CW in Sunday Times Culture Magazine

Here is the whole story Thanks John for the info

Notable figures from the Irish entertainment industry gathered at a church in Dublin last April for the funeral of music promoter Dave Kavanagh. Bono and the Edge performed a U2 song, while the High Kings sang The Parting Glass. Kavanagh had worked with both acts, managed Clannad and promoted the Boomtown Rats, Christy Moore and Thin Lizzy.

Yet Celtic Woman, one of his biggest success stories, were absent from this send-off. They were on tour in the US, travelling between shows in Rhode Island and Vermont, and had to watch the funeral on a video link. According to Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, one of Celtic Woman’s original members and now the show’s vocal director, Kavanagh’s wife gave them her blessing: “Dave would have wanted the show to go on.”

In the history of Irish musical acts, Celtic Woman are an often overlooked success story. Perhaps that’s due to the ever-changing line-up and the fact they rarely perform in Ireland. Since their inception, however, the group have sold more than 10m albums and topped the Billboard World Music charts six times. Their popularity shows no sign of waning. Ancient Land, their latest album, debuted at No 1 in the world music category on iTunes in America.

The group’s forthcoming tour starts this month and continues until June 2019, taking in dozens of cities across America. The itinerary looks challenging but Shane McDonnell, the operation’s chief executive, says the annual expedition across the US proceeds like a well-oiled machine.

Carlin, part of the troupe since 2013, says her 2019 schedule is tamer than for past tours. “Last year we did even more shows. It’s just the way it’s always been. We don’t party or anything like that. We’re ‘cups of tea and pyjamas after the show’ girls. We’re on a tour bus and we get hotel rooms every night. If we arrive in the middle of Alabama at 4am, we know we have a bed,” says Carlin, who will be accompanied by fellow singers Tara McNeill, Éabha McMahon and newcomer Megan Walsh.

Fifteen members have come and gone since the beginning, but the formula remains the same. McDonnell describes it as “talented performers, performing a mixture of Irish songs, and putting on a great show”. It was devised in 2003 by Sharon Browne, founder of the Celtic Collections record label. She pitched her idea to Gustavo Sagastume, then programming boss for America’s Public Service Broadcasting (PBS), at a trade fair in Cannes. Sagastume was sceptical, telling Browne there was no market for “girls with pretty voices from Ireland”. But he presented her with a challenge: “Give me Charlotte Church meets Enya meets Sarah Brightman, then we can talk.”

Browne, Kavanagh and David Downes, a composer and musical director for Riverdance, worked on the idea. They recruited four singers — Chloe Agnew, Orla Fallon, Lisa Kelly and Ní Mhaolchatha — plus fiddle player Mairéad Nesbitt and filmed a one-off television special in Dublin in September 2004.

Ní Mhaolchatha — who previously toured with Anuna, Lord of the Dance and the RTE Concert Orchestra — felt there was an appetite for Irish music in America. “PBS had widened the appeal with Riverdance and the Irish Tenors. It brought them to a bigger audience than standard touring had ever done before. Celtic Woman included Irish-language tracks and used traditional instruments. Our American colleagues were initially nervous about how this would come across.” Ultimately, PBS was impressed with the production and the first Celtic Woman television special was broadcast in early 2005. When the group travelled to perform on The Today Show in New York, they were recognised in the street. “That was bizarre,” says Ní Mhaolchatha. “We realised this was having an impact beyond what we expected. That was a moment when I thought this might mean making changes in my life.”

Success was instantaneous. Their self-titled album held the top slot in the World Music chart for 81 weeks. Their 2006 Christmas album went straight to No 1. A New Journey, their third CD, sold 71,000 copies in its first week. The group began cross-country tours of America, taking in a reported $16m (€14m) per tour in ticket sales and merchandise. Some fans spent thousands of dollars following the act around the States. It was so busy there was little time to consider the Irish market, McDonnell explains.

“There wasn’t a recognition of what we were doing [in Ireland],” says Ní Mhaolchatha. “There’s no equivalent of the PBS-type of exposure here.” PBS programming has no advertising. Instead, viewers respond to on-air pleas for donations. Celtic Woman’s debut special was shown 3,400 times on 316 PBS stations.

There’s another reason why Celtic Woman works better in America. Lilting Irish ballads and photographic slideshows of Irish scenery appeal to notions of a mythical motherland. “Ireland is a country that does a lot of psychological heavy lifting for Americans,” wrote The New York Times in 2007. “Milky-skinned maidens, singing beautiful music in front of a wall of ivy: it’s the very vision of what we want Ireland to be. Or at least what PBS viewers want Ireland to be.”

McDonnell points out that Celtic Woman are also popular in Australia, Asia and Europe. “When we tour in Japan, the audience is 99% Japanese. There is a commonality in Irish music that translates across the world.”

Although Celtic Woman’s performances are harmonious, the operation has sometimes been discordant behind the scenes. In 2006, Browne left to set up her own group, Celtic Man. She held auditions and filmed a TV special in Dublin. Prior to its 2008 PBS broadcast, Celtic Woman Ltd filed a case of trademark infringement in a New York court. Kavanagh, by then leading the operation, accused her of creating “a virtual replica” of the show that would cause “irreparable harm” to the Celtic Woman brand.

In 2015, Downes petitioned the High Court in Dublin to wind up the company, claiming it owed him a “substantial” sum of money, an action the company said it would defend, and that its resources substantially exceeded its obligations to creditors. There has been no mention of the case since, so one presumes it was resolved.

Kavanagh’s death means none of Celtic Woman’s creators are still involved today. EMI, part of Universal Music Group, owns the brand. McDonnell, a former manager for Clannad, is in charge.

The organisation resolved its differences with Browne, who changed the name of her touring group to Celtic Thunder. Yet this and other touring ballad acts — Irish Tenors, Celtic Nights and High Kings — have been unable to match Celtic Woman’s success. In 2016, the group were nominated for their first Grammy, marking what Carlin describes as a new wave for Celtic Woman: “Our audiences are bigger than ever.”

Before his death, Kavanagh expressed a desire to film an outdoors concert in the same vein as a 2006 special at Slane Castle. Celtic Woman’s latest PBS special, broadcast in the US later this month, was filmed against the backdrop of Johnstown Castle in Wexford. “It was something we had to do as a tribute to Dave,” says McDonnell.

Kavanagh’s legacy, along with the others, has been the creation of the most successful Irish all-female group in history.

“As a male group it’s fine to have a bit of bravado,” says Ní Mhaolchatha. “As a female group it’s considered unseemly to blow your own trumpet.” Yet sisterhood is the reason for Celtic Woman’s longevity, she suggests.

“The principals look after one another on the road. There’s never been a major blow-up. No one has walked off the stage. The performers are dedicated to making this work. We have friendships beyond the stage. We become part of each other’s lives.”

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