General Press Reviews & Features

New Music From Ireland Makes Peace with Past
by Thom Duffy (Home & Abroad column)

The statement was historic; its musical setting, entirely appropriate.

When Tony Blair recently became the first British prime minister to acknowledge the role of the British government in the Irish Famine, which devastated that country 150 years ago, he notably chose to do so as part of a commemorative concert.

"That 1 million people should have died in what was then part of the richest and most powerful nation in the world is something that still causes pain as we reflect on it today." said Blair's statement, which was read by actor Gabriel Byrne May 31 in Cork, Ireland during the Great Irish Famine Event, where Van Morrison, the Chieftains and others performed.

"Those who governed in London at the time failed their people through standing by while a crop failure turned into a massive human tragedy," wrote Blair. The potato blight of 1845, 1846 and 1849 forced mass emigration from Ireland and had an impact on the Irish culture and character that is undeniable even today. Blair went on to celebrate "the resilience and courage of those Irish men and women who were able to forge another life outside Ireland, and the rich culture and vitality they brought with them."

This declaration deserved to be made in a setting of dance and song. The simple fact is that artists and musicians, not politicians, have carried on the work of reconciliation in the years since the famine. Two noteworthy albums by Irish artists offer evidence of that.

"Between the Worlds" by harpist/vocalist Áine Minogue does not directly address the famine's legacy but reflects, generations later, on the journey of one Irish immigrant in America through the images of Celtic mythology.

This lovely album, Minogue's debut for RCA Victor, seamlessly draws on classical, traditional, and contemporary influences. More important, it evidences the spiritually healing quality of Celtic music, which - as Billboard's correspondent Ken Stewart reports in this issue's Spotlight on Celtic Music - helps explain the genre's remarkable worldwide popularity.

by Randy Lewis

Irish harpist Minogue has such a feathery touch on her instrument that the lasting impression of this album is one of dance music for leprechauns.

You'd expect such ethereal music-making from a harpist on ballads, and Minogue delivers on such achingly beautiful numbers as "Flower of Magherally" and the title tune.

Minogue - no relation to Aussie pop singer Kylie - also happens to sing as angelically as she plays. The real knockout among several hauntingly lovely vocals is her a Capella work on "Airde Cuan," the homesick lament of an Irish worker standing on the western shore of Scotland and gazing longingly at his homeland. Her voice, rich with melancholy, is accompanied only by sounds of the waves lapping on the rocks.

What's perhaps more of a surprise, then, is the heavenly delicacy she also brings to jigs and reels such as "Trippin' Down the Stairs/Peter Street" and "Miss McCloud's Hornpipe/Miss McCloud's Reel."

She's joined for the latter by fiddler Seamus Connolly, one of a handful of Irish traditional folk musicians who lend support on seven of the 12 tunes. With its segway from the measured pace of the hornpipe into the buoyant reel, "Miss McCloud" bring the album to an unabashedly joyous close.

Anyone who's skeptical of the concept of heaven as a place where eternity is spent listening to harp music should hear this. Áine Minogue proves beyond reasonable doubt why the harp is indeed the instrument of angels.

CRITIC'S TIP, November 12, 1998
by Scott Alarik

A BALM FOR OUR TIMES

The alluring Irish harpist; singer and songwriter Áine Minogue plumbs ancient Celtic myth and spirituality to offer keys on coping with our noisome modern times. With her beautifully airy soprano and traditional savvy, she has a remarkable ability to be at once provocative and soothing. Minogue appears at the Center for the Arts, 31 Main St., in Natick on Saturday 8:00 p.m.

by Scott Alarik

...this Irish harpist combines a hypnotic Celtic spirituality and contemporary sophistication in her playing and delicately lovely singing....beguiling style....Áine Minogue's harp was dark and beautiful.....

Áine Minogue at Club Passim
by Steve Morse, Globe Staff

Minogue's roots are in traditional Irish harp music, which she performs with angelic grace. Hailing from County Tipperary in Ireland, she now lives in the Boston area. She celebrated the release of a new CD ("Circle of the Sun" on the RCA label) with an absolutely enchanting night at Club Passim. She mixed traditional with original songs singing deftly above her harp melodies. Two fine harmony singers (Alasdair Halliday and John Arimond) added further zest.

Áine Minogue at Coffeehouse Off the Square, Hingham MA
by Scott Alarik, Globe Correspondent

HINGHAM - Before December became the season of Christmas and Hanukkah, it was nonetheless an important and holy time. Particularly for people in northern climes, midwinter was a period of fear, full of the dangers that dark, cold winter can bring.

So customs were created to bring communities together. They lamented the dying of the old year, marked by winter solstice, and they celebrated the worldÕs turning again, toward the growing light of spring.

The local Irish harpist Áine Minogue has become something of a musical midwinter druid for the local folk community. this time of year, she is in demand throughout New England, thanks largely to the enduring popularity of her 1995 Evergreen CD, "To Warm the Winter's Night," a beautifully hushed journey through Celtic and English midwinter and Christmas music.

For the second year, Minogue brought her holiday show to the wood-warmed, tall-windowed hall of First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, also known as the Old Ship Church for the shape of its 17th-century sanctuary. The coffeehouse hall, which is across the street, was packed to its 200-seat limit for the 4 p.m. show - ideally timed for the woodsy window view to form a perfect backdrop to her eloquent harp and her soft, lovely voice.

Minogue is steeped in Celtic lore, and she peeled back the layers of the Christmas we know to reveal the still-vibrant roots of the pre-Christian midwinter holiday. The skies darkened as if on cue while she sang her way back from familiar carols to older Celtic airs, like the mystical "The Grove," and the brooding hymn "In the Deep Midwinter," filled with dark, chill images.

Minogues airy soprano was barely above a whisper, but it was an exquisitely controlled whisper. On a Gaelic rendition of "Silent Night," she arched to the daunting heights without peaking her volume in the least, all the more remarkable in the thick of the consonant-rich Gaelic lyrics.

Minogue's harp was wonderfully articulate, whether plucking out quick-hop jigs or hauntingly pretty airs, which she joked were played to a serendipitous cadence called "international harp time." "King of the Faeries" sounded just like its name shimmering with antique mystery and playfulness. "Study in D" was so tenderly romantic that the crowd sighed in unison for several seconds before disturbing the quiet with applause.

