Victoria-based Irish traditional band of awesomeness, Crikey Mor, will be celebrating St. Paddy’s Day in the intimate Harrison Memorial Hall Saturday, March 14 at 8 p.m., bringing together a sense of fun, or what the Irish call ‘craic’, with a genuine love and respect for traditional music.
Drawn together by a shared love of Irish traditional music, Crikey Mor started out as a group of quality traditional musicians just getting together to play Irish tunes every week at a local Victoria pub. The sessions caught the attention of music lovers who wanted more, resulting in some of the core members deciding to band together and bring their exciting, rollicking and spontaneous sounding music to the stage.
“At last year’s Vancouver Celtic Festival, I was immediately impressed by how they whipped the crowd into a happy frenzy with their high energy songs, well played jigs and reels, and fun rapport with the audience,” recalls Harrison Festival Society Artistic Director, Andy Hillhouse.
In the past two years, this five-piece band has gained a well-earned reputation for bringing audiences to their feet with the kitchen party atmosphere provided by their spirited jigs, reels and songs. Crikey Mor consists of Nancy Grossert (fiddle), Tasia MacKay (flute), Eric Reiswig (uilleann pipes), Andrew Morris (bodhrán) and Jeremy Walsh (guitar) founder of seminal Canadian folk band Scruj McDuhk (now The Duhks).
“The lead singer and songwriter, Jeremy Walsh, has a deep repertoire of traditional songs and recently penned tunes that draw on traditional music, ” says Hillhouse.
Crikey Mor has performed in Victoria and all around Vancouver Island, including the Victoria Highland Games festival, Folkwest, Read Island Beach Fest, and even brought their foot-stomping music north to the small Malcolm Island town of Sointula, BC. They most recently took part in CelticFest Vancouver 2014 in celebration of St. Paddy’s Day, performing four shows over the course of the festival.
This concert will include a special opening set by finger style guitarist and songwriter Rockland Moran. Rock, a Chilliwack native with Irish roots who now resides in Victoria, has developed a unique playing style that has whimsically been called ‘Fusegrass’, a fusion of jazz, roots and delta blues.
Tickets for Crikey Mor are $22 and can be purchased online at www.harrisonfestival.com, by phone at 604-796-3664 or in person at the Ranger Station Art Gallery in Harrison and Agassiz Shoppers Drug Mart on Pioneer Ave.
