December 18, 2007
Barras keep kinship in Christmas
Tim Arsenault, Halifax Herald

IF YOU BELIEVE the holidays are all about families, Bravo is wrapping up something with you in mind.

Christmas Together with the Barra MacNeils premieres Saturday at 10 p.m. on the specialty channel and it’s another opportunity for the musical Sydney Mines clan to shine.

An earlier holiday show by the Celtic-pop group has aired for a few years, but this one is a complement to the plainly titled Christmas Album II CD release from 2006.

The production cycle of Christmas shows and albums usually means that the artist, crew and audience have to pretend to be in the mood in the middle of summer.

Christmas with the Barra MacNeils was no different and was taped last summer before an audience at the cozy Alderney Landing Theatre along the Dartmouth waterfront. It probably took a little effort to suspend reality but the setting and the music seem to have quickly worked magic. The spare design of the program lets the trees, festive lights and candles punctuate the atmosphere.

The Barras get things underway with a spirited rendition of I Saw Three Ships but it’s just an appetizer for the generous musical banquet to follow.

Singer and multi-instrumentalist Kyle MacNeil mentions that this is the first special that includes the whole family, which acknowledges the group’s current six-sibling lineup.

Fittingly, the special takes its name from a song composed by Ryan for Christmas Album II. That all-too-pertinent number about focusing on kinship at Christmas is performed on the show with the group’s guests, Gaelic singer and Celtic harpist Maggie MacInnes and the Acadian vocal trio of Monique Poirier, Isabelle Theriault and Patricia Richard.(An earlier performance of Stan Rogers’ At Last I’m Ready for Christmas makes a similar point in a more humorous way.)

The family bond is maintained with the robust On The Very First Christmas, a song written by the MacNeils’ uncle, Hector MacKenzie. Of course, it’s impossible for every member of every clan to be together over the holidays.

A penetrating Gaelic number by MacInnes is described as being about an immigrant man wishing he was home for Christmas. (Another piece she does while accompanying herself on the harp will give listeners the sort of ethereal vibe Enya is famous for.)

Other treats waiting to be discovered include a centrepiece performance of Ave Maria with a beautifully restrained vocal by Lucy, delightful French songs by the Acadian ladies and a harp duet by Lucy and MacInnes that sounds like the world’s biggest music box.

The show officially concludes with a version of Joy to the World that’s so joyful it leads to two-thirds of the MacNeils doing some step-dancing.

The special was made by Halifax’s New Scotland Pictures with Charlie Cahill producing and Jim Spitler directing. Musical direction was by Declan O’Doherty.

As difficult as it is to believe, 2007 makes the 20th anniversary of the Barra MacNeils as a recording and touring act.

A nicely packaged compilation is in the shops and the same weekend their new special premieres sees the Barra MacNeils performing their series of popular Christmas concerts. The band does two shows at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay on Saturday and two more at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax on Sunday.

Depending on when you’re reading this, finding a Nintendo Wii might be easier than snagging a pair of tickets to see the Barras in person so out-of-luck fans should make a point of enjoying some Christmas cheer in front of the television.

December 17, 2007
Barra MacNeils star in new TV Christmas special airing Saturday
The Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — Cape Breton’s Barra MacNeils star in a new one-hour television special that premieres Saturday at 10 p.m. on Bravo.

Filmed at Alderney Landing Theatre in Dartmouth, the live concert show includes music from the Barra MacNeils’ Christmas Album ll and performances by Scottish artist Maggie MacInnes and a trio of Acadian vocalists, Monique Poirier, Isabelle Thériault and Patricia Richard.

The special features a mix of classic Christmas music and original holiday tunes.
Produced by Halifax-based New Scotland Pictures Inc. in association with Bravo, the Christmas special also included the participation of Film Nova Scotia, Canadian Learning Television, CBC Maritimes, VisionTV, Knowledge Network and Sun TV.
This year marks The Barra MacNeils’ 20th year in the recording and touring career of the MacNeil siblings — Stewart, Kyle, Sheumas, Lucy, Boyd and Ryan — who are widely regarded as one of the greatest live acts in the Celtic world.

The Barra MacNeils also have two Christmas shows scheduled in Cape Breton, Saturday at both 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay. Tickets are available at the Savoy or Centre 200 box offices, by phone at 564-6668 or online at www.savoytheatre.com 

December 10, 2007
Christmas Together With The Barra MacNeils premieres
December 22 on Bravo!

(Halifax, NS) Christmas Together With The Barra MacNeils, a new one-hour music special featuring a live concert with Canada’s leading Celtic performers The Barra MacNeils premieres Saturday, December 22 at 9pm ET / 10pm AT on Bravo!. Produced by Halifax-based New Scotland Pictures Inc. in association with Bravo!, the show features music from the Barra MacNeils’ Christmas Album ll and performances by Scottish artist Maggie MacInnes and a trio of Acadian vocalists, Monique Poirier, Isabelle Thériault and Patricia Richard.

This year marks The Barra MacNeils’ 20th year in the recording and touring career of the MacNeil siblings, who are widely regarded as one of the greatest live acts in the Celtic world. Hailing from Sydney Mines, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, The Barra MacNeils are deeply rooted in Celtic music, culture and history. Christmas Together with The Barra MacNeils, which was filmed at Alderney Landing Theatre in Dartmouth, NS, is a combination of classic Christmas music and original songs, all performed with The Barra MacNeils’ Celtic flavour.

Gaelic singer and master of the clarsach (Celtic harp), Maggie MacInnes brings a pure Celtic sound of Christmas from “the old country,” and Monique Poirier, Isabelle Thériault and Patricia Richard, stars of New Brunswick’s Ode à l'Acadie, perform original French Christmas songs with spectacular harmonies.

New Scotland Pictures (www.newscotlandpictures.ca) is the only television production company in Atlantic Canada dedicated exclusively to creating performing arts programming. The company has produced music and arts specials including Mocean Dance, A Quartette Christmas and the Dance Atlantic series. Christmas Together With The Barra MacNeils was produced for Bravo! by Charlie Cahill. The show was directed by Jim Spitler, with musical direction by Declan O’Doherty and editing by Kimberlee McTaggart.

Christmas Together With The Barra MacNeils was produced with the participation of Film Nova Scotia, Bravo!, Canadian Learning Television, CBC Maritimes, VisionTV, Knowledge Network and Sun TV.

- 30 -

Information/Photos:
Peggy Walt, Cultural Affairs Consulting & Promotion
(902) 422-5403 pwalt@eastlink.ca

Charlie Cahill, New Scotland Pictures
(902)429-1080 info@newscotlandpictures.ca

Andre Bourgeois, Instinct Artist Management
(902) 632-2149 andre@instinctartistmanagement.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2007

BARRA MACNEILS ADD SECOND SHOW AT THE SAVOY

A second Barra MacNeils Christmas show has been added at the Savoy Theatre at 4 pm on Saturday December 22nd. Tickets go on sale today at the Savoy Box Office.

The group will also perform two shows in Halifax the following afternoon and evening - December 23rd at 4 pm and 8 pm.

This year marks the 20th that the family has been performing and over that time their captivating vocals, harmonies and extraordinary musicianship have built them a reputation as one of the finest Celtic acts world-wide. They have released over a dozen award-winning albums and have produced a number of television specials. Their latest special Christmas Together with the Barra MacNeils produced by New Scotland Pictures in association with Bravo, will air on December 22nd on Bravo.

TICKET INFORMATION

GLACE BAY
Saturday Dec. 22 - 8 pm
Savoy Theatre
Tickets - Savoy or Centre 200 Box Office
564-6668 or on-line: www.savoytheatre.com 

HALIFAX
Sunday Dec. 23 - 4 pm
Rebecca Cohn Auditorium (Dal Arts Centre)
Tickets - Rebecca Cohn Box Office
494-3820 or 1(800)874-1669
or on-line: www.dal.ca/artscentre

October 31, 2007
Barra MacNeils anniversary CD chronicles the history of one of the
East Coast’s most popular groups
DAN MACDONALD, The Cape Breton Post

Last week I mentioned the Celtic Colours tribute to the Barra MacNeils, honouring their 20 years in the music business.
Over that time they have performed before audiences all over the world. They have been featured on a number of their own TV specials, guested on a number of TV shows, received a host of nominations and awards and released 11 CDs and a DVD. And, as part of the notable occasion, the group has released a 12th recording, a new compilation CD called The Barra MacNeils — 20th Anniversary Collection.

To do a proper collection for a group as prolific as this requires more then one CD and that is what you get. It's a double recording with two-dozen cuts, one (Chasing The Sun, written by Fred Lavery and Gordie Sampson) recorded especially for this project, and the rest lifted from their previous releases. In total there is almost two hours of music, a carefully selected combination of vocals and instrumentals, that gives you most of the favourite material while highlighting the Barras musical progress over the years.
This recording is truly a trip down memory lane.

And what memories. The Island, Coal Town Road, Willie C., Caledonia, The Clumsy Lover Set, Darling Be Home Soon, and so much more.

The notes are sparse, a few thank you's and a bit of detail on each cut, but the booklet is as rich in memories as the music itself. There are clippings that tell of their progress, from newspapers both local and away. Pictures from through the years, some posed and professionally taken, but most casual, at home or at play or on stage. These really tell the story of time passing, particularly when you look at the hair.

This is a wonderful CD from any point of view. The collection chronicles the history of one of the East Coast's foremost musical groups over a career virtually unmatched anywhere. This is the musical journey of The Barra MacNeils.

And the journey is still going on.

October 15, 2007
Celtic Colours ends on high note - Barra MacNeils take 11th edition
of festival to roaring finish Saturday night
CHRIS SHANNON, The Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — The Barra MacNeils took the 11th edition of the Celtic Colours International Festival to a roaring finish Saturday night. The concert held at the Sydney Marine Terminal was a celebration of the Sydney Mines band’s work over the last two decades, in which they carved out a significant niche for themselves in the traditional music scene.

“It was phenomenal,” Celtic Colours co-director Max MacDonald said.

“We had a sold-out show. It was a wonderful way to finish the festival and a real treat to have Paddy Moloney there from the Chieftains. He really wanted to be there and it’s nice to see in our world that people do things because it’s important to them.”

