 Irish Music & Meán Fómhair

Dance Association 33rd Year, Issue No. 9 The mission of the Irish Music and Dance Association is to support and promote Irish music, dance, and other cultural traditions to insure their continuation. Mike and Jan Casey Receive Irish Fair ’s Inside this issue: 2015 Curtin-Conway Award The Gaelic Corner 3

IMDA Grant Winner 5 The Curtin-Conway Award honors Leah Curtin and Roger Conway, two of The Minnesota Feis 6 the original organizers of the festival. The honor is presented annually to someone who has made significant contributions to the Irish cultural community in the Twin Cities and/or Minnesota. The award includes a $1,000 donation by the Irish Fair to the Irish cultural charity of the recipient's choice and the name of the honoree is placed on a plaque that is on public display at Irish On Grand. The award presentation on Saturday at Irish Fair was bittersweet, as Roger Conway had just passed away. Mike and Jan Casey are active members of our local Irish community, regulars at concerts and dance events and enthusiastic and involved volunteers. While Mike had been volunteering with Irish Fair as a stage manager, they both became more involved when they began coming out to the Dubliner Pub for céilí dancing. They met a new group of friends and found themselves drawn in. Mike has been involved with Irish Fair since the early days at St. Thomas, first as a stage manager and, beginning in 2002, as chair of the Cultural Area and member of the Board. Over that time, with assistance from many contributors, he has helped the Cultural Area grow and expand to include a non-profit Irish community groups table, models of a famine ship, a high cross, a holy well, Irish still and wake parlor, as well as rotating displays, an expanded workshop stage, Tea Room, speaker’s stage, Irish theater, and a literary corner. He created both the storytelling tent and the Celtic chat table. Mike is a long- time MC for the Irish Music and Dance Association’s St. Patrick’s Day Irish Celebration and Day of Irish Dance at Landmark Center. He also serves on the Board and performs with the Celtic Collaborative Irish theater group. Jan has also been an active volunteer with Irish Fair. She created the banners that hang in the Pavilion, as well as several of the rotating displays that appear in the Cultural area each year, including the display focusing on the 50-year history of Irish music in the Twin Cities. She has coordinated the Irish Fair’s Triscéil Tea Room for the last 6 years, and received Irish Fair’s Turf Cutter award as Volunteer of the Year in 2014. She has served in numerous capacities on the Board of the Irish Music and Dance Association since 2006, including volunteer coordinator and Secretary, and continues to serve as Vice President and entertainment coordinator. During her watch, the entertainment at the Landmark Center on St. Patrick’s Day and the Day of Irish Dance has grown to include a children’s stage, Irish theater, expanded Tea Room music and seminars. She regularly updates the IMDA website and Facebook page, and contributes each month to the IMDA newsletter. Jan created and continues to coordinate both the IMDA’S Decade of Dance Award and IMDA’s Educational Grant Program. Mike and Jan also actively support and volunteer with the Celtic Junction, the Center for Irish Music and the Friends of St. Patrick.

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The IMDA Board is : Tune of the Month by Amy Shaw President: Lisa Conway Vice President: Jan Casey Here is an interesting reel from the playing of Paddy O’Brien. I Treasurer: Mark Malone Secretary: Ciara Reynolds was reminded of it recently when fiddler Tom Schaefer played it at a Board Members: John Concannon Keegan’s session one Sunday. How could you not like a tune with a Kevin Carroll Kathie Luby name like this one? Tim Monahan Julia Rogers Editor: John Burns This tune has Scottish roots and appears in early published IMDA Board Meetings are open to the membership. The Board meets regularly on the First Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm at the collections, such as Robert Bremner’s Collection of Scots Reels or Dubliner Pub in St. Paul. Members are encouraged to verify the time and location Country Dances of 1757, where it is titled The HighlandmanKiss'd shortly before, as meeting times and locations can change. his Mother. Its limited range and character suggest that it was a Contact Information piping tune. The tune made its way to Ireland, probably by way of Write to: Irish Music and Dance Association 236 Norfolk Ave NW Donegal, and has since appeared on various Irish recordings, Elk River, MN 55330 including Paddy O’Brien’s Stranger at the Gate (1993). I’ve always Call: 612-990-3122 E-mail: [email protected] found it a difficult reel on the flute, but it’s fun to play in the key of C Newsletter Submissions for a change and well worth the challenge. So give it a try! 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 of the preceding month. Usual disclaimers: Any transcription errors are my own. The notation here Send to: [email protected] is not meant to be a substitute for listening. It is simply an aid to learning the tune.

