The Green Man Review

[Celeste]

This review was posted on an earlier version of this forum, but I hope that no one will mind if I re-post it here, for the benefit of newer CW fans.

It's a lengthy and thoughtful write-up about the group's concert from "The Point" (a venue in Dublin), from February 2006. For my money, this is the finest and most insightful analysis of the "concept" behind Celtic Woman, and its cultural significance, that anyone has yet written.

http://www.greenmanreview.com/live/live_celticwoman_2_18_06.html

In one passage, the author notes,

Celtic Woman celebrates womanhood, but the chosen depiction is more feminine than feminist, as no political message lies beneath the cosy veneer. This is not a soapbox and social revolution is not on the agenda. Instead, romance or romanticism plays a significant part with Yeats' notion of a "Romantic Ireland". This allows for a peculiarly Irish variation of Romanticism with a capital R. Images and references to home and hearth abound, and themes such as nostalgia, emigration and love assume centrality. The sea figures prominently in the background with visuals of waves lashing against desolate coastlines and lofty cliffs jutting out into the horizon.

But I especially appreciate the writer's remarks about Chloe. He was obviously taken with both her voice, and her beauty (and who can blame him?):

Brief snatches of the operatic tradition emerge with an excerpt from Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Morricone's 'Nella Fantasia' from The Mission. These selections featured 17-year-old soprano Chloe Agnew. She emerges as one of the stand-out performers of the troupe. While vocalists Lisa Kelly, Orla Fallon, and Deirdre Shannon Gilsenan, are highly experienced, Chloe Agnew is a real discovery; her delivery is more Sarah Brightman than Charlotte Church with the top notes easily gliding from her robust frame.

Isn't that a lovely description?

I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did.

[mainopsman]

Thank you Celeste.   I did not see this article when you first posted it.   But, it hits true in the way it describes the ladies of Celtic Woman.   I think the North American audiences love them mostly, because after all the big names whose performaces were plastic and often outlandish, we finally see something real and sane. Many of the numbers they perform people can relate too, it accounts for the times we see tears in the eyes of audience members.  Its something we have needed for a long time.

Just indulge me for a bit.   My mother-in-law (God Rest her) was someone who I really cared for as a person (yes some of us do like our mother-in-laws) when she passed on, we move a rose bush from her yard to ours.  It was her favorite.  That December (yes December, and it was cold) the day before Christmas it bloomed.   So when I hear them do "The last Rose of Summer" the way they do it, it invokes her memory.   So you see any of us can see something special in their music.

JIM

[Kimberly AJ]

I didn't go to Green Man like that before. Chloe must be there in the future year's tour too.

[Celeste]

Thank you Celeste.   I did not see this article when you first posted it.   But, it hits true in the way it describes the ladies of Celtic Woman.   I think the North American audiences love them mostly, because after all the big names whose performaces were plastic and often outlandish, we finally see something real and sane. Many of the numbers they perform people can relate too, it accounts for the times we see tears in the eyes of audience members.  Its something we have needed for a long time.

It's also interesting to see how cross-generational the audiences are. Many modern-music concerts attract only young fans, while more serious music tends to draw an older crowd. Something that impressed me when I attended a CW concert was the fact that every age group seemed well-represented. A CW concert is a rare, perhaps singular example of an outing that "the whole family" actually can enjoy.

[Kimberly AJ]

Anyhow, those quotes from the link sure popped out.

[Gold Digger]

Celtic Woman is about something that speaks to all of us. CW is about really caring. That a group like CW can be popular in our modern world says to me that there is hope.

[Kimberly AJ]

There's deffinitely no Green Man without the Irish.

[Maggie]

I like the bits about Máiréad, she must have laughed at the "Flatleyesque" description!


"The sidelong glances at pure traditional music include Maireid Nesbitt's fiddle solos and a bodhrán duet between Ray Fean and Robbie Casserley.....
The dance sequences are minimal and--apart from Mairead Nesbitt's almost Flatelyesque movements while playing--dance is confined to one item.
Nesbitt is an accomplished fiddler and her sprite-like movements and "traditional Irish skipping" create a playful, ethereal neophyte effect.
The Ceili sequence is the only outright complete song/dance/sketch item on show."

[Kimberly AJ]

What a good detail.