Advance Planning: Goderich Celtic College & Festival

The 2012 Dates and Info for the Goderich Celtic College & Celtic Roots Festival are up early this year! Both Kim Robertson and Sharlene Wallace will be there, along with a ton of other amazing Celtic and folk musicians.

Schedules and other updates will be posted on their main site, so keep an eye on http://www.celticfestival.ca/

If you’re on Facebook, you can visit the Celtic Roots Festival Facebook page here.

Goderich was hard hit by a tornado in 2011, and is still rebuilding, so they can use all the help you can give. Information on donations and volunteer efforts can be found here.

Northern Lights Harp Fest

Just got back this morning, and what a weekend it was!  The first ever Northern Lights Harp Fest in Ottawa was a resounding success (despite the glitches with the sound system on the last day).   I had hoped to blog “live” (as it were) from the hotel, but my computer decided it didn’t like the hotel’s “plug ‘n’ play” internet hookup and refused to play along.   Turned out I didn’t really have any free time to spare, anyhow.  I only left the hotel once, and that was to walk one door over to the restaurant (which, it turns out, is accessible by a nearby escalator, so technically I could have spent the whole weekend indoors, only seeing the sky through the rain-streaked windows.)

Much too tired to write more today, but there will be full-fledged review of the event coming up, as soon as we’ve unpacked and I’ve had a chance at a real night’s sleep.  Update Dec. ’09: Real life intervened and I never did get around to a proper review, sorry about that. Hoping to get the Blog going regularly again in January, after things calm down. – T.H.

One final note for all who are interested, the NLHF is going to be held bi-annually, so start saving now for 2011!

Double Harp Demo Video with Acacia Lyra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49Nj1VpVDs0

From Joanne Griffin, Secretary, Northern Lights Harp Fest:

“I know many of you have been curious about the V68 harp-for-two. Since this harp will be used for the open-mic-for-two at the Northern Lights Harp Fest, www.northernlightsharpfest.com, we decided to shoot a demo video to show folks that it actually plays and sounds like a harp (or harps). Acacia Lyra (Susan Sweeney Herman & Janine Dudding), who will be performing and giving a workshop at the Fest, kindly agreed to perform their rendition of Chanter Meets the Fairy King for the video.

The regular registration deadline for the NLHF is July 15th. If you haven’t already done so, sign up now for what promises to be an entertaining, informative and exciting harp experience!”

Credits: V68 harp by Don Peddle, Artwork by Patricia Doyle (Blackburn ON), Videography by Lois Siegel Productions Inc. (Ottawa ON)

October Northern Lights Harp Fest in Ottawa: Deadline July 15!

The folks organizing the Northern Lights Harp Fest in Ottawa in October (Oct. 2-4 2009) are trying to encourage everyone who is interested to register ASAP, so they can meet their minimum number of 60 participants by July 15.  It would be truly excellent to be able to have a regular harp conference in Ontario, since for most of us, travelling to the bigger conferences in the USA often isn’t feasible.  But, in order for that to happen, they first need to make this year’s conference a success.

Please pass this info along to any harp players you may know.  Students and beginners are welcome – there will be harp classes for all levels at the conference.

For more info, check out the official website:
http://www.northernlightsharpfest.com/

Let’s make this happen!