Celtic Fest Chicago

In a struggle to get things done before cold fall comes, last weekend was really stuffed with things to do. Traditional German Oktoberfest, some sort of Asian celebration, fabulous Within Temptation concert I wrote about earlier, and of course the Celtic Festival, held at the Grant Park below the fancy Chicago sky line. With free entrance, of course. :-)

A quick note about pronunciation: when I pronounced Celtic as [sel-tik], people would look at me as if I came from another planet. In Chicago, it's pronounced [kel-tik], although the dictionary recognises both ways. Also, Chicago is pronounced [shi-kah-goh], not [chi-kay-go].

The most remarkable advantage when comparing such festivals over here and back at home is, that some really awesome artists show up here, who would never even contemplate going to some fest in central Europe, minor by comparison. Although I sort of missed our beloved sedlácká gotika. :-)

Chicago Celtic Festival was not all about music. Although I didn't really care, I am sure that some people would find the Art Fair, sheepherding demonstration, men-in-kilts leg contest, or Gaelic football game rather appealing. For me, it was "just" a music festival. There were so many great musicians, and I don't even know some of their names, so I'll focus on the really worthwhile stuff. Like Guinness. :-D Oh yes, that's one of the finest beers in the world, and I found it very satisfying to take care of further undisclosed amount of this heavenly beverage over the weekend. I was worried after my last experience with this beer at the inn U hodného psa, which was negative, (hello, ZZ,) that I didn't like Guinness anymore, that either me or it had changed. But fortunately, that is not true. Guinness is as great and as enjoyable as ever. Definitely a highlight of the festival, muhaha. ]:->
I have missed a lot of good music on Saturday, namely famous Dolores O'Riordan, former lead singer of the Cranberries, plus the Irish music group Lunasa and Welsh musician Jon Langford. Reportedly, they were all fantastic. Sunday, however, was not a wee bit less interesting.
Damien Dempsey, an Irish rocker, was not exactly my cup of Celtic, but the Canadian family band Searson was quite a different story. They are three pretty ladies playing fiddles, bass guitar, and grand piano, and two guys at drums and acoustic guitar, playing fast-paced, energetic Celtic music. Very, very neat. At times they would also use a ten string lute, or step dance.

Colleen, their violin player, (on the picture above,) was playing her fiddles like a little goddess. Overall, I was very pleased with their performance. If you wish, you can listen to them for a bit on their myspace profile. However, the song choice over there is poor, and they seem to have matured a lot since then. My impression on Sunday was much better than what I hear over there.
The biggest discovery, though, was the evening's last band, Salsa Celtica. As the name suggests, those folks play traditional Latin-American rhythms with classic instruments like bongo, brass, and keyboards, (they had four people at percussions only!) imbued with rather nice Celtic melodies using fiddles, various whistles, and bagpipes. Unfortunately for my taste, they are significantly more Salsa, than they are Celtica, but it was really something fresh and interesting. I strongly recommend everyone to visit their myspace and listen to all the songs over there. Except maybe Grey Gallito, that one is a little weird. Unlike the Searsons, however, their myspace tracks sound fairly well and give you a good idea of what the band is up to. It is truly innovative.
As for the conclusion, I award Chicago Celtic Festival 2007 a neat sum of 70 goshu points, and do not hesitate to label it a világos. :-) Also, I got a rather nice green t-shirt from this one. Whee!