February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Earle Hitchner
It’s still summer, so the idea of fall music and foliage may seem a little far off. But for those interested in planning ahead for a trip that combines the two in breathtaking style, the sixth annual Celtic Colours International Festival from Oct. 11-19 on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, may be just the ticket.
More than 300 performers from Canada, the United States, Ireland,Scotland, Brittany, and Galicia will give workshops and concerts at community and arts centers, parish and fire halls, churches, elementary, high school, and college auditoriums, and theaters dotting Cape Breton Island.
All of this reflects the mission statement of the Celtic Colours Festival Society, a nonprofit, volunteer society dedicated to preserving and promoting the Gaelic language, music, arts, and crafts of Cape Breton and to heightening international awareness of the island itself.
Among the strong Irish and Irish-American contingent performing at Celtic Colours this year will be Clare-born button accordionist Sharon
Shannon, Chicago fiddler Liz Carroll, banjoist and guitarist +amonn Coyne, singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy, pianist and banjoist Brian McGrath, De Dannan founding fiddler Frankie Gavin, and Boston button accordionist Joe Derrane.
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When they arrive on Cape Breton, five of them will have new recordings in tow. Carroll’s “Lake Effect” is due soon on Green Linnet, Coyne has just issued “Through the Round Window” on Compass, and McGrath, Gavin, and Derrane have released “Ireland’s Harvest” on Mapleshade.
Other musicians scheduled for this nine-day festival include former Silly Wizard and Relativity piano accordionist Phil Cunningham, Galician piper Carlos N_