Ring of Kerry brings a touch of Ireland to Christmas in Central Minnesota
Ring of Kerry is bringing back “A Celtic Christmas” this year and the performance includes not only the group’s lively Irish musical stylings, but dancers from the Eilís Academy Irish Dance.
Ring of Kerry produces a Christmas show every two or three years and is doing a mini tour with this one, beginning with shows in Iowa last week and now Minnesota through December.
“Charlie (Roth) likes to say ‘The road to Bethlehem leads through Ireland,” said Paul Imholte of the group.
Whether playing merry, uplifting, boot-stomping tunes, or softer whispers of carols, the group’s five musicians on bodhran, hammered dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, flute and pennywhistle, come together to create the group’s signature sound.
For long-time fans, the show will bring a mix of old and new Christmas tunes as well as some new arrangements and some new non-Christmas works the team has been crafting.
The group plays a song called “A Kerry Christmas Card,” written about a symbolic Celtic tradition. A lit candle placed in the window on Christmas Eve not only welcomes the Holy family and the Christ child, but is a beacon to all, neighbors and wanderers alike, letting them know they are welcome in the home.
“It’s a pretty powerful Christmas message,” Imholte said. “It’s such a charming image to me how we all claim traditions are important, and these traditions connect us all.”
The group has also been working on a new arrangement of two contemporary Christmas songs, interweaving them together, “The Little Drummer Boy” and “Do You Hear What I Hear?” They’ll perform that as well as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” with traditional verses and new verses written by the group’s Charlie Roth.
In addition to Christmas music, the team has been working on some new non-Christmas music.
It will premiere Roth’s arrangement and original lyrics for a work he’s titled “Turlough O’Carolan." The group released its first music video, which features the piece, in October. It will also perform an old traditional piece called “The Raggle Taggle Gypsy.”
“It’s a dramatic song, its characters, the singers get to take on a personality,” Imholte said.
Four dancers from the Eilís Academy Irish Dance will take to the stage throughout the performance, dancing to six or seven of Ring of Kerry’s songs.
“They are like the frosting on the Christmas cake,” Imholte said.
Ring of Kerry has spent the summer playing festivals and outdoor gigs and, though it did a series of indoor concerts back in March, this is the first time back inside for performances in some time.
“It’s really nice to be playing for live audiences,” Imholte said. “We as musicians, maybe need is the wrong word, but it fulfills us and it becomes a two-way thing where the audience is also fulfilled.”
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at Pioneer Place on Fifth. Tickets are available at www.ppfive.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Ring of Kerry brings a touch of Ireland to Christmas in Central Minnesota
