The Celts are coming, bringing a festival of entertainment, Shane Gilchrist reports.
Mike Moroney, co-ordinator of the Dunedin Celtic Arts Festival, is looking forward to the day (or night) he gets to sit back, relax and take in the talent he has lined up for audiences over the next few weeks.
The fifth biennial festival runs from September 9 to October 3 and includes more than 30 Celtic-themed concerts, workshops, exhibitions, public lectures and ecumenical services.
"The festival emerged around a concept I had some time ago. I could see it becoming a civic festival, something the city could take ownership of, so we have tried to have other stakeholders take part.
"We could do the music easily, but the other things are a bit out of our depth at times," Moroney explains, adding the festival organisers make up a subcommittee of the Dunedin-based New Edinburgh Folk Club, of which he is president.
"We make the selections. A lot of them are based, opportunistically, on who is about at the time. We try to gather together as many acts that fit the bill as possible.
"The Otago Art Society has come on board with an exhibition and a competition; we've got the Knox Church ecumenical community putting on Celtic-based services; and the Otago University's division of humanities are having a public lecture."
Moroney says the festival is an attempt to deflect (at least, a little bit) "that overt Scottish thing that Dunedin tries to champion". Though the city has its fair swag of Scottish forebears, it boasts Irish heritage, too, he notes.
Having played guitar and sung in various groups over the years, Moroney has a long-held love of Celtic music. In fact, he will be performing at the festival, joining fiddler Anna Bowen in Catgut and Steel, the duo supporting Scottish-born Kiwi Bob McNeill, a three-time Tui award winner (all for best folk album) and traditional singer Chris Penman.
"I've been involved in all sorts of music. I've been on the folk scene for many years.
"The New Zealand folk scene in general has always had a strong thread of Irish and Scottish music. We call it Celtic music, but it isn't any one thing.
"For the last festival, we had [American multi-instrumentalist] Tim O'Brien booked but he couldn't come because his father had died. The Celtic influence in bluegrass music is quite obvious. We look at the whole range of things.
"For some of the acts we have at the festival, you might struggle to see the connection, but it is in that 'camp'; the way the music is presented is largely acoustic-based."
Though he is loath to select highlights from a programme he has helped curate, Moroney is coaxed, nonetheless, to produce a few favourites.
These include Scottish act the Red Hot Chilli Pipers (Dunedin Town Hall, October 1), led by musical director Stuart Cassells, recipient of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the year in 2005. The band has performed its unique fusion of "rocked-up" bagpipes and covers of popular songs from a variety of genres to audiences from New York to Beijing.
"One thing I'd like to champion - mainly because it is fairly misunderstood - is the Town Hall Ceilidh [pronounced 'caley', it will be held at the Dunedin Town Hall on September 23].
"In our language, we'd call it a barn dance. It is a fully interactive dance. We'll be putting up a large range of musicians to keep the night running along.
"Traditionally, a Ceilidh has had a number of interpretations. Originally, it was just a gathering in a house where people would sing ballads or recite poems.
"Over the years, it has become known as a social function with dancing. People are asked to stand, shown the steps to the dance, then they are away. It is a lot of fun."
Another highlight for Moroney is the inclusion of Auckland quartet Beyondsemble (The Church Bar and Restaurant, Dundas St, September 18), which he describes as "an outstanding act".
"They do everything from Celtic, to jazz-swing. They are superb musicians and I'm really looking forward to that. I think I'll just take a back seat, sit down and enjoy."
Catch it
The programme for the 2011 Dunedin Celtic Arts Festival can be found at various locations, including the Dunedin i-SITE Visitor Centre and online at www.dunedincelticarts.org.nz.
Daughter of a West Australian luthier and singer-songwriter, Lucy Wise spent her childhood singing with the Wise Family Band.
Drawing inspiration from Appalachian and Celtic folk music, her songs sketch recognizable stories of everyday characters.
Play Sunday, September 25
Born in Whangarei, Helen Webby began playing the harp at the age of 12, and has studied in Europe. She has played with the NZSO, while maintaining an interest in Celtic harp, winning a prize at the 1990 International Carolan Harp Competition (Ireland). She has several festival outings.
One of New Zealand's best known folk artists for his work solo and with Ben the Hoose, Bob McNeill is an innovative songwriter with three New Zealand Music Awards, all for best folk album. His songs have been covered by artists in New Zealand, Scotland, Australia and the US.
Beyondsemble, "the ensemble beyond genre", brings together multi-instrumentalists performing styles merging Celtic, Eastern European and Gypsy with Latin and tango rhythms. Instruments include accordion, whistles, violin, guitars and bouzouki.
Play Sunday, September 18
