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Celtic Woman (album)
''Celtic Woman'' is the debut album released by the group Celtic Woman. Background The group first featured on a musical special of the same name on American television broadcaster PBS, filmed live at the Helix Theatre in Dublin, Ireland in September 2004. With the help of the special, which was later made available on DVD, the group reached number one on the Billboard World Music charts within weeks of their debut, and remained there for a record eighty-six weeks. This success led the group's composer and musical director, David Downes, to adopt the title of "Celtic Woman" as their permanent name. Although originally intended as a one-time-only event, the group's music was so warmly received by the public that they immediately followed up with their first concert tour in the United States and Japan. The album and special feature vocalists Chloë Agnew, Órla Fallon, Lisa Kelly, Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, and fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt, all of whom had never previously per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celtic Woman
Celtic Woman is an all-female Irish musical ensemble conceived and created by David Kavanagh, Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show ''Riverdance.'' In 2004, Downes recruited five Irish female musicians who had not previously performed together, vocalists Chloë Agnew, Órla Fallon, Lisa Kelly and Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, and fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt, as the first lineup of the group that he named "Celtic Woman". Downes chose a repertoire that ranged from traditional Celtic tunes to modern songs. The show was meant to be a one-time event held in Dublin, Ireland, but multiple airings on PBS helped boost the group's popularity. The group's line-up has changed over the years. Fourteen albums have been released under the name "Celtic Woman": ''Celtic Woman'', '' Celtic Woman: A Christmas Celebration'', '' Celtic Woman: A New Journey'', '' Celtic Woman: The Greatest Journey'', '' Celtic Woman: Songs from the Heart'', '' Celtic Woman: Lu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isle Of Innisfree
The "Isle of Innisfree" is a song composed by Dick Farrelly (Irish songwriter, policeman and poet, born Richard Farrelly), who wrote both the music and lyrics. Farrelly got the inspiration for "Isle of Innisfree", the song for which he is best remembered, while on a bus journey from his native Kells, County Meath to Dublin. The song was published in 1950 by the Peter Maurice Music Publishing Co. Farrelly’s "Isle of Innisfree" is a haunting melody with lyrics expressing the longing of an Irish emigrant for his native land. When film director John Ford heard the song, he loved it so much that he chose it as the principal theme of his film ''The Quiet Man''. The composition received no mention in the screen credits. "The Isle of Innisfree" became a worldwide hit for Bing Crosby in 1952 and continues to feature in the repertoires of many artists. There is a common misconception that the song and the famous poem by W. B. Yeats, " Lake Isle of Innisfree", were written about the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicky Ryan
Nicholas Dominick Ryan (born 14 July 1946) is an Irish music producer, recording engineer, and manager. He is best known as the longtime business and recording partner for the singer, songwriter and musician Enya alongside his wife, poet and lyricist Roma Ryan. Born and raised in Dublin, Ryan gained initial recognition in the 1970s and 1980s for his work with several artists including Gary Moore, Planxty, Christy Moore and Clannad. Early life Nicholas Dominick Ryan was born in 1946 in Dublin, Ireland. As a youngster, he won a song contest with a rendition of "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller for which the prize was to meet the Beatles, one of his favourite bands. However, Ryan could not claim the prize as he could not afford the fare to England to see them. After finishing school, Ryan worked as a teacher at St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls in Dublin, where he experimented with sound engineering to create a way for the deaf children to "hear" music. He designed a speaker system ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roma Ryan
Roma Shane Ryan (born 20 January 1954 in Belfast) is an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist, currently living in Killiney, Ireland, with her husband Nicky Ryan. Ryan is the primary lyricist for the singer Enya, who has stated that the importance of the Ryans' contributions are such that without them, Enya would not exist. Biography and work with Enya Roma Ryan (nee Shane) and Nicky Ryan met Enya in 1978; Nicky Ryan was managing Enya's family's band Clannad. Enya had just finished secondary school when Nicky Ryan rang her, asking if she would become a member of the group. The Ryans and Enya left Clannad several years later to focus on their own musical careers. Enya originally wrote instrumental melodies. Ryan found these melodies "very visual" and suited to film work; she began to write lyrics to them. Her lyrics can be heard in films such as ''The Frog Prince'' (1984), ''Green Card'' (1990), ''L.A. Story'' (1991), ''Toys'' (1992), ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' (1995), and ''Calmi Cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enya
Enya Patricia Brennan (; ga, Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin; born 17 May 1961), known professionally by the mononym Enya, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician known for modern Celtic music. She is the best-selling Irish solo artist in history and the second-best-selling overall artist in Ireland after U2. Born into a musical family and raised in the Irish-speaking area of Gweedore, County Donegal, Enya began her music career in 1980 when she joined her family's Celtic folk band, Clannad, playing keyboards and singing. She left the group in 1982 to pursue a solo career with Clannad's manager and producer Nicky Ryan and Ryan's wife Roma Ryan as her lyricist. Over the following four years, Enya began to develop her sound with multitracked vocals and keyboards containing elements of Celtic, classical, church, new age, world, pop, and Irish folk music. Enya's first projects as a solo artist included soundtrack work for ''The Frog Prince'' (1984) and the 1986 BBC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
