November 16, 2009
DANNSA MEETS BEÒLACH
(OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 11 November 2009)
© Fiona Mackenzie, Highlands & Islands Art

FIONA MACKENZIE encounters a vibrant meeting of shared heritages.

A DEFINITE ‘meeting of minds’ was the by-line for this dual presentation profiling the links between the Scots Hebridean and the Cape Breton dance and music traditions, featuring Dannsa from Scotland and Beòlach from Cape Breton, brought together in a collaboration for Highland Homecoming.

Dannsa are well known in the Highlands as exponents of new and traditional Highland dance traditions, and this performance showcased both traditional steps and more contemporary step dance figures. Opening with their own version of the traditional sword dance, with fiddle bows substituting for the swords, the dance was no less exciting with wood instead of metal, and becomes one of those performances which endure repeated viewings, without losing impact.

Dancers Sandra Robertson, Caroline Reagh and John Sikorski were joined by piper Fin Moore to complete the traditional ‘4s’ of square dance sets as required. Fiddler Gabe McVarish and guitarist Ewan McPherson, of the band Fribo, provided an extra foil of bright and sympathetic texture to the often deliberately sparse and striking solo lines.

Gaelic singer Gillebride Macmillan delivered the necessary sets of puirt a beul (or mouth music) for the solo and ensemble step dance sets. From experience this writer knows the pitfalls and difficulties of singing solo puirt for step dancers, and some of the puirt used here is amongst the most difficult to sing – ‘Meal do bhrògan’ and ‘Faca sibh Mairi’, for instance.

One of Dannsa’s trademark sets is a set of dances sung to waulking songs, which again provide a wealth of potential problems for singers but are intriguing to watch. Songs including ‘Ho ro mo Chuachag’ and ‘Gaol ise’ provided perfect rhythmic regularity for the percussive footwork.

One of Dannsa’s other specialities is the ‘Latha Lùnasdal’ or ‘First Of August’, sung to the Uist tune ‘Tàilleir Mor’, and is always a highlight of a Dannsa performance.

Beòlach’s more upbeat style of performance was a perfect contrast to Dannsa’s more introspective style, but retained that echo of the intrinsic ‘Highland’ culture, taken over to Cape Breton by the emigrants over the Centuries. Lively sets, more stately waltz sets and emotive instrumental ballads were also still recognisably of a ‘Scottish’ connection.

Fiery footwork from all the performers, including fiddlers Wendy MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin, was complemented by great traditional Cape Breton piano from Mac Morin. All had the audience wanting more. Theirs may have been a more relaxed and informal style of performance, but each group had its own identifiable style and each its own distinctive elements.

To this writer, this gig was what Highland Homecoming was – or should have been – all about, celebrating those who left Scotland, with their language and culture and how it has returned home. An inspired pairing of artistic showmanship, and nowhere more evident than in the final set when both groups came together and performed a set of tunes and Gaelic songs, with step dance from all – including the lovely Gaelic emigrant pìobaireachd air “Fraoch a Ronàigh”.

‘S math rinn thu Dannsa for bringing this show to the Highlands – a true representation of Scottish and Cape Breton Highland Culture at its best.

March 21, 2007
Fiddle, pipes and ... piano. Beolach blends tradition with Canadian upbringing
Kira L. Schlechter, The Patriot-News

Cape Breton traditional band Beolach draws not only from the tunes of its home turf for its repertoire, but also from those of the countries that most influenced those tunes -- Scotland and Ireland. For piper Ryan MacNeil, it's the Scottish portion of that equation that's made the greatest mark on him as a musician, despite his Cape Breton upbringing.

"The type of pipes I play [Highland bagpipes and the border pipes] are Scottish in origin," MacNeil said. "So certainly the orientation that is played and the way the tunes are composed caters to a Scottish piping style.

"That being said, though, in Cape Breton, those tunes and those types of instruments have developed their own flavor. So although it's Scottish in origin, it's developed its own entity as Cape Breton music," he added.

MacNeil will showcase that Sunday when he stops by with Beolach at Harrisburg Academy. The concert is sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society. While piano is not common in other forms of Celtic music, it's important in the Cape Breton tradition and, naturally, to Beolach as well. It gives their work a modern edge and an almost jazzy swing.

"It definitely plays a big role in the dance tradition at home," MacNeil said. "For the most part, a dance would consist of a fiddler and a piano player, or a piper and a piano player. That's how a lot of our music was preserved. Piano's played a big part of that, and it has developed into a pretty unique sound."

Just as fiddling or piping traditions developed depending on how a musician learned and interpreted them, so did Cape Breton's piano tradition, MacNeil said.

"There's no written tradition of formally taking notes on the music -- it's all very much individual preference and who you would have learned from and how they approached individual tunes," he said.

Mairi Rankin plays fiddle in the band and step-dances, as does Andrea Beaton, who also plays piano. Patrick Gillis plays guitar. Beaton is replacing founding member and band manager Wendy MacIsaac, who is recovering from a recent treatment for her thyroid.

The 2004 album "Variations" is Beolach's most recent. Each member is involved in a host of side projects, which tends to delay the recording process.

"As much as [the band] is a big endeavor, there's a lot of other factors at play," he said. "We are planning a new album, hopefully, but we'll have to see what's happening. We're in a bit of a transition right now. I'm optimistic -- I think there's a good chance we'll have a new project on the go in the very near future."

MacNeil did a solo album, appropriately titled "Piper," back in 2005. He's working on an album with Gillis, which he anticipates will be finished this summer. He also has a side career marketing a line of his own whistles (check out www.macneilwoodwinds.com).

"I enjoy the hands-on approach, and I really wanted to get into my instrument a bit more and try and develop something that I'd be a little more happy with," he said.

"It was all natural progression -- from well, I'd like to develop an instrument and then, well, have a shop, and then, might as well start selling a few. And it's gone from there -- it's a pretty passive business strategy," he said with a laugh.

March 2007

Andrea Beaton will be joining Beolach on piano and fiddle for the March US tour, replacing Mac Morin and Wendy MacIsaac. For more information about Andrea, visit her website www.andreabeaton.com.

October 10, 2006
A spirited gathering in Whycocomagh
Touching ballads, novel arrangements from stellar lineup
By STEPHEN COOKE, Halifax Herald

CBC RADIO PRODUCER Glenn Meisner, discussing an upcoming documentary on Celtic Colours that will air on CBC Radio Two later in October, describes the traditional music extravaganza as the only event of its kind, where "the festival site is 11,000 square kilometres."

For that reason alone, Celtic Colours shouldn't actually work as a festival. At least that's what Whycocomagh Gathering host Burton MacIntyre has been told by folks from away who are experts in such things. But like the flight of the bumblebee, which the laws of physics say shouldn't be possible either, Celtic Colours has been soaring higher every year for the past decade.

