Thursday 9 August 2012

Phew! Now THAT was a Celtic festival!

I suspect that some days after the Montelago Celtic Festival started packing up leaving the Colfiorito plain, the dust is still settling. Stardust, that is, for the music and the spirit certainly reached that far.

It must be quite a feeling to walk out on the plain when it's empty and quiet, a place that not long before was heaving to the rhythms of the Montelago community in its annual celebration of camaraderie, release, and - naturally - celtica. What stories those plains could tell ...

But whatever remembrance and imagination can conjure between them from the off-stage happenings, we're really here to discuss just one thing - the music.

Let's start with Friday, and a quote from a previous entry on this blog: "(Mortimer Mc Grave) may just be the roof-raiser of the festival." Prophetic words, it seems (the absent roof notwithstanding), as Maurizio, Luciano and their friends made emphatic statements in several different musical languages for two festival-defining hours. In short, they knocked it out of the park - from the first stirring numbers of their Moving Hearts-inspired band, The Storm, to soirees with the City of Rome Pipe Band and the Cisal Pipers, the beat and the energy fulfilled their promise of a musical earthquake with devastating dance-like effects. The message was simple: "We love this festival!" It showed, and underpinned the achievement of this tenth Celtic year in the Apennines.

It would be an injustice to omit mentions for their Friday partners on stage either side of them - New Road and the Cisal Pipers, accomplished crowd-movers and foot-tapping provokers in their own rights. Same goes for Saturday's opening act, La Corte di Lunas, who threw down the night's gauntlet with a rousing set.

And then came Rare Folk, as rare an act to appear at the festival in all of its ten years. Blending jazz, Celtic, world music, and the booming bass of the bouncing Mufas, the Spaniards from Andalusia pulled in the crowd and never let them go, as their several attempts to leave proved - encore followed encore until time finally caught up and they had to leave. But they stayed around themselves, to dance with the crowd as the following groups lit up the stage.

Another rare treat followed Rare Folk as the enthusiastic crowd experienced "the definitive bagpipe version" of  Queen's We Will Rock You, as well as a reggae number in amongst the City of Rome Pipe Band's more typical repertoire. But perhaps the highlight of their set was the stirring rendition of Amazing Grace, sung with depth, beauty, and grace (naturally) by one of the band's two female drummers.

With the rising crescendo of their supporting acts, the Isle of Skye's Peatbog Faeries didn't disappoint with a performance of pure quality and infectious energy, before Folkmondo wrapped up the night's proceedings with a strong set of their own.

It's over now (unfortunately), but that may be just as well, since the body can take only so much stimulus in such a concentrated period of time. Yet again, Montelago has given us something to remember and something to look forward to, and as it has done over the past 10 years, it delivered ... in spades. 

Except that now Maurizio, Luciano and the rest of the organizers have raised the bar across the board - from the headliners to the supporting acts, and the magnetic novelty of Mortimer Pub (a big success). Makes one want 2013 to come along as soon as it possibly can.

gach Montelago clocha sneachta!


Monday 6 August 2012

2012 Montelago musical moments

Not all in perfect focus, but you get the idea ....

Click on the photo to enlarge

Mortimer Mc Grave and friends:




New Road:


Rare Folk:






City of Rome Pipe Band:




Peatbog Faeries:



2012 Montelago community and their capers


Click on the photo to enlarge













Wednesday 1 August 2012

So ... who else is playing?

We've covered the Peatbog Faeries, the City of Rome Pipe Band, Mortimer Mc Grave, and Rare Folk in previous posts (click on them to read each particular post), so who else makes up the excellent programme of 17 concerts. Here's a run through:

La Corte di Lunas - from Friuli Venezia Giulia, formed in 2005 as a celebration of "joy, music, and fun." Now an 8-piece band with 2 albums under their belts, these days they entertain with a fusion of precious Renaissance melodies, lost stories from far away, and the purest of modern rock. Second Montelago appearance (2010).
At Montelago 2012: Sat 4th main stage @ 21:15.

 
New Road - a recently-formed band playing classic Irish reels, jigs, hornpipes and other dance music. What sets the band apart amid the landscape of traditional music are their individual technical skills, the energy of their arrangements, and the wealth of experience of the four talented multi-instrumentalists.
At Montelago 2012: Fri 3rd Mortimer Pub @ 16:00; Sat 4th/5th main stage @ 2:45.



Rondeau De Fauvel - recalling the myth of Fauvel, a legendary creature with the appearance of a donkey from a satirical poem of 1316, the 6-piece group from Vicenza paints haunting medieval tunes along with poetry, dance, and magic.
At Montelago 2012: Fri 3rd Mortimer Pub @ 18:30; Sat 4th/5th main stage @ 4:00.



Montelago Celtic Project - returning to the place of their "birth" (2007) and led by the group's founder, multi-instrumentalist Fabio Emidio Zeppilli (composer and arranger of all their music), the marchigiano group's repertoire with its Irish, Scottish, Galician and Basque roots "creates an eclectic blend of energy, releasing emotion and unearthing new feelings".
At Montelago 2012: Fri 3rd Mortimer Pub @ 20:30; Sat 4th Mortimer Pub @ 15:00.


Furor Gallico - named after the description that the ancient Romans gave to the Celtic warriors who were prepared to die defending their people and land, the folk metal group from Milan blend metal riffs and growl-and-scream vocals with folk melodies of the violin, flutes, Celtic harp and bouzouki.
At Montelago 2012: Fri 3rd/4th main stage @ 1:00.
Web site: http://www.furorgallico.it


Cisalpipers - the six-piece band from Emilia-Romagna synthesizes the sounds of the Emilian bagpipes, Scottish bagpipeswhistles , drums and percussion into a unique style that travels between classical and pop, world music to ethnic, and always with the underlying foundation of tradition. Second Montelago appearance (2009).
At Montelago 2012: Fri 3rd/4th main stage @ 00:00; Sat 4th Mortimer Pub @ 17:00.
Web site: http://www.cisalpipers.net



EtnoarmòniA - this four-piece band from Le Marche, formed in 2010, delves into a journey from Ireland to Galicia and the heart of the American continent, weaving wandering melodies that on their way have been influenced, mutated, and contaminated by man, territories and the cultures of the planet.
At Montelago 2012: Fri 3rd main stage @ 21:00; Sat 4th Mortimer Pub @ 11:30.

Folkomondo -  formed in 2008, the six-piece band combines songs of the folk tradition with modern rhythms, taking us through the streets of European folk from Ireland to Italy, to Spain, France, Greece, and yet still further, to create something new from old and forgotten roots.
At Montelago 2012: Sat 4th Mortimer Pub @ 20:15.