The Chieftains frontman, Moloney, and MacNeil siblings Stewart, Sheumas, Kyle, Lucy, Ryan and Boyd formed a strong friendship while performing together on the international stage.
The concert also included David Francey, who is one of the Barra’s favourite songwriters, making for a magical night of music, MacDonald said.

“There were a number of (standing ovations). It was really, really nice to see.”
After nine days, 45 concerts and more than 150 community and educational workshops that were run by well over 1,000 volunteers and performances by some 400 musicians, the festival wrapped up another successful year of promoting Cape Breton’s traditional Celtic roots through story and song.

The last week-and-a-half has been quite the ride for MacDonald, along with festival co-director Joella Foulds.

Now that it’s over, there was some time Sunday for MacDonald to reflect on concerts and workshops that make up the festival, which is considered one of the world’s best examples of carrying on the Celtic tradition.

“We believe, as a festival, that we have a role to play, not just to present existing music, but we believe we have a role to play in facilitating the birth of new music.”
The festival was able to do that by introducing fans to a special project that brought 10 talented singer-songwriters from the Canadian and Scottish roots/traditional scene together.

At a home in Beinn Bhreagh they collaborated and created new material over four days. It culminated with the work’s premiere at a performance at Strathspey Place in Mabou last Tuesday.

Called the New Tunemakers, MacDonald said its uniqueness has bred excitement that they’ll hope to duplicate with another special project to be unveiled next year.
Planning has already been underway for next year’s festival for months now. There will be little downtime for MacDonald and the rest of the organization as acts are pencilled in and event sites are booked.

He does admit there’s a bit of an emotional letdown following such a dizzying week of events.

“It’s extremely exciting and invigorating work we do, and in the midst of world-class artists at the top of their game and to see the excitement of visitors from all over the world, it’s quite the sight to behold.”

September 16, 2007
Cape Breton’s Barra MacNeils before the camera in Halifax this week
Halifax Chronicle Herald

Cape Breton’s Barra MacNeils are before the camera in Halifax this week, filming a Christmas special for national broadcast later this year, with an eye towards possible PBS airings south of the border.

Titled Christmas Together With the Barra MacNeils, the show will primarily be a concert performance with special guests vocalist/harpist Maggie MacInnes from Scotland’s Isle of Barra and a guest trio of Acadian vocalists, Monique Poirier, Isabelle Thériault and Patricia Richard.

Fans should also be on the lookout for the group’s 20th Anniversary Collection, which hit record stores this week.

The tattler remembers when they were just a bunch of kids crossing the causeway for the first time.

May 31, 2007
Two decades and counting: Barra MacNeils will celebrate 20th anniversary with new CD
LAURA JEAN GRANT, The Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — Wondering just how long the Barra MacNeils have been around? Well consider this...

Ryan MacNeil, 31, and his brother Boyd, 26, now full-fledged members of the group, were still in elementary school when older siblings Sheumas, Kyle, Stewart and Lucy put out their first self-titled album, The Barra MacNeils, in 1986.

But that’s not to say the two youngest MacNeils didn’t have an important role to play in the group’s fledgling career at the time.

“I remember any of the local shows that they were doing in Cape Breton, myself and Boyd would have LPs and a Barra MacNeils T-shirt and be kinda walking through the crowds selling their records and really it was a fun thing,” said Ryan.

“I remember the early beginnings — everyone rehearsing in the living room and stuff like that. I’ve always been around it,” added Boyd.

The renowned Celtic music group is preparing to celebrate two decades in the business with the release of a 20th anniversary compilation album, expected in July, and a series of tour dates this summer and fall. The new album will feature fan favourites from the past 20 years as well as some previously unreleased and new material, including a song written by Gordie Sampson and Fred Lavery.

“It’s just hard to believe that 20 years have gone by so fast,” said Ryan, who together with Boyd joined the family band just a couple of years ago after making their own mark in the music industry with Slainte Mhath.

“When we were playing with Slainte Mhath . . . we didn’t get to see a lot of (Sheumas, Kyle, Stewart and Lucy) other than special occasions and the odd festival that we’d both be playing so it’s great to be acquainted again and out touring and enjoying it,” said Ryan. “We’re (family) but we’re best friends as well and enjoy each other’s company and hanging out on the road.”

And the road is where the six siblings will spend the bulk of the next few months with concerts scheduled in Ireland and across the United States and Canada, including two dates in Cape Breton this summer — July 15 at the Big Pond Festival and July 21 at the Wagmatcook Festival.

But before heading out on that busy summer and fall touring schedule with the Barras, Ryan and Boyd have the unique opportunity to tour Japan with The Chieftains, beginning Friday in Tokyo.

Ryan, who just finished doing an American tour with the famous Irish musical group, said he’s thrilled to have the chance to play with a group he’s been a fan of for a long time.

“When I was in high school a lot of the kids around were listening to Nirvana and stuff and I was listening to the Chieftains Live in Belfast and stuff like that so it’s really an honour to be doing it,” he said. “They’re fantastic guys and it’s great music and really probably the easiest touring gig I’ve ever done.”

May 2, 2007
Ryan and Boyd MacNeil from the Barra MacNeils join the legendary
Chieftains on Japanese tour in June!

Barra MacNeils, Ryan and Boyd MacNeil will be joining the legendary Chieftains on their upcoming tour of Japan. The siblings will take a short break from a very busy year with the Barra MacNeils to join the Irish legends on the road. The Barra MacNeils have been busy putting the finishing touches on their upcoming 20th Anniversary CD project (slated for early summer 2007 release) and planning for a very busy year of festival and theatre touring in North America and Europe to support the release and celebrate this career milestone.

Earlier this year, Ryan MacNeil joined the Chieftains on their extensive American tour. Coincidentally, while the Barra MacNeils are celebrating their 20th Anniversary in a career of touring and recording, the Chieftains are celebrating over 40 years as a going and ever growing concern on the international touring and recording stage!

The Chieftains Japan tour 2007:

1 June: Tokyo / Orchard Hall
2 June: Osaka / The Symphony Hall
3 June: Fukuoka / Fukuoka Symphony Hall
5 June: Hiroshima / Phoenix Memorial Hall
7 June: Nagoya / Nagakute Cultural Center Mori-no House
8 June: Gifu / Kani Public Arts Center
9 June: Nagano / Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre
10 June: Tokyo / Sumida-Triphony Hall
12 June: Ibaragi / Tsukuba Nova Hall

January 26, 2007
Musical mother lode: Six siblings strike melodic gold in Barra MacNeils
By James D. Watts JR., Tulsa World

When it comes to music, Mother MacNeil knows best.

“Our mother grew up in the center of Cape Breton Island, a town called Washabuck, and the only musical training she had was learning to play by ear,” said Stewart MacNeil, one of the six MacNeil offspring that comprise the band the Barra MacNeils.

“That’s also how most of the rest of us started playing,” he said. “But Mom wanted us to have the opportunity to learn how to read music and study in more depth.”

So the MacNeil children went through various lessons — piano, fiddle, accordion — and a few went on to study music at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada.

“We’ve all had some formal training along the way, ”MacNeil said, “but our focus was always on traditional music.”

The group has been at the forefront of Canada’s traditional music scene practically from its first paying gig, when most of the MacNeils were still in their teens.

The band started as a four-piece: Stewart on accordion, flutes and whistles; Sheumas on keyboards and fiddles; Kyle on guitar and mandolin; and sister Lucy playing Celtic harp and bodhran (a hand-held drum).

The band made its debut at the Vancouver Expo in 1986, and soon were named “Canada’s Celtic Ambassadors.”

Their albums frequently took home top prizes from the Juno Awards and the East Coast Music Awards, two of the country’s top music honors.

In 2005, the family’s two youngest members, Boyd and Ryan, joined their older siblings for a record titled “All at Once.”

“Ryan and Boyd had a band of their own, called Slaint Mhaith, that was taking a break,” MacNeil said. “We wanted to do a project with everyone, and this seemed the perfect time.”

The Barra MacNeils will come to Tulsa for the first time this weekend, as part of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center Trust’s Celtic Music Series.

The band’s name plays off the fact that the Scottish clan of MacNeil traces its roots to Barra Island, off the western coast of Scotland.

“The band’s name was also our mother’s idea,” MacNeil said, laughing. “And everyone knows, you probably should do what your mother tells you to do.”

While the Barra MacNeils are steeped in the rich traditions of Cape Breton music, the group’s albums have always included a mix of songs old and new.

“We’ve done a pretty good job of establishing a sound that people can identify as the Barra MacNeils,” MacNeil said. “There’s always a strong emphasis on acoustic music, but we also like to take songs that really have no ‘traditional music’ identity and bring them into our sound.”

This includes such things as turning Lindsey Buckingham’s “Second Hand News” into a kind of Celtic two-step, or creating a version of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Darling, Be Home Soon” that is as haunting as any Celtic ballad.

“A lot of that’s due to Lucy,” MacNeil said. “She’s a real focus for our live shows. She has a unique voice and does a wonderful job with the ballads.”

January 3, 2007
Christmas in Cape Breton
By Carsten Knox, InfoMonkey

Twenty years playing music for a living is the kind of career bands dream of, but few manage to do it with any kind of consistent success. Fewer still become cultural institutions, but Cape Breton’s Barra MacNeils can rest assured their achievement is etched in stone.

The Sydney Mines-based clan of Celtic performers have brought their tradition of family music-making to the world, and can count themselves, along with names such as Rita MacNeil, The Rankins, and Mary Jane Lamond, as one of Nova Scotia’s enduring cultural exports.

That said, the new millennium has been fairly quiet on the Barra MacNeils recording front. The band’s last studio release was 2000’s Racket in the Attic, which succeeded their first Christmas recording from 1999.

Now they are back with Christmas II, and a 20th anniversary retrospective release is planned for 2007. They certainly haven’t been off the radar, though, what with periodic touring, as well as the ubiquitous Barra MacNeils TV Christmas Special from 2000 which is still being shown on stations across Canada and the United States.

On their way home for the holidays, the Barra MacNeils started their five-week December tour in British Columbia, and will take the Rebecca Cohn Stage for three shows, two on Friday, December 22nd and one on the 23rd . I spoke with multi-instrumentalist Stewart MacNeil at the band’s stop in Belleville, Ontario.

Is this a fairly regular thing, the December tour?

It has been. Last year we went out with Rita, and it was the same idea, a national tour.