Shows like the one in Whycocomagh Sunday night go a long way toward explaining the mystery. An annual favourite, this showcase in the local school, nestled between the colourful hills and the waters of Bras d'Or consistently features a stellar lineup and is always a sellout. This year tickets disappeared six  weeks before the festival began - a new record.

The gathering got off to a roaring start with Scottish accordion icon Phil Cunningham, making his first appearance here with longtime collaborator, Shetland-born fiddler Aly Bain.

Responding to a suggestion from a fan - "We don't normally do requests, unless we're asked," quipped Cunningham - the pair performed Flett From Flotto, originally a 4 / 4 pipe march with its time signature halved for their musical purposes. The duo's instrumental jousting was a joy to behold, with Bain  delivering sly musical winks with a slide of his bow. The tempo jumped a few notches, until they were eventually blazing like a locomotive through Aly's Suit, with not a note out of place.

"That was faster than we'd hoped," said Cunningham with a mock gasp. "We have to play a few waltzes to recover."

After an enchanting trio of American and French-Canadian waltzes, Cunningham played a touching ballad written for his late brother Johnny. He explained that while searching for the proper title, he learned a friend had a star named for his brother in the constellation of Cepheus, along with stars for  Elvis and Roy Orbison, hence the apt title Bright Star in Cepheus.

One of Cape Breton's brightest stars was up next, J.P. Cormier with wife Hilda Chiasson-Cormier on keyboards. Cormier's set was split between vocal material like his passionate tale of a vanished Newfoundland community, Great Harbour Deep, and instrumental pieces like his musical duel with Darren McMullin on bass and banjo, meshing classical and bluegrass melodies with a couple of bars  ofStairway to Heaven for good measure. Finally, Cormier's solo guitar set brought the first half to a rousing finale, with blindingly fast finger picking that never lost its sense of musicality.

Newfoundland's A Crowd of Bold Sharemen opened the second half in Whycocomagh holding forth with deep, rustic harmony on Captains and Ships, and vibrant instrumental skill on a set of tunes by great Newfoundland fiddler, the late Rufus Guinchard. Island life figured prominently in the songs, like fiddler  Daniel Payne's Wave That Hit St. Brides and Jim Payne's set closer How Good Is My Life ("on this beautiful island"), an ode to a place where the line between nature and civilization is often a very thin one.

Cape Breton supergroup Beolach ended the night in spirited fashion, its members happy to be home after two months of touring. Starting with some stage shaking stepdancing by fiddlers Mairi Rankin and Wendy MacIsaac, the quintet tore into a set of West Mabou tunes with fervent abandon.

The group's skill at dynamics was displayed in a medley that started soft, with guitarist Patrick Gillis on a sweet air, before Mac Morin's piano and Ryan J. MacNeil's tin whistle blended in and the band shifted gears into Sparky's Reel. Their novel arrangements show why Beolach has become a favourite atfestivals worldwide, a journey that began when the band was formed at Celtic Colours eight years ago.

April 24, 2006
Review of Beòlach  in Newburyport, MA
By Victor Maurice Faubert

Beòlach presented a concert/céilidh at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport, MA, on Friday, 21 April. It was my first time at this venue, which is in an old converted firehouse on the banks of the Merrimac River, shortly before it enters the Atlantic. The Arakelian Theater seats roughly 200 people; it is an intimate performance space with excellent acoustics.

The sold-out performance attracted an enthusiastic crowd, mostly from the local area and Beòlach did not disappoint. Two fiddles (Wendy MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin), a piano (Mac Morin, playing a grand piano this evening), a guitar (Patrick Gillis), and pipes and whistles (Ryan J. MacNeil) make for a large and distinctive sound enhanced by their marvelous arrangements of the traditional tunes that showcase both their individual prodigious talents and their ability to blend together beautifully to give their trade- arked sound. Most of the numbers they played can be heard on their two albums, Beòlach and Variations, but there was some new music as well and some variations on the recorded numbers-- Scotland the Brave was woven unexpectedly into one of the sets, to everyone's amusement and delight.

In addition to their musicianship, the troupe counts three very talented step dancers as well. At intervals during the show, Wendy MacIsaac, Mairi Rankin, and Mac Morin each treated us to a solo demonstration of their virtuoso dancing skills and late in the show, the three appeared together in a masterly performance while Ryan J. MacNeil and Patrick Gillis provided the musical accompaniment to their feet dancing out the rhythm.

Beòlach was clearly in a laid-back mood, enjoying themselves on stage with their gentle ribbing of one another and bantering with the audience, drawing them into the performance. Fresh from a tour in Germany, for example, they shared with us their amusement on learning that German word for bagpipes is Dudelsack, so Ryan J. MacNeil was introduced as the band's Dudelsacker. And they shared with us a rueful anecdote at their own expense of their recent experience following a junior high school concert on the Island.

At the end of the concert, Jennifer MacInnis MacNeil, Ryan J.'s bride of four months, brought Angus Blaise, Wendy's 8-month old son onto the stage and helped him dance to the band's music. Jennifer, a very accomplished step dancer in her own right, then treated us to a bare-foot impromptu dance during the final number.

What an evening! If any of you have not yet seen Beòlach in concert, avail yourself of the next opportunity when they are near by. You will not be disappointed!

April 21, 2006
Beòlach lives up to its name
By Bruce Menin, Newsbury Port Current

The group’s name is exotically reminiscent of some far away place. And it is a fitting description of its members. Beolach, a Gaelic word for "lively youth," is a group of Cape Breton musicians who bring to life the magical sounds of that island off Nova Scotia. They’ll be performing at The Firehouse Friday night, April 21.

Wendy MacIsaac - fiddler, pianist, step-dancer and founding member of Beolach -acknowledges her heritage is constantly creating players like her.

"Cape Breton Island has a very rich tradition of music and musicians. There are a lot of young players and fiddle players here. When we are at home and playing the dance circuit, we really get to know each other."

One of the keys to the vitality of Cape Breton music is the strong demand for it back on the island off Nova Scotia. Like bluegrass, and the early years during the development of the blues, it is deeply embedded in the daily lives of the people. It’s a sound that can be heard everywhere; dances are very much a part of the community life and have given rise to a dedication to the sound that spans generations. The intricacy and infectiousness of the form leaves little room for boredom; each new generation can add to a fabric that has been woven over hundreds of years.

It doesn’t really surprise MacIsaac that Cape Breton music is creating such a clamor these days.

"For a long time, most of the world wouldn’t have known music from Cuba. Then, all of a sudden, when some people were able to expose us to it, everyone became very excited and loved it. For a lot of years, this music was played pretty exclusively on Cape Breton," she said.