Between songs, Minogue told witty tales of her girlhood in Tipperary, and she explained Celtic spirituality's belief that earth, air, fire and water are the elements of life; so that where two or more combined - in the seashore, mist, woodsmoke, veils were created between physical and spiritual worlds. Those places and substances were deemed especially holy.

The trees were now stark shadows against the slate sky; the 200 within were like some ancient huddled community, swaying together as Minogue sang an old Irish carol about just such dark winter nights and the comfort of just such gatherings.

ÁINE MINOGUE - Death, Rebirth Through Song - Irish harpist celebrates winter solstice with traditional Celtic music
by Robert Knox

As winter solstice draws near, Plymouth Library is calling on Irish harpist Áine Minogue to help brighten the shortest and thus darkest day of the year.

That's what ancient solstice festivals were mean to do, according to Susan Cooper's poem "The shortest Day," one of the sources of Minogue's winter solstice program.

"The wheel of the year was important in the Old Celtic world view," Minogue said. It was "tied in with the agricultural cycle." The Celts imagined the year as a cycle, she said and the winter solstice sat at the top of the circle.

"The reason we know the solstice was important is Newgrange," Minogue said. An ancient burial site in county Meath, the stone mound at Newgrange is carved with beautiful spirals in a place generally hidden by shadows most of the year. "On the solstice the light shines on the tomb completely," she said.

In Celtic society, as in other ancient cultures throughout the world, Minogue noted, the solstice is connected with myths concerning the birth of a "sun god." Her winter solstice program draws on the view of the solstice as a sacred time - a time of death but also of rebirth - in which the worlds of men and of the gods are closer together.

The program includes traditional Celtic carols and a 14th century version of "Greensleeves," which includes the lyric, "the old year now away is fled." Minogue also plays the music to the "Horn Dance," a traditional dance at the solstice thought to have origins in pre-Christian fertility rite, and "Mummers March," a wintertime processional for costumed dancers and actors who went door-to-door performing for treats." It also served the practical purpose of checking in on people during the winter months," she said.

Her album "To Warm the Winter's Night" is devoted to winter holiday music and probes the connection between the ancient seasonal festival of the winter solstice and the holidays that later societies have observed at the same time of year, notably Christmas. At the time of the shortest day of the year, traditional societies of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, and across the channel in Brittany, France, "south to connect the old with the new through song and dance," according to Minogue's album notes, in "the death and the rebirth of a new year."

December 17, 1999
8 Days a Week by Jim Macnie

I took the long way home the other night because the vibe of Áine Minogue's To Warn the Winter's Night (Evergreen) had me captured. The pieces, arranged for Irish harp, cello, fiddle and voice know all about manipulating mood. As Minogue works her way through Holiday tunes from Wales, Scotland, England, and Ireland, she lets the well-considered tempos represent the conviction of each melody. "The Olde Year Now Away Has Fled" -- what we usually deem as "Greensleeves" -- boasts a soprano sax; using one or two voicings, it makes a strong case for singularity. I'll bet she puts a spell on you at 8 p.m. at the Common Fence Point Community Hall Anthony Road, Portsmouth). Tickets are $15. Call 683-5085.

Harpist's Recording is a Gaelic Treasure - December 17, 1995
by Stephen Ide

Áine Minogue spent three years as a harpist in a medieval castle in Ireland, playing music steeped in the Gaelic tradition. Now a resident of Arlington, Minogue succeeded in stunning audiences with both her harp playing and her angelic voice. Her latest album, "To Warm the Winter's Night" is a musical treasure.

Produced by fiddler Johnny Cunningham (Nightnoise, Silly Wizard), the album weaves the spoken word with holiday carols, songs for the new year and for the winter solstice from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany (France), England and Wales.

In a telephone interview, Minogue said she had wanted to compile an album of Christmas music for some time. Using brief passages of poetry and verse, she said, she hoped to create a journey through time and music, an exploration of winter and nature themes from throughout the Celtic lands.

Born in County Tipperary, Ireland, Minogue plays the Irish harp with delicate fingerings, adept at drawing mood, nuance and melody. Her voice is crystalline and mystical in songs like the Welsh hymn "Calon Lan" or the Irish "The Darkest Midnight."

She performs dances to usher in the season, like the "Merry Christmas Jig" from Ireland, an uplifting instrumental blending whistles, oboe, cello and harp.

While pieces like "Silent Night" (sung in Gaelic) and the instrumental "Greensleeves" (with added soprano sax) are familiar, most of the songs are obscure. Many are played in minor keys, adding to the moodiness of this eclectic, delightful holiday album.

Minogue will perform at Adams Academy, Hancock and Dimmock Streets in Quincy center, as part of Quincy First Night Celebration.

"Portland venue welcomes Celtic harpist"

Minogue is on the road in support of her fourth solo release titled "Circle of the Sun" on RCA Victor Records. The recording captures the seasonal cycle of the sun in music that shifts effortlessly between the ancient stylings of the great harper Turlough O'Carolan ("A Midwinter Concerto") and the more modern tones of Mark Simos' "Fill It To the Brim."

The album is made up of small ensembles and solo performances, the latter of which, it's discovered in a recent telephone interview from her New England home, will be like her Empty Pockets show.

"It's just going to be me and the harp," she explains. "IÕll do a bunch of playing and a bit of singing. It'll be an intimate kind of a Christmas show. I really like the Christmas shows," she adds, "essentially what happens is that you're sort of combining the harp, which is kind of very Christmas-y and then there's Celtic music, which seems to be becoming kind of synonymous with Christmas for some reason. Plus I have a lot of "winter" material, as well.

"There will probably be half and half - half will Celtic and the other half will be Christmas material or holiday material. I've collected a lot of old Irish, even Scottish and Welsh (tunes), obscure, sweet music."

by Christine Hamm

HOLIDAY HARPS
Musicians join forces for a Celtic Christmas concert

Earthly troubadours may wander the land carrying guitars, but in heaven, Ireland and, this Saturday night in Concord, the bards accompany themselves on the Celtic harp. Harpists/vocalists Áine Minogue, who hails from the Emerald lsle's County Tipperary, and Julia Lane, who grew up on this side of the Atlantic in Exeter, promise to warm a winter's night with the haunting sounds of ancient and contemporary Celtic airs at the Annicchiarico Theater Saturday at 8 p.m.