Do you and Rita have any familial connection?

Both Rita and ourselves have roots that go back to the Isle of Barra with the MacNeils, but there’s no close relationship. Aside from being a great friend, and support. One of the reasons we made our first Christmas album in 1999 was we were a guest on her Christmas specials. We had some really positive mail from it, people wondering where they could get a hold of our versions of different carols. So, we made the first album, and we made the TV special that aired on CMT and PBS in Canada and the US.

So, we sat down in July and we weren’t playing a lot of festivals this summer. We said, well, it’s probably time to do another Christmas project. This is the second album we’ve had the whole family play on. All At Once was the first time we did it with everybody. We wanted to make an album that was similar in feel to the first one. I think in many ways we’ve achieved that. The response has been great. The album features well known carols and also more obscure ones. It’s also nice to have Tommy Makem on board.

Yes, he does the spoken word part on “Childhood Christmas”

He’s just so good at that. His voice is so recognizable. And also having the Iona [Gaelic] Singers involved. It really made the album feel like the first one and we’re very proud of it.

Do you think you might do a second seasonal TV special anytime soon?

We are planning to do some sort of special in the New Year. At this point I don’t think it’ll be a Christmas one.

I was wondering why there’s been an absence of recorded material from the Barra MacNeils in recent years.

Well, there was a little space in between there where our parents got a few new grandchildren. Life was busy going on, I suppose. We toured a bit and we went through a management change at that point. As far as collecting material and writing, that’s an on-going process. But coming back and having the whole crew all at once, it was certainly worth the wait. We’re heading to Dublin in August and we have a request to go to Denmark for the Tuna Festival.

So, the year ahead looks busy, then?

It’s funny, a band that’s been together for 20 years, you know, sometimes you think, well, how much longer are we going to do this? It seems like the phone rings and we’re constantly getting new fans for what we do. It’s a timeless kind of music. In those regards we’re very fortunate as to what we do.

You must be taking time off for the holidays. Since music is such a part of your lives professionally, do you still play at home for fun?

Absolutely. It’s nice when you’re home, there are sessions that go on. It’s just great to get out and see the people. I like to make the comparison: the weekly music sessions are like gentleman’s hockey. It’s not always about how good you play, but sometimes the beer is better.

January 16, 2007
CBC Press Release: THEY’RE DOING IT AGAIN! THE TRAILER PARK BOYS RETURN TO HOST THE 2007 EAST COAST MUSIC AWARDS GALA

LIVE ON CBC TELEVISION, FEBRUARY 18

It’s going to be an evening of music, madness and mayhem at the Halifax Metro Centre Sunday, February 18, as the Trailer Park Boys cash in the empties, bum some change and grab the ferry across the harbour to host the 2007 EAST COAST MUSIC AWARDS gala broadcast!

From the renowned awarding-winning Showcase series Trailer Park Boys and the critically acclaimed 2006 film of the same name, actors John Paul Tremblay as “Julian”, Robb Wells as “Ricky” and Mike Smith as “Bubbles” return to host the show for the second consecutive year.

"Last year, I wanted to host the ECMA's because I thought it might help me get a recording contract. And guess what? After I sang Liquor and Whores to the Prime Minister I got to record it in a big, fancy studio with Alex Lifeson and put it out on a REAL CD, not some #@%$#@&% thing JROC did on his computer. I haven't exactly "told" Ricky and Julian yet that I signed us up to do it again, but I'm twice as %$#@#&% excited to be hosting this year! It was so easy last time I think we should really be able to take it up a notch this year!" says Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys.

Joining Julian, Ricky and Bubbles on stage will be some top east coast performers, including hometown heroes Joel Plaskett Emergency, indie-rockers In-Flight Safety and JUNO and ECMA-nominated hip-hop artist Classified.

From Newfoundland & Labrador, multiple ECMA winner Ron Hynes, hailed as one of the nation’s greatest storytellers in song, will perform, along with New Brunswick Acadian-country singer George Belliveau, as well as The Divorcees, with their unique country sound. The audience will also be treated to a performance from internationally acclaimed soprano singing sensation Measha Brueggergosman.

Several contemporary singer-songwriters will take centre stage: Rose Cousins and Jill Barber, from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick’s David Myles and Catherine MacLellan of Prince Edward Island.

A tribute to the late, great John Allan Cameron is sure to be a highlight of the evening. Stuart Cameron, John Allan’s son, will be joined on stage by a host of artists that were inspired by the Godfather of Celtic music, who passed away late last year, including J.P. Cormier, The Barra MacNeils and the power pop trio Shaye (Kim Stockwood, Damhnait Doyle and Tara MacLean).

The 2007 EAST COAST MUSIC AWARDS gala will be broadcast live from the Halifax Metro Centre on CBC Television Sunday, February 18 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) in all time zones.

The awards show is produced by Geoff D’Eon and Michael Lewis for CBC Television, and Jac Gautreau for ECMA, in association with The East Coast Music Association. Fred Nicolaidis is the Creative Head of TV Variety for the CBC English Television Network.

Only 4,000 tickets for this televised event have been made available for the general public and are moving very quickly. Purchase tickets for the Gala Awards Show, FashionEASTa and Molson ECMAfest Official Stages by calling 902-425-ECMA (3262) or visit www.ecma.com.

The Trailer Park Boys appearance is courtesy of Showcase. Season Seven of Trailer Park Boys will premiere on Showcase in April 2007

December 21, 2006
A Barra li'l Christmas. The Barra MacNeils get in the yuletide mood
By Dean Lisk, Halifax Daily News

If the Barra MacNeils are in town, chances are snow will follow.

"It would appear we bring Christmas wherever we go," said Stewart MacNeil, who is on his family's holiday tour of Canada.

Leaving balmy Cape Breton in late November, the family compact arrived in
Vancouver to find snowdrifts swirling round their shoes.

"Well, winter is here, for sure," said MacNeil, who performs two shows with the rest of his siblings - Sheamas, Kyle, Lucy, Boyd and Ryan - at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium tomorrow.

The tour, which ends in Glace Bay on Saturday, is in support of the Celtic family's new Christmas CD, simply titled The Christmas Album II. It was because of the popularity of their first CD that the family decided to release a second. The new disk features 15 tracks, ranging from Gaelic version of well-known carols and original material. There is a Bluenose version of Ave Maria, and a Stan Rogers number.

Summer on the Mira

The album was recorded at Kyle MacNeil's home on the Mira, and was finished at the Soundpark Studio in Sydney, during the dog days of summer.

"It was pretty hot," MacNeil said. "You have to keep your air conditioner going and the fridge running and full of Christmas goodies."

If any family could pull off Christmas in August, it's the MacNeils. Formed 20 years ago, the band has a long association with the yuletide season, going far beyond their 2000 CMT Christmas special and 2001 Cape Breton Christmas DVD.

In their early days, the family used to perform regularly around the holidays all over the island.

"This one family would take the bus to Sydney at 9 a.m. to get a table, and they would bring their boardgames and play games until the show started in the afternoon," said MacNeil.

"It is a time of year that keeps us busy, but it is also great to put you feet up when it is over."

Christmas at the family home, he said, saw a steady chain of visitors, merriment, and a little road hockey.

"It was always a time of year where people just stopped for a few minutes just to enjoy their family and friends," he said. "A lot of people saw how the show does get them into the mood.

"It is very much a sentimental Christmas, with people saying it reminds me of what it used to be like when they were growing up. At this time of year, the audiences seem to be more in a sentimental mood."

December 19, 2006
Barra MacNeils wrap up holiday tour at home
Evening show almost sold out; tickets remain for afternoon show
By Laura Jean Grany, the Cape Breton Post

GLACE BAY — Lift the Barra MacNeils’ Christmas Album II out of its case and a collection of family holiday photos is revealed. A quick glance at the collage of pictures on the CD cover — kids in their pyjamas on Christmas morning, posing in front of the Christmas tree, an impromptu holiday ceilidh — and it’s not hard to figure out where Kyle, Lucy, Stewart, Sheumas, Ryan and Boyd get their inspiration to record and perform Christmas music.

“As kids, we were excited that Santa was coming and there was always anticipation for that and there’s lots of food, some road hockey and some spontaneous visits from family and friends — and coasting,” recalled Stewart during a recent telephone interview during the family’s West Coast tour.

“It’s a time of year that people generally tend to stop for a little bit. I think more than anything else that’s the beauty of the season, just to be able to stop everything and enjoy our families and the ones we love.”

The well-known Cape Breton group will perform two shows at the Savoy Theatre, Dec. 23 — at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. — to close out their 2006 holiday tour.
The evening show is almost sold out but tickets remain for the afternoon performance.

The Barras recently released their second Christmas album, following the huge success of their first holiday recording in 1999. Stewart said they wanted to build on what made that first Christmas CD so popular.

“We tried to make the two feel similar and that includes things like having the Gaelic singer from Iona, Maxie MacNeil, singing the lead (on, Oran nana Cailleachan-Song of the Old Ladies) and also having Tommy Makem on board,” he said.

The album represents the second album the Barra MacNeils have put out since younger siblings Ryan and Boyd joined the group — and the first Christmas CD which involves the whole family.

“Ryan wrote one of the tunes (Christmas Together) on the album and technically Boyd was great with tracking the album,” Stewart noted.

Christmas Album II is truly a family affair, having been recorded mostly at Kyle and Anita MacNeil’s home on the Mira and featuring a song written by the MacNeils’ uncle, Hector MacKenzie.

“In the year 2000 during the Christmas holidays I was up visiting Hector in Washabuck and he pulled out a couple songs that he was working on at that time and one was One Wild Rose which was on our All At Once album and this Christmas one, On The Very First Christmas,” Stewart said. “It has a great rollicking chorus and it’s certainly one of the favourites.”

Stewart said the family really enjoys travelling across the country during the Christmas season and giving people a chance to sit back and relax during what can be a hectic time.

“That’s the beauty of the Christmas show. People can just put their feet up and enjoy it. And likewise, the album is made to be played in our homes during the holidays.”