"People in the past 20 years have really gotten to know what Cape Breton music sounds like and is all about," MacIsaac said. "They come out to hear the music because they know it."

Like many other groups from Cape Breton, Beolach began as a casual gathering of musicians.

"We don’t really have what you would call jam sessions on Cape Breton. We cross paths a lot on the dance circuit, or sometimes a few of us will get together at a festival," MacIsaac said. "That’s what happened with Beolach."

One of the first shows was the Vancouver Folk Festival in 2000. That festival is considered to be particularly prestigious and led to a number of other similar gigs, including the Edmonton Folk Festival (2004), the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow (2001-02), the Celtic Colours Festival back on Cape Breton (2001-03), the Tonder Festival in Denmark (2001), the Harrison Festival for the Arts in British Columbia (2001, 2003) and the Lowell Folk Festival in 2000. They have played many other venues across the United States, Canada and Europe.

"After it seemed like we were really going to be together for a while, we started planning an album. We were all pretty new at it. On that first album, we used a drummer. Three of us had never recorded before, so we were pretty inexperienced. I had done two CDs" she said.

"By the time we had recorded ’Variations,’ our latest CD, we’d all been in the studio before, so we had a better sense of how to do what we wanted to do."

Logical steps...

As with many Cape Breton groups, the music is intricately woven with step dancing. MacIsaac herself often advises audiences to "have a good time, and for God’s sake, tap your feet." Given the prominence of dancing in Beolach shows, how was the band able to capture that energy in the recording studio?

MacIsaac laughs.

"We record live, with all of us playing at the same time. We really need to feed off of each other. We have to capture the energy of the sound. It helps us even when we play live. Pat’s [Patrick Gillis] guitar playing is very percussive, which really helps my fiddle-playing, so I always try to make sure I’m near him on the stage."

Beolach, MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin providing a dual-fiddle sound are accompanied by Mac Morin on keyboards, Patrick Gillis on guitar and Ryan J. MacNeil on pipes.

"I guess we’re in the mainstream of Cape Breton music," said MacIsaac, but admits there are some things different about Beolach.

"Having the two fiddles really does give us a lot more we can cover. And Ryan is a great piper, which also makes the shows more energized. We have a bigger sound"

"The energy from the audience is critical. A little while ago, we did a show in a small town in Ontario ... couldn’t have been more than 6,500 people in the town itself. And we sold out. About 75 percent of the people who turned out were older, even elderly. And they were lively and they danced and interacted with us; they hollered things out. It was great. When that happens, you start to loosen up, and the audience really gets a show they came to see."

Wendy MacIsaac sees a long and healthy future for the music, both on and off Cape Breton.

"There are players out there, like my cousin, Ashley MacIsaac, who have created a more contemporary sound. It’s basic stuff, still, but it has a little different feel. We try to keep it pretty close to the roots of how it is played here. I love it; we love it."

The future is bright for this talented quartet from Cape Breton. Tickets are available for their Friday, April 21 show at the Firehouse directly from the box office. Call 978-462-7336.

CD REVIEW
"Variations" by Beòlach 

Perhaps it is the double fiddle sound. It could just as likely be the fiery piping of Ryan MacNeil. This Cape Breton band has managed to meld tradition with a driving, clear and articulate sound that is at once familiar and unique. It is evident that they are masters of their own instruments. But that is only part of the magic.

The power of their combined skill drives, cajoles and pushes traditional Cape Breton instrumental tunes in a way that captures the sheer energy of the sound. Conversely, as each jig and reel ends, it seems too sudden; you have been transported and left on high ground as the music recedes.

They have a sweet way with the softer tunes, as the second song, "Norman’s," features some elegant piano, whistle, banjo and understated guitar. It is a generous and masterful moment. There are other airs as well, all treated with kindness and the occasional underlying restlessness; it promises the listener that somewhere down the line - perhaps even the next cut - the band will evoke the giddy muse of dance and movement.

The disc features great skill, enormously spacious arrangements, and a perfect pitch and pacing. It clearly presents this band in a positive, engaging way; it is another milestone in what will hopefully be a long and tuneful journey.

November 2005

Beolach has been nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award for "Best Instrumental Group"
The group has also been asked to perform the tree lighting ceremony.
Visit the Canadian Folk Music Awards website for more information

May 25, 2005
Beòlach - Review/Interview
Celtic Heritage Magazine, Carleton MacIver

St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Friday in the spring of 2000. I had been drinking all day with four friends who had come to Halifax from Cape Breton for the weekend. The idea was to toast St. Patrick and each other in as many bars as possible but also to see a hot new Celtic band. The band, according to one of the four, had a huge sound that “hit you like a train and sounded like summer.” A weird way to describe a band I thought, but I was intrigued. As it turned out I left the bar that night with heart palpitations and a tan; he was right, they were good.

For the past five years Beolach have been offering a fine fingered take on traditional Cape Breton music. They emphasize style and technique on arrangements of traditional tunes and original compositions. They combine pulse-racing piano and machine gun guitar with the soulful syncopation of one peerless piper and two dynamite fiddle players to produce a large and authentic sound.

Each member of the group is passionate about Celtic music and they adhere to the cultural values of those who came before them. Beolach is what the Rolling Stones would sound like had they been born in Cape Breton thirty years ago.

“The live stuff is good,”said Celtic music connoisseur Amanda Mackenzie over cocktails. I asked her to tell me again what sets Beolach apart from their peers in the burgeoning Cape Breton music scene.

“They’re exciting and very different,” she told me. “They put twists on the old stuff and it ends up coming across a little bit better.”

Regardless of, or maybe because of this, Beolach has met the usual imperviousness from the old guard that most new, upstart Celtic bands encounter. After seeing them perform on numerous occasions and interviewing each of them individually I came to realize what the old folks are opposed to is, in fact, what’s arresting and good about Beolach’s sound. They make their profound connection to the communities in which they grew up relevant in an increasingly fast paced and complacent world through pure talent.

Beolach has toured extensively, packing concert halls in the United Kingdom and inciting haphazard square sets on the coasts of both Canada and the United States.

Multi-instrumentalist Wendy Mac-Isaac is a lifetime member of the Cape Breton music scene. She’s played with fiddle virtuoso Jackie Dunn, alternating easily between piano and fiddle at dances and concerts from West Mabou to Toronto, and has numerous solo recordings. MacIsaac has also lent her delicately poignant fiddle accompaniment to Mary Jane Lammond on national and international stages.

I caught up with her at the Red Fox Tavern in Fairview. In person she’s friendly and direct.

Is there a dynamic between you and Mairi, Mac, Pat and Ryan that you haven’t experienced with other musicians you’ve worked with?
“You mean musically? There’s definitely something about playing with the rest of the band, I don’t know if it’s because we’ve been doing it for five and a half years or what, but we’re definitely on the same level as far as influences and such. And yeah, we have some sort of chemistry I think it exudes off the stage, people tell us that.”