May It Be
"May It Be" is a song by Irish recording artist Enya. It was composed by Enya and Roma Ryan for Peter Jackson's 2001 film '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. The song entered the German Singles Chart at number one in 2002 and was performed by Enya at the 74th Academy Awards. "May It Be" was acclaimed by music critics and received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Composition Director Peter Jackson approached Enya (under the suggestion of Howard Shore), asking if she would be interested in writing a song for ''The Lord of the Rings''.Enya Fan Studio. Enya Fan Studio, 2005. Web. 22 October 2010. Thrilled at the prospect, Enya headed to New Zealand to see the preliminary edits of the film. Enya worked on the song with Nicky Ryan, her producer, and Roma Ryan, her lyricist. Nicky produced Enya's vocals and arranged the music whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Blake
Howard David Blake (born 28 October 1938) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist whose career has spanned more than 50 years and produced more than 650 works. Blake's most successful work is his soundtrack for Channel 4’s 1982 film ''The Snowman'', which includes the song "Walking in the Air". He is increasingly recognised for his classical works including concertos, oratorios, ballets, operas and many instrumental pieces. Early life Howard Blake was born in London and grew up in Brighton. His mother played piano and violin, and his father sang tenor in the church choir. At Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School for Boys, from the age of 11 he sang lead roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas and was recognised as a good pianist, but few were aware that he was also writing music. At the age of 18, he won the Hastings Musical Festival Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied piano with Harold Craxton and composition with Howard Ferguson; however, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walking In The Air
"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film ''The Snowman'' based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 children's book of the same name. The song forms the centrepiece of ''The Snowman'', which has become a seasonal favourite on British and Finnish television. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. They attend a party of snowmen, at which the boy seems to be the only human until they meet Father Christmas with his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern. In the film, the song was performed by St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty; this performance was reissued in 1985 (on Stiff Records) and 1987. In 1985, an altered version was recorded for use in a TV advertising campaign for Toys "R" Us. While it was believed that Auty's voice had then broken, Au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Rose Of Summer
"The Last Rose of Summer" is a poem by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. He wrote it in 1805, while staying at Jenkinstown Castle in County Kilkenny, Ireland, where he was said to have been inspired by a specimen of Rosa 'Old Blush'. The poem is set to a traditional tune called "Aisling an Óigfhear", or "The Young Man's Dream", which was transcribed by Edward Bunting in 1792, based on a performance by harper Denis Hempson ( Donnchadh Ó hAmhsaigh) at the Belfast Harp Festival. The poem and the tune together were published in December 1813 in volume 5 of Thomas Moore's ''A Selection of Irish Melodies''. The original piano accompaniment was written by John Andrew Stevenson, several other arrangements followed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Poem Musical settings Classical The following is an incomplete selection of "theme and variations" created during the 19th and 20th centuries. *Ludwig van Beethoven used "The Last Rose of Summer" twice: **as no. 6 "Sad and Luckless was the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Máiréad Nesbitt
Máiréad Nesbitt ( , ) is an Irish musician. She is known for performing Celtic and classical music and being the former fiddler for '' Celtic Woman''. She was also one of the two original fiddlers in Michael Flatley’s '' Lord of the Dance'' in the mid to late 1990s, along with its extended version '' Feet of Flames'' in the early 2000s. Background Nesbitt was born to John and Kathleen Nesbitt, both music teachers in Co.Tipperary, Ireland. She has a sister, Frances, and four brothers, Seán, Michael, Noel and Karl, all of whom are musicians. She has been a piano player since the age of four, and began playing the violin at age six. Her formal musical studies began at The Ursuline Convent in Thurles, County Tipperary and progressed through the Waterford Institute of Technology and the Cork School of Music, during which time she participated in the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. Nesbitt completed postgraduate studies at Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Méav Ní Mhaolchatha
Méav Ní Mhaolchatha ( , ), mononymously known as Méav, is an Irish singer, songwriter and recording artist specialising in the traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ... of her homeland. She was one of the original soloists in the musical ensemble Celtic Woman, which has sold over six million albums. Her solo albums have reached the Billboard World Music Top 10. She sings in multiple languages: English, Irish, French, Latin, Italian and German. Music career Meav came from a musical family and began singing at a young age. She began singing professionally shortly after graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, Trinity College Dublin with a law degree. Between 1994 and 1998 Méav was a member of the Irish chamber choir Anúna. As a choral singer and sol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