The ancient Celts held poets with their harps in high esteem, second only to royalty, said Minogue. The bards led warriors into battle, celebrated their victories and commiserated in their defeats. Today, too, the harp can be alternately stirring, quieting, fanciful and sacred. It remains the national symbol of Ireland. Saturday's program will celebrate the season. Both Lane and Minogue have released holiday albums that feature tributes to the Yule, New Year, Christmas and the Winter Solstice. As nature sleeps and we hurtle through days filled with the pressure of holiday preparations, listening to the kind of music that recalls the peaceful calm of a winter snowstorm is not a bad way to spend a mid-December evening. Harpists Minogue and Lane are the fourth presentation of The New Hampshire Federation of Musical Traditions, a group founded earlier this year.

Minogue grew up in a musical family of 10 children, and attended a Catholic boarding school whose programs included a 110 piece orchestra and an annual opera with the boys' school next door. After experimenting with other instruments, she found her life's love when a nun who was her music teacher introduced her to the harp. Eventually Minogue's playing led to a job at Bunratty Castle in Shannon, one of Ireland's leading tourist attractions, where she performed for three years.

Minogue came to Boston on a holiday and never left. Since then, she has provided official musical welcomes for Irish president Mary Robinson, Irish prime ministers Garrett Fitzgerald and Albert Reynolds, the mayor of Dublin and actress Maureen O'Hara. She has also played at clubs, concert halls, folk festivals and the occasional castle from Maine to Texas to California; made a music video which has aired on PBS's Out of Ireland, Austin City Limits and on Mor Music and Americana; released three CDs and been hailed by the Boston Globe for her dark and beautiful style.

One reviewer said, "When you go to see Minogue play, and you should unless chained to the garage, you will find a kind of music for which there is no exact equivalent in any of the other arts."

Two Harps and Voices for Christmas will be Presented Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Annicchiarico Theater, 1 Thompson St., Concord. Tickets are $1O for the general public, $8 for members of the New Hampshlre Federation of Musical traditions, and may be purchased at the door or in advance by calling 7833.

Portland, ME
Dec. 17, 1998

Irish music comes in more than a few varieties. You've got your jigs and reels, your weepy ballads, your U2-Sinead O'Connor modern rock and your Enya-esque New Age whispers. This is an immense over-simplification, of course, but it serves to point out that the music of Ireland is a fluid, flexible thing. No one understands this better than Áine Minogue, a New England harpist originally from County Tipperary. Minogue is the latest in a long line of Irish harpist-singer-storytellers who preserve the stories and songs of the past while adding their own creativity to each piece.

Her voice is haunting and her songs are far more interesting than the wispy plinking you might expect. Before her performance is a variety show and a toy drive to benefit Toys for Tots.

ARLINGTON HARPIST BRINGS SCORES OF MUSIC FULL CIRCLE
Artist Harmonizes old music styles with new style
By Maureen Costello

Áine Minogue discovered her musical style after searching through centuries of Celtic music. "I had an interest in taking an old piece of music and harmonizing it with a conventional harmony," Minogue said over tea at her Arlington home. There was no intention of restyling her ancestral music to today's format, she added. "Whatever way they spoke to me, that's what I did." Through the strings of her harp, Minogue wove ancient and contemporary musical styles into one, creating a soothing, almost Gothic, blend of music laced with mythical chants. This style was so appealing, Minogue found herself performing on request for family and friends. "It never occurred to me that my little tunes would be of interest to anyone," she said in her native Irish brogue. "But people kept asking me to play them." Her work impressed more than just those who knew her personally. Minogue's recordings have been praised by internationally renowned music critics. "Celtic singer Áine Minogue is quickly outstripping any comparisons to Enya, but that's still a good place to start,", Billboard Magazine wrote about her fifth and latest CD, "Circle of the Sun." "Minogue's ethereal voice caresses her Gaelic lyrics like a breeze through Irish mists." Don Heckman of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Harpist-singer Áine Minogue blends traditional sounds with a cross-cultural blend of live and studio textures in "Circle of the Sun" a musically compelling album that bears some resemblance to the recent work of another Irish artist, Enya."

Even before the reviews hit the presses, Minogue, was receiving favorable response from music fans. As a young woman in Ireland; she played the harp for prime ministers and at folk festivals throughout the country.

Her music today, which she not only writes, but arranges, produces and performs vocally as well as instrumentally, is on the play lists on WNTN's Irish Program, WGBH radio, Emerson College's radio station WERS, and the radio station at UMass Dartmouth. This play, coupled with on-air interviews (which she enjoys doing) helps boost sales and increases the audiences at live performances. She enjoys the feedback she gets and is in the process of having a web site developed so she can be more interactive with listeners.

IN THE BEGINNING

Music has always been a part of Minogue's life. She was born in Borrisokane, County Tipperary, Ireland, the youngest of 10 children. Music study was encouraged from an early age, and young Áine learned to play the tin whistle and piano, often performing with her siblings at home and at local music festivals.

At 12, she discovered the joys of the harp while a student at an all-girls Catholic boarding school. A teacher, Eileen Walsh, had great confidence in Minogue's ability to master the ancient instrument that has come to symbolize her native land.

Under Walsh's instruction, Minogue studied classical and Irish music "step by step," Minogue recalled. She earned a seat as one of seven harpists for the school's 114 piece orchestra, a number she says "is amazing for such a small, little school."

Minogue continued her study of the harp, its lore and music. Her first full-time job, in fact, was as a harpist. She played music for tourists of Bunratty Castle, a 15th-century attraction in County Clare. That position, she says, "terrified me. I was very shy and it was really difficult for me. But it was the best possible training. You had to speak to people, and I had to look interested while playing the same thing for people." Soon after, Minogue left Ireland for New England "on a major whim."

Minogue continued to strum her harp, this time adding more of her own interpretation to the music. She wrote her first CD "Between the Worlds," based on the Druids' belief that everything in between two elements or forces is magic. For instance, holly is magic because it is neither tree nor bush.

"Circle of the Sun," a collection of 14 chants and traditional Irish music, brings the listener full circle around the calendar. The track "Beltane," she says, is spring. "It's spring fever. It's not grounded. It's a wild piece." The track, "Lughnasadh," on the other hand, represents autumn, "the harvest, tradition. The time of marriages," says Minogue.