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The Gaelic Corner By Will Kenny "To be or to be?" Not exactly what Shakespeare To add to the fun, the copula ( is ) is what's known as a wrote, but a question that comes up fairly often when defective verb, in that it doesn't show all the usual speaking Irish! forms. While bí, the first "to be" mentioned above, goes through the usual conjugation of tenses, the copula has The fact that Irish has two verbs to express "to be" is a just two versions. One handles the present and future, challenge to Irish learners, and the fact that one of them and one handles past and conditional ("would") is a bit odd doesn't help matters. meanings. Context counts for a lot, Irish is hardly the only language then, in some copula sentences. that does this, of course. But the fact that English gets along fine To get around this "defect", we can with just one "to be" makes it a "cheat" using a special construction little harder for most of us to get with bí . To clearly express the used to choosing the right "to be" future, we might say, Beidh sí ina dalta amárach to when figuring out how to say things as Gaeilge. express, "She will be a student tomorrow". That literally means, "She will be in her student tomorrow"! For instance, in English we might think of famous adopted Minnesotan Paul Bunyan and say things like, One thing you might want "to be" is a Gaelic speaker, "He is big", "He is a giant", and "The giant is big". That and this fall, Gaeltacht Minnesota is offering Gaelic in one verb, "is", works fine for all of these statements. two flavors!

Not so in Irish. For the first statement, we can use a Our four-week "Introduction to Irish Gaelic" class will tense of the common verb bí (coincidentally be taught through St. Paul Community Education. The pronounced "bee"), to say, Tá sé mór. And using the class meets 7-9 Monday evenings starting September 21. word fathach for "giant", we can similarly use the same And completing this course will get you into our regular, verb to translate "The giant is big" as Tá an fathach free Monday night classes for as long as you like. mór. In addition, "Scots Gaelic I" will run for four one-hour But for that middle one, "He is a giant", we have to use Monday sessions, starting in November. This will give a different verb. This special form of "to be" is known you a taste, at least, of Gaelic as it is spoken in Scotland. as the copula, and we end up with Is fathach é. Again coincidentally, that present (and future) tense of the On-line registration for both of these classes opens copula is "is", but it is pronounced "iss" rather than September 8, and it's a good idea to register early, "iz". especially for Irish Gaelic. Visit our web site at www.gaelminn.org for more information and a link to The first "to be" we met, bí, is used largely to describe the Community Ed site.. things. When we say something is red or blue or fast or slow, or when we want to say what someone is doing -- Is ionann an cás, an t-éag agus an bás swimming, singing, sleeping -- we use this verb. Literally, "They are the same case, dying and death", Or, "Six of one, half a dozen of the other" The copula, on the other hand, often functions as an equals sign: "he = giant". It is used to classify or categorize things, as in the "he is a giant" sentence, or —Will Is éan spideog, "A robin is a bird". It is also used to identify people or things: Is é Paul Bunyan an fear is mó anseo, "Paul Bunyan the biggest man here". www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org 4 Irish Music & Dance Association

Todd Menton CD Release at The Celtic Junction, Sept 18 Music starts at 7:30pm. Advance tickets $12, $15 at the door. Seniors and children under 12yrs pay $9 in advance and $10 at the door. Todd Menton will celebrate the release of his new recording, “Rosie In the Stars”. The concert will include a cash bar. Todd’s new solo release features 12 tracks of Irish traditional tunes and original songs delivered with his unique drive, humor, and multi-instrumental skill. His singing has led punk-folk mainstays Boiled in Lead for over thirty years. Good friends Lehto & Wright featuring Matt Jacobs join Todd on the CD and at the release show, adding their muscular folk-rock to his eccentric, melodious take on traditional music. Pub songs, ballads of lost love, stories of saints and flying saucers will fill the track list for Rosie In the Stars. Several of Todd’s signature bodhran and vocal numbers will lead the way, rounded out by Lehto & Wright’s powerful electric pulse on polkas, sea shanties, and more .

