| |
 Amy Curl is
our new voice. She has been performing since she could stand and
has dabbled in almost every kind of music, from playing classical
piano to writing rock songs while on an extended stay on the isle
of Iona. A Madison Area Music Award-nominated singer-songwriter,
Amy is excited to have a chance to come out from behind the piano
and guitar and explore the challenges of singing a cappella in unfamiliar
languages—and to indulge her longstanding affinity for all things
Scottish in the process! |
 Paul
Gorman was born in Madison, WI and has lived in and around
the area ever since. His interest in music began as early
as grade school, leading him to involvement in a number of
choral groups. Following the production of a choral Christmas
album with his high school (the only one of us to have made
it onto vinyl!), he continued to pursue his interest as a
member of the Blue Falcon Air Force Choir. Paul received
a degree in photography in 1994, and now dedicates his time
to his life as a photographer, his love of a cappella vocals,
and his study of the Irish language (actually he's been wandering
further into Welsh just lately...).
26
June 2000 |
 Sheila Shigley was
raised in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was there that she and younger sister
Candace acquired a deep love for Irish, Scottish and Welsh music from
their parents, Barbara and Gordon Shigley, themselves avid musicians.
Nestled beneath majestic Hi Junk Peak in the jungled hills overlooking
Clearwater Bay, the tightly-knit missionary community spent a good deal
of time engaged in musical pursuits, including frequent hymn-singing.
Sheila was always particularly fond of the early American hymns, sung
as they were in English or various dialects of Chinese! Her interest
in Irish music was rekindled in the early 1980’s when she and Candace
began to listen regularly to public radio broadcasts of The
Thistle and Shamrock, writing out phonetic lyrics from Máire
Ní Bhraonáin’s solos or dancing unrestrained “Irish" dances
to the faster tunes (usually at this point banished by Mama to the basement.)
When Enya came
out with an album which included printed Irish lyrics, the sisters’
interest turned towards the language; with the help of this and other
albums by groups such as Clannad and Altan,
they began learning to read Irish. In 1997, Sheila attended an Irish-language
weekend featuring sean-nós singers Lillis Ó Laoire and Áine
Ní Mhuineacháin. This was her first exposure to the live
sean-nós tradition. Lillis and Áine generously tolerated
and encouraged the little cluster of enthusiasts gathered round them
each night and into the wee hours; by the time the last song had died
away, Sheila was hooked. She currently divides her time between researching
Celtic music traditions and teaching a beginning Irish class in her
now-hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.
|
 Elizabeth
Simcock (still the
same girl, but married in October!) has spent most of her life living
in Madison, with short stints in Ireland and Germany. She spent a year
living in Dublin and studying Geography at Trinity College only to come
away addicted to the language and the music. She is grateful to the people
who were around her when she first tried hopelessly to say go raibh maith
agat! In the last few years she has had the opportunity to spend time
in Hannover, Germany, performing as a guest singer with various top German
Irish groups including Steampacket, The More Maids, DeReelium, and An
Tor. This also allowed the chance for a side trip to France to hear a
local choir perform Navan's "Tuar Guil, a Cholaim, Do Cheol" (magical) and to join for part of a tour with Donegal-based L'Echappée
Belle. |
|
 |