HARMONIZING WORK, FAMILY

Minogue met her own husband, Brian, an Arlington native, about five years ago. "We were having a music session in the house one night, and he walked in the front door." That was it, she said. The couple married and recently purchased the two-family house in which, Brian grew up. Family life, which includes spending time with her 15-year old son William, add to the mix of her already-full schedule. As do most working women, she juggles to balance her personal and professional life, eking out time to work on new material for live performances, playing with her son, or adding personal touches to the home's interior. She slides her harp in the backseat of her car when headed for a gig, recording studio in Carlisle or just a music session with friends.

Music, she says, is a male-dominated business, but not an impossible one for a woman with drive.

"You have to really love it to stay in it," says Minogue. "Male or female as well. But I rarely think about things like that."

Minogue's CD "Circle of the Sun" was released this year by RCA.

Festival Celebrates the earthly pleasures of harp music
by Jeff Kaliss

For many of us, the harp is part of a mythical stereotype, something we will have to listen to, and might get to play when we finally reach heaven.

But how about revisualizing the instrument as a means of enhancing life right here on Earth? That's the intent of the second annual Harps off the World festival, which opens today at the Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek and continues with a Dec. 12 performance in Mountain View and shows on Dec. l4 and 15 in San Francisco.

The concerts will include performances by medieval harpist John Fleagle, Celtic harpist, Áine Minogue, African-harp experts Lark and Kris Bowerman, and other performers.

From the hunting bow, the harp has for thousands of years had symbolic connections to the harmony - and balance - between life and death. Notes Lark Bowerman, it's like "a propulsive energy that mimics the rhythms of the Swahili language."

By contrast, the melodies of Minogue's larger, more intricate Irish harp are more elaborate and closer to classical music. "I'm not sure people view it as being a traditional Irish instrument, but oddly enough it was around before Christianity and is the oldest instrument in the country," says Minogue.

She learned to play the Irish harp from Eileen Walsh, a nun in a boarding school in County Galway on Ireland's west coast. Her harp has 36 strings and levers to alter tunings, but otherwise bears a resemblance to the classical orchestral harp which has 50 or more strings and includes pedals. Having gown up in a folk music-loving family, Minogue shied away from a classical career.

"I had the option, and decided to pass on it. There's just not the passion in the music and it's too rigorous," she said. Minogue moved to Boston several years ago "on a whim" and last year recorded "Were You At the Rock", making use of fiddle and voice, the production of Scotsman Johnny Cunningham, and the work of other traditional musicians to create a collection of feisty jigs and reels and moody airs.

She has been kept busy performing for the Boston Irish community and has noticed that "the fiddle is finding its way to the concert hall, while the harp is going to the informal jam session when it feels like it."

'"People have a preconceived notion about the harp, of it being very genteel, but it can be very expressive."

In Walnut Creek, Minogue will both sing (in Gaelic and English) and play, accompanied by fiddler Tommy McCarthy and banjo and accordion player Louise Costello. She's looking forward to bonding with other harpists, but also notes their styles are very different.

"A lot of the Irish stuff is much more complex than the harp music of other nations," she says. "On the South American harp, it's very rhythmic, very showy, very macho, you've got all men. It's very much patterns that they play. . . and the strings are lighter, and they play with their nails. On the Irish harp, the strings are much more taut, with a deeper, luscious sound, so you've to move your fingers, and they've got to be strong."

December 17, 1998
by Liz Derby

Harpist/singer Áine Minogue featured

The Coffeehouse off the Square and The Aisling Gallery present Áine Minogue, distinguished harpist singer, in a rare South Shore appearance at Hingham's Old Ship Church Parish House, at 4 p.m Saturday, Dec. 20.

It has been suggested that the harp produces sounds that most closely represent those of heaven; Whatever your idea of heaven, come see Áine with friends Alasdair Halliday, Vincent Crotty for a rousing and inspiring pre-holiday musicale. Watch with fascination as Áine (pronounced Ohnya) beguiles the strings of her Celtic harp with deft fingers to make it sing with precise clarity and haunting rhythm the music of the season as you may never have seen or heard it before. Thrill to the ethereal voice that Billboard magazine has called, "fragile lilting...that wraps around the lyrics like a gently windblown satin sheet." This performance embraces Christmas and the solstice in Celtic tradition, and shimmers with the gilt of an age striving toward its spirituality.

Áine was born in Borrisokane, County Tipperary, the product of a large musical family -- now scattered abroad in Australia, England, Germany and the United States as well as Ireland. She and her siblings were encouraged to play a variety of instruments, which they did as a family at festivals (fleadhs) and every other opportunity. She didn't discover the harp until the age of 12, however, and it became the instrument of her devotion. After completing school, Áine spent three years developing her skills as a harpist at Bunratty Castle, County Clare. I first met Áine about five years ago through the Aisling Galleries in Hingham, where I had gone intending to learn to play the Celtic harp. At that time, a fledgling recording artist and producer of her first album, Were You at the Rock, Áine patiently guided my chubby, short fingers over the strings as I clumsily clutched the harp to my bosom. At that time, she didn't fancy herself a singer, feeling that her voice was at best fragile, and only a vehicle to provide the balance between instrumental and vocal demanded by record producers and radio stations to insure air time for her album. But she never lacked confidence about her mastery of the Celtic harp. Now, this harpist and singer of unchallenged endowment and keen faculty, has gone on to produce five more albums in as many years: including To Warm the Winter's Night, The Mysts of Time, and Between the Worlds. She has performed for audiences and dignitaries in the United States and past presidents and prime ministers of Ireland. Her instrumental harp soundtrack may be heard in Dr. Leo Shea's Yeats County. Her music videos have been aired on the PBS presentation of Out of Ireland.

Asked whether the extraordinary success of Riverdance and the movie Titanic might be responsible for the current fascination for all things Irish, Áine reminded me,"I think it was already moving in that direction. You could see it coming if you were in the trenches." And I think she's right on. I had already put aside my attempt to play the harp long before anyone had ever heard about Riverdance in this country.