There’s a real market in the United States for Celtic Music, any place in particular?
“Pretty well everywhere. I’ve toured with Mary Jane all over the States and we’ve done everything from theatres to clubs. A lot of people in the U.S. love Cape Breton Music.”
Is there a difference in crowds from town to town? For example how does the Red Shoe in Mabou compare to a club in Vancouver?

“Well, when we’re away, the audiences don’t hear live Cape Breton style music all that often, so they’re always psyched to come out and see it.”

With regard to performing in Scotland MacIsaac had this to say, “There are tonnes of Celtic bands in Scotland so it’s not a new thing, but our style is a little bit different so they’re usually impressed with the show, especially with the step dancing. There aren’t a lot of bands over there that do step dancing.”

Is there a way in which you prepare yourself for a show?

“No, not really. We’re a tight group. I think our dynamic is pretty close to being the same every night. We’re able to come out of a seventeen-hour drive and do the same show as after a two-hour drive. You’re tired but for some reason when you get on stage you get this burst of energy. It’s really bizarre. You may be feeling sick to your stomach but when you get onstage you feel fine until the show’s over and you’re sick to your stomach again. There are a lot of people who’ll tell you the same thing.”

What’s in your car stereo right now?

“I have a tape of Donald Angus Beaton at a dance in there actually. (Donald Beaton and his son Kinnon are noted composers of Cape Breton Music.) Music can do all kinds of things for you. Certain CDs make you mellow out and there’s others that are good for driving. I appreciate music when I hear it because I love quiet too. A lot of times when I’m driving I’ll just listen to the road. Music can make you happy, especially if it’s what you love, like Cape Breton music. If I have a tape of Arthur Muise or John Morris (Rankin) from years ago it makes me feel like playing and learning more.”

Everyone has different things happen in their lives. How do romance, tragedy and other human experiences translate into your music?

“I think it’s the same for me as for everybody else. It doesn’t really affect my music. A singer songwriter might try and make a song out of memory, but it’s a little harder for tunes unless you’re writing something slow. I wouldn’t take a happy memory and write a reel and say, ‘Oh, that’s what that reminded me of.’ it doesn’t really translate as well.”
Where did the unusual names for the arrangements on the new album come?

“We’re a bunch of fools really. We were thinking of ideas for our album cover and one of the ideas was standing in a lunch line, so that’s where Hot Lunch Set with the Sandwich-Maker Reel came from.”

What would you tell critics who claim Beolach is not a traditional group?

“O.K, I think with a set like Hot Lunch Set, which is absolutely straight forward, just march, strathspeys and reels, that any older player would like it. The only difference between that and maybe what I’d record myself is that it’s a bigger sound because there’s more people in the band. Everything else is still really traditional. Although I guess David Rankin’s Strathspey doesn’t really sound like a strathspey, we just changed the emphasis on it. I’m sure Jerry Holland wouldn’t mind.

“John Campbell has heard us play many times in Boston and he always came up and said that he loved the music. We did a concert with Buddy (MacMaster) during Celtic Colours and I think he enjoyed it. All of us have listened to tapes of older fiddle players and tried to learn those old ways like the fingering and the bowing.”

Will the band keep a busy touring schedule to support the new album this summer?
“Yes, until the twenty-ninth of July when I’m going to have the baby. But we’re going to play a lot all through the Maritimes, not just in Cape Breton.”

I also spoke with Mac Morin who hammers out intros to tunes with urgent intensity on the piano. He is engaging and articulate, but hard to get a hold of. During my second attempt I asked him why he thought the band attracted such large audiences.

“It’s a great piece of Cape Breton. You get to see a little bit of everything: the dancing, the fiddle playing, the piano playing, the guitar playing and the pipes. All of us have been around the block a few times and we’re all known players at home so you get a real good example of what’s going on.”

Around the block indeed. Besides releasing numerous solo recordings separately and with each other, members of Beolach have toured and recorded with the who’s who of the Cape Breton music scene.

During our phone conversation, Beolach member Mairi Rankin told me what it was like being part of the famed Rankin family from Mabou.

“It’s the same for me as for the other 200 of us,” she said jokingly. Though modest about her roots Rankin credits her upbringing for her bold playing style, “All across the Island there are different styles of fiddle playing and that’s generally because of where they grew up and what they listened to. On the Mabou side you can really hear the Gaelic influence in the strathspeys, reels and pipe marches. There’s a kind of dirt in the music, a little bit scratchy but it’s got a lot of groove.”

Rankin began as a classically trained pianist but later got into fiddling. Aside from being one half of Beolach’s double fiddle assault she has released a solo album and has played on other independent recordings.

“We try to maintain stage presence and flare while keeping true the roots. Wendy and I are very lucky in that there are so many different fiddlers out there with their own style but we locked into each other very easily. Our music kind of sucks you in.”

Guitar player Patrick Gillis frames his distinctive style by playing a right-handed guitar backwards. Gillis’ strum technique literally begins where other player’s end. Each strum starts with the high e-string and ends with the low e punctuating it with percussion.
On the eleventh track on the new album Toss the Fiddles, penned by Liz Knowles, Gillis uses folksy chord changes to conjure pensive images of the motels, landscapes and gas stations one might see through a windshield on a road trip. I asked him if people he’d met and sights he’d seen while on the road influenced either his style or performance.

“It’s interpretation really, the music is what it is. Obviously there are things that make you play at a certain moment in a certain way, but for me it’s not intentional. I don’t look back at my playing and say this particular thing comes out of it, it just happens.

“Rock-and-roll was the first stuff I played. I’d learn old Eagles’ tunes with friends but now I listen to anybody I think is creative. I saw Velvet Revolver in Toronto and Slash blew me away.”

Is there a cohesive community of artists in Cape Breton?

“Yeah, there is for sure. I think the reason we ended up playing together was because it worked. There’s times when we’re onstage when we get it cooking to a point where we almost sound like a machine that’s running really well.”

What role does music play in your life besides being a source of employment?

“That’s a big question. It’s right up there. It’s definitely a love, right up at the top. I’ve never been without music and I could never see myself without it”.

Bagpiper Ryan J. MacNeil is responsible for many of the original compositions in Beolach’s repertoire and he plays the his pipes on both albums. He has competed in world-class competitions with the St. Ann’s Gaelic College Pipe and Drum Band and has closed many parties around Cape Breton. Ryan is the only member of Beolach who wasn’t born in Cape Breton but he conveys his understanding of the island and its people through his music. I chatted with him over the phone from his home in Port Hood.

What would a stranger get out of Beolach’s music?

