dailygazette.com
SCHENECTADY, NY
Sold-out audience for 4 Celtic Voices holiday show at the Egg
By David Singer
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
ALBANY - The 4 Celtic Voices brought their traditional show to a sold-out Hart’s Theater in the Egg tonight. Playing flute, a Celtic harp and the bowed psaltery, the four women sang and played 12th century songs, traditional Christian melodies and contemporary fun originals recently written.
The crowd was asked early on to sing along with “The First Noel”, but bashfully stayed silent, a few initial mumblers faded as the song went on. They did considerably better during the first set’s closer, “Deck the Hall”, led by Celeste Ray’s cheerful vocals.
Ray took the time to explain her bowed psaltery, which she played on her lap like a violin, a bow in each hand. Brought over by the Celts in the 14th century as an 11-string instrument, it was kept alive and expanded to 25 strings by the Scots in the Appalachia.
While the combination of voices was rich with character, most wonderful time were the instrumental songs: their mix of the harp, bowed psaltery and flute, with faint support from an electric bass and percussionist behind them. Some original, some traditional, the lush, gentle tones of their playing along with their ear for each other filled every corner of the hall with a lush sound.
Erin Hill on the Celtic harp - or folk harp - played an original song she described as a “Celtic science fiction Christmas song”. Accompanied by Carol Crittenden on vocals, it moved like a rock-driven show tune, enjoyable, foot-tapping and catchy. They dropped their falsetto voices to sing reindeer flying through space in Kevlar suits.
Hill told us a little about her Irish harp. For one, it’s smaller then the harps we’re used to, it lacks pedals like the larger harps, and instead uses levers to change the key of the strings. Hill then played a wonderful and waltzy “The Isle of Innisfree”, and then moved into a cheery “Silver Bells”.
To end the evening, Crittenden sang “What Child Is This”, followed by an uptempo traditional instrumental that they performed with perfect skill. For an encore, they sang the modern, festive Irish song “Christmas in Killarney”.
August 4, 2008 by Bethany Furkin | Staff writer
Chautauqua will be alive with the sounds of the seven Celtic lands tonight.
4 Celtic Voices will perform at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater. The
group will bring its blend of traditional instruments and modern style for a
show that is meant to bring people together.
“The show is going to be a mix of feminine energy and Celtic music,” said Celeste
Ray, a founding member of the group. The group, whose other
members are Erin Hill, Wendy Luck and Carol Crittenden, was formed about
18 months ago. The women all had established careers in music before coming together to perform as a group. Ray and Crittenden had performed
together on the folk festival circuit and Ray and Luck had performed together
in several New York City venues. About nine months ago, Hill joined the group,
which has a somewhat fluid configuration.
Although Ray doesn’t identify herself as a hardcore feminist, she does believe in
women’s empowerment and recognizes the role women play in mythology, religion and Celtic culture, which was based on a matriarchy. For the women, working together was also practical — their management agency
had an opening for such a project. “There’s more strength in numbers than alone,”Ray said.
The show’s format will be varied, with the entire group performing together as well as solos and duets. The women will be accompanied by a bassist and percussionist and play a variety of instruments, ranging from a Celtic
harp to a double-bowed psaltery, which is a combination of violin and harp dating from the 1400s. Audience members will recognize several of the songs
and are encouraged to sing along, which is a key part of Celtic culture. People learned music at an early age and participated in sing-alongs, Ray said.
“We have a sense of bringing people together in song,” she said. The concert features songs that are a mix of folk and traditional music — two types of music that have many similarities. Ray is classically trained and became interested in Celtic music after researching her family’s heritage and traveling to Loch Tay, Scotland.
“If you look at classical music, the changes harmonically and rhythmically are
very similar to Celtic music,” she said. “What’s different is the instrumentation and the approach."
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