Circle of the Sun is Áine's second album for RCA Victor. It reflects the perennial changing of the seasons using a traditional Gaelic calendar, suggesting that the natural rhythms are circular, like the seasons: birth from death, joy from despair, and bounty from emptiness. Her newest album, The Vow, An Irish Wedding Celebration, is due to be released January Ist by North Star Records. Áine has formed her own production company, DruidStone. She enjoys pulling artists out of obscurity, and pushing them to the fore. No longer tentative about any aspect of her own ability or of the direction she wants her music to take, she does what her heart dictates, and takes full responsibility. "Whether akin to Christian, or pre-Christian spirit, or old Celtic ways," she explained, "I love the music of the philosophy, not wanting to impose the philosophy of the music." Áine Minogue is committed to the renascent culture of her Irish heritage. Brian O'Donovan, manager of the New England Patriots and WGBH Radio host of A Celtic Sojourn (airing every Saturday at noon on 87.9 FM) said, "Áine pushes her art to the edge of her music. She embraces a traditional core and reapproaches it, wrapping it in new and exciting clothing." Donovan invites everyone to see Minogue in performance. "She's a terrific musician, with an uncanny ability to connect with her audience." Bring the family for an Irish holiday treat. Tickets at the door $10. Coffee, tea and cider, scones and other desserts will be served. Call (781) 479-1767 for information.

March 12, 1998
by Alice C. Coyle

Celtic harpist Áine Minogue brings her lyrical song to the South Shore

It's a long way to Tipperary, the beautiful Irish countryside where Celtic harpist Áine Minogue grew up - the youngest of ten children in a house overflowing with music.

"There was lots of music in the house, all the time," said Minogue who brought her song and harp to Kingston Sunday for the Celtic Festival. Minogue's performance was the perfect way to herald St. Patrick's day. The crowds that formed a tight circle around Minogue and her beautiful harp seemed to agree.

Minogue's love of music and the harp in particular is apparent as soon as her long, graceful fingers being to dance across its strings.

Encouraged in all things musical by her parents and older brothers and sisters Minogue's career path seemed destined early on.

Inside her Borrisokane home were the sounds of mandolin, guitar, tin whistle, accordion and song. And beyond her large family circle, Minogue received inspiration through an Irish musical club organized by her father who brought his family in contact with the best musicians in the country. At 12, Minogue went to boarding school and fell in love - with the harp. While proficient at the tin whistle, the guitar, piano and the accordion, Minogue left all of them behind to concentrate on the harp.

"I fell in love with the sound of it," she said. After completing school, Minogue first turned her skills as a harpist at Bunratty Castle, County Clare.

How the Irish native came to call America home is a story in itself. On her way to see the world, Minogue said she came to the States. "I was on my way to Egypt and had no interest in even coming to America," recalled Minogue. In fact, when she arrived Minogue had not even brought her harp with her. But when she learned of the growing interest in and resurgence of Irish music and dance in America, Minogue decided to invest in a new harp and began playing at weddings and other functions for friends.

"The harp has massive symbolism in Ireland but I was amazed there was so much interest here in the harp. I wasn't expecting it," she said.

It didn't take Minogue long to begin recording her music, a blend of traditional Irish pieces to which she applies her own creative touch. Minogue's innovations connect ancient music to the present and give her a sound that is both unique and rooted in tradition. Minogue beautifully mixes her harp music with acoustic guitars, fiddles, flutes and percussion and her own lilting voice.

An accomplished singer, Minogue said she came to be lead vocalist on her albums simply due to budgetary constraints. "I started singing totally by accident," she said. While working with her first record company Minogue had used up her budget paying for other musicians and when vocals were needed she had to add her own voice to the mix.

Four albums and hundreds of performances later, Minogue is glad she did. "It gives more variety and broadened the scope of my work," she said. While she sings some pieces in English, for the most part Minogue's vocals are in Gaelic. A shy songstress, Minogue said "it's easier to be emotional in a foreign language than it is in English."

Minogue is spending lots of time lately promoting her fifth album (her second with RCA Victor) "Circle of the Sun." In her latest release, Minogue's imagery is the changing seasons, her calendar is traditional Gaelic. Both lyrics and the music flow in a circular fashion capturing the cycles of life along the ever changing seasons from solstice to equinox and around again.

"I had a lot of fun with this album," said Minogue. "I took faster pieces and had a musician from Brazil on guitar which gave it a South American feel." While the theme and the core of the music is traditional, Minogue uses rhythms not usually associated with Irish music. In addition to arranging existing pieces, Minogue writes her own music and lyrics.

"Each album is painstakingly researched ahead of time," she said. "I spend a great deal of time collecting, researching and learning my material," Minogue noted.

When she's not working on albums, Minogue has a busy concert schedule playing clubs and venues all over the state and country and performing at dozens of Irish and Celtic festivals each year. Her next area concert will be at Passim in Cambridge on April 2.

Minogue's music videos have received prominent play on PBS's Out of Ireland series and hers was the harp music on the soundtrack "Tommy Makem's Ireland."

CAPTURING CELTIC TRADITION
Harpist Áine Minogue Releases RCA Victor
Debut Between the Worlds
by Pat Nugent

Between the Worlds, the debut RCA Victor release by Irish harpist and vocalist Áine Minogue is a soft, contemplative collection of traditional Celtic pieces and Minogue's own imaginative and ethereal compositions. It's an ode to traditional Celtic lore and customs. The album thematically explains the convergence between two places or times, the threshold between two eternities. "It's a journey of finding a space between two places; a discovery that things in the state of betweeness have a wonderful power and magic of their own," explains Minogue.

It's this discovery that may explain today's interest in Celtic culture, including music. "I think people are starting to understand the music for the first time, the same way people are starting to understand other art forms that are symbolic. I think there is probably a very strong spiritual dimension to the music."

This ethereal montage features an array of acoustic instrumentation: fiddle, double bass, percussion, cello and more. Barry Phillips plays cello while Seamus Egan joins the cast on various instruments including whistles, flutes and guitars. "Everybody on this album was absolutely the person doing what I wanted to be doing."

Minogue stresses her label's insistence upon musical freedom while creating Between. "The biggest difference was the total freedom of expression, to just do exactly what I wanted to do."

Between the Worlds features the harpist's own arrangement of the pensive Lennon-McCartney tune "Across the Universe." / "Actually (this song) unifies the whole concept of the album," adds Minogue.

