Find out what's been happening with the group and with each of its members. Click on the Career Highlights links below.
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TOP OF PAGE, Current news, EXPO2005, Archives, BOTTOM OF PAGE
Winter 2007:
CBC North Customer Appreciation Day: Wednesday, December 19, in the morning sometime between 6:45 and 8, Ceilidh Friends will be performing live on the radio as part of CBC North's open house celebration. Come see us in person, or tune in!
Christmas Caroling in the stores: Sunday, December 16th, Ceilidh Friends will be singing Yuletide songs at Roys Audiotronics (2p.m.) and Squatterz Books (3:30 p.m.)
NWT Celebrity Auction: This annual auction raises money for the Council for the Disabled. This year, on November 16, Ceilidh Friends will be auctioning themselves off.
Fall 2007:
Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention Conference: We will be performing a short set during the conference's opening concert event at Sir John Franklin Highschool on October 5th, time TBA.
Amazing Sundays: Ceilidh Friends will be joining in on the jam session at the Museum in celebration of International Music Day, September 30th around 4p.m.
Summer 2007:
Festival of the Midnight Sun: Northern United Place in Yellowknife, September 21st at 7p.m.
Sue Glowach Campaign Launch: Ceilidh Friends have been invited to perform at the launch of Sue Glowach's campaign on September 7th. We will be doing a set of our favourite acap material.
MySpace: We finally set up a page on MySpace.
We've uploaded a few songs from our CDs. Check it out at:
http://www.myspace.com/cei
Leaving Yellowknife on June 19, 2005, Ceilidh Friends embarked on an unforgettable experience. Several months ago, the group was selected to represent the North at EXPO2005 in Aichi, Japan. An organization called OYE!Canada, contracted by Heritage Canada to provide entertainers for Canada's cultural component of their pavilion at EXPO, booked us in to perform almost every day between June 21st and July 3rd.
None of us had ever traveled to Japan before, so we were all understandably excited. We brought along Steve and Dawn's daughter, Caitlin Lacey, as our official photographer and archivist; we wanted to make sure we catalogued our experiences as fully as possible. We all ended up bringing one or more cameras, including video and DVD cameras to record some of our performances. For a sampling of some of our favourite photos, click here: Ceilidh Friends in Japan, Sightseeing in Japan
Steve Goff, Caitlin Lacey and Moira Cameron all wrote and submitted articles to our local media. The articles covered different aspects of our EXPO/Japan experience. To read more, click here.
Moira Cameron has put together a special newsletter highlighting the group's trip to Japan. It is in PDF format. Click here to download a copy of your own: Raven's Report
TOP OF PAGE, Current news, EXPO2005, Archives, BOTTOM OF PAGE
ATLIN Music and Arts Festival: Over
the weekend of July 7-9, 2006, Ceilidh Friends participated in this
popular little festival in Atlin, BC. We flew down (thanks to the
generosity of Summit Air, who donated the flight) with fellow
Yellowknife musicians The Gumboots, Jay Gilday, and Inuit Throatsingers
lead by Goota Ashoona. The festival location is spectacular,
imbedded in the mountains of Northern BC. We were really impressed
with the volunteers, some of them not even local residents. The
venues were held at several locations around town, including St.
Martin's church, the Globe Theatre, the Atlin Inn, and a main stage tent
in a small park.
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Our acapella workshop took place on Sunday morning in the church - the
perfect setting. It ended up%202006.JPG)
being a 2 hour session, which we
shared with the lead singer of the group Mamaguroove, Shara Gustaphson.
We asked the Gumboots to come up and help us with the closing numbers.
The audience was eager to participate, singing along to almost every
number. None of us wanted it to end. It was an inspiring
workshop for all of us.
We were all sad to leave on Sunday afternoon. The weekend went by all too quickly. This is a festival we definitely would like to return to in the future.
JULY 1, 2006: Canada Day: Ceilidh Friends performed a celebratory set in honour of Canada's Birthday.
JUNE 22, 2006: Aurora Tours asked Ceilidh Friends to provide musical entertainment during their 2 hour pontoon boat tour of Yellowknife's Back Bay on Great Slave Lake. The weather was perfect. In between visiting an eagle's nest, Yellowknife's house boat community, the old Con mine village, and other interesting sights, we sang upbeat songs which complimented the evening. We had as much fun on the tour as the tourists did.
Ceilidh Friends put on a special multi-media show highlighting their recent adventures and experiences at EXPO2005 in Japan. Using photo slide shows, videos, poetry, prose, and live singing, each of the members of the group and their official photographer and archivist, Caitlin Lacey, told stories of their amazing Japan experience.
For the second year in a row, the Ceilidh Friends was invited to participate in the South Slave Friendship Festival in Ft. Smith, NT. The festival is a favourite among musicians in the North. It is free to the public, and although it performers don't get paid, they have a great time. We performed several sets in outdoor and indoor settings. The weather was perfect, although it was very windy for Sunday's barbeque performance. The entire community gets into the festival spirit. We met our old friend Louis Beck and jammed with him for a while in one of the local restaurants. By the time the weekend was over, our ears were buzzing from all the wonderful music!
For almost every year since its conception, Ceilidh Friends has performed at the Yellowknife Festival of the Midnight Sun. Normally held in July, this year's scaled down event took place on only one evening, but we were happy to be asked to participate. The Festival, organized by John and Pamela Murray, is devoted to promoting the creative talents of musicians as well as other artists. Using the cozy Northern United Place auditorium, a handful of musicians, carvers, painters, and other creative people gathered to celebrate Art in the North. Caitlin Lacey and Moira Cameron displayed their BottleArt Creations as well. After the music was over, WAMP (Western Arctic Moving Pictures) hosted a mini film-fest of locally produced shorts.
In the Studio Again: Ceilidh Friends received its second grant from the NWT Arts Council to produce a new album. The group has been working hard in the studio for the past year recording war and anti-war songs. The group was brought together by singing songs in protest of the first Gulf War. They've been singing their extensive war material every Remembrance Day since then, and felt it was about time to record these old favourites. There is no date set for the release of their new album.
Ceilidh Friends Pages:
* Ceilidh Friends Home * Who they are... * Career highlights * Albums * Photo Gallery *
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To contact Ceilidh Friends, email ceilidh_friends@hotmail.com or write to
Ceilidh Friends, C/O 4505 Schooldraw Avenue, Yellowknife, NT, X1A 2K3, Canada