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JUNE2012
60 artists from around Olympic torch relay in Dublin
the world at the - its only stop-off outside Van Folk Music Fest the UK and Greece
VANCOUVER - Experienced voices counsel that the best way to approach the July 13 to 15 weekend of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival at Jericho Beach Park is to just dive in, trusting that whichever day(s) or hours you attend, you'll be sure to see, hear and experience something wonderful.
With over 60 individual artists and groups coming from across North America and around the world, you're bound to encounter some of the beloved familiar and discover new artists and music that will blow you away! The festival has a reputation for doing that.
For those with a particular love of acoustic music, traditionally-based songs and Maritime tunes - here are a just a few of the artists to check out.
The Newfoundland trio of Geraldine Hollett from Burin, Phil Churchill from Corner Brook and Andrew Dale from Coley's Point, known as The Once (aka The Rock's "tiniest choir"), share a mutual appreciation for traditional music.
Critics say, "The Once...are gifted with strong voices that tremble with
richness and vitality...their arrangements of Newfoundland and British Isles folk music are imaginative and newly minted with particularly fine a capella versions."
Bette and Wallet are singer, accordionist and pianist Mary Beth Carty ("Bette"), from Antigonish County, Nova Scotia and singer, foot percussion, banjo and guitar player Wallet ("wal-ette") aka Gabriel Ouellette from Poutneuf County, Quebec.
This duo have foraged fiddle tunes, unearthed melodies, re-purposed lyrics and crafted inspired sounds from our heritage - in both official languages!
They sing of squeegee kids, haunted condos and Walmart while drawing on traditional sounds of lilting Irish and Scottish melodies, Quebecois call and response songs and dance tunes. They add klezmer, Cajun and more to serve up a Twenty-First Century-style kitchen party!
Plus the festival features towering autoharp master Bryan Bowers (check out his legendary version of The Scotsman online), Newfoundland's Amelia Curran, Welsh singer Martyn Joseph and so much more! For full festival information, go to www.thefestival.bc.ca.
Edmonton Folk Fest considers ticket changes
EDMONTON - Edmonton Folk Fest organizers say they're looking at changes to how they sell tickets for the festival, after tickets sold out in record time this year.
Eleven-hundred people lined up, some for hours, waiting for tickets to go on sale the morning of June 1. Thousands turned to the Internet, trying to buy tickets through the festival's website and through Ticketmaster.
Wickham says tickets sold out in under 10 minutes. While many of those who lined up in person were able to get them, many online buyers were frustrated by crashing websites and flooded phone lines.
Wickham says it's a problem they've dealt with as the festival has gained popularity in the past 20 years. "Usually (it) would take about a week. And then it took a few days. And then last year it was crazy because it took two hours. Now it's selling out in nine minutes."
Wickham says organizers are looking at different ways to handle the ticket-buying, perhaps through a different lottery systems. They're also considering moving the ticket sales indoors, with the Winspear Centre and Telus Field as possible options.
"Then people could at least sit and get comfortable, not standing around for four or five hours," he said.
Top 10 Celtic Hits for June
Celt In A Twist is local contemporary Celtic radio heard weekly on AM 1470, CJVB in Vancouver.
www.worldbeatcanada.com.
DUBLIN - Thousands of people lined the streets of Dublin on June 6 as over 40 torch bearers made the historic journey after an early morning cross border handover to Olympic medalist Michael Carruth.
Euro vision hopefuls Jedward, former international footballer Paul McGrath and Tony Sutherland, father of the late Olympic boxer Darren, were among the list of relay runners.
Special permission was granted so the torch could go to the south of Ireland for a historic tour that symbolised the peace process.
The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) said 41 torch bearers took part in the six hour dash that included a cross border ceremony, a civic event, a run on the Skyline roof at Croke Park stadium and a relay around the Irish capital.
Pat Hickey, OCI president, said the event was organized to bring the spirit of the London Games to Dublin and start the countdown for the Irish team's challenge at the world's biggest sporting event.
"It has taken many, many months of lobbying at the highest international levels to get the permission required to bring the relay south," he said.
"All along, we have had the full support of Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of LOCOG, the London Games organising committee, for this move."
The Olympic Torch's tour of Ireland began in east Belfast on June 3, when 400 torchbearers began the four day relay around Northern Ireland.
Campaigners who have helped champion issues including disability awareness and suicide prevention were among those to carry the torch through 60 towns and villages and famous landmarks, like the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.
A series of events were organised to
The biggest festival the UK has ever seen
LONDON - The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements and the culmination will be the biggest festival the UK has ever seen.
From June 21 to September 9, artists from all over the world are coming together in celebration of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The arts extravaganza launches on Midsummer's night with a host of events, including an open-air concert set against the backdrop of Stirling Castle in Scotland featuring conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.
Another highlight is expected to be Radio 1 's Hackney Weekend starring Jay-Z, Rihanna, Florence + The Machine, will.i.am, Jessie J, Jack White, David Guetta and Tinie Tempah.