December 19, 2006
Christmas traditions: The Barra MacNeils holiday spirit alive
with new CD, tour
By; Andrea Nemetz, Halifax Herald

THE WORDS of At Last I'm Ready For Christmas may resonate with audience members at the Barra MacNeils' Christmas shows. But the Cape Breton siblings have had to be a bit more organized than the time-challenged heroes of the little-known Stan Rogers tune, which is included on the Barra MacNeils' recently released second Christmas album. Sheumas, Lucy, Kyle, Stewart, Ryan and Boyd MacNeil began their holiday tour in Oregon on Nov. 18, and are slated to perform more than 30 shows across the country before the tour wraps up with two shows at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay on Saturday.

"We're two-thirds of the way through," said Stewart MacNeil from an unseasonably mild Toronto which he described as bustling with shoppers and frantic drivers blowing horns.

The multiple ECMA-winning group had taken the previous day off to get a little shopping done in the big city as it will be Christmas Eve before they're done performing and Stewart was especially intent on finding things that would fit into his suitcase.

Rare snow in southern British Columbia marked the start of the Canadian tour on Nov. 20.

"It was a bit surreal, but great for Christmas shows. I think people enjoyed it a bit more. And when we got to Banff it was just magical. It was right after the powder snow fell and it was beautiful, clear and cool all the things that make Banff special."

The Barras were making Christmas special for their fans even before they released their first Christmas album in 1999. With the addition to the group of younger siblings Ryan (on uileann pipes, low whistles, piano and vocals) and Boyd on bouzouki, violin, guitar, tenor, banjo, vocals and percussion, it made sense to put out another seasonal album this year, says Stewart.

"Christmas is a season of traditions and it fits so well with what the Barras do. The album is really well-balanced with a lot of the high energy you expect from the Barra MacNeils, as well as the extra instruments, the extra voices and the new material. It feels similar to the first album it's a matching set."

Among the 15 tracks on the new album, recorded at Kyle and Anita MacNeil's home on the Mira and Soundpark Studio in Cape Breton, is an original from Ryan
called Christmas Together.

"It's a whimsical, homecoming song about coming east, the train trip, the sense of coming home, the greenery, enjoying the season. Ryan really captured that
feeling in song," says Stewart, who performs on accordion, wood flute, keyboards, whistle in addition to vocals.

The first track, I Saw Three Ships, is one people will remember from previous Christmas shows, Stewart continues.

"It's evolved over the years, it's very up with a jig-time feel and there's an awful nice mix of Cape Breton tunes in the arrangement that gives something
people can identify with the Barra MacNeils."

A Gaelic version of Silent Night closes the disc.

"There are four different Scots Gaelic versions of the song. The one we chose was pretty close to a literal translation and flows very nicely. It's
interesting that Silent Night been translated into so many languages since Franz Gruber wrote it.

"There are very few times in a year when things come to a halt. Christmas Eve is one of them. Most people stay home or travel to their homes if they're
working away. Silent Night is very much one of the most peaceful of all Christmas carols."

Midway through the album, the Barras' good friend Tommy Makem recalls yule times past in Childhood Christmas.

"I'm always mesmerized at his ability to tell stories and the stories he's handpicked here set the tone for the album," says Stewart.

The solemn recitation is followed by a showstopping version of Ave Maria in which Lucy's pure vocals literally send chills down the spine.

"It's not specifically a Christmas song, but one associated with Christmas. It's time-tested. Lucy gets a tremendous response when she sings it, that and O Holy Night. Both are otherworldly in many ways. They are pieces of music that have touched people for generations. Their power defies explanation."

The Christmas shows (which also include Jamie Gatti on bass) feature a mix of songs from both albums, instrumentals, stories and stepdancing.

"It's quite a mix. Usually at the end, people come up to us and say 'you made me laugh, you made me cry." It really brings out the emotion in people."

Christmas in Killarney is always an audience favourite, continues Stewart, noting people like to clap their hands and whoop it up a bit when the Barras play the rollicking tune. And personally, he enjoys singing Auld Lang Syne, which gives him a chance to reflect on the year that has just past.

This Christmas will bring a gathering at the home of their parents Columba and Jean.

"It will be fun to watch my parents watch their grandchildren playing with their Christmas presents," says Stewart, the proud father of three cats. Lucy has two daughters and Sheumas has a son and a daughter.

"There will be a little bit of music, some catching up on news and a few days to really relax after such a long tour. It will be nice to go home and have some peace and tranquility. Maybe we'll get some snow."

After a well-deserved rest, the Barras will be gearing up for 2007. Plans include a much-anticipated 20th anniversary tour.

"It's been 20 years since we recorded our first album (The Barra MacNeils). I just feel very fortunate that we've been able to do what we do," Stewart concludes.

The Barra MacNeils' show on Wednesday at Pictou's deCoste Centre is sold out. An 8 p.m. show Friday at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax is also sold out, as is an 8 p.m. show Saturday at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay, but there are tickets available for 4 p.m. shows on Friday at the Cohn and Saturday at the Savoy

December 9, 2006
Barra MacNeils offer Christmas for the Celtic soul
Joanne Shuttleworth, Waterloo Record

Stewart MacNeil can't put his finger on the reason why Cape Breton music has gained such momentum over the 20 years his band, the Barra MacNeils, started singing in public, but Bob MacLean has his own theory.

"It's music that stirs the soul," said MacLean, who teaches guitar at Folkway Music in Guelph.

"I owe the Barras a big favour."

MacLean remembers when the band played at the Elora Quarry many years ago -- a time when he was "going through job changes" and was feeling down in the dumps.

His wife convinced him to attend the concert and he loved it.

"They played traditional music and I bought into it big time. Now you know who to blame," he said with a laugh, referring to his passion for Celtic music in general and the Barra MacNeils in particular.Cape Breton has been a breeding ground for musicians who are bringing that mix of Scottish, Irish, Celtic and folk tunes to the mainstream, including Rita MacNeil, the Rankins and the Barra MacNeils.

The MacNeil clan will bring their unique sound to Guelph's River Run Centre tonight in their Celtic Christmas concert. Stewart MacNeil was in Regina last week, recovering from a string of concerts that started in Oregon Nov. 20 and included a gig on Vancouver Island.

"The snow there was crazy," he said. "To see that kind of snow in the city is bizarre." The band includes five brothers Stewart, Kyle, Sheumas, Boyd, Ryan, sister Lucy and Jamie Gatti, who has been playing bass with the band for 10 years, earning him an honorary MacNeil moniker.

Most of them sing, they all step dance, and there's an interesting mix of guitar, Celtic harp, fiddle, mandolin, keyboard plus the less conventional bodhran, bazouki, tin whistle and uillean pipes. The family hails from Sydney Mines, N. S. and grew up surrounded by Celtic music, culture and history. But the MacNeils can trace their heritage back to the island of Barra, Scotland, distinguishing them from other MacNeil clans. Their discography of 11 albums almost exactly mirrors their list of awards and achievements: their self-titled debut album was released in 1986, they won their first East Coast Music Award in 1991, their fifth in 2001 and last year they were nominated for a Celtic Fusion Award.

And their 2002 Racket in the Attic CD was featured on the Men With Brooms movie soundtrack.

For tonight's concert, the Barra MacNeils will perform songs from their two Christmas albums, the first released in 1999 and the second earlier this year.

"First and foremost, this is a high-energy concert," MacNeil said."Our music has grown from a time-proven culture and we draw from that onstage."

The audience will hear a potpourri of Christmas songs in English and Gaelic, sacred and secular, vocal and instrumental, familiar and not so much.

There will also be a liberal amount of step dancing, foot stomping, and hopefully, laughter from the audience, MacNeil said. There's a fair bit of storytelling and tomfoolery in the mix as well.

The band plans to release a new album in 2007 to commemorate 20 years in the industry.

"It is amazing to still be around after 20 years," MacNeil said.

"A lot of people have come and gone. For us, there's still more music to come."

MacNeil took a moment to remember John Allan Cameron, who died of cancer last month. Cameron is widely credited with bringing Celtic music to the fore in the 1960s and '70s, paving the way for artists like the Barra MacNeils. In these parts, Cameron is also remembered as being the honorary chieftain of the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games for the past 20 years. "John Allan took us to the Fergus Games," MacNeil said.

"He was such a positive force of energy and people gravitated to him. He blazed a trail for musicians like us."

To new artists, MacNeil advises them to practice a lot "and have big ears. Listen to new and old music. Recognizing the subtleties is like learning a new language."

As for the concert, "people say it puts them in the Christmas spirit. So I say come, relax and enjoy," he said.

December 08, 2006
Barra MacNeils take Celtic Christmas cheer across Canada,
but bring bad weather
Cam Fuller, The Saskatoon StarPhoenix

They're on a Christmas tour and, wouldn't you know it, the Barra MacNeils were dashing through the snow. Stepping off the ferry recently from Vancouver Island, the family band from Sydney Mines, N.S., encountered knee-deep snow drifts. Back home, it was 12C.

The weather was considerably less Christmassy when the Barras recorded the album that has spawned their massive national tour, The Barra MacNeils Christmas Album II. They worked on it in the summer at Kyle and Anita MacNeil's home -- with the air conditioning on max and platters of comfort food on hand. Santa has been good to these boys and girls. Their 2000 Christmas special still airs on CMT in Canada and PBS in the United States. They also have a Cape Breton Christmas DVD. People liked the Celtic flavouring of the first album so much, some play it year-round, Stewart MacNeil said.

There was no tampering with the successful formula on the sequel. "It's mix of well-known traditional stuff and some more obscure pieces as well," he said.

Lucy's vocals on the Cape Breton-styled arrangement of Ave Maria is a big favourite. So is the little-known Stan Rogers tune, At Last I'm Ready for Christmas. (The joke there is that the singer is ready with only two hours to spare). "It's a fun one and there are a lot of people in the audience who share the feeling."

The MacNeils can identify. With 20 shows in December alone, there's not much time to prepare for Christmas.

"I tell you, jewelry gets popular," says Stewart. "It's a tricky time to balance the whole thing, for sure."

The family's live show features step dancing, some "very dramatic performances," humorous stories and stories of reflection.

"It's just a lot of fun," says Stewart. "A lot of people say once they see the show they're in the mood for Christmas."

The Barra MacNeils play Centrepointe Theatre Dec. 19. Tickets & times, 613-580-2700.

December 07, 2006
Barra MacNeils performance: ‘very much a Christmas show’
Deb Bartlett; mykawartha.com

In the summer’s heat, the Barra MacNeils recorded their second Christmas album. “We kept the air conditioning cranked,” joked Stewart MacNeil as he helped the band promote its Tuesday night concert at the Academy.