“We play enjoyable, upbeat dance style music for anyone who enjoys music, which is pretty well anyone anyway.”
Would you say it’s rockin’?

“Yeah, it can be rockin, in a traditional, acoustic way, if you will.”
Can you tell me a little bit about tune writing and arrangements?

“Well there’s no great mystery there. There are a few of my tunes on the albums but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I write all kinds. I might write three or four a year and it would be a casual thing. Sometimes while practicing, a little phrase will come to me and I’ll work with it but if it’s garbage I won’t bother.”

Tell me about your role in the band

“Piper! It’s as simple as that. It’s pretty straightforward stuff. You got your melody and your rhythm and a couple different instruments playing either.”

Ryan is a carpenter by trade and proprietor of MacNeil Woodwinds in Cape Breton. At his shop in Port Hood, Ryan has designed whistles made from a unique combination of milled aluminum tubing and poly-carbon.

“I took what I liked from whistles that I had experience with and fixed up the loose ends to make something that I would want to play. I have a great product as far as I’m concerned but I’ll be honing my craft for as long as I’m making them.”

Who taught you to build whistles or did you just learn yourself?

“I took a machinist program at the NSIT in Halifax where I learned the skills. When I was done there I went to the London Guild Hall University for a winter and took a musical instrument technologies program. That tied it all into a practical thing for me as far as milling an actual instrument that wasn’t going to suck.”

Where will the band be in five years?

“As a band we’re still moving forward at our own pace. We’re in a good place right now. Our latest CD is doing quite well and we’re generating quite a bit of business. We’re also getting some great offers and we’re still all great friends. It’s all very good.”

Throughout the seven days I corresponded with the members of Beolach, it was evident they share a common perspective about their style. After much coaxing all five of them told me the momentum with which they play is indeed representative of where they’re from but none of them makes a conscious effort to do so. This un-manufactured attitude alone separates them from a lot of their contemporaries.

One can examine record sales and audience sizes to tabulate the success of a band but these things don’t represent the aesthetic qualities a particular group produces on a particular night. Even if Beolach wasn’t as popular among consumers as they are, the upbeat, foot stomping splendour and subtle melancholy evident in their music would still imbue a sense of warmth and clarity in the spirits of not only displaced Cape Bretoners but in anybody who listens to and appreciates good music.

When I asked Pat Gillis what he liked about music in general, he told me, “Either it hits you or it doesn’t; either it’s bad or it’s not.” With that in mind I assure you, Beolach’s music, live or recorded, will indeed hit you, like a train.

April 7, 2005
New Update - Germany Tour 

Just returning from their two week tour of Germany and Switzerland, Beolach has a few weeks to take a breather. They have been very busy this winter performing in Scotland at Celtic Connections, at the ECMA's in Sydney, where they were nominated for two awards, performed on the awards show and at the Roots Room where they brought the house down with their very exciting 20 minute set for the home town crowd. Then they went on to do a small tour of theatre shows in Charlottetown, Fredericton, and St. John before heading overseas again.

Beolach picked up national distribution deal from Festival Distribution Inc. based out of Vancouver. They had performed a showcase at Nova Scotia Music Week in Halifax in November and Jack Schuller from the  Festival asked the band if they would be interested in distribution. Beolach's self titled CD and their second recording "Variations" is now available all across Canada.

Beolach has been invited back to Germany for the St. Patrick's Day tour in March of 2006 and is beginning to fill up the calendar for next year already.

January 22,  2005
Instinkt with Beòlach, The Arches
Reviewed by Debbie Koritsas, BBC Celtic Roots

It’s always a pleasure to be able to report back from an event that’s exceeded your expectations, and this Arches gig was a resounding success for both Cape Bretoners Beolach (their name means lively youth), and Denmark’s excellent roots band, Instinkt – in fact this was an inspired pairing. I’d seen Instinkt earlier that day at the Festival Celebration (Strathclyde Suite); and I’d had a great time dancing to Beolach at Festival Club the night before, so knew what to expect musically from both bands.

So who are Beolach? Well, they’re a wonderful party band, and got straight into the swing with a cracking set of tunes that had the crowd dancing from the start – they were only one of two bands to get the crowd on their feet at Festival Club the night before, along with punchy Danish band Zar – and the comments from the predominantly young crowd were entirely favourable!

I haven’t been able to track down a CD by the band yet, and can’t remember a single tune title, but the sets were brilliantly arranged, and were ‘thrown’ at us with huge zest. There’s strong Celtic lyricism to their playing, and I loved the twin fiddles of Wendy MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin. Ryan MacNeil’s timing was excellent on pipes and whistles, and Patrick Gillis (guitar) and Mac Morin (keyboards) created powerful, rhythmic backdrop to the tunes.

The most enjoyable moment of Beolach’s set was surely when MacIsaac, Rankin and MacNeil stepped to the front of the stage to perform some lively step dancing – to great audience applause!

Instinkt is a band that packs a real rootsy punch. Starting their set with a rather innocuous-sounding fiddle tune, one of my companions asked: “Is this a prelude to chaos?” Having seen the band earlier in the day, (and heard their album Hur a few weeks earlier) I had to smile.

Instinkt are masters of their craft, their Danish folk tradition, and they perform with humour and panache – their live act is quite honestly overwhelming! Their sense of timing is superlative, and they’re blessed with one of the most outrageously talented drummers I’ve ever heard, Vivi di Bap Kristensen – she won a Danish Folk Award in 2003. The band plays a sense-ravishing combination of drums, bass, fiddles, guitar, hurdy gurdy, flutes, viola and Jew’s harp – so you can imagine how full on their sound is, even more so when voices come into play.

Blasting their way through songs from their album Hur, and much more besides, they commanded full attention from the audience.

Let’s hope that we see more of both of these exuberant bands at future Festivals.

January 27, 2005
ECMA announces TV show lineup
By Tera Camus, Halifax Herald

SYDNEY - Get ready to rumble!

That was the rallying cry from CBC executive producer Geoff D'Eon after announcing the lineup of talent to be featured at this year's East Coast Music Awards show Feb. 20, at Sydney's Centre 200.

Pictou County's rising country star George Canyon will host the two-hour nationally televised event that will feature performances by The Trews, MIR, The Joel Plaskett Emergency, Gordie Sampson, Susan Crowe, Barry Canning, The Cottars, Beolach, Vishten, Dave Gunning and Nathan Wiley. It will begin at 8 p.m.

During the CBC show, a special tribute will be paid to Cape Breton's beloved Rita MacNeil, featuring the sounds of Matt Minglewood - the 2005 Maple Blues Awards entertainer of the year - along with Shaye, and Jimmy Rankin.

"It's the first time on (the nationally televised show)," Minglewood said after playing a sample of his music at the ECMA news conference in Sydney on Wednesday. "I'm part of the tribute and that's good enough for me."

