Céilí

Céilí, pronounced kay-lee, is a traditional Irish social gathering with live music, storytelling and dance. For this concert, there won’t be any dancing but there will be plenty of music. There’ll be spirited jigs, reels, songs and melancholy airs played on a variety of instruments from fiddles to flutes, from keyboards to banjo, guitar, bodhran, a button accordion and a Celtic harp.

Irish music might get started with someone who sets toes to tapping on the kitchen floor. Then a tune might spring up between the fingers and the memory, a memory that comes from long ago and far away… Celtic musicians rarely have ownership of the tunes they play, yet they are the keepers of musical legacy. Their music flows through the ages from bardic times, past multiple generations to the present day.

On Sunday, March 16, eight musicians will come together to bring you an afternoon of knee-slapping, toe-tapping Irish music. Who are the musicians, you ask? Read on.

Al Francoeur, fiddle
Al is a Celtic musician living in Aylmer, Quebec, where he keeps the spirit of the old country alive- one fiddle tune at a time. If there’s a Guinness nearby, consider it his backup instrument.
Patrick Laplante, button accordion
Multi-instrumentalist and former high school music teacher Patrick Laplante has been performing for over 40 years in venues ranging from German beer tents and Irish pubs to Southam Hall at the NAC. Currently, Patrick enjoys playing Celtic and French-Canadian jigs and reels on the diatonic button accordion.

Nedd Kenney, fiddle
Nedd Kenney has been working ten acres of clay soil in Russell Township for 16 years. Here he can turloutte a jig to his small herd of organic guernseys, lilt a little hornpipe in the berry patch, hum a wee reel among the spud hills, or play a community set dance with a Casselman caller.
Pat Duxbury, keyboard, flute, whistle, vocals
At the age of 12, he placed a Dubliners record on the turntable of the family stereo. The needle took hold of a track called ‘Finnegan’s Wake’, and for the first time, he encountered the gravelly voice of Luke Kelly recounting the joyous mayhem of an Irish funeral gone so very wrong. The lyrics and the music of Kelly and his fellow Dubliners transported Pat to a country that he had never visited – but felt instantly connected to. Years later, and after playing all sorts of other genres of music, Irish Trad remains Pat’s first musical love.

Don McVeigh, banjo, vocals
Don grew up thinking that Bing Crosby’s McNamara’s Band was Irish music but in 1972 he heard the first Chieftains LP and was hooked. He’s been playing at Irish sessions in Ottawa for many years. Don mostly plays Tenor Banjo.
Marcel Gingras, bodhran
Marcel Gingras is rooted in the Maritimes but otherwise scattered. He has questionable musical tastes – bodhran and banjo. He’s a late bloomer, but gets there in the end.

Larry Moore, guitar, vocals
Music has been a fundamental and cherished part of Larry’s life from a very young age. He is grateful in his retirement years, to have the opportunity to play and sing in regular jam sessions and the occasional fundraiser. The love of music and the friendships it affords make for wonderful memories and ongoing good times.
Susan Sweeney Hermon, Celtic harp, guitar, vocals
Susan is half of a Celtic harp duo with Janine Dudding called Acacia Lyra. The duo has been together since 2007, performing in English, French, Spanish and Gaelic, accompanying themselves on Celtic harps and guitars. This happy collaboration has resulted in four recordings of original and traditional music. Janine will not be available for this concert, which leaves Susan to fend for herself with these seven adorable, good-looking guys.

What a lineup! It promises to be quite a show indeed. You really won’t want to miss this afternoon of rousing Irish tunes. What better way to welcome St. Patrick’s Day?

Music sample

This excerpt from "C'est tu donc l'fun les fêtes", which appears on Acacia Lyra’s album “Silver Sun”, provides a taste of the type of music you can expect to hear at our March 16 Céilí.
Acacia Lyra excerpt

Questions? [email protected]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Westboro Masonic Hall, 430 Churchill Avenue North, Ottawa, Canada