The High Kings with SisterTree Enjoy a Celtic evening at The Cedar Cultural Center on Tuesday, September 15. For centuries, Ireland was ruled by High Kings. As their reign came to an end, their deeds and stories merged into the world of legend and myth and of Ireland were no more except in story, music and song. Until now. Finbarr Clancy, Brian Dunphy, Martin Furey and Darren Holden, renowned vocalists and musicians, have come together to create the most exciting Irish ballad group to emerge since and electrified the worldwide folk revival of the 1960s. Taking some of the classic ballad repertoire from the past and mixing those songs with new and exciting modern songs in the folk idiom, The High Kings are embarking to become the hottest folk and ballad act of the new millennium. SisterTree opens the show. ♣ Doors Open: 7:00pm, show at 7:30pm ♣ Advance tickets: $20.00, Day of show tickets: $25.00 Ticket options and info: ♣ Phone: 612-338-2674 ext 0 between 12 noon and 4pm M-F ($2 fee per ticket) ♣ In person: From a Cedar volunteer in the front lobby during events (no fee; cash, check, credit card), Depth of Field (no fee; cash or check only), or Electric Fetus (approximately $2 fee)

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Irish Dancer Dreams of Dancing in Ireland Kelly Ann Shanahan of St. Paul has been studying Irish dance for nearly 12 years, starting when she was five years old and was drawn to it by seeing dancers at Irish Fair! According to Kelly, she was already doing other types of dance “but Irish intrigued me; it was like tap and I loved making noise.” Kelly dances with St. Paul Irish Dancers , and had been one of the select dancers to dance with the Ring of Kerry Irish band. Kelly has helped teach younger dancers through the school’s summer camp program, as a “driller” – helping dancers accomplish drills, skill sets and steps, and has been part of St. Paul Irish Dancers distance learning program teaching via Skype. Kelly has also demonstrated an outstanding commitment to Irish dance in rebuilding her skills and strength following a serious biking injury. Kelly wanted to expand her dance horizons and applied and won a place in the Riverdance Trinity College Summer School held at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. The application process for the program was extensive including an essay about her interest in dance and a video of her hard shoe steps. Being accepted into this prestigious program was exciting – but only the first step in actually getting to Ireland. Kelly used her IMDA Educational Grant for a portion of her travel expenses and raised the remainder of the funds by applying for other grants and fundraising. The Riverdance Trinity College Summer School includes learning the choreography from the Riverdance show as well as classes on nutrition, fitness and personal management. At the end of the week, the dancers present a performance at the Lir National Academy for Dramatic Arts on the grounds of Trinity College. Kelly attended a session in July 2015. See a separate article for photos and more from Kelly on the experience. Her teachers tell us that Kelly has “a sparkling personality” and is an enthusiastic proponent of Irish dance, energizing any class that she has been a part of and sharing her love of Irish dance both on and off the dance floor. The Irish Music and Dance Association is pleased to help this dedicated young dancer pursue her passion for Irish dance and expand her personal horizons.

Thank you to the Irish Music and Dance Association I wanted to thank you so very much for the grant I received for my trip to Ireland. The Trinity Riverdance International Summer School was all I dreamed it would be! I met dancers from all over the world and trained with the cast of Riverdance- most of whom actually were lead dancers in the show. I was in the Shannon group where I met girls from England, Japan, Singapore, Canada, and China. Without your grant I would not have been able to have such as great experience that broadened my horizons. While at the camp, in addition to meeting new people, we also learned four dances from the show: Riverdance, Heartland, Reel around the Sun, and Countess. I have enclosed a picture from the camp. Once again thank you for helping me with this amazing opportunity. With much gratitude, Kelly Shanahan, www.IMDAwww.IMDA- ---MN.org MN.org 2015 IMDA Educational Grant Recipient 6 Irish Music & Dance Association

