Master Chorus Eastside’s Erin Go Bragh celebration of Celtic-ness and St. Patrick’s Day arrives this coming Sunday afternoon, March 11, 3:00 PM at Kirkland Performance Center, and to whet your appetites, below is a shortened version of my program notes. To read the complete notes, you’ll have to come to the concert!
There is an enduring air of mystery and romance that clings to the word “Celtic,” like the scent of fragrant heather on a hillside. It conjures up images of misty green isles in the North Sea, singers and poets with magic in their tongues, mystical dreamers, wild dancers, and roguish tipplers. This may all be myth, but interestingly, at their height, approximately the fifth to second centuries B.C.E., the Celts dominated middle and western Europe, from modern Austria into France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, and, of course, Britain. So those of us with European blood in our veins can probably count a Celt or two somewhere in our ancestry. And that is never more apparent than on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.
Patrick is surrounded by legend, but he was indeed a real person—although not Irish! He was born into a Christian family in Roman Britain in the late fourth century C.E., captured by Irish slave raiders when he was sixteen years old, and served as a slave in Ireland for six or so years before escaping aboard a ship and returning to his family in Britain. But he had dedicated his life to God while enslaved, and the voice of God called him back to ministry in Ireland, where he served until his death on March 17, 461. His day is still celebrated as a religious holiday in Ireland, but in most other countries, especially on our own shores, it bears little resemblance to a sacred feast. Instead, it is an excuse to wear green, drink Guinness, march in parades, and trot out the only Gaelic words most of us know: Erin go bragh, or Ireland Forever, roughly speaking. And of course, revel in Celtic music.
And we have indeed arranged a feast of Celtic tunes for your enjoyment. Most of the music is Irish, of course, since to the modern mind Celtic is Ireland. Some of the songs are quite ancient and mysterious, others are more modern, such as, surprisingly, the much loved Londonderry Air, better known as Danny Boy, which may only be a hundred or so years old.
Several of our tunes come from other traditional Celtic countries: Loch Lomond from Scotland, Welsh Lullaby from Wales, and Mouth Music from the islands of the Hebrides, a vocal rendition of an instrumental band that will set your toes tapping.
We have even girded up our kilts, so to speak, and ventured into the intricacies of Gaelic itself with Dúlamán and Bean Pháidín, whose wonderfully evocative tunes and texts allow us to be vigorously and magically Celtic to our core! And lest you feel left out, we provide an opportunity for you to don the Celtic along with us in our sing alongs. After all, when Irish eyes are smiling, we all smile!
May you experience both the joy of great choral music and the delight of Celtic-ness in our concert. Erin Go Bragh! May Ireland, if only in our minds and hearts, indeed live forever!
Dr. Linda Gingrich
Artistic director and conductor
Master Chorus Eastside
As a chorus member I'm amazed by the rich character of this music. It taps into deep and varied emotions, with simple lyrics and wonderful melodies and harmonies. I hope the listeners are drawn into this other world, as we have been.
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