Music from Christmas Album I and the recently released Christmas Album II and other seasonal favourites will be the primary focus of the concert.

“It’s very much a Christmas show,” said Mr. MacNeil. And response to it has been great, he said.

He says the band, composed of MacNeil siblings, wanted the second Christmas album to feel like the first.

It features instruments like the Celtic harp, bouzouki, bodhran, Irish flute, accordion, Irish pipes and whistles. “It’s nice to have all those different colours in your music,” said Mr. MacNeil. He said all those instruments, plus the family vocals and step dancing is the strength behind a Barra MacNeils show.

“It’s a fun project,” he said of the Christmas tour. The group kicked off the tour in the west and is making its way east to Nova Scotia for Christmas.

Asked if the five brothers and one sister get on each other’s nerves, he laughed and said, “We all have our moments.”

Mr. MacNeil said it was their mother’s influence that got the children involved with music. She was a step dance teacher and played fiddle, piano and guitar. “Our mother was our first teacher,” said Mr. MacNeil.

She had no chance for formal training, he said, but “we all had lessons and studied music. It’s also an oral tradition we grew up with.”

Once the family is home, Christmas will be celebrated at their parents’ house, said Mr. MacNeil. He said they’ll have a big dinner, visit with extended family and relax. At least until later in January, when another tour starts.

The band will be doing more American dates, said Mr. MacNeil. They’ll be concentrating on getting East Coast gigs that exposes their music to America’s large market without being too far from home.

The Barra MacNeils are also working on a 20th anniversary CD that will be a “retrospective of the Barra MacNeils over 20 years,” said Mr. MacNeil.

The Barra MacNeils come to the Academy Theatre on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. For tickets call the box office at 324-9111.

December 01, 2006
Barra MacNeils bring Celtic Christmas cheer
Cam Fuller, Saskatchewan News Network

SASKATOON -- They're on a Christmas tour and, wouldn't you know it, the Barra MacNeils were dashing through the snow.

Stepping off the ferry from Vancouver Island, the family band from Sydney Mines, N.S., encountered knee-deep snow drifts. Back home, it was 12 degreesC.

The weather was considerably less 'Christmassy' when the Barras recorded the album that has spawned their massive national tour, The Barra MacNeils Christmas Album II. They worked on it in the summer at Kyle and Anita MacNeil's home -- with the air conditioning on max and platters of comfort food on hand.

Santa has been good to these boys and girls. Their 2000 Christmas special still airs on CMT in Canada and PBS in the United States. They also have a Cape Breton Christmas DVD.

People liked the Celtic flavouring of the first album so much, some play it year-round, Stewart MacNeil said this week. There was no tampering with the successful formula on the sequel.

"It's mix of well-known traditional stuff and some more obscure pieces as well," he said.

Lucy's vocals on the Cape Breton-styled arrangement of "Ave Maria" is a big favourite. So is the little-known Stan Rogers tune, "At Last I'm Ready for Christmas."

"It's a fun one and there are a lot of people in the audience who share the feeling."

The MacNeils can identify. With 20 shows in December alone, there's not much time to prepare for Christmas.

"I tell you, jewelry gets popular," says Stewart. "It's a tricky time to balance the whole thing, for sure."

The family's live show features step dancing, some "very dramatic performances," humorous stories and stories of reflection.

"It's just a lot of fun," says Stewart. "A lot of people say once they see the show they're in the mood for Christmas."

December 4, 2006
Christmas Daddies hauls in nearly $300,000
Premier performs at telethon for less fortunate children
By Chris Shannon, the Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — This year’s 32nd annual Christmas Daddies telethon had performances from the usual suspects of the Barra MacNeils, The Cottars, Matt Minglewood and Rita MacNeil. And then there was a musical performance from someone you might not have expected to see on the broadcast. The province’s fiddle-playing Premier Rodney MacDonald performed a square set live on-air for a nationally televised audience.

This year’s telethon aired across the country Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on ASN, a CTV cable affiliate.

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world. This is a great fundraiser for the kids and it makes a difference in the lives of children,” said the premier, who had only been at one previous Christmas Daddies telethon, but hadn’t performed until Sunday afternoon.

“It’s a great way to pledge and make a difference but it’s also a great way for the musicians to gather together as well.”

The Christmas Daddies telethon, a non-profit organization, raised a record $296,307 for less fortunate children Sunday. The money raised will help children have a happier Christmas. The money is turned over to the Salvation Army, which distributes it to needy families.

Last year’s total in Cape Breton was a record of $219,887. And across the Maritimes in 2005, the telethon raised $726,725. Scott Boyd, co-host of the show produced at CTV’s Sydney station on George Street, said the telethon has been phenomenal this year.

“The phones are just going crazy. They’re going nuts,” Boyd said outside the studio, taking a momentary break from his on-air duties.

“The Cottars were on singing a traditional tune. And in any other place in the world the song would say, ‘Oh my God, let’s just slow it down.

’ Well it slowed it down just long enough that you could hear the phones just come to life.”

On hand in the studio was country music award-winner Aaron Lines, CTV’s Corner Gas stars Gabrielle Miller and Janet Wright and comedian Reed Rankin. Another highlight was the performance by Rita MacNeil and the Men of the Deeps. Nine-year-old volunteer Payton Deeble, working at her second Christmas Daddies telethon, explained what her duties were while she held pledge slips in her hand.

“I pass them in to the computer ladies and they type them in on the computer. It gets the donors on to the TV so the viewers on TV can see their names.”

CTV used both its own facility and a site at the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre, which broadcast some of the major cheque presentations.

November 24, 2006
Family steps to the music for 20 years
By Kristin Froneman, Morning Star

The Barra MacNeils welcome all to their Cape Breton Christmas

When it comes to musical families, the Osmonds, Partridges and Jackson Five come to mind. But up here in Canada, the families that stand out are Leahy, the Rankins and the Barra MacNeils, all of whom are considered some of the finest Celtic-influenced bands in the country.

It was 20 years ago when the MacNeil siblings - Sheumas, Kyle, Stewart and sister Lucy - first step-danced and played their way into the hearts of Canadians, and the world.

The offspring of one of Canada's breeding grounds for musical proclivity, Cape Breton Island, the MacNeils came to prominence after performing at the World Exposition fair in Vancouver.

"Lucy had joined the band in '86 just before we did the Vancouver Expo," said Stewart. "We've been at it full-time since. We keep answering the phone, and are getting more gigs... Music has been good to us."

With best-selling records and performances around the globe, the Barra MacNeils continue to perform the music of their Scottish/Cape Breton heritage to adoring fans. The band, which now includes brothers Ryan and Boyd, just wrapped up playing at the Nova Scotia Music Week in Liverpool, and is returning west as part of its Christmas tour, which will end in Glace Bay, N.S. Dec. 23.

A fundraiser for the Family Resource Centre, the Barra MacNeils will play at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Wednesday.

The tour comes on the heels of the band's second Christmas CD, The Christmas Album II, which was recorded at Kyle and Anita MacNeils' home on the Mira and Soundpark Studio, Sydney, Cape Breton. It was released in stores nationally Nov. 14.

The first Christmas album, released in '99, generated the 2001 DVD, Cape Breton Christmas, incorporating music from the Barra MacNeil's live Christmas Concert Special (as seen on TV), and interviews with band members at home in Cape Breton for the holidays.

"Ten years ago, if anyone had said we would record two Christmas albums, I wouldn't have believed them," said Stewart. "The initial response has been nice, and to tour with both CDs now is great. It's a great tour, but it's nice to get home and enjoy a relaxing Christmas."

The Barra MacNeils will harmonize their voices to perform all the traditional Christmas tunes with a Gaelic edge, and the music they grew up with - jigs and reels - on fiddle, guitar, bodhran, mandolin, accordion and tin whistle, just some of the instruments the family members, all multi-instrumentalists, play.

And don't forget the step dancing...

"Lucy is the real dancer. I put my two steps in. All of us have learned to dance," said Stewart.

Raised by their parents, Jean and Columba, in Sydney Mines, N.S., the MacNeils can trace their heritage back to the island of Barra, Scotland. In the early-1800s, a few members of the clan crossed the Atlantic to settle in the Iona- Washabuck region of Nova Scotia, where Jean and Columba grew up.

"My father joined the air force, and after, he got a job with Eastern Tel in Sydney Mines, which is within an hour of where they grew up," said Stewart. "We were exposed to music growing up in Cape Breton - the traditional music and step dancing. When we were young we were encouraged to sing at a party, or get up and do a few steps."

While Columba was the band's first soundman, it was Jean, a well-known step dancing teacher in Cape Breton, who really got the family started in music.

"My mom got Kyle and Sheumas started playing the fiddle and piano. I⠠came along playing the accordion," said Stewart. "She still makes her way to our shows. She certainly is one of the main reasons we do what we do. She is still active as a step dancer... She's also a great teacher - a natural. Step dancing is quite a workout."

The MacNeils decision to keep their music in the family also came naturally, adds Stewart.

"Music holds us together... It enables us to do this. When you have a flare for something, you go on with it."

The Barra MacNeils are putting the finishing touches on their next project, which will celebrate their two decades in the business. The special 20th anniversary CD, to be released in early 2007, will span the band's entire career, and will feature recordings from various releases over the years.

"It was a feat to pick the highlights," said Stewart. "It has been a great 20 years. There's been a lot of music in that period. We want to thank our fans for their support. We plan to continue."

The Barra MacNeils take the stage at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Wednesday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $32.50, available at the Ticket Seller box office, 549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.

November 27 2006
Barra MacNeils set tone a month before Christmas

The family that sings together does not bicker with one another.  At least, not often.

So it is with Cape Breton natives The Barra MacNeils, returning to Victoria this weekend. Stewart MacNeil, the Celtic band's step-dancing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, says he and his five siblings rarely argue.

"And most of the time, the differences are on artistic issues," he said from a tour stop in Ashcroft in the Interior.

Once again, The Barra MacNeils -- Stewart, Kyle, Lucy, Sheumas, Boyd and Ryan -- are set to bring their popular Christmas concert to Victoria. The show will feature seasonal songs from their new disc, The Barra MacNeils -- Christmas Album II. Performed in traditional Celtic style, it includes familiar carols such as I Saw Three Ships and Good King Wenceslas as well as more obscure selections like Stan Rogers's At Last I'm Ready for Christmas.