Minogue's harp playing has entertained Irish President Mary Robinson and numerous Prime Ministers of Ireland and is a regular performer at the folk festivals and concerts throughout the country. She has three previous recordings: Were You At the Rock. To Warm the Winter's Night and The Mysts of Time (North Star Music), and tracks of her music have appeared on compilations for Windham Hill and the Celtic Heartbeat labels. Her music videos have appeared on PBS's "Out of Ireland" and she provided a solo instrumental harp soundtrack for Dr. Leo Shea's "Yeats Country." In addition, she was the harpist on the soundtrack for "Tommy Makem's Ireland" and "Ancient Pulsing" for PBS.

WITH JOHN OÕ DONAHUE
(Excerpted copy - please e-mail for the full length article)

Áine Minogue with John O'Donahue at the Museum of Fine Arts by John Harvey, BIR Arts Correspondent

There are good speakers and good musicians, but on a rare occasion you might encounter a speaker whose words are like music and a musician whose playing speaks volumes.

On August 7 , the Boston Museum of Fine Arts hosted two such individuals under one roof and one theme; "Imagination as the Mirror of the Irish Soul".

The event focused on Irish poet/philosopher John O'Donahue and his commentary on the state of the Irish soul and psyche. The acclaimed Celtic harpist Áine Minogue provided beautiful musical interludes between the elements of O'Donahue's talk.

The event boasted and impressive turnout. After the introduction, O'Donahue shifted focus to Minogue, who has recently released an album of traditional harp music and songs titled "Between the Worlds" on the BMG/RCA Victor label. Her first tune managed to be beautiful and contemplative without cloying sadness. A truly impressive facet of Minogue's talent is her ability to de-emphasize the complexity of Celtic harp without compromising the instrument's unique appeal. When Minogue plays the Celtic harp, the audience is captivated by the music and not the musician.

With the audience now in the correct mood, O'Donahue launched into his first topic: the retrieval of Celtic wisdom and its inherent reverence for nature. This theme would color every point he touched on during the evening. To O'Donahue's credit, the audience remained enrapt throughout the evening.

According to O'Donahue, the foundation of Celtic wisdom is not "I think, therefore I am," but rather "I am because everything is."

Overall, "Imagination as the Mirror of the Irish Soul" gave John O'Donahue a forum to explain the Irish spirit, while Áine Minogue let the audience hear the Irish spirit. O'Donahue's breadth of knowledge is a refreshing change.

Áine Minogue
by Kieran Jordan, Arts & Features Editor

For Áine Minogue, Spring in New England is a time to start new things. To celebrate the season's beginning, the traditional singer and harp player performed a CD release concert on April 2 at Club Passim in Cambridge. Hew new recording called "Circle of the Sun" presents a musical journey through the seasons, solstices and equinoxes with a particular focus on the four Celtic calendar festivals of Lughnasadh, Samhain, Imbolc and Beltane.

"I've always been into them," says Minogue about these Celtic festivals, which originated around the agricultural year. "(They're) like a part of my life in the same way Christmas and Easter are. (They're) just a reality. And New England is just as inspiring seasonally as Ireland is. I really move with the seasons: I start things in the spring and lie still in the winter."

A native of Borrisokane, Co. Tipperary, Minogue has lived in New England for several years and now resides in Arlington. Her four previous recording have secured her reputation as a popular musician in the Celtic/New Age genre, while in the Boston community, her frequent local gigs have established her as a familiar and gracious performer.

At Club Passim, Minogue gave a warm, intimate performance accompanied by fiddler Laura Risk and three guest musicians who joined in on a few numbers . They played material from "Circle of the Sun" and "Between the Worlds" (Minogue's last album), along with a few sets of straight-up, traditional tunes.

"Gabhaim Molta Bride," a song sung in Irish in praise of St. Bridget, highlighted Minogue's soprano voice with sparse accompaniment from herself on the harp and Risk on the viola. Use of extra reverb on the mic provided the echoing, ethereal quality that so well suits Minogue's singing.

Another song, "Ó Boro Braindí Braindí," featured backing vocals from John Arimond and Alasdair Halliday. The rhythmic, jig tempo song is a celebration of brandy. It describes the autumnal equinox which falls during the month of September, the month of the vine harvest.

Minogue's own composition "A Winter Story" was a soothing, melodic air with delicate runs and trills on the harp and long smooth bowing from Risk on the fiddle. They closed the first set with an exquisite selection of three O'Carolan harp tunes, arranged into a three-movement "concerto." Minogue described O'Carolan as "fun-loving," saying, "You can hear it in the music. It trips like laughter over the strings." The concerto started out with "Eleanor Plunkett," then moved into a dark and mysterious "Planxty Burke" and finally into the light hearted, baroque-sounding "O'Carolan's Concerto."

Other strong instrumental numbers throughout the concert included sets of reels, hornpipes ad a version of "The Butterfly," a slip jig which Minogue said reminds her of Vivaldi and spring in New England.

"Fill It to the Brim," a song by Mark Simos that closed the second set, celebrates the summer solstice and the month of June. The refrain says, "Oh, fill it to the brim/don't say when/Drink your fill and drink again/Hear the ocean roaring/Fill it to the brim, don't say when/ That's Pan who keeps on pouring." With Simos on guitar, Risk on fiddle and Minogue, Arimond and Halliday on vocals, the song was as rich and full as its lyrics.

Much of the music from this concert at Passim appears on Minogue's "Circle of the Sun," which features 12 musical tracks - one for each month of the year. The album is available from RCA Victor, a division of BMG Classics.

Áine Minogue at Club Passim (December, 1997)
by Art Ketchum, Staff Writer

We caught Áine's second set at Passim on December 18. She opened with an O'Carolan piece, which she played dexterously. Next came the oldest piece Áine knew, "Were You at the Rock," a slow air performed reflectively and elegiacally. Back to bouncy with the next few tunes, and then "The Dove's Return," which Áine sang softly as she played.

Áine next performed her hallmark "Between the Worlds." One can add Áine Minogue to the list of Loreena McKennit and Enya of those artists who so capably mine the realms of the dreamy and mysterious. She then performed O'Carolan's "Mr. O'Connor," the color of the playing was superb. "Study in D" was the next piece by the Irish composer Beckett. She told of how she had performed this, for an examination, and the examiner was the composer! I like this piece and Áine's playing of it very much indeed.

Throughout Áine countered the slow pieces with ones that danced, as she did with the piece after "Study in D," whose previous incarnation had been as a Waterboy's tune.

Áine said farewell with the Spots Gaelic farewell song popularized in "rockin" form by Capercaillie. Áine played and sang the song in her manner--dreamy, melodious, poetic, yearning, saying farewell and yet longing.

