Merry
Christmas
Or in Gaelic -
Nollaig Chridheil Huibh!
Welcome
to our special Christmas edition of the Celtic Radio newsletter. Christmas
has arrived on Highlander Radio with our popular "A Celtic Christmas"
broadcast playing from November 25th through December 26th. This year we
continue to compile one of the largest and inspirational Celtic Christmas
music collections - featuring Gaelic, Scots, Irish, Welsh holiday music to
keep you in the Christmas spirit at work and at home. Give us a
listen to brighten up your house for the holidays!
Be sure to watch our
12 days of Christmas
thread for your chance to win a prize every day from December 15th through
December 24th! We have 7 CDs, 3 Celtic Radio Bumper Stickers and 2 Celtic
Radio Premium account upgrades!
Our
newsletter this month is sponsor by the
Celtic Attic. Be
sure to check out their website for all of your Celtic Holiday Gifts. They
have some lovely selections of Celtic, Irish, Welsh, Scottish and many
more shopping ideas. To help celebrate the season one lucky member of
Celtic Radio will win a free Tee Shirt from the Celtic Attic! The winner
will announced on Christmas Day in our
12 Days of Christmas thread.
Another great Christmas Gift this year would be
Coyote Run's 'A Kilted
Christmas' DVD featuring a mix of rejoicing and contemplation that is the
holiday season at its best. Grab a sneak peek of this wonderful Christmas
DVD show over at
YouTube!
"Happy, happy
Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood
days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport
the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!" ~ Charles
Dickens
Music Suggestions
Finding quality Celtic Christmas music is sometimes challenging when all
you have available is the local Walmart! We have reviewed our library of
Christmas music and would like to make the following recommendations.
Please note that these albums can be found for MP3 download on
Amazon.com:
Music Awards
And
let us not forget that it is that time of year again to kick off the
"Celtic Radio Music Awards!" Now is your opportunity to
nominate your
favorite musician to a Celtic Radio Music Award. The
Celtic Radio
Music Award is a program sponsored by Highlander Radio to acknowledge and
promote exceptional Celtic music across 6 categories of music. Nominations
for this award are made throughout the year by listeners and members of Celtic Radio. After a careful screening process, which is based upon
listener nominations, ratings, requests, and other radio statistics; we
select 3 songs in 6 categories for community voting. Categories for an
award are Celtic Rock, Traditional, Jigs & Reels, Bagpipes,
Contemporary and Roots
Traditional.
Voting begins on January 1st of each year
(so get those
nominations in) and ends on March 17th (St.
Patrick’s Day). Winners receive recognition of this prestigious award
through the induction into the Celtic Radio Hall of Fame and permission to
use the Celtic Radio Music Award banner on their website. Album of the
year recipient will receive a special Celtic Radio Music Award
plaque!
Liam Clancy
Folk
legend Liam Clancy,
the last surviving member of the
Clancy Brothers, passed away on December 4, 2009. He was 74. "Liam has
been reunited with his brothers and bandmates after a passionate life that
was lived to the full", his funeral service heard.
On a biting cold winter's day, hundreds packed into St Mary's Church in
Dungarvan, Co Waterford, to raise a parting glass to the Irish balladeer,
praised by Bob Dylan as the best ever.
Priest Conor Kelly said Clancy had a joy of life driven by a belief that
it was too wonderful and mysterious to just get through skimming the
surface or living in the shallows.
CelticRadio.net dedicates our December 2009 newsletter in memory of Liam
Clancy. As Bob Dylan stated, "I never heard a singer as good as Liam ever.
He was just the best ballad singer I'd ever heard in my life. Still is,
probably."
Nollaig Chridheil Huibh!
(Merry Christmas)
The Elders "Gael Day"
Since forming in 1998, The Elders have set the American music scene on its
ear, thanks to a skillful mix of amped-up roots rock, augmented with
powerful vocals, blazing instrumentals and top-notch song writing.
The line up consists of a group of wicked-fine Kansas City musicians with
a passion for Celtic music, and a charismatic Irishman with a love of all
things American. This combination makes for cross-pollination that is high
octane and progressive, yet rooted in tradition.
“The Elders have
done it again with their release of Gael Day. Singing their ballads of
rocking Celtic rhythm with a touch of pub music, Gael Day is a fine
collection of some of the best songs to come out of this group yet ..."
These six gentlemen collectively create original music that transcends &
endures - music that is unaffected by fads, trends and the giant maw of
mind-numbing commercialism. The songs are mystical, comical, political and
cultural while covering a wide variety of topics such as poverty, civil
war, family bonds, spirituality, love and friendship. They speak of
generations of immigrants, and address their heritage through songs and
stories of history, characters, places and events - some distant, some
recent, some real and some imagined...
