Concert Press Releases
By Mairéid Sullivan
- Part 1 - 1992: Celtic Roots in Australia
- Part 2 - 1993: Celtic Journey
- Part 3 - 1993: Celtic Swing
September 1992 marked the launch of Mairéid's ensemble,
performing at eight of Melbourne's leading venues and festivals:
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Press Release Logo:
The Lyrebird is a singer and a dancer
and represents the many voices of Australia.
Designed and illustrated by my daughter, Brigette. |
"The singing is beautiful and the music is excellent."
- Patrick Cronin, Music Festival CoOrdinator, Melbourne International Festival, 1992
"At last the huge Celtic heritage of Australia produces a group that uses the sounds and instruments of the traditional Irish session to create music that is resonant to today."
- Moira Jankins, Melbourne Fringe Arts Festival Co-Ordinator 1992
From Memory:
Before we launched our first concert series, in September 1992, our six months of bi-weekly rehearsals, at my place, were thrilling! Rehearsals were modeled on a form of improvisation - intuitively 'shaping' the arrangement of the music, following the ancient Buddhist concept of Ikebana - "way of flowers" - the harmony of flowers 'shaping space' - so that the music could be equally fulfilling for each of us.
It definitely proved a successful approach, because we were very happy working together!
Part 1
1992
Celtic Roots in Australia - Contemporary and Traditional Songs
From our Roots to the Spheres - from Poetry to Song
July 1992
 Celtic Roots in Australia
Maireid Sullivan
July 1992
There is reputed to be a 30% Celtic heritage in the Australian population. There is a very strong Irish/Scottish/English folk music tradition which has revived and stereotyped, even fossilised, the traditional music instead of letting it evolve as a source for creative progression.
Australian pop music has traditionally leaned toward America for its inspiration and direction. Whereas, a sense of vibrancy and innovation in Ireland's contemporary music scene has brought Irish music into pop culture and taken a leadership role in bringing world music to the popular music stage. Following in the footsteps of Sean O'Riada, the first composer to arrange harmonies in keeping with Irish musical tradition, using traditional instruments: harpsichord, bodhran, piano, fiddle, accordions, flute, pipes and whistles, exemplified by de Dannan. Planxty, Van Morrison, U2, Christy Moore, Clannad, Sinead O'Connor and many more.
Popular music is benefiting from this opening up to broader musical influences and the melding which that entails. The Australian audience has benefitted from this exposure - more sophisticated and informed in developing broader musical tastes than ever before.
We can add to this influence the world-wide renaissance in Celtic culture which has occurred through the publication, over the last 15 years or so, of an enormous amount of scholarly research which has pieced together the 'lost' knowledge of a great and complex culture: A culture which represented a lifestyle and philosophy conducive to the growth of "personal sovereignty" in the belief that each person is born an empbyonic god or goddess with a capacity to achieve "godhood" and, through the fulfillment of this goal, has a filial duty to assist their "Kith and Kin". Australia has inherited the spirit of egalitarianism which this represents in modern times.
The musical endeavour of this group of musicians is dedicated to using the Celtic cultural concepts in a modern context because those concepts reflect a world view which any culture can relate to–since the concept of "personal sovereignty" is universal.
The original songs reflect on issues which are part of our contemporary experience but the conceptual roots flow from a deep feeling and fascination for the Celtic spirit of individualism and a love for stories representing different styles in the tradition.
PERFORMER Biographies
. . .
Open our first Press Release HERE
1993: Celtic Journey
July 1993, Press Release
(pdf)
The group, Maireid has had remarkable success since their launch last year.
They have performed for the Melbourne International Festival 20th anniversafy celebrations over the New Year and performed at the Tanawha Blues Festival, on the Sunshine Coast, in May.
They have also performed to audiences at the Hanging Rock Festival, the Port Fairy Festival, the CeltFest, the opening of the Davis Cup Tennis Tournament and more.
The group performes regularly at Mietta's, one of Melbourne's most beautiful venues.
The Media has been very supportive of their music and their recordings have achieved regular airplay.
Donal Lunny, internationally respected producer from Ireland, will produce their next recording in Melbourne.
Their repertoir covers three separate and interchangeable musical concepts which can be described as Contemporary/World Music.
- CELTIC DREAMING: Original and contemporary songs and music.
- CELTIC BLUES: (duet and full ensemble). An anthology of emotional music styles from medieval Europe to America and Australia today.
- CELTIC SWING: Dance music 'to keep the feet from sticking to the floor'.
Maireid Sullivan - Singer/Songwriter
Matthew Arnold - Violin, Keyboard
John Norton - Guitars, Lutes, Bouzouki, Pipes, Vocals
Peter Neville - Percussion, Vibraphone
Louk O'Neill - Guitar
Dominic McAlinden - Bodhran (Irish Drum), Conga
Michael Jordon - Drums, Vocals
Gary Costello - Bass
"There is a wonderful sense of excitement in developing a musical project like this. The musicians are excellent, creative, energetic and committed.