Mark your Calendars and Plan to Join us for one of the Twin Cities’ best Irish Dance, Music & Arts Competitions! When: Saturday, September 26th Where: The St. Paul RiverCentre 175 Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN Who: Amateur Dancers & Non-Dancers, Age 5 to Adult What: ♣ Irish Dance Competition : Entrants compete in internationally sanctioned solo & team categories before national and international judges. ♣ Instrumental Music Competition : Soloists and Groups prepare and perform two Irish dance tunes in contrasting tempos. Sheet music is not allowed. ♣ Instrument Categories : Flute, Tin Whistle, Violin, Accordion/Irish Piano, Misc. Instrument (e.g., Harp) ♣ Competitors provide their own instruments ♣ Vocal Music Competition : Soloists and Groups prepare and perform one memorized, unaccompanied traditional Irish song in English or Irish Gaelic. Entry Fee: $8.00 per competition, plus $20 Event Registration Fee (covers entrant’s admission & results) ♣ Irish-Themed Visual Arts Competition : Entrants submit self-created visual art pieces (Photography, Drawing, Painting, Ceramics, Crop Art … or Surprise us withyour creativity!) ♣ Traditional Irish Needlework Competition : Entrants submit self-created needlework pieces (Weaving, Knitting, Sewing, Embroidery, Lace … or Surprise us with your creativity!) ♣ Irish Soda Bread Competition : Entrants submit one self-made loaf of Irish soda bread (Traditional Brown,Traditional White, or Non-Traditional) Entry Fee: $6.00 per competition, plus $20 Event Registration Fee (covers entrant’s admission & results) In all areas of competition, judges score competitors in various categories, based on their age and proficiency, and provide feedback designed to help them grow and develop their skills. Remember that this Feis is now part of a back-to-back Feis Weekend, so be sure to register to compete inThe Saint Paul Autumn Feis, which will be held in the same location on th Sunday, September 27 ! www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org 7 Irish Music & Dance Association

To learn more about the Minnesota Feis 2015 and the competitions outlined above, please visit our website : http://www.theminnesotafeis.org

To register for one or more of the Minnesota Feis 2015 Irish Dance, Music or Arts Competition, please follow this link : http://www.theminnesotafeis.org/syllabus--registration.html

Are you looking to enter the Irish Soda Bread Competition, but need a recipe? Here’s a link to The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread ’s Recipe Page: http://www.sodabread.info/menu/

Do you have questions about the Irish Music and Dance Competitions? Please contact Sally Evans at [email protected] .

To learn more about the Saint Paul Autumn Feis, hosted by the O'Shea Irish Dance Education Association (OIDEA), please visit their official website :http://www.oideamn.com/#!saint-paul-autumn-feis/c1trd

MN Feis 2015 Adjudicators and Musicians:

Irish Dance Competitions

Adjudicators: Nora Corrigan, ADCRG,Ontario, Canada Grace Ann Coyle, ADCRG,Pennsylvania, USA Eileen Coyle Henry, ADCRG,Pennsylvania, USA John Jennings, ADCRG,New Jersey, USA Michael Smith, ADCRG,Massachusetts, USA Heather Timm, ADCRG,Ohio, USA John Timm, ADCRG,Ohio, USA

Musicians: Tony Nother, Ontario, Canada Kathleen Green, Minnesota Tom Juenemann, Minnesota Sean Cleland, Illinois Maria Terres, Wisconsin

