Tra le Gael Performs Celtic Music

2 Valleys Stage

Quartet Tra le Gael performed Celtic music Sunday, Nov. 22 at the Swan Valley School. The event was sponsored by 2 Valleys Stage (2VS) part of Alpine Artisans, Inc., an organization that is dedicated to preserving the arts in the Seeley, Swan and Blackfoot Valleys. 2VS brings music, drama and dance to the area.

Many in the audience were tapping toes and fingers to the beat of the lively jigs and reels. The quartet sang traditional and contemporary arrangements accompanied by their instruments including hammered dulcimer, Celtic harp, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, Irish bouzouki, percussion, Irish flute and penny whistles.

The group, which hails from Montana's Flathead Valley, consists of dulcimer player Barbara Calm and Celtic harpist Katy Meyers. Ed Boggs plays rhythm guitar and fiddle while Jason Foy adds to the music with the Irish flute, penny whistle, mandolin and Irish bouzouki.

Calm explained that the group's name comes from Gaelic that the group interpreted as "family party at the shore." Tra le Gael is also a reel the quartet plays.

Calm, a veterinarian from Kila, Mont., turned her dulcimer around so the audience could see the workings of the instrument when she played it. The dulcimer is trapezoid-shaped soundboard mounted on legs. Calm said the dulcimer predates the piano. She explained that the 72 strings on her dulcimer are played with two wooden mallets or hammers held in each hand. It is similar to piano strings being struck by hammers when the keys are pressed.

Meyers has played the Celtic harp since the 90s and is a certified music practitioner providing therapeutic music to patients in the hospital in Whitefish, Mont. She has gone to Ireland three times to study the Irish harp in County Limerick.

Boggs is a house painter. He plays his fiddle and mandolin in country rock and swing bands. He says he likes all kinds of music.

Foy taught himself to play the wooden Irish flute, the penny whistle and mandolin because he was interested in Celtic music and culture. He also learned the Irish bouzouki which is a large relative of the mandolin. He said he loves to play music.

Calm said that three of the members are in four other bands. She said last summer she played three gigs every week.

The quartet played lively jigs and reels and then played a slower melodic piece from Brittany, a Celtic region of France. It is called "Crested Hens" which the band jokingly named "Crispy Chickens". In the tune "Old Grey Cat" the tempo changed and was reminiscent of a cat's movements. Many of the pieces were punctuated by a small bell hanging from the dulcimer. Foy added variety with his bongo drums in many pieces.

The group played a traditional Irish song "Mickey Dam" which begins, "I'm an honest Irish laborer and I come from the County Clare." It tells his story of working at the dam and holding his own against the other laborers who want to fight.

Calm told the audience when there were just two more songs they were going to play and she said, "Just try and make us stop!"

The finale was called "Crossings" which began with the four singing acapella or no musical accompaniment. The instruments then joined in and Calm invited the audience to "shake and dance."

Calm told the audience that the group had a "fantastic time interacting and teaching the students about their music" during the informances held at the Seeley Lake Elementary, Swan Valley Elementary and Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS). "I think we had more fun than they did," Calm said.

The SSHS choir sang the ballad "Wild Mountain Thyme" with the quartet. Some students volunteered to learn to dance to the dance tunes. The students were given a chance to play the instruments during the informances.

A member of the audience Kathy Koors was thrilled by the music. She said that it brought back memories of the Irish songs her Irish mother sang to her. She remembers her mother and siblings getting together to sing Celtic tunes. "I am three quarters Irish and I really enjoyed the music," said Koors.

 

Reader Comments(0)