The Celtic Music Association
of Madison, Wisconsin

Events

Always check the celticmadison.org Events Calendar first!

• Read our Spring 2005 Newsletter (you'll need the free Acrobat Reader).
   
• Dance Events are posted on our Dance page.
   
• Regular Celtic Music Events in Madison
  If you really never get your fill of Irish music, you'll have to come by Madison's public sessions:
  • Every Wednesday: Madison's core session has moved to a new location effective Feb. 13, 2008 at the Brocach, (608) 255-2015, 7 W. Main St (on the Capitol Square), starting about 8 pm, unless it happens to not happen at all. Level is advanced and mixed.
  • 1st Sundays: You may prefer the laid-back and encouraging atmosphere on the first Sunday of every month at the Willy Street Co-op, 1221 Williamson St., from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Beginners welcome.
  • 2nd Sundays: a new intermediate session is held on the second Sunday of each month, 1-3 pm at the Froth House, 11 N. Allen Street (near West High School, around the corner from the Regent St. Market). Contact: Craig Heilman at cma@celticmadison.org or (608) 424-6877.
  • 3rd Sundays: A "session-style gig" for 2-4 invited participants only is at The Brocach on the Capitol Square on third Sundays, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, organized by Alan Ng. Contact alan@alan-ng.nospam (but use "net," not "nospam") in advance if you're interested in playing there some time.
  • 4th Sundays: New hour and location: An intermediate session happens the fourth Sunday of each month 4-6 pm at the Willy Street Co-op. Contact: Craig Heilman at cma@celticmadison.org or (608) 424-6877.
  • Here are some excellent tips on how traditional Irish music sessions work, from a Belfast-based Web site.
• The "Hackberries" are a group of folks who meet regularly in private to play Celtic music - but anyone is welcome to get in touch with them. See the bottom of this Web page: http://contra.rso.wisc.edu/

Other Calendars

• The Shamrock Club also maintains an Irish music and dance calendar for the Milwaukee area and for all of Wisconsin.
• For sessions outside of Madison, see the regional links below.

Free Newsletter

In Print - Infrequent

The Celtic Music Association publishes a free, occasional newsletter, dubbed Celtic Madison. You may add yourself to our mailing list by e-mailing your name and street address to snailmail@celticmadison.org. See archives of old newsletters below.

Via E-Mail - More Up-to-Date

We also send out the newsletter via e-mail, which you can choose to receive instead of, or in addition to the printed newsletter. This group of subscribers also receives alerts when any major Celtic music events are happening in Madison (on average, less than once a month). To be added to our e-mail list, please send your e-mail address to rcnewton@facstaff.wisc.edu. Don't worry, we do not release our mailing list to anyone else.

Archive

Past Web-ized newsletters: (older archived issues may not meet current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

• Spring 2005 (you'll need the free Acrobat Reader)
• Spring 2004 (Acrobat PDF)
• Spring 2003 (Acrobat PDF)
• Spring 2002 (Acrobat PDF)
• Fall 2001
• Spring 2001
• Fall 2000
• Spring 2000
• Fall 1999
• Spring 1999
• Fall 1998: CMA and the Madison Folk Music Society presented Solas.
• Spring 1998
• Fall 1997
• Summer 1997
• Spring 1997

About CMA

The Celtic Music Association is a group of unpaid volunteers which primarily organizes concerts by traditional musicians from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, and Wales. For over 20 years, CMA has brought several acts per year to Madison, ranging from lesser-known gems like Máire O'Keeffe to big names such as The Tannahill Weavers and Altan. We are nominally (although far from exclusively) run by students and faculty of UW-Madison, and therefore qualify to register as a Student Organization at the UW. We also actively support Madison's local Celtic dance and music culture.

Contact CMA

CMA does not have a formal hierarchy of officers. Whoever is willing to take on the responsibility of a task gets to be the contact person for that area!