Irish Music and Arts Competitions

Music : Irish Arts : Laura MacKenzie, MN Mary Bishop, MN Chad McAnally, MN

Irish Soda Bread : Patty McCann, M N Come Feisin’ Withwww.IMDAwww.IMDA- us ...…We ---MN.orgHopeMN.org to See You There!! IMDA Community Calendar September 20158 Sunday Monday IrishTuesday MusicWednesday Thursday & Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 Dance7:30pm Pub Quiz Association7pm Irish Social Dance 6:30pm Pub Quiz 7pm Daithi Sproule & 2pm 1st Saturday Ceili Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 9pm The Langer’s Ball 8pm Pub Quiz Laura MacKenzie Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Keegan’s Pub, Mpls Rochester Irish Fest, St. Dominic’s Trio Peace Plaza, Rochester 3pm Daithi Sproule & Nye’s, Mpls 7:30pm Pub Quiz The Willis Clan Laura MacKenzie Merlins Rest, Mpls Tom Dahill & Ginny 7:30pm Bedlam Rochester Irish Fest, Peace The Willis Clan Johnson Charlie’s Irish Pub, Plaza, Rochester The Irish Briade The Willis Clan MN STATE FAIR Stillwater Tom Dahill & Ginny Willow Brai w/ O’Shea 7:30pm Bedlam Johnson Irish Dance 8pm Celtic Session Charlie’s Irish Pub, Stillwater MN STATE FAIR Tom Dahill & Ginny Merlins Rest, Mpls Johnson 9pm Irish Brigade MN STATE FAIR 9:30pm Wild Colonial Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Bhoys O’Donovan’s Pub, Mpls 9:30pm Wild Colonial Bhoys The Willis Clan Kieran’s Pub, Mpls Tom Dahill & Ginny Johnson The Willis Clan MN STATE FAIR Tom Dahill & Ginny Johnson MN STATE FAIR

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Noon: Traditional 6:30pm Lehto & Wright 7:30pm Pub Quiz 7pm Irish Social Dance 6:30pm Pub Quiz 8pm Celtic Session Wild Colonial Bhoys and Session The School II Bistro and Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 9pm Irish Brigade 8pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls Two Tap Trio: Irish Fest Kieran’s Pub, Mpls Wine Bar, Chanhassen Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Keegan’s Pub, Mpls Central Wisconsin Arts Center, Lakeville 7:30pm Irish Set Weston WI The Willis Clan Dancing w/ the Twin 7:30pm Pub Quiz 7pm Celtic Music 4pm Learners Irish Tom Dahill & Ginny Cities Ceili Band Merlins Rest, Mpls Showcase Session Johnson Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Underground Music 6pm Advanced Irish MN STATE FAIR Café Falcon Heights Music St. Dominic’s Trio Session Nye’s, Mpls Keegan’s Pub, Mpls

7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls

8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

The Willis Clan Tom Dahill & Ginny Johnson MN STATE FAIR

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Noon: Traditional 6:30pm Lehto & Wright 7:30pm Pub Quiz 7pm Irish Social Dance 6:30pm Pub Quiz 9pm Irish Brigade 7pm 3rd Saturday Ceili w/ Session The School II Bistro and Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 9pm The Langer’s Ball 8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Twin Cities Ceili Band Kieran’s Pub, Mpls Wine Bar, Chanhassen Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Keegan’s Pub, Mpls The Celtic Junction, St. Paul St. Dominic’s Trio 7:30pm Todd Menton 4pm Learners Irish 7:30pm Sea Shanty Nye’s, Mpls 7:30pm Pub Quiz CD Release 9pm Irish Brigade Session Sing Merlins Rest, Mpls The Celtic Junction, St. Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 6pm Advanced Irish Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Paul Music Session 8pm Celtic Session Keegan’s Pub, Mpls Merlins Rest, Mpls

7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls

8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

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20 21 22Irish 23 Music 24 & 25 26 Noon: Traditional 6:30pm Lehto & Wright 7:30pm Pub Quiz 7pm Irish Social Dance 6:30pm Pub Quiz 8pm Celtic Session 9pm Northerly Gales Session The School II Bistro and Keegan’s Pub, Mpls Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 8pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Kieran’s Pub, Mpls Wine Bar, ChanhassenDance Association Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7:30pm Irish Set 7:30pm Pub Quiz 8pm The Northerly 4pm Learners Irish Dancing w/ the Twin Merlins Rest, Mpls Gales Session Cities Ceili Band Hat Trick Lounge, St. 6pm Advanced Irish Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Paul Music Session St. Dominic’s Trio Keegan’s Pub, Mpls Nye’s, Mpls

