Your official "Celtic Woman" gripe site

[dwinterfield]

I can tell you that when someone says to me, "Oh! You play Irish music! Have you seen 'Celtic Woman', then?", my reply has been, "Um...no, but that's not the music I play."

Suggested response is to smile, sweetly of course, and say "That's nice". Explaining won't help.

[The Weekenders]

Well, they do play Caledonia which is about...uh....never mind....

[djm]

I only lasted about three seconds into Scarborough Fair, I'm afraid. Perhaps I was ... um ... yes, yes, that's it! I was overwhelmed by the artistry, the brilliance, the sheer celtistry of the moment, as it were ... or maybe not.

djm

[Lambchop]

You guys are just upset because you can't have one of them.

[feadogin]

Ah, The Weekenders, I've watched the last several shows. I like them, and I'm deeply dyed in the traditional wool. Máiréad, the fiddle player, does dance around a lot, but it's tailored for a certain audience. She does traditional stuff as well or better than most. I remember watching her do the Contradiction Reel last year. I'll bet your favorite trad Irish fiddler can't do that at the same time!

Anyone notice the audience. They're all professors, lawyers, and librarians!

C'mon, the Contradicton Reel can't be Irish, so why would an Irish fiddler want to play it? When I saw the show, I wouldn't describe anything I saw as traditional.

My impression of the audience was that they were all either over 80 years old, or else the performers' relatives.

J.

[Nanohedron]

I can tell you that when someone says to me, "Oh! You play Irish music! Have you seen 'Celtic Woman', then?", my reply has been, "Um...no, but that's not the music I play."

Suggested response is to smile, sweetly of course, and say "That's nice". Explaining won't help.

I've considered that, but I always want to honor the other's intelligence. I think I must enjoy suffering, somehow.

[The Weekenders]

I only lasted about three seconds into Scarborough Fair, I'm afraid. Perhaps I was ... um ... yes, yes, that's it! I was overwhelmed by the artistry, the brilliance, the sheer celtistry of the moment, as it were ... or maybe not.

djm

Thanks Deej, I forgot about that particular moment. My remote thumb twitched but the other Weekender happens to like that song. Yeah, Paul Simon completely changing an old folksong.... now thatsa Celticy.

I will say, after all the grouching, that they have very pure voices and are very in-tune in the lush vocal arrangements. They set a high standard in that department. But I'll take Mary, Dolores or the sisters (Triona and Mair?) any day....The sisters singing "Spanish Lady" gives me goosebumps everytime...THAT is Woman-force. They shoulda called the show Celtic Maidens or something, they're not quite grown up...

[Lorenzo]

C'mon, the Contradicton Reel can't be Irish, so why would an Irish fiddler want to play it? When I saw the show, I wouldn't describe anything I saw as traditional.

Ah c'mon, J. Every serious trad musician plays that reel. And psssst...I meant she plays trad stuff really well in her other, non-Celtic Women life. All this stuff on the set is for that particular audience. It sells the best, you know, Danny Boy and all that. The audience would have been stunned into silence if they'd done something like Fionnghuala.

[Nanohedron]

And Meav can sing "Danny Boy" as if she's never sung it before.

You meant that as a compliment, I take it?

[The Weekenders]

And Meav can sing "Danny Boy" as if she's never sung it before.

You meant that as a compliment, I take it?

Nyuk.

[gonzo914]

And Meav can sing "Danny Boy" as if she's never sung it before.

You meant that as a compliment, I take it?

This is by her own admission.

From the Méav page on their website--

Some of the songs that Méav sings in the show are standards, such as ‘Danny Boy’. It can be challenging to perform these standards in a new way. “You have to sing it as if you’ve never sung it before . . . . . ,” Méav explains.

[Nanohedron]

And Meav can sing "Danny Boy" as if she's never sung it before.

You meant that as a compliment, I take it?

This is by her own admission.

From the Méav page on their website--

Some of the songs that Méav sings in the show are standards, such as ‘Danny Boy’. It can be challenging to perform these standards in a new way. “You have to sing it as if you’ve never sung it before . . . . . ,” Méav explains.

I've been pummeled with that tired old chestnut all too many's the time, thank you. I aver that the only way to perform a tune or song is as if it's the last time you'll ever do it. You know, as if the gallows is waiting, or something.

[gonzo914]

You guys are just upset because you can't have one of them.

Hardly. gonzo much prefers to associate with women who are old enough to have voted at least once, preferably multiple times.

And fluffier, too.

gonzo was merely engaging in that time-honored American pastime of making fun of something about which he knows nothing. Was it not Tommy Smothers who said "I'm an American. I don't have to know about something to not like it"?

[gonzo914]

You meant that as a compliment, I take it?

This is by her own admission.

From the Méav page on their website--

Some of the songs that Méav sings in the show are standards, such as ‘Danny Boy’. It can be challenging to perform these standards in a new way. “You have to sing it as if you’ve never sung it before . . . . . ,” Méav explains.

I've been pummeled with that tired old chestnut all too many's the time, thank you. I aver that the only way to perform a tune or song is as if it's the last time you'll ever do it. You know, as if the gallows is waiting, or something.

Wow -- A chance to sneak two Smothers Brothers quotes into the same thread --

Hangman, hangman, slack your rope.
Hangman, hangman, slack your rope.
Slack it for a <gaackk>

It was the last song he ever wrote.

[The Weekenders]

You guys are just upset because you can't have one of them.

Hardly. gonzo much prefers to associate with women who are old enough to have voted at least once, preferably multiple times.

And fluffier.

gonzo was merely engaging in that time-honored American pastime of making fun of something about which he knows nothing. Was it not Tommy Smothers who said "I'm an American. I don't have to know about something to not like it"?

Nyuk. Well, I didn't just put it out there, but I do find the older proven Celtic women singers to be much more sexy when they deliver said goosebumps to the Weekender's psyche than those little Clearasil models. Unlike Bill Clinton, my minimum age lust requirement goes up every year as I travel life's highway. Girls that young tend to be considered more as possible future daughters-in-law for the Weekenders' handsome sons....