Flying Cat Music Presents
A Celtic Celebration with
Aoife Clancy and Robbie O’Connell
Sunday, December 2, 2012
7:30 p.m. (sharp), door at 7:00
Empire State Railway Museum
70 Lower High Street, Phoenicia, NY 12464
Admission is $18 or $16 w/RSVP
For information email as above
or call 845-688-9453
Links to artists' websites:
Aoife Clancy and Robbie O’Connelll will bring Celtic music to the Catskills for the Flying Cat Music Railway Concerts series at the Empire State Railway Museum on Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $16 advance, $18 at the door. For information and reservations email flyingcatmusic@gmail.com or call 845-688-9453. The museum is located at 70 Lower High Street in Phoenicia, New York.
Few musical acts in modern Irish history were as influential and beloved as the Clancy Brothers during a storied career that spanned several decades and the Atlantic Ocean. Here in America they helped reshape folk music in the 60s with a young Bob Dylan among their most devoted fans. Robbie O’Connell and Aoife Clancy continue that Clancy legacy in America today.
Introduced to performing by her father Bobby Clancy at the age of 14, Aoife came to prominence during the years she spent as lead vocalist for the seminal Irish-American band Cherish the Ladies. Robbie O’Connell, himself a nephew of the Clancy Brothers, also began performing in his early teens. In 1977 Robbie was asked by his uncles to join their band, and he subsequently spent 19 nineteen years with the Clancy Brothers. In recent years both Aoife Clancy and Robbie O’Connell, who each now reside in Massachusetts, have gone on to garnish rave reviews for their solo careers.
Hot Press, Ireland’s top music magazine, calls Robbie O’Connell, “A National Treasure.” While the Boston Globe says he is, “. . . among the most respected guitarists, singer and songwriters in Celtic music.”
Though her Irish roots remain front and center, Aoife Clancy’s solo work can’t be pigeon holed as Celtic alone. As Mike Jackson of the Canberra Times says, “She has a breadth of styles that makes her concerts fascinating. Her singing would melt packed ice with its warmth and richness.” Dirty Linen Magazine notes, “Clancy’s distinctive mezzo and clarity of phrasing make an immediate impression as she explores the restrained emotions of the music.”
The audience at Sunday’s show will be treated to some special holiday fare with a distinctive Celtic flavor. Robbie and Aoife will explore the Christian and Pagan traditions surrounding the Winter Solstice in a mixture of songs, poetry and instrumental pieces. They will also share stories of family Christmases growing up in Ireland along with songs that were passed down to them by their uncles. Come celebrate Ireland in America with Aoife Clancy and Robbie O’Connell.