• Booking: If you are a touring band or agent interested in a gig in Madison, give Bob Newton a ring at (608) 251-1072 or e-mail him at concerts@celticmadison.org.
• Web site: If you have a suggestion for or a comment about any part of the celticmadison.org Web site, send an e-mail to Alan Ng at alan@alan-ng.nospam (use net instead of nospam).
• Free newsletter: see above.
• Donations to CMA are gratefully accepted and will make our continued existence easier by helping us cover the many expenses of booking and presenting traditional artists, publishing the free newsletter, and renting this Web server. You can also help the whole community by helping us keep ticket prices at an accessible level. Contact treasurer Craig Heilman at cma@celticmadison.org or mail a check payable to "Celtic Music Association" to Celtic Music Association, 7500 Paoli Road, Verona, WI 53593. We do not yet have 501(c)3 tax-free status, but your assistance will do just the same amount of good anyway!

Recommended Links

Madison Links  :  Regional Links  :  Global Links

Local Madison Links

• Madison's Celtic musicians
  • Americay
  • Pat Cloonan (now in Chicago)
  • Celtic House
  • Dan Cobb
  • Greenfyre
  • Keltori (former members of now-defunct Far From Home)
  • The Kissers
  • Larkin'
  • Madison Pipes and Drums
  • Navan
  • Alan Ng
  • O'er the Border
  • Rigel
  • Public House Ceili Band
  • Rising Gael
  • Rolliana Scheckler
  • Rolling Wave
  • The Snug
  • StoneRing (formerly known as Standing Stones)
  • Tairis
  • West Wind
  • Madison Zor Shrine Pipes and Drums. Any men interested in learning to play bagpipes or drums in order to become a member are invited to contact Steve Emerson 608-356-6675 or www.zorpiper@hotmail.com for more information.
• Other Madison-area Celtic music links
  • UW-Madison Continuing Studies often offers courses in Irish music held downtown.
  • Two of Madison's Irish musicians have posted extensive databases of their repertoire, which should help newcomer musicians fit right in to the scene:
    • Dan Cobb's abc collection: Cobb's Music of Ireland
    • Alan Ng's Irish Traditional Music Index (see below under Global links) includes a page titled "Ng's Tunography of Madison, Wisconsin Session Tunes"
  • The Madison Folk Harp Society
  • The Madison Folk Music Society, fondly known as "Mad Folk"
  • The Wild Hog in the Woods - mainly a contra dance organization, but also offers a good Madison-area folk music Web site
• Madison-area Celtic dance links
  • Visit our Dance Links.
• Madison-area Celtic culture links
  • The Celtic Cultural Center of Madison, with whom we share the celticmadison.org server.
  • The Dane County Shamrock Club
  • St. Patrick's Day Parade
  • The Cambrian Heritage Society of Madison, Wisconsin
  • The Wisconsin Manx Association is based in Madison.
  • The St. Andrews society has a chapter in Madison but no Web site.
  • The Hurling Club of Madison

Regional Links

• FolkLib Index: A Library of Folk Music Links. Includes exhaustive resources on Wisconsin folk musicians.
• Milwaukee's Irish Cultural and Heritage Center
• The Shamrock Club of Wisconsin
• There is a session in Baraboo at The Village Booksmith, (608) 355-1001, on the first Friday of the month, 7-10 p.m, located right on the town square.
• Folklore Village in Dodgeville, WI sometimes hosts Celtic events.
• North Central Heavy Athletics organizes Highland Games around the Upper Midwest.
• The Rock River Valley Celtic Society
  There is a session at Suds O'Hanahan's in Beloit, Wisconsin every second Saturday of the month. Call Cassie 608/364-4352.
• There is an Irish session every Thursday in Oconomowoc, WI at The Pub, 114 N. Main St.
• Tim Britton, Iowa pipemaker and piper
• The Des Moines, Iowa "Celtic Music Association" (unrelated to us)
• Jim Wearne is a Cornish-American folksinger in the Chicago area.

General Global Celtic Resources

• Ceolas: The traditional Irish music home page for the world, offering material for musicians, fans, and tourists.
• tradmusic.com: By trad musicians for trad music
• ceili.ie is an index of Irish dance and music activity, but primarily limited to locations in Ireland.
• irishtune.info - Irish Traditional Music Tune Index, an index of recorded and printed tunes.
• Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music
• Two Madison scholar-musicians have, via UW-Madison Continuing Studies, opened an on-line, self-paced, non-credit culture and history course on Celtic music for anyone in the world.