Christmas in the Trenches
By the end of November 1914 the crushing German advance that had swallowed
the Low Countries and threatened France had been checked by the allies
before it could reach Paris. The opposing armies stared at each other from
a line of hastily built defensive trenches that began at the edge of the
English Channel and continued to the border of Switzerland. Barbed wire
and parapets defended the trenches and between them stretched a
"No-Mans-Land" that in some areas was no more than 30 yards wide.
Life in the trenches was abominable. Continuous sniping, machinegun fire
and artillery shelling took a deadly toll. The misery was heightened by
the ravages of Mother Nature, including rain, snow and cold. Many of the
trenches, especially those in the low-lying British sector to the west,
were continually flooded, exposing the troops to frost bite and "trench
foot."
Anne Roos' CD - "A Light in the Forest" - is a masterpiece of music and
sounds that will gently take you away to a world of ancient melodies,
majestic forests, fairies, castles and witches. This musical creation
includes Anne on the Celtic Harp along with musicians playing flutes,
recorders, whistles, percussions, viola, guitars and fiddles. Beautifully
organized and arranged, "A Light in the Forest" is a splendid way to spend
an autumn evening listening to the sounds of the season.
"Celtic Radio gives "A Light in the
Forest" a 5 star rating for truly a masterpiece production of
sound and music..."
The CD comes in a gorgeous hardcover mini-book with 32 pages of full color
pictures and commentary as well as historical background on each song.
This production is very unique and top quality with the CD produced in
super audio. It will definitely have a special place in your Celtic music
collection. And if you love "A Light in the Forest", we are certain you
will love Anne's other 2 similar productions; "Haste to the Wedding" and
"Mermaids & Mariners" - also in the same format with hardcover mini-book
included...
Go Wireless This
month's Go Wireless column features the high end sound quality and
versatility of
Logictech's Wi-Music system called the
Squeeze Box.
The Squeeze box comes in many different versions and configurations. From
the stand along classic base system to the new Squeezebox duet system that
can control music from anywhere in your home. Logitech provides plenty of
room to expand your system with a number of upgrade paths from bedroom to
full complete remote stereo system. This system's price is not for the
faint hearted as the starting price for the classic base system is over
$199, however, for those die hard Internet Radio fans there is just no
other system that can beat the tons of features, qualities and the number
of Internet Radio channels this system showcases...
To be eligible for the monthly Celtic Radio contests you must post at
least one message in the Celtic Radio community forums. Or sign-up for a
Celtic Radio
Founder's account to be automatically entered each month!
Winners to be announced November 1, 2009!
Good Luck Members!
December CD
Contests
DVD Review -
Roan Inish
The Secret of Roan Inish is an American independent film written and
directed by John Sayles, and released in 1994. It's based on the novel The
Secret of Ron Mor Skerry, by Rosalie K. Fry. It is centered on the Irish
and Orcadian folklores of selkies—seals that can shed their skins to
become human. The story, set on the west coast of Ireland, is about Fiona,
a young girl who is sent to live with her grandparents near the island of
Roan Inish, where the selkies are rumored to reside. It is an old family
legend that her younger brother was swept away in his infancy and raised
by a selkie. Part of the film takes place in Donegal. The movie has been
widely praised for its uniqueness and its breathtaking cinematography
filmed by Haskell Wexler.
Although in the original novel the story takes place in Scotland, the
filmmakers decided to have the film take place in Ireland for practical
reasons. Critic Stephen Holden, of The New York Times, liked the film's
direction. He wrote, "The Secret of Roan Inish is the first film directed
by Mr. Sayles that could be described as visually rhapsodic. Photographed
by Haskell Wexler on Ireland's rugged northwestern seacoast, it is a
cinematic tone poem in which man and nature, myth and reality flow
together in a way that makes them ultimately indivisible...
The
Top Ten Most requested songs for the past 60
days
Listen to the top ten count down on Highlander Radio. Visit our
broadcast schedule
for play times.
Mobile App
Welcome
to our special Christmas edition of the Celtic Radio newsletter. Christmas
has arrived on Highlander Radio with our popular "A Celtic Christmas"
broadcast playing from November 25th through December 26th. This year we
continue to compile one of the largest and inspirational Celtic Christmas
music collections - featuring Gaelic, Scots, Irish, Welsh holiday music to
keep you in the Christmas spirit at work and at home. Give us a
Our
newsletter this month is sponsor by the
And
let us not forget that it is that time of year again to kick off the
"Celtic Radio Music Awards!" Now is your opportunity to
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