He plans to sing his version of Working Man, one of MacNeil's best known hits about toiling in the coal mines that features the haunting voices of the Men of the Deeps, a local chorus of former Devco miners.

D'Eon said the show promises splendid music, and "guarantees a good time for all. I like my kitchen parties with Las Vegas production values," he said with a chuckle.

Event organizer Pat Moore said the $1.65 million week-long conference that begins Feb. 17 will pack local hotels, restaurants and put Cape Breton's talent in the forefront during the finale.

Organizers expect at least 1,500 delegates and their families to register.

"The event is a winner, it's proven to be a winner every year," he said, noting the success of the past 17 previous ECMA events. Sydney hosted the ECMAs in 2000. "People will come during this coldest week of the year, but we'll fill all these events," he said.

MacNeil, an international star making it big in Australia and Europe, was selected to be singled out in the televised show, because "we're very proud of her," Moore said.

Canyon, who won the Rising Star Award at the Canadian Country Music Awards following his debut of his CD, One Good Friend on Sept. 28, will be host of the televised event, a first for him.

Although never a host on television, he became well known in North America during last year's Nashville Star television series - a country version of the popular American or Canadian Idol.

The Trews, from Antigonish, the first indie rock bands to go No. 1 on Canadian rock charts, will take to the stage, competing in five ECMA award categories.

Big Pond native Sampson, who released his second solo album Sunburn, will also take the stage along with P.E.I. singer-songwriter Wiley, who released High Low, a followup to his debut album Bottom Dollar.

Beolach, from Cape Breton, is expected to deliver a big impact on the show with its Celtic blend featuring pipes, whistles, guitar and fiddles while Vishten, a quartet from New Brunswick, will offer a hearty mix of Acadian, Irish and Scottish styles.

Not to be outdone, The Cottars, a young group of Cape Bretoners, will show the nation how Celtic music has put them on the map internationally. The Boston Globe recently called them "one of the hottest acts in the folk world today."

Pictou County singer-songwriter Gunning is nominated for folk recording of the year and is up for male artist, while Barry Canning, a hot act from St. John's is nominated for pop recording.

Other artists who will assist or join the show include Shanklin Road, Paul Lamb, Cory Tetford of Crush and Damhnait Doyle.

All performances will be live. Other performances will precede the start of the televised show.

Beginning at 6 p.m., those at Centre 200 will get to see Newfoundland funnyman Andrew Younghusband host such acts as two-time nominee Allie Bennett of Cape Breton and Samantha Robichaud of New Brunswick, ECMA nominee and winner of last year's aboriginal recording of the year Forever, double-nominee Madviolet, as well as Matt Anderson and Duane Andrews.

Public voting will soon begin for entertainer of the year, the winner to be announced during the televised event. Up for the award are Crush, George Canyon, Jimmy Rankin, Natalie MacMaster and the Trews.

December 17, 2004
ECMA Nominations

Beolach have received two East Coast Music Award nominations for their latest release 'Variations':

- Instrumental Recording of the Year
- Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year

The ECMA's will take place February 17-20, 2005 in Sydney, Nova Scotia. For more information
and a complete list of nominees, please visit www.ecma.ca

November 27, 2004
Distribution Deal

Beolach and Wendy MacIsaac have secured a national distribution deal in Canada with Festival Distribution. More info to follow.

November 13, 2004

Beolach will be the featured artist of the week on Atlantic Airwaves this Saturday, November 13th at 5:05pm AST on CBC Radio One. Visit CBC Radio's website for details.

Click here to listen online 

November 12, 2004
Lively Variations: Beòlach takes different approach in the studio on second release
By Stephen Cooke, Halifax Herald

THERE'S STRENGTH in numbers. Just look at Cape Breton quintet Beolach which takes traditional East Coast Celtic music and cranks it past 11 with a driving combination of two fiddles, bagpipes, guitar and piano.

Your shoe would have to be nailed to the floor to keep your foot from tapping.

Beolach - the name is Gaelic for "lively youth" - recently celebrated its sixth anniversary at the site of its creation, the Celtic Colours International Festival, where the band began as a late-night jam session in 1998.

Fiddlers Wendy MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin, guitarist Patrick Gillis, piper Ryan J. MacNeil and keyboardist Mac Morin have kept things going in its current incarnation, and to mark the occasion, it's holding an official launch of its second  CD Variations on Saturday at Your Father's Moustache in Halifax.

All five musicians in Beolach have made their names either playing solo or with other artists, but something just clicks when they're together as a unit, in a format that allows everyone to shine, rather than simply provide accompaniment. MacIsaac says that the band is this whole new adventure unto itself, providing a wide range of avenues of self-expression.

"I think it's just a more interesting show that we can put on. Having two fiddles, you can do some harmony things and it sounds that much bigger. Then having pipes and whistles just takes it to another level.

"But I also have fun doing shows where it's just me with Pat and Mac on guitar and piano. We can still do the step-dancing, piano and guitar solos, but add the rest of the band and there's just so much further you can go.

"It's just a little more exciting. Obviously if you get a call to play at a place where the stage is only the size of these few tables, and there's only a handful of people there, then the band might not be the best option," MacIsaac says.

"But for playing festivals and all that, it's just more dynamic, especially where people want to get up and jump around."

Trying to cram that energy onto a compact disc isn't the easiest task, and MacIsaac admits that Beolach is still very much geared towards the live experience.

Variations is an opportunity to really hear the tone of the instruments, the musicians' innovative use of harmony and the clarity of their playing, but it's different in terms of the level of concentration required compared to the basic instincts at play when they sit down on a stage and just let 'er rip.

"It's hard because we're all in separate rooms, you can't make eye contact, which we do all the time on stage," says MacIsaac of the studio situation. "And I've never liked the sound of my fiddle in the huge headphones you have to wear, so I usually play with one side of them off.

"I'd rather play without them at all, but then you can't hear the accompaniment. I have to really put the drive on."

Plus, when you're in the comfy confines of Point Aconi's Lakewind Sound working with the studio safety net of recording tracks that can be simply stopped or redone it's not the same as when you've got that onstage locomotive going and all five are going on all cylindars with no handbrake in sight.

"There's one group on there, the David Rankin's set, that we'd been playing in concert for at least a year without any problems," says MacIsaac. "But as soon as we got in the studio, we couldn't get it because Pat was way over in the isolation booth, Mairi and I were in this other room, we couldn't even see Pat. We're so used to being beside each other on stage, we had a really hard time rocking out and getting the time together.