What makes it stand out from the usual tsunami of Christmas recordings (ranging from the new Twisted Christmas disc by hard-rocking Twisted Sister to those annoying singing cat albums) is the Barra MacNeils' traditional music stamp. The tin whistle and ullian pipes in particular give it a distinctly Scots/Irish feel.

"It goes from having very rollicking music to stuff that's more spiritual. It's certainly a mixed bag," said Stewart MacNeil.

Recorded at Kyle MacNeil's home in Sydney, Cape Breton, the album also contains a recitation, Childhood Christmas, delivered by the famous Irish folksinger Tommy Makem. MacNeil was also thrilled to include contributions from senior singers -- some in their 80s -- from his mother's hometown of Washabuck, N.S.

While proud of their new disc, MacNeil and his siblings (all classically trained) were saddened to learn of the death this week of their friend, John Allan Cameron, from bone cancer. Known as the Godfather of Celtic Music in Canada, Cameron was a longtime supporter of the Barra MacNeils' approach to music. The band had participated in several projects to help with Cameron's medical expenses, including playing on the two-disc set: Yes! Let's Hear it for John Allan Cameron.

"He was always a support when we needed him, for sure. He really thought a lot of what The Barra MacNeils did and encouraged us to keep doing it and be true to what your music really is," said MacNeil.

"John was a pioneer in taking the traditional music and realizing its value. There was no pretense; he loved the music he grew up on ... He paved a path for people like The Rankins and The Barra MacNeils and Natalie MacMaster and Ashley [MacIsaac] and all others who have come behind him. There are numerous solo performers who have emulated his style."

At a time when frenzied consumers are madly hunting down Playstation 3 video games, the Barra MacNeil Christmas concerts are viewed by fans as an oasis of sanity.

"It's not a glitzy type of show," said MacNeil. "For some people it's a Christmas that used to be, in many ways."

MEDIA RELEASE
November 27, 2006

The Barra MacNeils add Second Show in Glace Bay/Sydney at the Savoy Theatre! ...4 pm show added, December 23, in support of their new release The Christmas Album II

(Glace Bay, NS) - Due to overwhelming demand, Award-winning, Celtic group The Barra MacNeils have added a second show in Glace Bay/Sydney, NS at the Savoy Theatre on Saturday December 23 at 4 pm. The first show at 8pm is essentially sold out with weeks to go until show day.

This afternoon matinee concert will give families a chance to take in the popular traditional Christmas show before the final rush of weekend shopping. Tickets for the matinee will be available at the Savoy box office starting Tuesday, Nov. 28.

The group is performing dates across Canada this November and December. The shows are in support of the band's new release The Christmas Album II (Fontana North/Universal Music Canada) in stores nationally now!.

Featuring a skillfully performed collection of seasonal favourites, The Christmas Album II has been released just in time for the holidays. Recorded at Kyle and Anita MacNeils' home on the Mira and Soundpark Studio, Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the album was produced by The Barra MacNeils. The group's second Christmas album, it features the family's captivating vocals, harmonies and extraordinary musicianship.

Multi-award winners, The Barra MacNeils have released numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful recordings, including: All At Once

(2005) Racket In the Attic (2002), Christmas Album (1999), Until Now (1997), The Question (1995), The Traditional Album (1994), Closer to Paradise (1993), Timeframe (1990), Rock in the Stream (1989), The Barra MacNeils (1986). In 2001, they released a DVD titled Cape Breton Christmas
incorporating music from their live Christmas Concert Special (as seen on television), plus a visit to Cape Breton, interviews with the Barra MacNeils home at Christmas and music videos.

The Barra MacNeils continue to perform to sold-out audiences throughout Canada, the United States, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. They have headlined major festivals and concerts, made guest appearances on television specials (Rita MacNeil's CTV Christmas Special, performing with The Chieftains), and been featured on film and television soundtracks (Men with Brooms Soundtrack; Racket in the Attic). The Barra MacNeils one-hour Christmas Television Special (2000) continues to be broadcast on Country Music Television (CMT) and on the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) network in the United States.

BARRA MACNEILS - CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
SAVOY THEATRE
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 4 PM AND 8 PM SHOWS
TICKETS: SAVOY THEATRE BOX OFFICE: 902- 842-1577
http://www.savoytheatre.com/events.php

-30-

For photos and interview opportunities with The Barra MacNeils, contact:

For photos and interview opportunities with The Barra MacNeils, contact:
Wendy Phillips, Sonic Entertainment Group
(902) 492-0960 / wendy@sonicentertainmentgroup.com 

MEDIA RELEASE
November 21, 2006

The Barra MacNeils add Second Show in Halifax
...4 pm show added December 22 in support of their new release The Christmas Album II

(Halifax, NS) - Due to overwhelming demand, Award-winning, Celtic group The Barra MacNeils have added a second show at Halifax's Rebecca Cohn on Friday December 22 at 4 pm. The first show at 8 pm is almost sold out with a full month to go.

The addition of the afternoon matinee concert will give families a chance to take in the popular traditional Christmas show before the rush of the final weekend before the holiday. Tickets for the matinee will be available at Rebecca Cohn Box Office this Friday.

The group perform dates across Canada this November and December. The shows are in support of the band's new release The Christmas Album II (Fontana North/Universal Music Canada) in stores nationally now!.

Featuring a skilfully performed collection of seasonal favourites, The Christmas Album II has been released just in time for the holidays. Recorded at Kyle and Anita MacNeils' home on the Mira and Soundpark Studio, Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the album was produced by The Barra MacNeils. The group's second Christmas album, it features the family's captivating vocals,
harmonies and extraordinary musicianship.

Multi-award winners, The Barra MacNeils have released numerous recordings, including Racket In the Attic (2002), Christmas Album (1999), Until Now (1997), The Question (1995), The Traditional Album (1994), Closer to Paradise (1993), Timeframe (1990), Rock in the Stream (1989), The Barra MacNeils (1986). In 2001, they released a DVD titled Cape Breton Christmas incorporating music from their live Christmas Concert Special (as seen on television), plus a visit to Cape Breton, interviews with the Barra MacNeils home at Christmas and music videos.

The Barra MacNeils continue to perform to sold-out audiences throughout Canada, the United States, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. They have headlined major festivals and concerts, made guest appearances on television specials (Rita MacNeil's CTV Christmas Special, performing with The Chieftains), and been featured on film and television soundtracks (Men with
Brooms Soundtrack; Racket in the Attic). The Barra MacNeils one-hour Christmas Television Special (2000) continues to be broadcast on Country Music Television (CMT) and on the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) network in the United States.

BARRA MACNEILS - CHRISTMAS CONCERTS:
REBECCA COHN AUDITORIUM
FRIDAY DECEMBER 22 4 PM AND 8 PM SHOWS
TICKETS: AVAILABLE NOW FOR 8 PM SHOW
STARTING THIS FRIDAY FOR 4 PM SHOW
REBECCA COHN BOX OFFICE 494-3820/1(800)874-1669 OR ON-LINE AT
www.dal.ca/artscentre

MEDIA RELEASE
November 3, 2006

The Barra MacNeils to embark on national tour in support
of their new release, The Christmas Album II

(Halifax, NS) – Award-winning, Celtic group The Barra MacNeils will be performing dates across Canada this November and December. The shows are in support of the band’s upcoming release The Christmas Album II (Fontana North/Universal Music Canada) in stores nationally on Tuesday, November 14. Performance dates are as follows:

Nov. 21& 22 Ashcroft, BC The Opera House
Nov. 23 Surrey, BC Bell Centre for ThePerforming Arts
Nov. 24 Maple Ridge, BC Maple Ridge Theatre
Nov. 25 Victoria, BC Alix Goolden Hall
Nov. 26 Courtenay, BC Sid Williams Civic Theatre (3pm)
Nov. 26 Courtenay, BC Sid Williams Civic Theatre (8pm - SOLD-OUT)
Nov. 28 Trail, BC Charles Bailey Theatre
Nov. 29 Vernon, BC Performing Arts Centre
Dec. 1 Sherwood Park, AB Festival Place
Dec. 2 Banff, AB Eric Harvie Theatre
Dec. 4 Regina, SK Darke Hall
Dec. 5 Moose Jaw, SK Mae Wilson Theatre
Dec. 6 Saskatoon, SK Broadway Theatre
Dec. 9 Guelph, ON River Run Centre
Dec. 10 Owen Sound, ON Roxy Theatre
Dec. 11 Orillia, ON Orillia Opera House
Dec. 12 Lindsay, ON Academy Theatre
Dec. 14 Port Hope, ON Capitol Theatre
Dec. 15 Peterborough, ON Showplace Performance Centre
Dec. 16 Kingston, ON Duncan McArthur Hall
Dec. 17 Belleville, ON Empire Theatre
Dec. 18 Brockville, ON Brockville Arts Centre
Dec. 19 Ottawa, ON Centrepointe Theatre
Dec. 20 Pictou, NS deCoste Centre
Dec. 21 Fredericton, NB The Playhouse
Dec. 22 Halifax, NS Rebecca Cohn
Dec. 23 Glace Bay, NS Savoy Theatre

Featuring a skillfully performed collection of seasonal favorites, The Christmas Album II, was recorded at Kyle and Anita MacNeils’ home on the Mira and Soundpark Studio in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The album, produced by The Barra MacNeils, is the group's second Christmas album and vividly features the family’s captivating vocals, harmonies and extraordinary musicianship.

Multi-award winners, The Barra MacNeils have released numerous recordings, including Racket In the Attic (2002), Christmas Album (1999), Until Now (1997), The Question (1995), The Traditional Album (1994), Closer to Paradise (1993), Timeframe (1990), Rock in the Stream (1989), The Barra MacNeils (1986). In 2001, they released a DVD titled Cape Breton Christmas incorporating music from their live Christmas Concert Special (as seen on television), plus a visit to Cape Breton, interviews with the Barra MacNeils home at Christmas and music videos.

The Barra MacNeils continue to perform to sold-out audiences throughout Canada, the United States, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. They have headlined major festivals and concerts, made guest appearances on television specials (Rita MacNeil’s CTV Christmas Special, performing with The Chieftains), and been featured on film and television soundtracks (Men with Brooms Soundtrack; Racket in the Attic). The Barra MacNeils one-hour Christmas Television Special (2000) continues to be broadcast on Country Music Television (CMT) and on the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) network in the United States.

