Fanrealm.com » Ireland

Guinness is Looking for a Few Good Bands

Jane Woods — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:09:57 +0000

In order to expand Arthur’s Day festivities from the current Cork, Galway and Dublin celebrations to include every place in Ireland from Donegal to Kerry, Guinness would like to sign up 100 bands to perform with the likes of Snow Patrol and Paolo Nutini as Arthur Day grows.

To accomplish this worthy goal they will be holding showcases on Thursdays from July 15- August 5th. For more info and to register, bands of legal age, are asked to go to their website http://www.guinness.com/en-ie/arthursday/our_thursdays.html

We can only hope that once Arthur’s Day, Sept 23, becomes a National Holiday in Ireland they take the campaign world wide. International Arthur’s Day has a pretty nice ring to it, don’t you think? Guinness could give the entire music industry and a lot of bands a much needed boost by thinking globally. Let the record show (hey they have a whole book on records) that Fanrealm is more than willing to do all we can to promote International Arthur Day. Arthur Guinness gave us a wonderful elixir that is not only good for you but can help the sagging economy and quite possibly even promote world peace so he certainly deserves a day! Great music and Great beer – what’s not to like?

Be sure to stop by their facebook page and show your support http://www.facebook.com/GuinnessIreland

If you are in favor of an International Arthur Day let your voice be heard by voting in our poll in the column at the right.

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Sephira by Sephira

Jane Woods — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:51:40 +0000

Sephira is an Irish act comprised of two sisters, Ruth and Joyce O’Leary. Their self titled cd is the second from these talented sisters combining some of the songs from their critically acclaimed cd Believe and an EP also entitled Sephira. The years of musical study they have done is obvious from the first crystal clear note. While this is more classical than I generally go for, the girls won me over right away. There is a magical quality about the songs and they could serve as a soundtrack for every girl’s life or the life they dream of having. There is a little Jane Austen meets Cyndy Lauper feel to the cd that will speak to every woman. This songs music will touch the romantic in anyone. I especially loved Love of My Life and My World. Time was hauntingly beautiful. All of the above mentioned were written by the sisters. They also do a wonderful job on David Gates’ If. Three of the cuts are live performances. This one is perfect to pop in the cd player and mellow out even the toughest commute. Seriously, the idiots will actually drive better when you’re listening to this cd.

I could find very little to be critical of here. I think I would have liked a little more emphases on the lovely voices when the cd was mixed and slightly less on the music which does seem to overpower them in a few places. I can’t wait to see what they do next time. I am hoping they bring even more passion to the next one and take us deeper into their magical, musical world.

Song List

Dreams
If
Angel
Love Of My Life
Time
Reflections
My World
Don’t Trust Tango
Come Home To Me
Sunrise
El Tango De Roxanne/Libertango

Visit them at their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/sephira or at their website http://www.sephira.ie/

This cd is available at or at cd baby

Their first album is also available at cdbaby

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Songs For My Mother by Ronan Keating

Stacey — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:44:50 +0000

By Stacey P.

I discovered Ronan Keating last year, after listening to Phil Coulter’s Songs I Loved So Well. After hearing his voice on the last song, Town I Loved So Well, with Phil, I felt I needed to hear more from this man. While he isn’t well known on this side of the pond, he is known around Europe and Australia.

I have several of his CDs. I prefer the more recently made ones compared to the older ones, but there is something worth listening to on every disc.

Now, normally, I would be skeptical about a CD that is almost all cover songs, but this one is very good. It starts out with a rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time. While I still prefer Lauper singing this, I do think Keating’s version is worth a listen or two. Make You Feel My Love is absolutely beautiful.

I am not really a big fan of Both Sides Now, or Vincent, I do think this artist has improved upon them. I even find myself singing along to them, when I least suspect it. Momma’s Arms is so touching.

The traditional songs on this album blow me away. Carrickfergus, and Wild Mountain Time are 2 of my favorites on this disc. I never thought that I’d like anybody besides Elvis Presley singing Suspicious Minds, but Keating does a wonderful cover.The last song on the disc, This Is Your Song, quickly rose to be one of my favorites. If you have a good mom, had a good mom, or know a good mom, you can picture her with this song. It is a song about what mothers inspire in their children, and how it sticks with us as we grow into adulthood and beyond.

