Celtic Thunder’s Colm Keegan adds lessons in speaking Irish to his concert tour

Colm Keegan

Celtic Thunder’s Colm Keegan will be bringing the complete Irish experience to his new concert tour including discussions on culture, history and lessons in the Gaelic language.

Keegan’s Connecting the Celts is the first show from his new series, The History of Ireland through Music, and will be coming to North America in February and March.

In this show Keegan will combine a talk about Irish history with performance of songs associated with specific eras and major events. He will also show connections between events and movements in Ireland with their counterparts in Scotland. He will give historical context to all of the songs in the show, and he will give his audiences new insight into the stories and the references in the songs.

Colm Keegan

Keegan explained: “It’s my hope that the music will become more meaningful to people if they really understand the background of the songs and the references in the songs. I really wanted to create a show that is both entertaining and educational.

“Music is an important part of Celtic culture, and a lot of the music was written about or in reaction to historical events.”

The 29-year-old Dubliner, who now lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with his wife and two children, left full-time work with Celtic Thunder in 2016 to complete his teaching certification. He has undergraduate degrees in both music and Irish and now a postgraduate Masters in Education.

Through his CKonLine Teaching website he teaches, on a rotating basis, both group and individual classes in Music Theory, Irish History, Irish Myths and Legends, and the Irish Language. Most of his students are from the United States, Canada and Australia.

For his February and March foray to the U.S., he plans a full Irish experience for his audiences. He is replacing his usual Meet and Greet sessions with a one-hour class, “Introduction to the Irish Language.” People who choose to add this option can expect a comfortable learning environment and a lot of laughs, and they can expect to take away some basic understanding of syntax and pronunciation as well as some Irish phrases and greetings.

Keegan said: “It’s been my dream to combine my teaching background with my performing, and the run-up to St. Patrick’s Day seemed liked the perfect time to roll out an evening Celtic music and learning. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Tour dates:

Feb. 15 – Three Oaks, MI – Acorn Theater
Feb. 16 – Appleton, WI – McGuinness Irish Pub
Feb. 17 – Chicago, IL – Irish American Heritage Center
March 1 – Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Irish Center
March 4 – Canton, MA – Irish Cultural Center of New England
March 5 – Cranston, RI – Irish Ceilidhe Club of Rhode Island
March 6 – Yonkers, NY – Rory Dolan’s
March 9 – Philadelphia, PA – Commodore John Barry Irish Center

Ticket links for all shows can be found at www.colmkeegan.com/tours.

Check out the full programme details for Colm Keegan show, Connecting the Celts

Click here for more about Colm Keegan

Click here for more about Celtic Thunder

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By Patrick Kehoe

Pat Kehoe is a writer for Irish Music Daily. His favourite Irish music bands are the Dubliners and Planxty.