All shows are on sale now at venues listed above.

-30-

For photos and interview opportunities with The Barra MacNeils, contact:

Wendy Phillips, Sonic Entertainment Group
(902) 492-0960 / wendy@sonicentertainmentgroup.com

October 13, 2006
Unusual Suspects rounded up once again
Folk orchestra tapped to close Celtic Colours
By Laura Jean Grant, the Cape Breton Post

ST. ANN’S — A stage full of musicians and just 10 hours to rehearse together before performing in two of Celtic Colours’ most anticipated shows.

A daunting task to say the least but one in which the 25 artists of the Unusual Suspects of Celtic Colours seem to thrive. The more pressure, the better they get it seems.

The masterminds behind it all are Scotland’s David Milligan and Corrina Hewat and Cape Breton’s Gordie Sampson, who first worked together two years ago on the inaugural Unusual Suspects of Celtic Colours.

Milligan and Hewat originated the Unusual Suspects several years ago and a group of Scottish artists first brought the idea to life in 2003 at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections Festival. Celtic Colours directors Max MacDonald and Joella Foulds were in the audience and knew immediately they wanted to do something similar in Cape Breton and enlisted the help of Milligan, Hewat and Sampson to make it a reality. The Unusual Suspects Celtic Colours version of 2004 was a huge success and as a celebration of the festival’s 10th anniversary this year, a reprisal of the show seemed only fitting.

The folk orchestra — a combination of artists who took part in 2004 and some new faces — brings together musicians from across Canada and Scotland who have been practising the last two days for tonight’s sold-out show at Strathspey Place in Mabou and an encore performance Saturday at the Sydney Marine Terminal to wrap up the festival. Tickets are still available for the show in Sydney.

During a break from rehearsal Thursday at the Gaelic College in St. Ann’s, all three music directors agreed that the short timeline involved in pulling the show together is a significant challenge but one that also makes the performance so unique.

The three have spent months arranging the music for the show and have racked up big phone bills and exchanged a countless number of e-mails in the process. Milligan said a key to arranging music for such a large group is keeping in mind the individuals talents of those participating.

“Part of it is writing to the strengths of the musicians involved,” he said.

Milligan, Hewat and Sampson have had some time this week to fine tune the arrangements together and in-person.

“There’s only so much you can do over the phone,” said Sampson, adding there’s nothing quite like the experience of collaborating with so many talented musicians. “One of the incredible things is the rush you get from performing it live.”

Hewat said the beauty of the Unusual Suspects is that it provides an opportunity for musicians who otherwise would never have had the chance to play together, to do so.

“I really love the power of the band,” she said.

The 2006 version of the Unusual Suspects will feature some arrangements from 2004 as well as some new arrangements. In addition to the three directors, the Unusual Suspects includes artists such as the Barra MacNeils, Daniel Lapp, Anna Massie, Allie Bennett, Nuala Kennedy and many more.

October 5, 2006
Nova Scotia Music Week 2006
November 9 -12th 2006 :: Liverpool Nova Scotia - Celebrating 10 Years

The Barra MacNeils Kick Off Nova Scotia Music Week Festivities
With special guest JD Clarke

For Immediate Release - 2 Time Music Nova Scotia nominees The Barra McNeils will get the party rolling in Liverpool as they kick off Nova Scotia Music Week festivities November 9th. The Barra MacNeils continue to do what they love to do best – write, sing and perform music. They’re headlining major festivals and concerts, making special guest appearances on television and in film and touring the world with their annual yuletide event. These Canadian ambassadors have a distinguished legacy and continue performing to sell out audiences leaving their memorable mark with audiences around the world.

The Barra MacNeils are immersed in tradition. Born into Cape Breton Celtic musical artistry, the family band emote captivating vocals, pure harmonies and extraordinary musicianship that only siblings can deliver. Their much-anticipated new CD All At Once features the addition of siblings, Boyd and Ryan MacNeil, delivering an exhilarating and rejuvenated sound. Multi-award winners, the Barra MacNeils have released eight recordings including, Racket In the Attic (2002), Christmas Album (1999), Until Now (1997), The Question (1995), The Traditional Album (1994), Closer to Paradise (1993 - Certified Gold in Canada), Timeframe (1990), Rock in the Stream (1989), The Barra MacNeils (1986). In 2001, they released a DVD titled Cape Breton Christmas incorporating music from their live Christmas concert special (as seen on television), plus a visit to Cape Breton, interviews with the Barra MacNeils home at Christmas and music videos. For more information on the Barra MacNeils visit www.barramacneils.com

Country music nominee JD Clarke will open the show with an aspiring acoustic performance. This country artist is just returning from an exciting showcase at the Canadian Country Music Awards where he wowed audiences with his honest delivery and his inspiring songwriting. JD is currently getting airplay across the country. He is one to watch in the upcoming year. For more information on JD Clarke visit www.jdclarke.ca 

Tickets are $16.00 and are available at The Astor Theatre Box Office – 902.354.5250

Come To Liverpool

For its 10th anniversary, Nova Scotia Music Week will sail out of Halifax and dock in Liverpool, Queen’s County. The breath-taking White Point Beach resort will host the music industry during their three day event. Rustic Liverpool will be filled with music with events taking place at The Astor Theatre, The Mersey House, Lane’s Privateers Inn, Dooly’s, The Hank Snow Country Music Centre and the Zion United Church. The complete schedule of events will unfold in the weeks ahead. All festival events are open to the public. (see box office information below)

Nothing But Music - All Weekend Long! – Festival Passes and more. Tickets for all events now on sale at The Astor Theatre Box Office 902.354.5250

Festival Bracelets: $26.00. Which includes showcases at The Mersey, Dooley's, Lanes Privateers, Christian Showcase (Zion United Church); All Ticket holders will trade tickets for bracelets at their first show.

Barra MacNeils – The Astor Theatre - $15.00 plus $1.00 ticket service charge
Awards Show – The Astor Theatre $30.00 plus $1.00 ticket service charge
Songwriter Circle – The Astor Theatre $20.00 plus $1.00 ticket service charge
Christian Show Case – Zion United Church $10.00 plus $1.00 ticket service charge

All Ages Show – The Astor Theatre $15.00 plus $1.00 ticket service charge
Music Nova Scotia would like to thank our sponsors for their outstanding support

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For more information:

Nova Scotia Music Week | 902.423.6271 | info@musicnovascotia.ca | www.musicnovascotia.ca 

Ticketed Events | Festival Passes, Songwriter’s Circle, The Barra MacNeils and the 10th Annual Nova Scotia Music Awards | contact: The Astor Theatre 902.354.5250

Public Relations | Anne Oakley 902.444.6979

September 27, 2006
Barra MacNeils Return After Successful String of Shows -
Prepare for Celtic Colours – Christmas CD and Tour to Follow

Cape Breton’s Barra MacNeils returned home yesterday after a whirlwind of activity with the band selling shows out and wowing festival audiences on both sides of the Canada – USA border over the last two weeks. The family group had been previously spending most of their time putting the finishing touches on a new Christmas recording project, due out later this fall in conjunction with their coast to coast national Christmas theatre tour (all dates listed on the Tour page).

The hectic run of dates started with a well attended showcase in the Boston, MA area on Sept. 14 directly prior to flying to Chicago to headline the Chicago Celtic Festival on September 16. Sunday, Sept. 17 saw the Barras taking the stage at the Richmond Fairgrounds Arena outside of Ottawa. The group then whisked back to Cape Breton to perform for a special corporate function on the island before heading to North Hatley, Quebec for two back to back sold out theatre shows in the picturesque town. Friday, Sept. 22 took the group to another sold out theatre show, this time in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire; just prior to spending the weekend as the headliner at the New Hampshire Highland Games Festival at the Loon Mountain Resort in Lincoln, NH. The group’s most recent CD release, All At Once, was a very popular sales item at all these performances, with demand sometimes catching the group off guard!

The group now prepares for the following performances at Celtic Colours:

October 07: Wagmatcook Cultural Centre -- Wagmatcook, NS
October 10: Cape Breton University -- Sydney, NS
October 13: Strathspey Place -- Mabou, NS
October 14: Sydney Marine Terminal -- Sydney, NS

September 3, 2006
Barra MacNeils return
By Morning Star Staff

One of Canada's premier Celtic groups is coming to Vernon to play at the Family Resource Centre's fourth annual christmas concert. The Barra MacNeils will perform at the Performing Arts Centre Nov. 29 for the centre's annual fundraiser for counselling programs.

Hailing from Sydney Mines, N.S., the MacNeils have been nominated for a Juno award and have scooped up several East Coast Music Awards, including three albums of the year.

With strong Celtic roots and musical artistry, the diverse and talented family group has wowed audiences around the world with their captivating vocals, harmonies and extraordinary musicianship. The Barra MacNeils much-anticipated new CD, All At Once, features the addition of siblings, Boyd and Ryan MacNeil, delivering an exhilarating and rejuvenated sound.

The MacNeils played at the centre's Christmas concert three years ago before a sold out crowd.

"They came here a few years ago and they put on a funtastic show and she⠠(Lucy) has a tremendous voice," said Michele Blais, executive director of the Family Resource Centre.

The November show promises some of the old and some of the new as they play new songs and sounds along with old favourites. Blais said the band will perform traditional Christmas songs such as "O' Holy Night" in addition to songs from their own canon.

The Barra MacNeil show will be the 20th concert the Family Resource Centre has presented at the Performing Arts Centre. Blais said the concerts have been a great fundraiser and allow audience members to enjoy supporting a charity.

"It's a great way to support a local non-profit organization when you buy a ticket."

Tickets are on sale now for $32.50 through the Ticketseller at 549-SHOW(7469).

June 29, 2006
Celtic Colours welcomes Bela Fleck
Banjo whiz joins global lineup for 10th anniversary Celtic Music Fest
By STEPHEN COOKE, Halifax Herald

Global stars of traditional and progressive folk music, as well as a host of local legends and up-and-coming performers, are on tap for the 10th anniversary of Cape Breton’s Celtic Colours International Festival, taking place Oct. 6 to 14.

