January 16, 2001 Summary Facts:
Called “the hottest group in the Celtic realm these days” by The Boston Globe, and “one of the Celtic world’s great treasures” that “generates an almosts relentless surge of musical energy” by the Los Angeles Times, Altan returns to the Santa Barbara stage after their last sold-out show in March 1996 performing jigs, reels and ballads from Ireland’s northernmost County Donegal for one night only on Thursday, February 22 at 8 p.m. in UCSB Campbell Hall. In conjunction with this event, UCSB Arts & Lectures has arranged with The Faculty Club to offer a buffet supper of Irish cuisine before the performance. Audience members may enjoy dinner at 6 p.m. and then stroll across campus to Campbell Hall. Reservations and payment for dinner are required by February 15 and may be made directly with The Faculty Club by calling 893-3096. A&L pre-concert dinners have been routinely selling out in advance of the reservation deadline, so early reservations are recommended. Altan grew out of the musical and real-life marriage of lead singer/violinist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, whose onstage wit, mischievousness and charm have been widely appreciated, and flute player Frankie Kennedy. Since Kennedy’s death to cancer in 1994, the band has continued with a few personnel changes and additions in its present form. Ciarán Tourish plays tin whistle and joins Ní Mhaonaigh on fiddle, providing the lead sound of the group. The unique strain of Donegal fiddle music has a distinctive Scottish flavor resulting from the constant migration between the two countries’ shores by both Scottish and Donegal workers. The quick stroke bowing and staccato triplets favored by Donegal fiddlers lie at the heart of Altan’s instrumental sound. Ciarán Curran plays bouzouki, cittern and a unique bouzouki-guitar designed especially for him by famed Northumberland luthier Stefan Sobell. Daíthí Sproule sings and plays acoustic guitar, Jim Higgins plays the bodhrán, while Dermot Byrne rounds out the ensemble with virtuosic stylings on button accordion and single-row melodeon. Altan began its recording career with a self-titled album on Green Linnet in 1987. They followed this with ever greater success and recognition for their subsequent recordings Horse with a Heart in 1989 and The Red Crow in 1990 which earned the band its first National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD) award and remained on the Billboard world music charts for 12 weeks. Released in 1992, Harvest Storm garnered the group its second NAIRD honor; in the six years that followed, the band won more NAIRD awards than any other Celtic group in history. Q magazine hailed 1993’s Island Angel, their fifth release on Green Linnet as the #1 roots album of the year; the CD also won further NAIRD awards and stayed on Billboard’s Top 15 for eight months, which is practically unheard of for an Irish music album. After the album The First Ten Years came out in 1995, Altan signed a five-record contract with Virgin that resulted in Blackwater in 1996 and Runaway Sunday in 1997, the same year Green Linnet released The Best of Altan. In 2000, the band released Another Sky on Narada, Altan’s Finest on Erin/Valley Entertainment and appeared as guest artist on The Chieftains’ release Water from the Well. Presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, this event is sponsored by KCBX Public Radio 89.9 FM, and is supported, in part, with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the California Arts Council, a state agency. For tickets or more information, Editor: For photos, please call |