Post by Joe on Jul 8, 2006 20:42:42 GMT -5
This is from "Here Magazine" from New Brunswick.
www.herenb.com/saintjohn/issues/0620/making.html
Making it big
New Brunswick just a small stop for World renowned Celtic-folk group
By Matt Pearn
When Ciaran MacGillivray started out as a musical performer, he had harbored no illusions of becoming famous. The young Cape Bretoner, a step dancer, musician and storyteller, grew up in a musical household. Despite his status as a multi-instrumentalist with strong musical pedigree, MacGillivray still believed celebrity to be well beyond his reach.
His father a well-known Canadian composer with an impressive collection of hits exposed Ciaran to a world of sound and instrumentation, and still the young MacGillivray doubted he would find himself well-known for his own music. As a folk artist, says MacGillivray, you doubt that you'll ever make it that big.
"My intention wasn't to play the places that I'm playing now - it wasn't to get famous or travel," says MacGillivray. "Folk groups don't have groupies - if I had wanted to be famous I would have [probably] played pop or rock." In spite of these simple intentions, MacGillivray finds himself one fourth of the globetrotting Cape Breton group, The Cottars.
With mixtures of Celtic and folk influences, the Cottars were featured on CBC with The Chieftains in 2004. Having performed in Japan, Germany, Denmark, and through 9 provinces and 23 states, MacGillivray is genuinely surprised at the opportunities that have opened up to him over the past five years.
"When you're from Cape Breton everyone is a musician," said MacGillivray. "Where every second person plays the fiddle and every other house has a guitar, you learn that there are a lot of people who deserve to have a big break" MacGillivray, only 17, is one of the older members of the teenage group. Composed of two brother-sister pairs - the MacGillivrays and the Mackenzies, the Cottars met at a summer festival in Iona, Nova Scotia that all four had performed in during the summer of 2000.
After getting an exciting tour opportunity early on in their career, the group took off.
Opening a show at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay, the Cottars caught the attention of the manager of John McDermott, the famous Irish tenor. McDermott had been in Cape Breton, working on a recording of Out on the Myra, written by Allister MacGillivray, father of Fiona and Ciaran. The group was later invited out on their first tour with McDermott performing along the eastern seaboard of the United States and after capturing the attention of audiences down south they found themselves performing over 100 venues a year.
The foursome performs a variety of instruments throughout the performance, said MacGillivray. Roseanne Mackenzie plays violin and tin whistle and sings while brother Jimmy plays guitar, bodhrán, and an assortment of other stringed instruments. Fiona MacGillivray sings in Gaelic while brother Ciaran performing on piano. Mixing their instrumentation with traditional step dancing and "We've added quite a few new instruments to the performance," said MacGillivray. "Fiona recently entered into the Irish Harp…it's a monstrous instrument so it doesn't travel well, but we bring it to close places in the Maritimes.
Jimmy is now playing the four string banjo, and I've been playing the Irish flute." The four performers, all still in high school, are unsure what the future looks like for the group, but considering Ciaran MacGillivray's humble expectations, they feel pleased thus far with the attention they have brought to Cape Bretoners, and to folk music. Though he remains unsure of how long his frenzied touring will continue, MacGillivray still retains the classic Cape Breton charm of modesty.
"I could end up a truck driver over the next couple years," said MacGillivray, laughing about the uncertain future of any mainstream folk performer. "The music business is very brittle - you don't know when it will change.
We just try to be prepared for any other [opportunities] and put on a great show."
www.herenb.com/saintjohn/issues/0620/making.html
Making it big
New Brunswick just a small stop for World renowned Celtic-folk group
By Matt Pearn
When Ciaran MacGillivray started out as a musical performer, he had harbored no illusions of becoming famous. The young Cape Bretoner, a step dancer, musician and storyteller, grew up in a musical household. Despite his status as a multi-instrumentalist with strong musical pedigree, MacGillivray still believed celebrity to be well beyond his reach.
His father a well-known Canadian composer with an impressive collection of hits exposed Ciaran to a world of sound and instrumentation, and still the young MacGillivray doubted he would find himself well-known for his own music. As a folk artist, says MacGillivray, you doubt that you'll ever make it that big.
"My intention wasn't to play the places that I'm playing now - it wasn't to get famous or travel," says MacGillivray. "Folk groups don't have groupies - if I had wanted to be famous I would have [probably] played pop or rock." In spite of these simple intentions, MacGillivray finds himself one fourth of the globetrotting Cape Breton group, The Cottars.
With mixtures of Celtic and folk influences, the Cottars were featured on CBC with The Chieftains in 2004. Having performed in Japan, Germany, Denmark, and through 9 provinces and 23 states, MacGillivray is genuinely surprised at the opportunities that have opened up to him over the past five years.
"When you're from Cape Breton everyone is a musician," said MacGillivray. "Where every second person plays the fiddle and every other house has a guitar, you learn that there are a lot of people who deserve to have a big break" MacGillivray, only 17, is one of the older members of the teenage group. Composed of two brother-sister pairs - the MacGillivrays and the Mackenzies, the Cottars met at a summer festival in Iona, Nova Scotia that all four had performed in during the summer of 2000.
After getting an exciting tour opportunity early on in their career, the group took off.
Opening a show at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay, the Cottars caught the attention of the manager of John McDermott, the famous Irish tenor. McDermott had been in Cape Breton, working on a recording of Out on the Myra, written by Allister MacGillivray, father of Fiona and Ciaran. The group was later invited out on their first tour with McDermott performing along the eastern seaboard of the United States and after capturing the attention of audiences down south they found themselves performing over 100 venues a year.
The foursome performs a variety of instruments throughout the performance, said MacGillivray. Roseanne Mackenzie plays violin and tin whistle and sings while brother Jimmy plays guitar, bodhrán, and an assortment of other stringed instruments. Fiona MacGillivray sings in Gaelic while brother Ciaran performing on piano. Mixing their instrumentation with traditional step dancing and "We've added quite a few new instruments to the performance," said MacGillivray. "Fiona recently entered into the Irish Harp…it's a monstrous instrument so it doesn't travel well, but we bring it to close places in the Maritimes.
Jimmy is now playing the four string banjo, and I've been playing the Irish flute." The four performers, all still in high school, are unsure what the future looks like for the group, but considering Ciaran MacGillivray's humble expectations, they feel pleased thus far with the attention they have brought to Cape Bretoners, and to folk music. Though he remains unsure of how long his frenzied touring will continue, MacGillivray still retains the classic Cape Breton charm of modesty.
"I could end up a truck driver over the next couple years," said MacGillivray, laughing about the uncertain future of any mainstream folk performer. "The music business is very brittle - you don't know when it will change.
We just try to be prepared for any other [opportunities] and put on a great show."