Multi-Grammy Award-winning modern banjo whiz Bela Fleck, Scottish guitar prodigy Anna Massie, Spanish bagpipe virtuoso Carlos Nunez, stirring singer-songwriter Karine Polwart, balladeer Archie Fisher and the Danish duos Haugaard & Hoirup and Karen + Helene are just a few of the headlining acts that will draw listeners from across the country and around the world to the rainbow-hued splendour of Cape Breton in the fall.

The festival kicks off on Friday, Oct. 6 with the gala concert Natalie MacMaster: Bringing the World Home at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre. Featuring the famed Troy fiddler, the show will also include Fleck, Nunez and New Zealand talent Hayley Westenra. Across the island over the next nine days there will be 40 concerts and over 100 workshops, including a collaboration between artists in residence Glendale’s Mary Jane Lamond and Scottish Gaelic singer Mairi MacInnes, tributes to Cape Breton fiddlers Carl MacKenzie and Dr. Winnie Chafe, and the musical blend of the all-star The Unusual Suspects project.

Other international visitors include British quartet Flook, Scottish trio Bachué, U.S. string trio Ferintosh, the unique Welsh ensemble Crasdant, the Irish-American duo Liz Carroll and John Doyle, the Irish team of Brian OhEadhra and Nuala Kennedy and the irrepressible Scottish duo of longtime festival friend accordionist Phil Cunningham and fiddler Aly Bain.

As always, Celtic Colours serves as a prime showcase for Cape Breton talent, with a lineup of artists that ranges from familiar faces like Jerry Holland, J.P. Cormier and Hilda Chiasson Cormier, Gordie Sampson, Howie MacDonald, Beolach, Buddy MacMaster and the Barra MacNeils to young acts like Dawn and Margie Beaton, multi-instrumentalist Krysta MacKinnon and fiddler Meagan Burke.

From off the island come performers like P.E.I. singer-songwriter Lennie Gallant, Antigonish pianist/fiddler Troy MacGillivray, Newfoundland’s A Crowd of Bold Sharemen, Vancouver stringmaster Daniel Lapp, and Nova Scotian guitarist extraordinaire Dave MacIsaac.

Tickets for Celtic Colours’ 10th Anniversary season go on sale on July 10. They can be purchased by phone locally at 567-3000 or toll-free at 1-888-355-7744.

For more information, call 562-6700 or toll-free at 1-877-285-321 or visit
www.celtic-colours.com for details about artists and events. For accommodation information, phone 1-800-565-0000.

May 26, 2006
The Barra MacNeils: All At Once CD REVIEW
By Joanne and Art Ketchen, Celtic Beat

The Barra MacNeils are famous for their dynamic approach to tradition. Here they bring tradition into the present with a selection and style that can be truly called Con -temporary Canadian Cape Breton Celtic. The song "A Thousand Miles Away" stands out here as an example as does the first cut "Haven't Got A Care." The tunes here are upbeat, even the sad one, which is the beautiful "One Wild Rose."This is sheer poetry.

Instrumentals such as "Keeping It Reel" also have a "living in the present" feel to them. As dotraditional songs such as the "Tirree Love Song,"and those from Gaelic tradition such as the waulking song"Gearan Na Maighdinn." Throughout listening to this CD you think not of ancient warriors from the Braveheart era, or the hardscrabble lives of one hundred years ago, but of people you know from downeast living in the present, to the ceilidh around the corner. That is a great and unusual achievement.

Throughout musically this CD is superbly crafted. The Barra MacNeils are indeed "Keeping It Reel."

-AK

May 26, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE BARRA MACNEILS featured on two new compilation albums

HALIFAX, NS - The Barra MacNeils are being featured on two new compilation albums - one in honour of the godfather of Celtic music - John Allan Cameron, the other - a celebration of the best in Atlantic Canadian traditional music.

"Yes! Let's hear it for John Allan Cameron" is a two disc compilation of tunes and songs from some of Canada's most beloved artists including Blue Rodeo, Jimmy Rankin, Ron Hynes, Ashley MacIsaac, John McDermott, Great Big Sea, J.P Cormier, and many more, including five tracks from John Allan himself. The project, under the musical direction of Sandy McIntyre and released by REL Records, serves as both a tribute to a living legend, and a fund raising initiative. The net proceeds from the sale of "Yes!" will be donated to the Cameron family to help offset treatment expenses for John Allan who is
currently battling cancer. "John Allan has opened doors for so many people, and everyone I asked was only too willing to contribute music to this project," says McIntyre. "He was playing Celtic music before Celtic was cool."

"Atlantic Standards", a new Warner Music Canada release, celebrates the rich musical talent Atlantic Canada is renowned for around the world. The compilation includes music from The Irish Descendents, Rawlins Cross, Rita MacNeil, Lennie Gallant, The Rankin Family, Great Big Sea, The Fables, The Cottars, and more! "If you haven't heard these songs, you're not from the East Coast," says Warner's East Coast representative John Poirier. "We wanted to, on this first volume, stick with high profile, recognizable artists that pretty well everyone on the East Coast knows, and retailers would be able to suggest to tourists and other customers," he says. "You just can't go wrong with this selection."

"Yes! Let's hear it for John Allan Cameron" can be purchased online beginning Thursday May 25th at www.scotsmarket.com.

"Atlantic Standards" is on sale NOW and can be purchased from coast to coast at Sam the Record Man, HMV, Indigo/Chapters, Wal-Mart and Costco. Also look for it in specialty stores and gift shops around the Atlantic region. www.warnermusic.ca 

April 22, 2006
At 20, Barra MacNeils still as fresh as ever Family band
fabulous in Pops Concert
By Stephen Pederson, Halifax Herald

It's been 20 years since the Barra MacNeils first performed as a family band. The miles ought to show, you'd think. But they don't.  That much was obvious Friday night in the Cohn at the Symphony Nova Scotia Maritime Pops concert.

The band still sounds as fresh as the day they started. The years have only served to fine-tune their performance style. Their show ticks and purrs along as smoothly as a Rolls-Royce engine. 

They have expanded now, but it's all in the family. To the original four of Seamus (keyboards), Kyle (fiddle/guitar/mandolins), Lucy (vocals/harp/bodhran), Stewart (accordion/low and high whistles/Irish flute/vocals) ­ have been added Ryan (Irish pipes/high whistle) and Boyd (bouzouki/vocals).

They make an impressive sound and the variety of instrumental/vocal colour at their command gives  them a formidable technical advantage, which is added to the even bigger advantage of their genetic empathy. Their DNA resonates.

With the fabulous Jamie Gatti on bass, who can pluck out a reel with a sound like warm steel at any tempo you please on the big double-bass, the band's musical cup, already full, runneth over.

As a band, the Barra MacNeils like to work traditional melodies through new and interesting combinations of sonorities, and since they can sing in Gaelic their sonic palette is both rare and worth running through fire for. There is possibly no more haunting repertoire in the entire folk song world.

The atmosphere of the songs is all Nova Scotia spring ­ fresh, bitingly cool, misty, warm in the sun, softly grey ­ full of the vitality that wafts over us from the great ocean on our doorstep.

Musically this translates into drones and karmic drumbeats below, elegantly ornamented tunes on high, and sweetly soaring voices between.

The Barras also, from time to time, like The Chieftans, work an audience into a froth with heterophony ­ all those instrumental timbres lending a tartness to the sound as they wail out blazingly fast reels and bouncing jigs in perfect, breathless unison.

Arrangers pick up on that, increasing the weight by adding symphony fiddles ­ not to mention colouring the arrangements with harmonized lower strings, brass and woodwinds.

Friday night's program included favourites like My Heart's In The Highlands, which you cannot ever hear in your head with any voice but Lucy MacNeil's when you have heard her sing it once; the exquisitely haunting One Wild Rose; and the Gaelic showstopper Gearan Na Maighdinn (The Maiden's Complaint) which includes another MacNeil specialty ­ step dancing a quatre.

Especially moving were David Francey's A Thousand Miles and a transcendently sentimental love song written by Stewart for his wife, Dance With Me Daily.

The second half of the concert began with one of Scott Macmillan's finest arrangements, the MacPherson's Medley, comprised of canonic variations on MacPherson's Blade (Skinner), followed by a simple accumulative arrangement of MacPherson's Lament, the most beautiful tune ever written because it is impossible to play it inexpressively. The SNS violins made it weep.

February 7, 2006
East Coast Music Association announces Concert Series lineup for ECMA

Some of the best and brightest of East Coast Music stars will appear on the main stage of Charlottetown’s Confederation Centre of the Arts in the ECMA Concert Series, part of the 2006 East Coast Music Awards and Conference, February 23-27.

Performers for three nights of concerts were announced today and the lineup includes some of the coolest acts in East Coast Music.

The concert on Thursday, February 23 showcases Dartmouth rocker Joel Plaskett, the innovative rock group Mir and renowned Newfoundland songwriter Ron Hynes, releasing his new CD.

Friday, February 24 features an exciting assembly of Acadian musicians with Vishten, Lennie Gallant and Ode à l’Acadie.

On Saturday, February 25, Dave Gunning’s songwriting, J.P. Cormier’s extraordinary musicianship and the melodies and foot-tapping energy of The Barra MacNeils will combine for a night to remember.

“The Concert Series at the Confederation Centre of the Arts is an ECMA event that is unique to Charlottetown. With a wonderful performance venue located in the downtown centre and the Island’s appreciative East Coast Music fans, the Concert Series is a perfect fit with Charlottetown,” said Campbell Webster, ECMA 2006 event committee chair.

Tickets for the Concert Series at the Confederation Centre of the Arts are $25 each and are available by calling the ECMA 2006 ticket hotline (902) 569-2006, online at www.ecma.com or at the Confederation Centre of the Arts box office.

ECMA 2006 will take place in Charlottetown, P.E.I., from February 23-27 and will culminate in the ECMA Gala Awards Show, broadcast on CBC Television, Monday, February 27, starting at 8 p.m. in all time zones (8:30 NT) and hosted by the Trailer Park Boys. Tickets for the Gala Awards Show are still available by calling the ticket hotline at (902) 569-2006.

Government partners and platinum sponsors of ECMA 2006 include the Province of Prince Edward Island, the City of Charlottetown, CBC Television, CBC Radio, FACTOR, Delta Hotels and Transcontinental/The Guardian.