7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls

8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

27 28 29 30 1 2 3 Noon: Traditional 6:30pm Lehto & Wright 7:30pm Pub Quiz 7pm Irish Social Dance 6:30pm Pub Quiz 8pm Celtic Session 2pm 1st Saturday Ceili Session The School II Bistro and Keegan’s Pub, Mpls Dubliner Pub, St. Paul 8pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls Dubliner Pub, St. Paul Kieran’s Pub, Mpls Wine Bar, Chanhassen Keegan’s Pub, Mpls 7:30pm Pub Quiz 4pm Learners Irish 7pm 4th Monday St. Dominic’s Trio Merlins Rest, Mpls Session Shanty/Pub Sing Nye’s, Mpls 6pm Advanced Irish Merlins Rest, Mpls Music Session Keegan’s Pub, Mpls

7:30pm Pub Quiz Merlins Rest, Mpls

8pm Pub Quiz Dubliner Pub, St. Paul

www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org 10 Irish Music & Dance Association Northwoods Songs: Irish Songs from Lumberjacks and Great Lakes Sailors By Brian Miller

Northwoods Songs features a new song each month pulled from my research into old songs collected in the pine woods region that stretches from New Brunswick west through northern Minnesota. In the 1800s, a vibrant culture of singing and song-making developed in lumber camp bunkhouses and on Great Lakes ships. The repertoire and singing style were greatly influenced by Irish folk repertoire and Irish singing styles. Many singers in the region had Irish background themselves.

Each installment of Northwoods Songs is also published online at www.evergreentrad.com/northwoods-songs . As of December 2013, I will also videotape myself singing the song of the month. My hope is that others will learn some of these songs and make them their own as I have. Links to song videos will be posted along with the online version.

-Brian Miller HIBERNIA'S LOVELY JANE

When parting from the Scottish shore on the highland mossy banks, To Germany we all sailed o’er to meet the hostile ranks, Till at length in Ireland we arrived after a long campaign, There a bonny maid my heart betrayed, she’s Hibernia’s lovely Jane.

Her cheeks were of the rosed hue; the bright glance of her een, Just like the drops of dew bespangled o’er the meadows green, Jane Cameron ne’er was half so fair; no, nor Jessie of Dunblane, No princess fine could her outshine, she’s Hibernia’s lovely Jane.

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My tartan plaid I will forsake, my commission I’ll resign. I’ll make this bonnie lass my bride if the lassie will be mine. And in Ireland where her graces are, forever I’ll remain, In Hymen's band join heart and hand with Hibernia’s lovely Jane.

This bonny lass of Irish braw being of a high degree, Her parents said a soldier’s bride their daughter ne'er should be, O’erwhelmed with care, grief and despair, no hopes do now remain, Since this near divine cannot be mine, she’s Hibernia’s lovely Jane.

If war triumphant sounds again to call her sons to arms, Or Neptune waft me o’er the deep far, far from Janie’s arms, Or was I laid on honor’s bed, by a dart or a ball be slain, Death’s pangs will cure the pains I bear for Hibernia’s lovely Jane.

______

The text of this version of “Hibernia’s Lovely Jane” was given by Andrew Ross of Charlevoix, Michigan to collector Franz Rickabyin the early 1920s. Ross (1853-1930) was born in Quebec to Highland Scottish parents. He came to Charlevoix around 1880 and worked his way up the local lumbering industry, eventually serving as mayor of Charlevoix. Ross’s obituary says he “had a natural ear for music, and abundance of wit and humor, and his stock of Scotch songs and dances were known to many.” It continues, “As an entertainer in the early days he was in constant demand, and even in later years was frequently called upon to display his talents.” ( http://obits.charlevoixlibrary.org/ articles/article30207.jpg , accessed Aug. 20, 2015)

“Hibernia’s Lovely Jane” (sometimes “Jean”) is a broadside ballad dating from the early 1800s that depicts a Scottish soldier in love with an Irish girl. In 1932, collector Sam Henry found a version sung in Ballycastle, County Antrim which he printed in his Songs of the People. Other than Henry’s version, I have found no other published version from tradition. However, during my research trip to the American FolklifeCenter at the Library of Congress last summer, I discovered two versions recorded by Ivan Walton during his 1940 trip to Beaver Island, Michigan. The melody above is a composite of the airs sung by Beaver Island singers John W. Green and Mike J. O’Donnnell. That the song would surface in both Charlevoix and Beaver Island makes sense. For over a century, Charlevoix has been the chief “mainland” town connected to Beaver Island by ferry. O’Donnell said he learned his version from singer Maggie Boyle of Harbor Springs, Michigan who may have learned it in Scotland.

