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Variety of cultural events makes November unofficial 'Celtic Month'

BY SUSAN SCAFFIDI, Contributing writer | Wednesday, Nov 04 2009 06:05 PM

Last Updated Wednesday, Nov 04 2009 06:05 PM

Without intending to, several cultural groups have turned the month of November into "Celtic Month."

It began with a concert by the trio Banshee in the Kitchen, sponsored by KVPR public radio and the Fred and Beverly Dukes Concert Series at First Congregational Church at Real Road and Stockdale Highway. Next up is a concert at the BeeKay Theater in Tehachapi by the Battlefield Band today.

The crowning event is the Celtic Music Festival, sponsored by the Kern County Scottish Society, on Saturday at the CSUB Amphitheater, featuring local and internationally known bands.

The celebration of all things Celtic continues with two house concert performances by Scottish balladeer Ed Miller on Nov. 13 and 15, and finally, a concert by the duo Men of Worth at the Spotlight Theater on Nov. 22.

The "Celtic Month" idea came from Kern Arts Council director Jeanette Parks Richardson.

"We want people to attend live music events, which is a big, big issue for us," Richardson said.

Richardson said while officially sponsoring three of the events, the Arts Council is providing advertising support to all of them as a countywide theme.

"This is one way we can round up all these events and say November is 'Celtic Month,'" Richardson said.

The Battlefield Band is a quartet that took their name from a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. The group has updated traditional Celtic music by mixing in a keyboard with Highland pipes, fiddle and guitar, and features Alan Reid on keyboards and vocals, Mike Katz on pipes, whistles and bass, Alasdair White on fiddle, whistles and bouzouki, and Sean O'Donnell on vocals and guitar. The quartet started their band as students and have been touring internationally for more than 30 years.

Ed Miller is performing as part of the Arts Council's 2009 House Concert series, which features established performers in many genres in the intimate setting of people's private homes. Miller, hailed as a storyteller as well as singer-songwriter, is based in Austin, Texas, and tours internationally, and also teaches how to perform Celtic music.

Scotsman Donnie Macdonald and Irishman James Keigher are the Men of Worth, performing a mix of traditional and contemporary songs. Like many other performers appearing locally this month, the duo have performed together for decades and enjoy a thriving international performing and recording career, as well as performing for schools.

Celtic Music Festival organizers David and Lisa Stroud of the Kern County Scottish Society are hoping the first-time event will be successful enough to become an annual festival.

Starting at noon on the CSUB campus, the festival is scheduled until 9 p.m. and will feature the local groups Banshee in the Kitchen and 1916, self-described as "Celtic Fusion"-- a rock band led by pipes instead of electric guitar. The rest of the line-up pulls from some of the most popular touring groups including Golden Bough, Slugger O'Toole and The Wicked Tinkers, a bunch of wild men known for their "Tribal Celtic" style of performing.

"The bands are all playing a different type of Celtic music," David Stroud said. "Tribal Celtic, traditional, rock influenced."

"(Celtic music is) really a genre that's expanding and getting more and more popular," Stroud said.

Stroud predicted that by the end of the concert, the audience should have turned into a "Celtic mosh pit."

"It's like the wedding feast in 'Braveheart,'" Stroud said.