Golden Bough brings Celtic music to the Redlands Bowl

Golden Bough will take the Redlands Bowl audience on “A Journey to the Celtic Lands” on Tuesday, July 8. This award-winning trio will sing, play, and jig their way through traditional and contemporary Celtic—that’s Celtic with a hard c—music.

Performing on an array of instruments including the Celtic harp, violin, octave-mandolin, accordion, guitar, harmonica, recorder, and bodhran, Margie Butler, Paul Espinoza, and Kathy Sierra will introduce the audience to the mystique of Celtic music.

“The music has such pathos,” explains Butler who formed Golden Bough in 1980 with fellow folk musician Espinoza. “The historically tragic times of the Celts come through with powerful emotion in their music. When you listen to the words, you get a glimpse into the tragedies and victories of their history.”

Featuring pristine vocal harmonies, Golden Bough has an impressive discography with 18 CDs of folk music recordings.

Setting the program for the Redlands Bowl audience, the ensemble will perform a variety of music, from haunting ballads to toe-tapping jigs. The performers have expanded upon the ethnic styles through the development of intriguing arrangements and original compositions. About one-fourth of the music will be their own compositions.

“Paul (Espinoza) has been a songwriter since the 1960s,” Butler said, “and he maintains the Celtic story-telling tradition.”

The Larson Irish Dancers from Whittier will join the musicians on stage for six pieces, performing jigs, reels, and hornpipes, the latter being an Irish dance that became popular with sailors on ships.

In the afternoon, Golden Bough, who presents the highly acclaimed “Music In The Schools” program, will conduct the first Children’s Festival Workshop of the 2003 season. According to Butler, the group will show the children how Irish and Celtic music is sung, and will teach them several songs. “The children who come to the concert at night may get a chance to come on the stage and sing the songs they learned at the workshop,” said Butler. The workshop will begin at 3:00 p.m. at the First Congregational Church at 2 W. Olive Ave. in Redlands.

For more information about Golden Bough, visit their Web site at www.goldenboughmusic.com.

This one-thousand, nine-hundred and forty-fifth event at the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival will begin at 8:15 p.m. following the Community Sing at 7:20 led by Curtiss Allen, Sr., and accompanied by Harriet Talbert. Ushers for the concert will be members of the Loma Linda Chamber of Commerce, and the California Women for Agriculture. Jim Jeffries will be the intermission speaker.

All events of the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival are presented without an admission charge, with a free-will offering collected at intermission.

The Redlands Bowl is located at 25 Grant Street in Redlands between Grant and Eureka Streets, just south of Brookside Avenue. For directions and more information, contact the office at 909/793-7316 or view the website at www.redlandsbowl.org