The complete song list

Time After Time
Make You Feel My Love
Both Sides Now
Vincent
Carrickfergus
I Believe I Can Fly
Mama’s Arms
The Wild Mountain Time
Suspicious Minds
This Is Your Song.

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Celtic Thunder Tour Update

Jane Woods — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:56:30 +0000

I just got this in my other email and thought I would post it here. For those who have not heard of Celtic Thunder a brief word of explanation might be in order. They are not a group. It is a show made up of 5 Celtic soloists. If you are a fan of Phil Coulter, you would enjoy the show as he is the musical director and wrote many original pieces for the show. The five soloists are Paul Bryom (see reviews for his other work directly below and here ), George Donaldson (the only Scot in the crowd), Keith Harkin (see more about him here ), Ryan Kelly (beloved bad boy of the show) and Damian McGinty (youngest of the bunch, growing up before the eyes of the fans).

This is their third North American tour. The second time touring Take Me Home, which is their 3rd cd. They have made a few national appearances like the the Today Show and the NYC St Patrick’s Day parade but have been shown mostly on PBS. I keep hoping they will do more national tv so the rest of America can discover them. The show is actually a good time and not as formal as you might expect because of their association with PBS. The word Celtic in the show title refers to their countries of origin. It does not mean it is all classic Celtic music. They have a variety of songs in the show including an original number written by one of the members, Keith Harkin. There are also covers of more familiar tunes that we all know and love.

They are in Minneapolis tonight and Chicago tomorrow night. The tour continues into November as follows:

11/1/09 – Detriot, MI
11/2/09 – South Bend, IN
11/3/09 – St. Lousi, MO
11/5/09 – Denver, CO
11/7/09 – Sand Diego, CA
11/8/09 – Los Angeles, CA
11/10/09 – Seattle, WA
11/11/09 – Seattle, WA
11/12/09 – Portland, OR
11/16/09 – Grand Prairie, TX
11/17/09 – Houston, TX
11/18/09 – Little Rock, AR
11/19/09 – Nashville, TN
11/21/09 – Orlando, FL

Tickets for most shows can be purchased through ticketmaster but you can check here for more details.

You can see a sample of the show here

MP3 downloads also available at Amazon and ITunes.

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If I Could Cry by Paul Byrom

Jane Woods — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:50:05 +0000

Singles! I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the return of singles. I hated it when the record companies decided that they could force you to buy a whole album to get the song you liked. I was thrilled when mp3s came along and you got that power back again. Okay, I know they had those cute little cds too but I don’t always jump at the latest technology that comes down the pike. Learned my lesson with 8 tracks. Yep, I am that old.

But, as usual, I digress. I am here to talk about Paul Byrom’s new single If I Could Cry This song is from the play Sleeping Beauty, in which Paul appeared. Paul is a tenor and the drama he delivers in the song drags you right in to it. It is a powerful and romantic song and Paul does it perfectly. If you are into things in the vein of Phantom of the Opera, this song is your cup of tea.

This song is available in all the usual outlets including Amazon. Click through here to have a listen and if you decide to buy it please use this link and Amazon will toss a few coins our way too which we will use to pay the cyber landlord.

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The Devlins

Jane Woods — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:07:35 +0000

I was stumbling around on myspace and I discovered this great Irish Indie band. Now in full why am I always the last one to know type of disclosure I have to admit they are hardly undiscovered. Their music has been featured in Six Feet Under and the Closer but since I am not much of a television watcher I never heard of them before.

They call themselves Rock / Alternative / Acoustic I just call them great music. If you, too, have been in the dark about them check out their my space page http://www.myspace.com/thedevlins They also have a website http://www.thedevlins.com with all kinds of fun stuff to explore. I intend to go back and play around some more after I finish adding songlists to the album review posts. Some one suggested that and I think it’s a good idea.

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