Thursday, April 23, 2009

Fiddle and Feet...And an Irish Dancing Experience






Bangor, where I live, is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
The name 'Bangor' was selected in 1895 by the land's owner, a farmer named Owen Jones, after his birthplace, Bangor in Wales.
To avoid confusion with Bangor in Tasmania, the Postmaster Generals office changed the suburbs name to Menai in 1910. Another Australian Bangor is located in South Australia.

Menai Bridge ( Hi Glyn) is a town opposite the original Bangor, on the Menai Straits in Wales.
When the Australian Menai expanded, the eastern section was renamed Bangor in 1976.
Bangor is located 28 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district; it is situated on the southern bank of the Georges River and is adjacent to Menai and Woronora.

As there was only one main road through Bangor and Menai the Bangor Bypass was completed in February 2005, to alleviate traffic in the area.
There is no rail service, although this is welcomed by the residents as it keeps visitor numbers down and the community remains peaceful and quiet. The only form of transport is bus and when I first moved here there was only two bus runs per day...if you missed the bus you had a very long walk. :/

We have many residents living here who are originally from the Celtic nations, so every year we have a festival which is great fun and very entertaining; plenty of Irish step dancing and set dancing, reels, Irish ceili bands and Scottish dancing and bands...many fiddles, tin whistles, bodhrans, uillean pipes and bagpipes. Parc Menai is decorated with the flags of the many Celtic nations, there are many tartans, so it makes for a colourful day out for everyone.
I did have some footage of the 2007 festival but unfortunately I lost it when my computer crashed.

I have posted two videos, one of four Bostonians 'The Boston Kiltics' who perform Celtic folk music from Novia Scotia, the other video is of Irish dance.
All four have a least one parent from Novia Scotia and spent lots of time there growing up and have embraced and been influenced by the rich Irish traditions there.
The fiddle player is Doug Lamey, Cliff McGann on acoustic guitar, the step dancers are Pam Campbell and Christine Morrison; Pam and Christine have been dancing together for 16 years.
All four have auspicious family connections to the Celtic and Gaelic professional music scene.

I really love this kind of music and dancing and just wanted to give you a small sample of what Celtic music and dancing are about since I don't have my video footage; of course the music varies, this is a group of four, some of the bands have many musicians and many more dancers performing such as the spectacular Riverdance.
I hope you will enjoy this, especially my harshest music critic Pug Peurileuwaite....♥

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

the rain
in maine falls
mainly on bangor

so, you're in new england :)

ruth and i recently went to see a concert with nova scotia fiddler natalie macmaster -- fiddling and dancing, and seven+ months -- she is immensely talented, funny, and wonderfully entertaining -- sexy, too

  youtube.com/watch?v=Sdc-oL6VjIc

  youtube.com/watch?v=8HuwuZG_HFo

¤ ¤ ¤

/t.

Little Lamb said...

We have a Bangor Maine in the United States. Stephen King lives there.

I enjoyed the videos.

puerileuwaite said...

A real Irishman is way too drunk to dance.

Anonymous said...

little lamb is
stephen king's biggest fan

/t.

Lily said...

interesting to know!
you know, my little son still looks completely irish? like they say, you never can get rid of the irish genes!
mind you my husband also got quite some scottishness in him, even though he is in fact from northern england and we do also have family down under... mind you, the familyname is grundy, you know born on a monday...

dianne said...

Yes ?t. dear, I guess you could say where I live is 'new england'. :) ♡

That sounds like a great concert, one I would have enjoyed for sure; the step dancers in the video Pam Campbell and Christine Morrison have performed with Natalie MacMaster many times...she is very talented.

Thanks for the links. ♡

dianne said...

Yes Lil Lamby I know you have a Bangor in Maine, it seems it is a popular name; I didnt know Stepeh King lived there, I find him and his books a little scary.

I did however enjoy the movie of his book 'The Shawshank Redemption', one of my favourite movies.

Thanks I'm pleased you liked the videos. ♡

dianne said...

Puggles my sweet, a real Irishman is never too drunk to dance or sweep a girl off her feet. ♡

So did you enjoy the dancing, didnt you notice the pretty girls? ♡

dianne said...

Dear /t. and Lamby , I'm sorry about all of the spelling mistakes in my replies, I'm very tired, its been a long week. :/

Lamby dear, are you really Stephen Kings biggest fan, I find him a little scary?

dianne said...

Thanks dear Sarah Sofia , I'm pleased you found the post interesting...no you can never get rid of those Irish genes and you wouldnt want to either. ♡

I have an Irish paternal great grandmother and a Scottish maternal great grandmother and proud of it. :)

Fantastic Forrest said...

Loved seeing Irish dancing when we were living in County Mayo! Amazing Girl Child even participated in a school competition. Very fun.

Have you seen Hear My Song? It's got some wonderful music and at least one great Irish dancing scene. Really a good movie.

Thanks for the clips.

dianne said...

Oh wow Fantastic Forrest you lived in Ireland, how wonderful...I hope to go there one day. :)

Yes I love the Irish dancing and the Irish music it is great and so are the people, I have some irish friends here.
How lovely that your amazing daughter participated in the school competition, she must love the dancing, yes such fun.

No I havent seen that movie but I will certainly look for it; thanks I'm glad you liked the clips. ♡

puerileuwaite said...

There were pretty girls in the video? Sorry, I was distracted by "Earth Day" and my other "community service*" work.

I enjoyed the video, but then I took a melancholy turn, as I remembered how the Irish were discriminated against by being forced to stay below decks in 3rd Class on the Titanic. I can't help but speculate that their frenetic dancing may have contributed to rivet failure.

Thank you for the shout out, gorgeous. xoxo



(* some of it on a volunteer - and NOT court enforced - basis)

dianne said...

Puggles my sweet, I'm pleased you liked the pretty girls; how talented they are with their dancing.

I didnt do an 'Earth Day' post as I have been around the many blogs leaving my opinion about what we can do to save the planet.

I do my best on a daily basis to be responsible and help the Earth survive.

I had no idea it was rivet failure from the Irish dancing, I always believed the Tiatnic hit an iceberg but those loose rivets could have contributed to its demise. Perish the thought.

Enjoy your volunteer community service my sweet.
If we all stopped littering and disposed of our rubbish in a responsible way by recycling we would have a much cleaner environment and waterways. ♡

The 'shout out', you are most welcome. ♡

laughingwolf said...

hi di, i'm in halifax, nova scotia, and have not heard of them... but then, i don't get out much ;) lol

dianne said...

Hi to you too laughingwolf , what a great place to live, I have seen many photos of Halifax, it looks beautiful. ♡

I dont get out much either but I do take the opportunity to listen to Irish music and watch Irish dancing whenever the opportunity presents itself.

I found this group whilst searching for a film clip of Irish set dancing in Ireland itself; I believe they have moved to Boston and perform nationally. ♡

Leovi said...

Beautiful video, I love that dance to the rhythm of the violin fine. Besos.

dianne said...

Thank you dear Leovi , yes it is lovely dancing and the music also, gets your feet tapping.
I also enjoy watching Spanish dancing, it is very beautiful, dramatic and rhythmic with the guitar and castanets and flamboyant dancers. :-)

xoxoxo ♡