"We were wondering, 'What's wrong with us?!' "

Ultimately, MacIsaac says Beolach finds the studio experience rewarding as an opportunity to really push the finer technical aspects of one's playing and explore the way the five make music together. There's no real formula for creating the Beolach sound besides picking a tune, learning the basics of it, then exploring ways of taking it apart and putting it    back together with something like the addition of MacNeil's tin whistle or Morin's accordion to break things up.

"There's a couple of cuts on here where we first listened back to them after we'd recorded them, and thought it didn't sound like us at all," says MacIsaac. "Like Miss Crawford's, where instead of just playing the tune out, Mairi and I played it like a string section. It's fun doing stuff like that.

"Norman's Reel doesn't sound like traditional Beolach either, but that's OK. We're definitely never going to make an album where we don't have the meat-and- potatoes traditional sound, because that works best, and we have so many ways of making that interesting."

Audiences keep finding it interesting, as Beolach takes its sound on the road across Canada and the United States, and overseas to the British Isles and Europe.

MacIsaac says there's always a bit of trepidation when you wonder how your music is going to stack up across the causeway when you're sharing bills with similar-minded acts from overseas, but Beolach has come to realize that its traditional sound is the genuine article, played with a mix of skill and devotion that doesn't require variation.

"The funny thing is, when we're playing at festivals, and we hear so many other bands - Irish bands and Scottish bands - and we love what they're doing, and we wonder, 'Oh gee, it'd be nice to do something like what they're doing,' but they're saying the same things about us, like admiring the drive of our strathspeys or whatever," she says.

"We've found you don't have to go too far outside of what you're doing if people are liking it. Just because you're playing it all the time doesn't mean it's not exciting to this new audience that you're playing for. That's always something to remember. But we'll always love Cape Breton music."

July 24, 2003
Music more than relative for Maritime Celtic band: Despite their well-known lineage, the members of Beolach prefer to be judged on their own merits
Adrian Chamberlain - Times Colonist (Victoria, BC)

At first, it seemed Beolach's Wendy MacIsaac might be following the footsteps of her cousin, Ashley.

I'm not talking about debauched lifestyles; I'm talking about missing interviews. In my experience, Ashley MacIsaac is notorious for being a phantom interview subject. The last time I was scheduled to talk to him, I didn't -- despite three separate attempts over three days (and his record company's repeated promises the wayward fiddler would be on hand to take a phone call).

Wendy MacIsaac is a fiddler in the six-piece Cape Breton band Beolach, slated for shows this week in Duncan and Victoria. She didn't make our first interview. She left a phone message explaining she had to take another one that happened to come her way. Great, I thought. Typical MacIsaac.

But on Wednesday morning, Wendy phoned me from a bus-stop in Ventura, Calif., just as she said she would. Wow. Not only that, the 32-year-old musician was polite, affable and articulate.

On paper, Beolach appears to be the Dino, Desi & Billy of Cape Breton. Wendy is first cousin to Ashley, growing up just five houses away in the town of Creignish. Whistle-player Ryan J. MacNeil is singer Rita MacNeil's nephew, while fiddler Mairi Rankin is a cousin of the Rankin Family.

Wendy says Beolach, together almost four years, isn't a brazen attempt to cash in on the fame of their relatives. Such connections are pure coincidence. Indeed, Cape Breton's musical community is so small, it's almost difficult not to form a Celtic band without a MacNeil or a Rankin. It's small in terms of area as well as numbers -- Wendy notes three of Beolach's members grew up within a 30-minute drive of her.

Beolach specializes in traditional Cape Breton, Scottish and Irish jigs, reels and marches. The group's two-fiddle attack and the inclusion of a drummer (Matthew Foulds) gives it extra punch. Three of the members, including Wendy MacIsaac, do step-dancing as well. "It's really lively," she says. "We have a lot of fun on stage. That kind of spills out into the audience."

Wendy started playing the fiddle in Grade 5. In high school she was part of a fiddle group, The Special Seven, which included Ashley MacIsaac and Natalie MacMaster. She subsequently toured Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom and Europe, performing with such acts as The Barra MacNeils, the Chieftains and Ashley MacIsaac. She worked with Mary Jane Lammond for nine years.

Being a well-established musician in her own right, Wendy doesn't mind being quizzed about her infamous cousin -- even when a journalist asks whether people think she's trading on her name. "I don't try to use the MacIsaac name to get any further (in the music business). We're doing Beolach on the same level," she said. "I've been doing this as long as Ashley."

Not surprisingly, Wendy declines to comment on Ashley's colourful and sometimes wild lifestyle (in his recent autobiography he writes of multitudinous gay sex experiences and a crack cocaine addiction). His private life is "his business," she says, adding: "Ashley is definitely one of the best fiddle players, ever. I certainly admire him in that respect."

'Beolach (a Gaelic word meaning "lively youth") was formed almost accidentally. Its members -- all veteran players -- first jammed together informally in 1998 at a Cape Breton club following individual performances at the Celtic Colours Festival. Audience response was strong, so Beolach decided to make a united go of it.

They have played at North American and European festivals, and released a self-titled album two years ago. Beolach plans to return to the studio to record a follow-up this fall.

Keyboard player Mac Morin -- one of the few Beolachers who isn't related to a famous Cape Bretoner -- concedes some new listeners may come to hear the group solely because of its distinguished family links. "But hopefully," he adds, "they'll want to see the band again because of what they've seen that night."

July 23, 2003
Keeping The Party Lively Cape Breton-Style
Elianna Lev - Victoria News (Victoria, BC) 

"Very lively" is how Beolach fiddler Wendy MacIsaac describes her band's sound. It's a fitting description, considering the band's name means "lively youth" in Scottish Gaelic.

Beolach incorporates Cape Breton, Scottish and Irish instrumental music with step dancing. Their energetic performance can be accredited to the influence of their surroundings.

"In the summertime (in Cape Breton) you can go to a square dance any time of the week," laughs MacIsaac, who has been step dancing since she the age of five.

The popularity of Cape Breton music isn't exclusive to the Eastern provinces. MacIsaac says that whether her band tours the East Coast of Canada or the West Coast of the U.S., people are receptive to her music.

"Almost everyone knows or has heard of Cape Breton music," she says. "It's not a new thing. In Canada, everyone knows it. Everyone knows Ashley (MacIsaac). Everyone knows Natalie (MacMaster). In the U.S. there's a huge following for Cape Breton-style music."

The band, who have been together for three years, first met at a Celtic Colours Festival after-party, where they jammed until 3 a.m.

"People said we sounded good and we thought we sounded good, so that's where it all started," says MacIsaac.

Along with MacIsaac on one fiddle, the rest of the six-piece band consists of Mairi Rankin on second fiddle, Ryan J. MacNeil on pipes and whistles, Patrick Gillis on guitar, Mac Morin on piano and Matthew Foulds on drums. With so many instruments crammed into one band, there is no need for lyrics, says MacIssac.

