Scary stuff. I can’t even put my finger on why it was so disturbing, but I felt like a snake facing a snake charmer. It was fascinating in it’s awful-ness. Anyone else happen to see the show? Maybe you can help me out. Tell me why I hated it, even though some of the music was OK.
What was it about?
It was 4 or 5 women singers and one fiddle player. The singers had gorgeous voices, but the whole thing was so slick it practically slid off the TV and down into the gutter. I think Yanni must have produced it or something.
I saw the special last week and loved it. I ordered the DVD which contains 21 songs. It arrived today and I watched it twice in a row. You recognized it as Enya didn’t you? They did 2 or 3 Enya songs and of course the award winning song from Lord Of The Rings - May It Be. It is probably not the celtic music you are used to listening to but well done none the less. One of the singers was only 15 years old when this was made. I think it was qute a wonderful production. It was very professionally done which most celtic concerts lack. Even though there are many fantastic artists in celtic music they mostly just stand or sit on stage and do their thing. This was something different than the usual folk music type gig.
I was gonna ask if anybody had heard of them. I got the summer schedule for Wolf Trap last night and noticed that this group, that I’d never heard of before, was commanding $45 for tickets. And to think that someone like Altan gets about half that. Go figger.
I saw bits of it a week or so ago. Given the title, I expected to see some sort of Irish Traditional or at least contemporary celtic music. Instead, it turned out to be several attractive, presumably Irish woman singing. Sort of like the Diva concerts that were popular a few yrs ago with Gloria Estaban, Celine Dion etc. but even more bland!! I had the same reaction you did initially. They were preforming in front of a full orchestra, wearing sheer evening gowns in primary colors. They were singing pop songs and some hymns. Very slick production with lots of quick cuts, close ups of teary audiance members etc. It had nothing to do with Celtic music. Once I realized that, it was just candy - sweet - no substance at all. In Boston, if you donated $65 you’d get a ticket to their concert here this summer. It will probably raise more $$ for PBS than a Lunasa concert would.
Well, there you go… someone loved it, someone hated it. Sounds like everything else in life (and whistles). I would assume lots of folks loved it, given the expense and talent that went into producing the show. I was just curious how others reacted to it and thanks, I got my answer. Guess I won’t be donning a strapless gown and tossing my gorgeous long blonde hair around on stage anytime soon. But hey, that’s just me. If I had it, I’d probably flaunt it too. Anyway, I really enjoyed the 5 seconds of low whistle playing that occured about halfway through the concert.
I saw it too. I thought it was a very well-done performance, just definitely not Irish traditional. As long as you aren’t expecting it to be something it’s not, it’s pretty good.
I watched it, and enjoyed some parts and didn’t care for others. Despite the glitz, I rather enjoyed Méav’s rendition of Sí Do Mhaimeo Í, as well as Máiréad Nesbitt’s fiddling. 
I feel about this video about the same as I do a lot of other videos and CD’s: I play some tracks over and over, and skip others every time.
Orla Fallon is a good harpist and seems like she would be an incredibly sweet person. However, if I could find a video of Mairead Nesbitt by herself, I would buy it in an instant! 
I swear, that girl has more moves than Michael Jordan! She looked like Stevie Nicks on crank. Cute as a bug’s ear, too. If they gave an award for “best use of hair in a video”, she could win it hands-down! 
Let me add tuppence to the love it-hate it theme.
I surfed in and out of the show on PBS; I kept hoping for something more Celtic and less Las Vegas. Perhaps if I had stayed a while I would have liked more of it, but what I saw/heard didn’t move me. I’m not a pure-drop purist; I just think that what I saw was overproduced for the sake of spectacle and the art got lost.
But the fiddler, Mairead Nesbitt, stopped me cold. She sounded really good, and way she’s way more than cute. I just couldn’t figure out the moves right off- they were more like twitches that had nothing to do with the feel or the rhythm of the music - until I realized that they were all about slinging the hair all about. I would probably appreciate her talent more if I was listening to a CD (while gazing longingly at her photograph) and not distracted by the stage business.
Roger
I only saw bits of it during commercial breaks of something else, but it seemed like they were singing the same song the whole program.
I saw it, recorded it, and have watched it a couple times. If it’s taken as the title implies, it was fine. All other things aside, it was simply showcasing five Irish women’s talents. Period. The show title wasn’t “Celtic Woman Does Itrad”. Yes, it was a bit Yanni-ish in its presentation, but I was more interested in the vocals and wonderful orchestral/choral accompanimant. I don’t normally watch the interviews during the PBS breaks, but in this case I wanted to hear what these women had to say. If you watched the interviews, it was clearly pointed out by some of the ladies themselves that there’s been a movement to break away from Itrad, and they liked the idea of it. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. These ladies all love to sing, do it exceptionally well, and that’s the bottom line. To me, I took it for the way it was presented…excellent vocalists and fiddler, no matter what was sung or played.
The thing that bothered me the most, at times it appeared that the vocals were canned, and they were lip-sinking. Anyone else notice? The other thing that made me snicker was the way Máiréad Nesbitt appeared like a little whispy fairy, dancing across the stage. I thought she was a bit over-animated. The intentional hair swinging reminded me of Mary Travers during the early Peter, Paul & Mary years. But I suppose it’s more entertaining than watching some deadpan bluegrass fiddler. She’s most definitely pleasing on the eyes, whatever she does.
I’ve always loved Orlagh Fallon’s voice, and I was impressed with the others as well. But Orlagh is my favorite. After seeing the program, I’ve learned “Siuil A Run”, sung by Orlagh. A beautiful song that’s supposed to be sung by a female, but oh well. It’s too good a song to pass up.
DC
I saw the commercial for it, so I purposely avoided it.
I could tell it was the kind of thing I would hate. It looked very ETHEREAL. :roll:
Justine