Vacationland Ceili Band Rescheduled
Please note that we are postponing the January 29 Vacationland Ceili Band concert to March 25, 2022 7 pm. Next Generation Theatre. We had hoped covid numbers would have come down by now, and they clearly are beginning to, but they are still very high, so in the interest of keeping everyone safe we decided to postpone to March—a perfect time to enjoy an evening of Irish traditional music, complete with pipes, fiddle, flute, banjo and guitar.
If you purchased a ticket for January 29, we will reach out soon to either assign your ticket to March 25 or reimburse you for the cost.
We are sorry for any inconvenience, and do hope to see you in March.
An evening of Irish music with the Vacationland Ceili Band; January 29
The Vacationland Ceili Band is Portland Maine’s own traditional Irish ensemble. Masters of the uilleann pipes, Irish flute, fiddle, guitar and tenor banjo, these top-notch instrumentalists enliven any stage or gathering.
Coming up on July 30, Katie McNally & Neil Pearlman
The vibrant musical traditions of Scotland and Cape Breton take on new life in the hands of Katie McNally (“Exhilarating musicianship…electrifying” – Songlines) and Neil Pearlman (“a tremendous pianist” -BBC Radio Scotland). Based in Portland, ME, this young musical couple is making waves internationally with their fresh approaches to traditional forms. Katie McNally has already made her mark on Scottish music in North America and her 2020 release “Now More Than Ever” has been praised as ground-breaking on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to fronting her own trio, Katie performs with Fàrsan, fiddle supergroup Childsplay, and has toured with such Celtic music luminaries as Carlos Nuñez, Karan Casey, and John Whelan. Katie has performed in the US and abroad at Celtic Connections, Celtic Colours, the Newport Folk Festival, and The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. Called “a force to be reckoned with” by WGBH’s Brian O’Donovan, Neil is recognized in many Celtic music circles for his unique approach to the piano. Rooted in traditional Cape Breton piano styles, Neil brings in ideas from many other genres and the result is an exciting new sound that remains true to its traditional roots. An accomplished Cape Breton step dancer as well, Neil grew up in the family band Highland Soles, led by father and mother Ed Pearlman and Laura Scott, both influential Scottish music and dance figures in the US. Neil currently performs in a duo with Shetland fiddler Kevin Henderson and in the Gaelic band, Fàrsan.
Katie McNally & Neil Pearlman
An evening of Songs and Stories with Castlebay
Castlebay’s concerts treat an audience to a musical journey through time and across the Atlantic singing ancient ballads inspired by the rich heritage of Maine. Both exuberant and haunting vocals are supported with Julia Lane’s award-winning Celtic harp style, and Fred Gosbee’s expertise on 12-string guitar, fiddle and woodwinds. Frequently touring down the US east coast and to Ireland, Scotland and England the duo performs at arts centers, museums, festivals and schools. They often will present concerts highlighting a specific theme or region with songs and stories from their wealth of history and lore, and have created several multi-media productions based on their research.
Castlebay will present a concert of “Bygone Ballads of Maine.” British and Celtic-based traditional music came to Maine with the many waves of colonists who settle here. In the early 20th century, “songcatchers”, including Fanny Hardy Eckstorm of Brewer, ranged across the state from the coastal seafaring communities to the woodland logging camps in search of the vernacular songs of the people there. They made journals and ran a column in the Bangor Daily News as well as recording on various technologies such as wax cylinders or wire, preserving hundreds of songs many of which can be traced to ancient sources. Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee, of the folk duo Castlebay, have been exploring the archives of Maine Folklife Center in Orono, the Library of Congress, Harvard’s Houghton Library, the Helen Hartness Flanders collection in Vermont and others which house the fruits of the collectors’ labors. Their resulting transcriptions provide a wonderful spectrum of songs reflecting the sense and sensibilities of ordinary people; love and loss, tragedy and triumph. Castlebay interprets these songs with their own artistic skill making them attractive and available to a modern audience retaining historic integrity with commentary relevant to each song and its provenance.
Castlebay has produced over 24 albums and is currently in the process of recording the “bygone ballads” they are finding in the archives. The first in this series is “Bound Away, Seafaring Songs of Maine” released in July 2015. In addition, a companion songbook containing 160 songs from the collections titled “Songs of the Sea, Ships & Sailors” will be published in 2021. Castlebay Music / Julia Lane & Fred Gosbee
Castlebay at Next Generation Theatre
Shows and Workshop Canceled, Lecture still on
Unfortunately ticket sales have not been what we hoped for our previously announced 2020 Bangor Celtic Crossroads Festival. Therefore we have canceled the shows and workshops. The lecture, Transatlantic Subversive? Irish Nationalist and Feminist Hanna Sheehy Skeffington’s American Lecture Tours: 1916-1923 is still on.
We hope to offer our planned concert and workshops in 2021.