Traditional Irish Gaelic Children’s Songs is a complete source for eleven traditional Irish songs that are fun and easy to learn, for adults as well as children. Learning these songs can also help build vocabulary for anyone just starting to learn the Irish language. The book offers many tools for learning each song thoroughly, including:
• Full lyrics and full translations for each song
• Outline drawings for each song that kids can color in
• A pronunciation guide for the language
• Instructions for games to play with two of the songs
• An annotated list of other sources for learning each song in this book, as well as other Gaelic songs
• Sheet music for each song
• A CD featuring each song sung in the traditional style by an award-winning Gaelic singer
Caera is a singer, harper, teacher, and writer, who is very passionate about the music, languages, and history of her Gaelic ancestors. She plays a clairseach, a brass-strung harp modeled after medieval harps from Ireland, and sings in all three Gaelic languages (Irish, Scottish, and Manx) as well as other languages.
Caera performs a variety of songs from a variety of time periods and places. She performs songs and chants from the Middle Ages, mostly from northern and western Europe. She also has an ever-growing repertoire of traditional songs from Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Many of these songs are in the native languages of these countries. She has a particularly strong interest in the sean-nos singing tradition of Ireland, and has studied this style in the Boston area and in Ireland. She also has a strong interest in the puirt-a-beul (mouth music) singing tradition in Scotland, and has studied this style in the Boston area. Finally, Caera does write her own original songs, in English as well as in Irish Gaelic.
In performance and in teaching, Caera strives to make the Celtic languages, especially Irish Gaelic, accessible and easy for anyone to understand -- whether they only speak English or not, whether they are familiar with traditional Celtic music or not, and whether they have Celtic ancestry or not.
Throughout her career as a performing musician, Caera’s singing has been compared to that of Máire (Moya) Brennan (of Clannad), Nóirín ní Riain, Karen Mattheson (of Capercaillie), Karan Casey, Loreena McKennitt, and several other notable singers in Celtic music. She has also collected such comments from her audiences as "Now I know the angels sing in Gaelic," and "I would walk on broken glass to hear you sing." In 2004 Caera won three gold medals in the Columbus Feis for Gaelic singing and poetry, and in 2005 Caera returned to the Columbus Feis and won five gold medals, in Gaelic singing and poetry, and in harp performance.
Caera has performed and taught at small cafes, large auditoriums, schools, libraries, yoga centers, and assisted living homes, as well as festivals and cultural events such as the Irish Crossroads Festival in Boston, the Lowell Folk Festival, the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA), the Dublin Irish Festival (in Dublin, OH), the Boston Celtic Music Festival, the Northeast Music and Dance (NOMAD) festival, the Midwest Women’s Festival, various Scottish Highland Games, and Renaissance Faires.
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