A few words in the Ross text were misspelled or otherwise garbled and I have replaced these with words found in broadside texts held by the Bodleian Library.

Visit my blog version of this article and my Northwoods songs online at

www.evergreentrad.com/northwoods-songs www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org 12 Irish Music & Dance Association Brian Miller ’02 has followed his passion for around the world and all the way back home.

BY ANDY STEINER, Macalester Class of 1990

On his first night in Ireland during his junior year abroad, Brian Miller ’02 walked into a pub with a guitar on his back and took a seat near a group of traditional session musicians. Like the centuries old reels, jigs, and airs that are passed down in this aural tradition from one player to the next, an Irish pub session has many unwritten rules. Among them: “Any 20-year-old American who walks in with a guitar is probably just going to ruin everything,” Miller says, laughing. But to his session mates’ surprise, Miller, a music and math double major from Bemidji, Minnesota, had been studying for this moment. Since arriving at Macalester for a first-year music theory residency with a tin whistle he carried around campus, Miller had been playing gigs with a band of hometown friends The Gaels, and diving deep into the traditional Irish music scene with fellow Mac alum and fiddler Django Amerson ’98 . With the urging of advisor Carleton Macy, professor emeritus of music theory and composition, Miller had come to the college town of Cork with far more than a “Riverdance” repertoire of traditional Irish tunes. “By the end of the night, I even got paid because the guy they’d been expecting never showed up,” Miller recalls. “Being fluent in this music is like a passport that opens some amazing doors.” Miller’s fluency has only grown since then, earning him great reviews as a traditional guitar performer and accompanist, a loyal following of students at St. Paul’s bustling Center for Irish Music, and even a Parsons Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress for his ongoing scholarly work tracing the migration of Irish music to the logging camps of the Great Lakes. “I wanted so desperately to be a professional musician,” Miller says. “I suppressed that impulse in high school because it seemed irrational, but being at Macalester gave me the confidence to see how long I could survive being a professional musician. The money just kept not running out, so I just kept on doing it.” www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org 13 Irish Music & Dance Association

As a teenager “completely obsessed with music,” Miller was an acoustic singer-songwriter before a fateful trip to the Winnipeg Folk Festival. “All I knew about the festival was that someone told methere would probably be crazy naked hippies running around in a field in Manitoba. That sounded exciting to a 14-year-old,” he says. “Then I heard the Irish band Cherish the Ladies, and I don’t know if it was the virtuosity of the instrumentalists, or the fact that it got everyone dancing, or that it was from a faraway place, but I just knew Irish music was ‘the one.’” The passion for traditional music now permeates nearly every part of Miller’s life, including his marriage to Norah Rendell, a Canadian-born singer and flute player who is the executive director of the Center for Irish Music. While they’re both captivated by Irish music, neither has any Irish ancestry, a fact that confounded Miller until he heard a traditional singer from the East Coast share an Irish song first collected from a logging camp near Bemidji. “It was one of those aha moments that nearly made me fall out of my chair,” Miller says. “To find out that there was this connection between Irish music and my hometown, even if it was tenuous, or in the distant past, was just so energizing to me. It made me think maybe it’s not insane that someone from Minnesota would be so interested in this.’’ Since then, Miller has earned two Artist Initiative grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board to unearth and record the Upper Midwest’s musical connections to Ireland in two CDs, Minnesota Lumberjack Songs and The Falling of the Pines . Like an Alan Lomax for the lumberjack set, he also completed a master’s degree in library & information studies (MLIS) through the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with plans to create a digital library focused on the traditional music of the Upper Midwest. In June, Miller shared the stage of St. Paul’s Celtic Junction with several master Irish artists visiting for the Center for Irish Music’s Minnesota Irish Musicians Weekend, a group that included flute player Joanie Madden, the founder of Cherish the Ladies. “She asked me how I got interested in the music, and I got to say, ‘Well, I heard your band in Winnipeg…’” Miller says, adding that one of the advantages of being a gifted accompanist “is that you get to ‘play up’ with artists who are in a whole different echelon than you.” Watching Miller’s own upward trajectory in traditional music has been just as entertaining, says Dáithí Sproule, an Irish guitarist with the Celtic super-group Altan , who remembers Miller when he was still a student at Macalester, sitting in on sessions at O’Gara’s and Kieran’s Irish pubs. “He’s gone from being on the edge of things to being just essential,” says Sproule, who teaches with him at the Center for Irish Music. “Seeing what Brian and Norah are doing for Irish music, I’d say the tradition is in very good hands.” Reprinted with permission from Macalester Today Summer 2015.