Since the launch of our music last September, we have had a wonderful year of experimentation with musical styles and ideas.
Our group takes a creative and innovative approach in leading people to discover their cultural heritage and think differently about it. Music offers a common ground and meeting point for diverse cultures faced with difficulties which require understanding and compromise, compassion and dignity.
Singing has always been my great love. When I stepped over the threshold into the study of Celtic history a whole new world of ideas and wonder opened up for me. I am amazed at what I have discovered. It is a good thing for modern people to look back on the cultural paths we have taken because it is helpful in our effort to understand the present so that we can be free to create a fresh and original future.
I first met Mathew when we played in a music theatre production in 1977. I was very impressed with his broad musical knowledge, improvisation skills and lyricism. So, when I came to bringing this group of musicians together, he was the first person I sought out. And here he was! He was back in Melbourne after spending several years in India.
John is known in acoustic music circles as ' the Wizard'. He is a Music Anthropologist and instrument maker. John studied early music in London and Italy and developed his improvisational skills with Arab music in the Middle East. He is also a 'mean' Blues player and singer. Together we created the Celtic Blues concept.
I first heard Peter performing with the Melbourne Symphony. Peter's eclectic musical style was shaped by his early attraction to the strength of the rhythmic element, they dynamism of the harmony, of 20th-century classical music. Peter also has a sharp wit which keeps us on our toes.
Luke joined us after spending four years in the forests of Northern New South Wales whilst studying Music Composition at the University of New England. Luke is curious to learn more about his Celtic cultural roots. He is a wonderful musician.
Dominic first played with us at the Port Fairy Festival. He is the best Bodhran player I have ever heard. Dominic grew up in an Irish family in England. Traditional music and dance were a part of his everyday life. Dominic's love of percussion began with the spoons and progressed to the Bodhran, then kit drums and conga.
I knew of Michael's formidable reputation long before I met him. He is very much in demand as a freelance drummer and he teaches Improvisation Studies at the Vic. College of Music. I discovered that from the age of five he toured England and Ireland in his father's Irish band. He revealed a life-long ambition to recapture the 'lilt' in Irish rhythms and the way it made him feel as a child. He told me about his concept of Celtic Swing and joined the group to take us on a new journey.
Michael suggested I call Gary Costello because they both had shared this special interest in Irish rhythm. Gary is a highly respected and brilliant Bass player. I cannot imagine anyone playing Bass as interestingly as Gary does with our kind of music.
The result of this development in our music will have to be witnessed for yourselves."
Mairéid Sullivan, July 1993
Part 3 -
1993: Celtic Swing
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Introducing “Celtic Swing” . . .
Press Release
November 13 and 20th, and December 11 and 18th, 1993
Mietta’s, 7 Alfred Place, Melbourne
Maireid Sullivan, John Norton, Mathew Arnold, Gary Costello, Michael Jordan, Doug deVries
Music Charms, entrances and thrills. Music, old, new & exotic, is not limited to superficial fascination. The soul reveals itself through emotional gestures in music and offers another means of expressing and celebrating aloneness and togetherness.
Boundaries between cultures are crumbling and the world has become a global village where we may venture into many fields of traditional music and come into contact with local masters to blend old and new.
This last few decades has seen musical form move through experiments and collaborations fused stylistically. We have been seeking and discovering the unfamiliar, integrating it and going the long way around to appreciate the familiar in fundamental traditions.
The aim is to ‘suss-out’ carefully the mode that has survived in a traditional form while retaining its identity and improvising a new idea in the moment of play. Thus expressing a feeling to play in a certain way that liberates the music; a contemporary idea so subtle that no matter what it is put with, the vitality of the music is enhanced.
While creative impulses assert originality, we must know the cultural ethos of the music. It must be firmly implanted so that understanding can be used to create a new idea without losing or contradicting the character of the music. The roots must be there but we should not be bound to those roots.
“Beat comes from the song” It can be sound- a motif every now and then - contributing to the musical form or it can be silence. Celtic music is spirited music which has as improvised vibrance. For this to continue it needs to maintain a fresh sense about it and, therefore, a large improvised element.
A world-wide renaissance of Celtic culture is occurring through the spread of music. People of Celtic heritage are restoring the vast mythological and philosophical richness of their ancient heritage.
Our music is dedicated to the evocative feeling and beauty of Celtic cultural concepts, music and songs, interpreted in a modern context.
The Celts were a complex Indo-European tribal high culture reaching from Asia-Minor across northern Europe. Celtic culture presented a lifestyle and philosophy conducive to the growth of personal sovereignty, romanticism and love of communication: The spirit of egalitarianism.
The travels of the Celtic people across the great oceans to the new worlds has contributed wonderful cultural collaborations in the growth of modern musical styles.
We will meet at Mietta’s on Saturday afternoons over the next two months to experiment with these ideas in an informal and friendly atmosphere. We look forward to sharing our music with you.
Maireid Sullivan
October 1993 |
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