manx celtic music and dance

Manx Music University Roadshow

05 Mar 2013

Barrule’s Tom Callister, Jamie Smith and Adam Rhodes with Anna Wendy Stevenson - Programme Leader for Applied Music at Lews Castle College, Benbecula
Barrule’s Tom Callister, Jamie Smith and Adam Rhodes with Anna Wendy Stevenson - Programme Leader for Applied Music at Lews Castle College, Benbecula

by Chloë Woolley

Talented trio ‘Barrule’ took Manx music to hundreds of new ears on a recent tour of UK universities and colleges which offer traditional music tuition. Organised by Dr Chloë Woolley, Manx Music Specialist for the Manx Heritage Foundation, the aim of the roadshow was to introduce Manx music to a wider audience through a series of workshops and concerts which would encourage traditional music students to add Manx music to their repertoire, stimulate research and develop links with the Isle of Man. Professional musicians Tom Callister (fiddle), Jamie Smith (accordion) and Adam Rhodes (bouzouki) of Barrule are rapidly making a name for themselves as an exciting ‘trad power trio’ and their workshops and concerts went down a storm on their mini-tour of Scotland and North-East England. Barrule performed at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music in Plockton, Lews Castle College on Benbecula (University of Highlands and Islands) where they “painted wonderful pictures of Isle of Man place and tradition with their dynamically colourful and sometimes hypnotic arrangements”, the Scottish Gaelic college Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on the Isle of Skye, the School of Celtic and Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University, and finally to students on the traditional music degree course at Newcastle University where they were assured “there will be a lot more Manx tunes heard in the North-East now!” Dr Woolley, whose PhD was on the ‘Revival of Manx Traditional Music’, joined the trio at Edinburgh and Newcastle to give a lecture on the history of the Island’s music, and each institution received a donation of music books, CDs and DVDs from the Manx Heritage Foundation. For taste of what Barrule got up to on their tour, the band has put together a medley of their workshops on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNWyrmoXQQk Barrule have already gained a loyal following at home in the Isle of Man, including 900 Manx schoolchildren who saw them perform at an educational concert at the Gaiety Theatre during last year’s Yn Chruinnaght Inter-Celtic festival. Next for Barrule are gigs in Wales and Belgium. Their debut album is exclusively available in the Isle of Man and from the band’s website, but it will be officially launched worldwide this Spring. www.barruletrio.com

Below: Barrule Manx music workshop at Newcastle University

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