One of the great carriers of the Celtic music torch will light a candle for Christmas in the Cariboo. The Barra MacNeils are coming to Quesnel (Nov. 20, at the Seniors' Centre) and Prince George (Nov. 21, P.G. Playhouse) as part of their coast to coast Christmas tour.
The five-piece family band is one of the icons of Cape Breton's rich music scene. They have released almost 20 recordings over their 30-year career, picking up a Juno Award nomination and 15 East Coast Music Award nominations (five of them for wins) along the way.
They have been beloved special guests on TV shows, had their music on movie soundtracks, they've twice been the focus of Christmas specials on Canadian and American television, collaborated with music giants everywhere between The Chieftains and Symphony Nova Scotia and between Celine Dion and Old Man Luedecke, and toured the world bringing Canadian-Celtic music around the globe.
The group has been to Prince George before, but it has been a long absence they rectify with a seasonal swing of Cape Breton songs and stories brought to our own hearth by this melodically knit family of performers.
In a world of music where names like MacIsaac and Rankin are so large on the landscape, it says a lot about any clan who can assume the same heights and the one descended from Barra Isle, Scotland, is one who can support such a claim.
They were one of the first roots-based bands who caught on to the music video as a way to spread their songs, and in the early years of CMT Canada, the Barra MacNeils were emblematic of how the country music definition in Canada includes the tints of neo-traditionalism and multiculturalism more than any other place. Tunes like Darling Be Home Soon, In The Wink Of An Eye, Myopic, and My Heart's In The Highlands were made household hits by mixing traditional songsmithing and modern broadcasting. These got another wave of life thanks to social media once again circulation the songs.
"The Barra MacNeils concert experience brings so much more to the stage than most live acts ever can," said a statement from Central Interior Tickets. "Multiple lead vocalists, beautiful sibling harmonies, top drawer instrumental prowess in a wide variety of acoustic, string, percussion, and wind instruments , dancing, story telling, Gaelic songs and a journey through an ancient culture. Family entertainment at its highest level."
Tickets for the Prince George show are on sale now for $45. Get them at the Central Interior Tickets desk (3540 Opie Crescent) or online at www.centralinteriortickets.com. Call 250-596-0020 for more information.