www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org Smidirini* By Copper Shannon 14 Irish(*Irish Music for ‘Bits and Pieces’) &

♣ Comhghairdeas léiDance (Congratulations) Association and Best Wishes! to Moira Flagstad and Adrienne O’Shea , both students at the Center for Irish Music, who completed in Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2015, in Sligo in the Northwest of Ireland.

♣ More great music for dancers coming! Cormac O’Se and Brian O’Sullivan have been hard at work on Volume III of FeisTunes!

♣ Oh Goodie! Teresa McCormick will be offering her walking tour of the Connemara Patch (near Swede Hollow) in St. Paul on Sat. Oct. 3 through St. Paul Community Education. The tour will give visitors a peek into the life and times of the early Irish immigrants to our area. $25 for Adults, $15 for youth 18 yrs and younger. Register at commed.spps.org.

The Center for Irish Music

Come check us out at The Celtic Junction 836 Prior Avenue, St Paul MN

Please check the website for information on our full range of instruction in traditional Irish music, language , culture and fun.

For class schedule and other information call or email 651-815-0083 [email protected]

Or visit our website

www.centerforirishmusic.org

Dedicated to Handing Down the Tradition www.IMDAwww.IMDA----MN.orgMN.org 15 Ceili Corner By Bhloscaidh O’Keane Irish Music & First Saturday Céilí - DublinerDance Pub, 2162 University Association Avenue , St. Paul at 2:00 p.m. Third Saturday Night Céilí - The Celtic Junction, 836 Prior Ave., No. St. Paul. Irish Dance Classes: Céilí Dancing - Wednesday Nights Dubliner Irish Pub - 2162 University Avenue in Saint Paul. Learn Irish dancing in a genuine Irish pub with a wooden floor that has known a whole lot of dancing feet. Steps and dances are taught by Paul McCluskey and Kirsten Koehler. Basic beginning steps are taught beginning at 7:00, with advanced lessons and dancing continuing until 9:30 PM. Year-round; no children, and must be of legal drinking age. Free. Set Dancing - Tuesday Nights Dubliner Irish Pub - 2162 University Avenue in Saint Paul. Set Dancing at 7:30 pm on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month, music by the Twin Cities Ceili Band. The cost is $5 for the band, beginners welcome, for more information call Geri at the Dubliner (651)646-5551.

Check www.lomamor.org for all up-to-date Irish folk dancing information.

Update on IMDA Membership The Irish Music and Dance Association would like to remind members of a change in policy regarding membership. Because of rising costs in printing and postage, the Irish Music and Dance Association asks that members who want to receive their newsletter by U S mail support the IMDA by contributing at least $35 a year. All members have the option of receiving their newsletter by e-mail for faster delivery and color photos! We welcome your financial support of the IMDA at any level and that support helps us continue our work to promote Irish music and dance in the Twin Cities and beyond. You may also become a newsletter-only member without making a financial contribution. Whichever membership option you choose, we appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at a concert or dance event soon!

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