Most of the band members have collaborated with other Cape Breton musicians, some of whom are well-known relatives who share their last names. MacNeil, for instance, has played with his aunt, Rita. And MacIsaac has previously accompanied her cousin, Ashley, on tour.

For the future, the band plans to continue touring route because "that's what makes the money," says MacIsaac. "We basically hope to be busy out sharing our music with everyone and making a living."

July 2, 2003
Beòlach Forms Second family
By Kristin Froneman - Vernon Morning Star (Vernon, BC)

Some familiar names make up Cape Breton's band of lively young musicians, Beolach, who are coming to play Lorenzo's Café next week.

Ryan MacNeil (pipes and whistles) has performed with his famous aunt Rita both on stage and on TV. Mairi Rankin, who plays the fiddle, can also dance up a storm just like her step-dancing cousins in the Rankin family. And Wendy MacIsaac plays a mean fiddle similar to her scrappy cousin Ashley.

"Our mothers and fathers had big families and that's why everyone seems to be related," said MacIsaac, calling from her East Coast abode. "Dad had 16 kids in his family. Mom only had two, but I have over 70 first cousins. Only three of us play music, Ashley, his sister Lisa, and me."

Beolach, meaning "lively youth", also features guitarist Patrick Gillis, dancer/pianist Mac Morin and drummer Matthew Foulds, and like their counterparts, have played with their fair share of Cape Breton stars, including singer Mary Jane Lamond, fiddlers Buddy and Natalie MacMaster and the Barra MacNeils, among others.

The group, which performs an energetic mix of Cape Breton, Scottish and Irish tunes, first got together when some of the musicians found themselves on stage with each other at the Celtic Colours Festival in October, 1998.

It was at an impromptu session which took place at the festival club in the Gaelic college at St. Ann's, said MacIsaac.

"Everyone got up and played a bunch of tunes. It sounded good. I wasn't there, but I had wanted to start a band. Lisa MacIsaac, my cousin, was at the show and told me about it. . . I called the guys up and we started playing and putting demos together."

Beolach began touring the following July.

"Our first gig away as a full band was at the Harrison Festival in B.C. We arrived to see our poster with a sold-out sign on it. It was amazing."

The musicians also attracted a following, playing along the Eastern sea-board, and last year visiting Scotland and England for eight weeks.

While there, they taught Cape Breton-style fiddle, step-dance and piano to residents on South Uist in the Hebrides Islands.

"Those people in particular love the music and want to get a piece of it back. They also love the dancing," said MacIsaac.

"We always get a really good reception. We feel good when we get off the stage. Everybody makes you feel like you're doing a great job, bringing Cape Breton music to them."

Beolach has also gathered at the Lakewind Sound studio in Point Aconi, located 15 minutes away from the ferry to Newfoundland, to record its debut self-titled CD, featuring original compositions and arrangements of traditional Celtic tunes. The band plans to return there next summer to record the follow-up album.

"It's an awesome spot. I just put out a solo CD there. The engineer is only 24 years old and is a lot of fun," said MacIsaac. "We have about three arrangements put together for the new CD, so we're hoping to get started on more soon."

December 13, 2002
Beòlach Nominated for an ECMA!

Beòlach have been nominated for an East Coast Music Award (ECMA) for "Roots Traditional Group Of The Year". Beòlach's webmaster Cheryl Smith of OutFront Productions also received a nomination for 'Graphic Designer Of The Year'. The awards will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia from February 13-16, 2003. For a complete list of nominations and further informartion, please visit www.ecma.ca.

Beòlach will also be showcasing at 2 ECMA events this year. The "Sneak Peak" stage on February 14th at 7:30pm and the "Roots Room" on February 15th at 5:30pm. 

Fasten Your Safety Belt
Pay The Reckoning, July 2002

Beolach should have superimposed the above safety warning over the picture of a smashed cake of fiddle rosin which adorns the cover of their debut album. For when the assorted boys and girls start shiftin' air with their feet, fingers, elbows and whatever other body parts are brought into play, then it's a hair raising ride.

But though it's exhilarating, we're in no danger. Beolach know what they're doing.

Steeped in the Cape Breton tradition, Beolach play in the muscular, tough, joyous style which earlier generations brought with them across the sea from Scotland. But athletic and powerful thought the sound is, Beolach are at the same time precise and subtle. Not an easy trick to pull off.

Individually, each member of Beolach is an outstanding musician and at various points each is given opportunities to step into the limelight and show us what they're capable of. Therefore we have Ryan MacNeil weave demented tunes on the border pipes and whistles. Mairi Rankin and Wendy MacIsaac give us soaraway fiddle solos and perfect unison duets. Mac Morin provides a solid anchor on piano, here and there switching from accompaniment to melody - in the process causing us to wonder how one person can cover so much distance on the keyboard and summon up such rapid and intricate ornamentation into the bargain. Patrick Gillis, likewise, shifts with ease between roles as an accompanist and lead musician. And last but by no means least, Mattie Foulds on drums and percussion supplies the insistent, high energy rhythm which underpins so much of Beolach's style.

However the bands love of playing as an ensemble comes through constantly in the intricate, wily arrangements. Here and there the band hint at influences. We're sure we detect a whiff of Horslips about the opening bars of the final track, Freddy's Set (Lothian Lasses/Freddy's/Reel For Spankey/Mutt's Favorite) which features some raw, breathy whistle courtesy of Ryan MacNeil.

Singling out individual sets on an album of such consistently high quality serves little purpose. If you truly want to get the most out of Beolach's debut, then play it the whole way through at full blast. We can gaurantee you'll want to repeat the experience...and soon.

Beòlach CD Review
Tom Knapp - Rambles (November 2001)

There's a new storm of talent brewing in Cape Breton. A new showcase of the island's best young performers, aptly named Beolach (Gaelic for "lively youth"), provided some of the most memorable during Celtic Colours 2001. I was ecstatic when Wendy MacIsaac, one of the band's two fiddlers, handed me a copy of the band's self-titled album to take a piece of the magic home with me.

Believe me, the band doesn't suffer in the studio. Fresh and exciting as they are on stage, the musicians of Beolach did a cracking good job nailing their sound to a disc.

Beolach is Wendy MacIsaac and Mairi Rankin on fiddles, Ryan J. MacNeil on border pipes and whistles, Matt Foulds on percussion, Patrick Gillis on guitar and Mac Morin on piano. MacIsaac, Rankin and Morin also provide the fancy footwork -- a treat live, but still good percussion on the disc.

These six Capers aren't only great musicians. They're also talented arrangers -- the blend of tunes on this album keeps me hitting the repeat button to hear tracks again. Trust me on this one -- check out Beolach for a taste of Cape Breton's "lively youth" at their finest.

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