For an audience that could not get enough of her she delivered a bouncy encore "Bonaparte's Advance" and then "Buachaill an Eirne" ("Boy from Ireland") soft and sweet.

Áine Minogue is a most versatile singer and harpist, a craftsman of balance, taste and skill, always conscientious and reasoned, and beautiful in her art.

Women in Celtic Music Series - Part I
Interview with Áine Minogue
by Kevin Meyers

If you live in the Boston area and have an interest in Celtic music, but haven't heard of Áine Minogue, you haven't been paying attention; Recordings, soundtracks, music videos, and a hectic performance schedule combine to put her name in the Who's Who of Celtic and Traditional music.

Born in Borrisokane, County Tipperary, lreland to a Iarge musical family, Áine was introduced to all types of music and instruments at an early age. At age twelve, while attending boarding school at the Mercy Convent in Tuam, she was introduced to the harp. And, as they say, the rest is history.

In addition to being featured on various compilation albums, Áine has four albums of her own recorded. Her latest Between the Worlds for RCA Records, is slated for a July release.

The Interview:

CB: Your new album, Between the Worlds, has a unifying concept. Would you like to expand a bit on this?

AM: I actually wanted to record this music two albums ago. The concept came to me, basically, while working on a short story. I wrote the songs that became the nucleus of this album.

As an immigrant, I've found myself neither wholly a part of this world, the U.S., nor am I wholly a part of the world I left, Ireland. Despite having a foot in both worlds, I do not necessarily belong in either. I am Between the Worlds and the tunes on this album express this condition in many forms.

Being between the worlds is also so very much a legacy of Celtic mysticism which many of us seem to inherit as a condition of Irish birth. The Ancients loved the seashore because it was neither land nor sea, they loved dawn and dusk because they are neither day nor night, and fog and mist are neither air nor water.

CB: And, I take it that the tune, "The Grove," refers to the oak grove, sacred to the Druids? And by extension homage to those in-between places so beloved to the Druids?

AM: Indeed, our ancestors believed that these in-between places and times were where and when the portals to the other world opened. The opening of these passageways makes the ability to commune with our ancestors possible. From ancient times, people have drawn comfort from the knowledge that there was an afterlife and that their ancestors were just on the other side of the portal. And, of course, these same yearnings continue today within modern Christianity; and many other religions, as well.

"The Grove" is probably my favorite tune on the album. It moves from a minor key to a major and this is my way of musically expressing the alternates of light and dark, of this world and the other world.

CB: You express this yearning in the title track, "Between the Worlds." The souls on the other side can be a guide to us on our journey. But, doesn't this album have more of a message than Celtic mysticism?

AM: There is no word in Irish for immigrant/ emigrant. The word used translates into exile. "Exile," the opening song on the album, does speak of this condition of being in-between, but another intertwined theme is The Journey. Once we set our foot to the journey, we enter the state of in-between. The Journey becomes everything because we never entirely leave the place where we've been, nor do we completely reach the journey's end. The Journey (with emphasis) being between the worlds.

KM: "The Silence" is another sort of journey?

AM: The Journey can take many forms. It can be the physical moving from place to place, it can be the search for cultural continuity that O'Carolan expresses artfully, the shift from the oIder Gaelic to the modern Italian classical music, or it can be the search for a quieter internal, spiritual peace that I tried to capture in "The Silence."

KM: This search for spiritual harmony continues in one of the most captivating songs from this album, John Lennon's "Across the Universe." I've been humming the chorus for two days now. What made you put this song on your album?

AM: When I first heard this piece, I was completely taken away, I was floored! I went out and purchased and studied all the Beatle scores I could find. I'd wanted to record "Across the Universe" for so long but couldn't find the courage. The theme of "Across the Universe" is so central to Between the Worlds and it really pulls the album together, I knew I had to record it now.

The last lines, "Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns and calls me on and on across the universe," are such wonderful poetry. The whole piece is such wonderful poetry. I knew now was the time.

Of course, (here Áine Iaughs), John Lennon has his "Across the Universe" and I have only Between the worlds.

But, still the song expresses an ideal that is as old as the human self consciousness, the desire to be one with the godhead and be pure Spirit. "Across the Universe" expresses the state of being between the worlds magnificently.

Thank you Áine for the interview. For a review of Between the Worlds, see release reviews in this issue of Celtic Beat.

by Gerry Slevin - May 8, 1993

Borrisokane Harpist Áine woos the Bostonians

President Mary Robinson, Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, ex-Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald, actress Maureen O'Hara, all special people in their own right have something else in common. They are among the thousands who have thrilled to the musicianship of a young Borrisokane lady, who with voice and harp has become the toast of Boston.

Áine Minogue, youngest daughter of Tom and the late Kitty, and sister of Madeline Kelly, Melrose, Nenagh has in recent years been storing up accolades at an incredible rate, through her personal performances, her teaching of the harp at Boston College, and in a relatively short span of seven years, has zoomed to the forefront of artists of whom Bostonians just cannot get enough.

For people in and around Lower Ormond, that should not come as any great surprise. For seventeen years, Tom ran an Irish club locally and worked tirelessly to foster a love for traditional music in the area. Her sister Sheila is also a gifted singer and harpist and was a member of the Shannon Castle singers in Bunratty. Now residing in York, she still performs regularly at various functions. When Áine completed her primary school education in the local convent, she followed in Sheila's footsteps by moving on to the Convent of Mercy in Tuam and came under the tuition of Sister Eileen Walsh with whom she began to study music seriously.

In her first two years in Tuam Áine had completed all exams on the harp, while also studying opera, choral work, ensemble playing and being part of the school's 114-piece orchestra.

THE BREAK

School over, Áine got the break she so earnestly wanted and an audition for the Bunratty Castle Singers saw her join that illustrious group, her talents also being available to visitors to the other castles, Knappogue and Dunguire. Three years later, Áine emigrated to the United States and for two years worked in a law office, biding her time for that big musical break. It came when Limerick-born tenor Sean O'Shea who had been residing in Boston for some time, met Áine at a traditional music session and it was discovered that a combination of their talents had a very pleasing sound. Encouraged by husband Brian, Áine began to see real prospects and she and Sean teamed up to form a musical duo called Legacy, presenting a varied program of popular Irish, and European melodies. Their popularity grew at an enormous rate, the emphasis being on private parties, playing for Americans of Irish descent who have done well in the States, but at the same time finding a ready niche and appeal among the general public.

