Tea With Irish Philly Jeff Meade

Ivan Goff played this haunting slow air at the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival in September 2019.

Premier Irish fiddler Eileen Ivers has released a stunning new album, "Scatter the Light." We spoke with her about the album, and the uplifting messages behind each of the tracks.

Celtic Woman was scheduled to perform in Philadelphia toward the end of this month, but then—well, you know what happened. With the onset of the novel coronavirus, the tour was canceled, and so went our latest chance to take in one of the biggest and longest-lasting groups in world Irish entertainment.
Fortunately, we now have a new CW album: “Celebration: 15 Years of Music & Magic,” featuring the 15 performers who have comprised Celtic Woman over the years.
We recently interviewed Máiréad Carlin, a seven-year member of Celtic Woman from Northern Ireland, about the abrupt end to the tour, but—more to the point—the new album’s capacity for comfort in trying times.

Fiddler Winifred Horan is best-known for her work with the band Solas, but she has also forged a productive and creative solo career. Now, she is out with a beautiful new CD, "The Memory of Magic." We spent a good long time recently talking about the new album and the thoughts and inspiration that went into it.

At 17, she is filling some big shoes, playing this summer in the Riverdance band at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Haley is already incredibly accomplished. Here are her reflections on Riverdance, her career up to this point, and where she's going.

Tony DeMarco came to Irish fiddling in a roundabout way, but he has emerged as one of the foremost practitioners of the highly ornamented Sligo style. He appears at the Philadelphia Ceili Group Irish Festival September 14, 2019.