Like a Scottish folk symphony, fresh and calming as the morning mist, with a tinge of mystery, a hint of longing, and the occasional wild instrumental romp...traditional tunes of Scotland.

14 MP3 Songs
WORLD: Celtic, NEW AGE: Celtic New Age



Details:
A joyful marriage of Scottish folk music with the lush sounds of strings, harp, oboes, bassoon, ocarina.

Her arrangements are extraordinary and she doesn't lose the traditional feel of the songs. As for her own compositions, Christina has kept the traditional feel into her own work keeping this cd pure with the same artistry in arrangements.

Bert Gagnon, Musictogousa.com

'Awesome oboe duet.' (Loch Leven)--N.M., Missouri

'The orchestration is beautiful, the music stirring.'--S. P., New Jersey

Her music has grasped the essence and soul of the thousands of years and the millions of miles that we all travel in our hearts and minds when one returns to, as we say in the Gaelic, 'Mol do oighreachid,' celebrate their heritage.'
--Dave MacLean, managing director, TVScots, ScotRadio

DESCRIPTION

A childhood listening to bagpipes, Scottish legend Jean Redpath, and the Boston Symphony have strongly influenced this Folky-Celtic-Classical artist. The artist, a prize-winning hammered dulcimer player as well as a classically trained symphonic musician, combines the elegance of classical phrasing with the robustness of folk melodies.

Listeners have described her music both as calming as well as energizing--sort of like yoga, only, for the ears. Thistle Dew which sounds a bit like background music to a pastoral scene in Braveheart or a cheerful tune in the Lord of the Rings. It is a group of swashbuckling, joyful, nostalgic and melodic folk gems, superbly orchestrated. It is music for the heart, magic for the soul.

THISTLE DEW brings together a rich variety of traditional tunes from Scotland, including one from the Shetlands (The New-Riggit Ship), and introducing two original tunes in a traditional vein (The Wee Folk Jig and Bonny Lorn). Many Scottish tunes have to do with the ships and the sea (The Fishermen's Call to the Seals, Crossing to Ireland), love (Eriskay Love Lilt), and farewells (Campbell's Farewell to Redcastle, Will Ye Nae Come Back Again). Not so many are touched with humor (The Old Man's Mare Died).
We hope you find a tune here that touches you.

Music for the heart, magic for the soul

THE COMPOSER/ARRANGER

Christina Connell has performed and recorded as a musician around the world. In her teens, she performed French horn professionally with orchestras in Albuquerque, West Palm Beach, and New Haven, CT.

After graduation from the Yale School of Music with a Masters in Music performance, she performed with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony, the Adelaide Symphony (Australia), and the Green Bay Symphony. She also recorded solos and chamber music for Icelandic radio. She was offered a Fulbright Award to study horn in the USSR, and accepted a Scandinavian-American Foundation award for music study in Norway.

Connell turned to folk music in the late 90s, and started to make her own arrangements and compositions. She competed and won the Okalahoma State Championship on hammered dulcimer in 2003, and has taught and played at Summerfest and Stringfling in Missouri, and the Indian Territory Dulcimer Club in Tulsa.

A Scottish family background and a great admiration for the richness of Celtic music influenced her choice of music, especially on the CD, Thistle Dew. Her classical and orchestral background is evident in the arrangements on both Thistle Dew, and Dennis Waltz (solo hammered dulcimer), both released in 2004. She is also currently president of the Ozark Wilderness Dulcimer Club and plays in the group, Homemade Jam.