Her years as part of Legacy enabled Áine to give serious consideration to the development of her talents and over the past two years, she has emerged as a soloist playing at social events and giving concerts all around New England. Radio and television appearances have been numerous and yet, Áine adds that despite her long association with the harp, learning to play it is a life long process. She continues her formal studies at the New School of Music in Cambridge while at the same time passing on her talents at the Boston College.

THE REAL Áine

But it is in performance that the real çine Minogue emerges and in a recent edition of The South Shore News (March 15th, 1993,) William R. McDermott had the following to say about her:

"When you go to see Ms. Minogue play, and you should, unless chained to the garage, you will find a kind of music for which there is no exact equivalent in any of the other arts. She possesses a singular gift for wrapping the listener in a soft blanket of timeless melodies, for lifting the audiences to restful heights that relax and shelter them from cares and anxieties, while mixing a well-rounded literate dialogue noted for Its information and intelligent humor. Yet the Minogue concerts are more than music; they also have the scope of short stories. This is due, at least in part, to her free use of Irish music that tells the story of people: the lovers, the patriots, the battles, living and dying, which provides her performances with a richness of music and a narrative context uniting emotions and imagination as only a live concert by a great artist can do. How she does it, I'm not quite sure. Possibly through her sheer talent as a musician and storyteller. Yet one's heart never sinks as she pauses in her playing to announce a story from Irish history, a well-known legend, or a bit of musical theory to explain her next piece. Narrative slows most concerts, It lends force and authenticity to Ms. Minogue's concerts.

HOUSEHOLD PRIDE

Some tribute indeed to a young lady of whom Borrisokane has every reason to be extremely proud. And there is no greater pride than in the Minogue household where Áine's father, Tom, and her step-mother Peggy reflect on the exploits of an adventurous, a talented and resourceful lady as gleaned from the newspapers circulating in and around Boston, which in profuse and glowing terms point to her fast-growing popularity.

As wife, mother to six year old William, musician, teacher and student, Áine Minogue certainly has her hands full and she owes so much to husband Brian, not alone for his encouragement to her but also for his sound advice and of course for his very practical assistance in her career through his help with the sound equipment.

Killaloe-born fiddler Seamus Connolly, regularly teams up with her for sessions. An ability to mingle the traditional with the more universally accepted music clearly shows her versatility and indeed her stamina.

Hopefully it won't be too long before the people of Borrisokane get an opportunity to see and hear this marvelous performer in her native setting.

Áine entertains President McAleese

One of Borrisokane's brightest musical exports, Áine Minogue, formerly of Church Road, was the toast of Boston College last Thursday when she was one of a group of four great musicians who entertained President Mary McAleese on her visit to the college.

Singing to her own harp accompaniment, Áine joined Killaloe-born fiddler Seamus Connolly, Paddy Keenan and Jim Noonan in a memorable session.

Residing in the U.S. for several years, Áine, who is daughter of Tom, is concluding preparation of their 6th album as well as performing throughout the States, she conducts workshops, many of them with Seamus Connolly, who officially opened the Aonach Paddy O'Brien Festival in Nenagh last August.

September 1993
Strung Out in Boston by Michael P. Quinlin

A typical session at Boston's Green Briar Pub: a corner full of fiddles, boxes, guitars, and bodhrans pounding music into a chattel of chatter, smoke and pint glasses. In the middle of the mist sits an Irish harpist, backing up the breakneck tempo on dance tunes, or breaking the rhythm with a solo slow air or set piece.

Áine Minogue, who plays her harp in concert halls and ballrooms, for the president of Ireland or the mayor of Boston, has brought the elegant sound of the harp back to the sessions, where it roughhouses with Boston's mainstay Irish instruments.

The Tipperary native, who emigrated to Boston and who has played music most of her life, is well-received at sessions by both musicians and listeners who appreciate the stylistic, visual and timber qualities of the instrument, qualities more naturally suited to the stage spotlight.

Minogue is on stage this Sunday, Aug. 30, with fiddler Seamus Connolly at the Aisling Gallery in Hingham, part of a busy schedule of concerts, recitals, recording, workshops, and private lessons. She plays in sessions on nights off.

The Celtic Harp is immensely popular in the United States today, enjoying a renaissance fueled in part by the advent of New Age music over the past decade, plus a growing appreciation in America of Irish traditional music.

The new age movement in California borrowed heavily from Celtic music, taking Irish themes and mixing ethereal textured acoustic instrumentation. Groups like Puck Fair (with Dublin flutist Brian Dunning), and others like Triona Ni Dhomhnaill and Michael O Domhnaill, introduced an alternative American audience to melodies both traditional and universal in appeal melodies suitable to acoustical instruments like the harp and lute.

And of course, the groundwork laid by traditional musicians over the Iast 20 years has educate a generation of Americans of Irish descent, spawning a healthy recording industry featuring hundreds of the best musicians.

Other factors contribute too. Japanese production of Irish harps has lowered the price, thereby broadening its base of beginners. And the Chieftains' Derek Bell has helped popularize the harp through national touring and TV appearances with Ireland's foremost traditional group.

In Ireland, the harp is the national emblem, and has been on the coinage since the middle of the 16th century. As early as the 12th century, Irish harpers were considered by Europeans to be "incomparatively superior to that of any other nation."

Said Brendan Breathnach, Ireland's leading ethnomusicologist: "It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the esteem in which the harp was held in ancient Ireland. It is associated with the very origin of music in our oldest myths and legends... The instrument has a history stretching well over a thousand years on this island."

While other instruments like the uillean pipes or fiddle may embody the music tradition today, the harp holds a reverence that is grounded in both history and symbol: Ireland's oldest harp, known as the Brian Boru harp, dates to the 14th century and is enshrined at Trinity College in Dublin, along with the famed Book of Kells.

Minogue's first tape, which includes London flutist Eamon McCarthy. is a popular item at festivals and concerts, so much so that she is starting work on a new tape for 1994, to include a number of original compositions.

In the meantime, the Monday night session at the Green Briar, where musicians jostle for elbow room, is not such an incongruous setting for Ireland's national emblem. The pure sound of the strings ring through the ruckus, and when the harp solos begin, the room stops to listen.