Stonehenge will be transformed in a free, fiery vision created by French
outfit Compagnie Carabosse, while Jeremy Deller's full size "bouncy castle" version of the famous English landmark will tour the country.
Constanza Macras' dance theatre group will perform in the forests of North Wales with ancient Mabinogion myths interpreted through the prism of modern Cardiff nightlife, and Elizabeth Streb's daredevil troupe will be performing extreme action scenes on some of London's best-known buildings.
Also included in the festival is a major celebration of William Shakespeare, including the performance of all of his plays in different languages at London's Globe theatre.
A string quartet will take to the skies and perform in helicopters, and cathedrals will play host to aerial acrobats.
"People will not like everything but there will be something that everyone does like," Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said.
McCartney will perform at Olympics opening ceremony
The following is the Celt In A Twist Contemporary Celtic Top Ten:
1. Shed Life by Sketch -Shed Life on Skye Records.
2. Go the Road by Tillers Folly - Go the Road Life on Tillers Folly Records.
3. Sprag Session by The Gwanwitcha - Sprag Session on Independent.
4. Mek's Reel by Kytami - Kytami on Kytami Music.
5. Cette Bouteille-la by La Bottine Souriante - Appellation d'origine controlee on Borealis.
6. Groove Reels by Donal Donnelly - Tremolo on Independent.
7. Carsten The Fox by Basco - Big Basco on Go Danish.
8. Abhainn A'Nathair by Peatbog Faeries on Dust by Peatbog Records.
9. Galician Night by Searson -Fade & Shine on Give'r Records.
10. The Ant & The Grasshopper by Hal Parfitt-Murray & Nikolaj Busk - Music from the Edge of the World on Go Danish.
Olympic Torch in Scotland
GLASGOW - The Olympic flame started its tour of Scotland on June 8, after it was ferried across the Irish Sea into a wet and windswept quayside.
The relay began at dawn in the seaside port of Stranraer, on the south-west coast of the country, and will wind its way towards Glasgow.
Thousands of people lined the route to see the Olympic flame begin its journey around Scotland.
The build up began with music in Stranraer's Castle Square, before bearers carrying flags from each of the 200 countries taking part in the Games greeted the torch procession. The first leg of its Scottish journey will end with celebrations in Glasgow.
Soldier Ross McClelland, from Ayr, was the first person to run with the torch on Scottish soil.
The 20-year-old, who serves with A Company 2 Scots, returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan earlier this year.
During his time in Lashkar Gah, he had to treat a comrade whose leg was blown off when he stepped on a bomb.
Also running were Doreen Bowie, 62, the principal of Stranraer's Wallace School of Dance, and Carol Harwood, from the Isle of Arran.
For the next seven days, the torch will tour the country, taking in some of the UK's furthest flung places, including Orkney and Shetland, and the Outer Hebrides. It will also visit Scotland's capital, Edinburgh, where it will be greeted with celebrations at the city's ancient castle.
Upon arrival, the torch was met off the ferry by Scotland Office minister David Mundell and ShonaRobison, the Scottish Government's minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport.
Organisers said around 3,000 people were in Stranraer to see the torch lit and the relay begin. The atmosphere was full of excitement as crowds gathered from the small hours.
LONDON - Paul McCartney has confirmed rumours that he would be playing this summer's Olympic Games opening ceremony in London.
The former Beatle said, "I've been booked" and explained that he would be "closing the opening" of London 2012.
The opening ceremony will take place on July 27 in East London and has an Isles of Wonder theme.
The ceremony is being staged by Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire director, Danny Boyle, who is the event's artistic director.
McCartney also closed the Queen's
celebrate the Olympic spirit with overnight stops in Deny, Portrush, Belfast and Newry.
There was a short ceremony near the border as the torch travelled to the Republic, with the handover between Irish Olympic boxing legends Wayne McCullough, from Belfast, and Michael Carruth, from Dublin.
Irish President, Michael D Higgins, greeted the first Dublin torch bearer in a ceremony outside the offices of the Olympic Council in Howth.
The convoy, which included a vehicle with a miner's lantern holding the original Olympic Flame from Olym-pia in Greece, moved on to Croke Park - the home of GAA - before the first leg of the city relay started.
The torch passed several historical sites including the Garden of Remembrance, GPO, Custom House, St. Patrick Cathedral, Christchurch, and Dublin Castle before arriving at St. Stephen's Green and then heading back to Northern Ireland.
Jubilee Concert in London on June 4 with a five-song greatest hits set in front of the watching monarchy.
Playing to a crowd of 12,000 on a stage in front of Buckingham Palace, the former Beatle topped a bill which featured artists from the past six decades of Elizabeth II's time on the throne.
After kicking off with Magical Mystery Tour, McCartney went on to play All My Loving, Let It Be and Live And Let Die - complete with customary pyrotechnics. He then closed the show with a star-studded version of The White Album track Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.
Celt In A Twist Pick Of The Month:
Sprag Session - Sprad Session (Independent)