Celtic Woman Forum
The Shows => A Christmas Symphony Tour 2025 and release date 11-07-2025 => Topic started by: CWazyTom on September 24, 2025, 11:15:22 AM
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Christmas comes early! Celtic Woman is excited to announce our brand new Christmas album ‘Nollaig: A Christmas Journey,’ out on November 7, 2025. Pre Save and pre-order now.
Digital pre-order:
https://celticwoman.lnk.to/nollaig
CD pre-order:
https://www.celticcollections.com/collections/celtic-woman/products/celtic-woman-nollaig-a-christmas-journey-cd
A festive 13 track Christmas album featuring special guests, Sibéal, and multi instrumentalist Tara Howley.
Vocalist Sibéal and instrumentalist Tara Howley join Muirgen, Mairead, Tara, Ciara, and Caitríona on various tracks!
Description (from the CD pre-order page):
**** This is a pre-order title all orders will ship w/c 3rd November ****
Experience the magical sound of Celtic Woman this holiday season.
In the stillness of winter, as the world quiets, familiar melodies drift like snowflakes; gentle, timeless, and full of wonder.
Celtic Woman’s album is a reflection of that magic. Encompassing tradition and newness, and capturing the spirit of Christmas in its most delicate form, each song is a window into a winter’s evening; some familiar, some reimagined, all wrapped in a feeling of joy.
Celtic Woman’s brand-new album Nollaig - A Christmas Journey features some of your favourite Yuletide classics: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Little Drummer Boy, Silver Bells, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas & more, along with brand-new composition Nollaig na mBan and some Irish songs & tunes with a Christmas twist.
The word Nollaig is the Irish word for ‘Christmas’. It is also the name for the month of December, and a given name for many people born within the month of December. For Celtic Woman, it epitomises the spirit of the entire Christmas season.
Newest members Caitríona Sherlock and Ciara Ní Mhurcú make their Celtic Woman debut on Nollaig - A Christmas Journey. Sean-Nós singer Caitríona and fiddle player Ciara join sopranos Mairéad Carlin & Muirgen O’Mahony, along with fiddle player Tara McNeill, on this 13 track studio album produced & arranged by Golden Globe-nominated composer Brian Byrne.
Drawing from our rich heritage of Irish female musical talent, Nollaig - A Christmas Journey also features a guest appearance by Sean-Nós singer Sibéal on 3 songs, and award-winning multi-instrumentalist Tara Howley joins the Celtic Woman band playing Uilleann Pipes & Whistles.
Celebrate the holiday season with Grammy-nominated multi-platinum Irish singing sensation Celtic Woman.
1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (2:29)
2. Nollaig na mBan (4:45) (featuring Sibéal)
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (3:00)
4. River (4:59)
5. Codail a Linbh (3:21) (featuring Sibéal)
6. Silent Night (4:16)
7. Wexford Carol (4:06)
8. Little Drummer Boy (3:05)
9. Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil (2:24) (featuring Sibéal)
10. Silver Bells (3:45)
11. In the Bleak Midwinter / Goin’ Home (4:34)
12. The Bells of Dublin / Christmas Eve / Navan in the Snow (3:38) (featuring Tara Howley)
13. Auld Lang Syne (4:50)
Note: I got the the featured performers on individual tracks from the track metadata on Spotify.
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So excited! I got to see Howley playing when she was on tour with Riverdance, so this is sure to be an album to deliver!
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Good to Know! Thanks Tom as always!
The moment I saw Tara on it made me thought did they do this with only the newest singer at first!
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YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I'm guessing Nollaig na mBan is an original?
I know Codail A Linbh is a lullaby.
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Wow! They are really good at keeping secrets. Interesting how Tara and Ciara are both on the album.
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I tried to preorder a CD off celtic collection site Man I reall hope someone messed up it is charging $60.00 to ship in to the states making it the most expensive CD I would ever buy but I will wait and see. Anyone else have this problem
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Wow. That's pretty crazy.
There were 2 shipping options for me. I think the cheaper one was $17 to Canada.
When I ordered the Gothard Sisters CD it was $33 for the CD, $32 for shipping. 🤣
I don't want to use the "t-word" but I wonder if import fees have something to do with the shipping cost. Duties and such might be built into it.
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;D Haha! The "t-word"! ;D
It's on Amazon for pre-order. FYI
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here is the link to Amazon it's $23.97 with shipping
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FS7W3QGX
I have to say I would normally buy from CW but in this case $60.00 to ship is just out of line so everyone use the amazon link and Save $58.03
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Wow! They are really good at keeping secrets. Interesting how Tara and Ciara are both on the album.
They must've recorded most if not all of it in July since Mairead was in the Faroe Islands in the second half of June making her solo album and Tara's baby was born in August (wonder if both Tara & Ciara are on some tracks).
It seems like a trend for christmas albums to be secrets (especially with no special going with it -- I remember The Magic of Christmas being a surprise as they never announced recording of that one. They just posted about "learning some music" and that was all).
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I also recognize The Bells of Dublin / Christmas Eve as being from The Cheiftans Christmas album. Navan in the Snow must also be an original
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I just ordered from Amazon. Total, including tax, was $15.03. Since I have Prime, shipping is free. Amazon says I'll have it November 7.
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FYI. In case you didn't know. If you order a hard CD from Amazon, you can listen to it streaming on their Amazon Music player for free.
In the Amazon Music player, it's under:
Library > Albums
It's not 100%. Because some of the CDs I bought off Amazon are not there, but some of them are.
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FYI. In case you didn't know. If you order a hard CD from Amazon, you can listen to it streaming on their Amazon Music player for free.
In the Amazon Music player, it's under:
Library > Albums
It's not 100%. Because some of the CDs I bought off Amazon are not there, but some of them are.
You can listen to it now? Or do you mean by 7th November?
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FYI. In case you didn't know. If you order a hard CD from Amazon, you can listen to it streaming on their Amazon Music player for free.
In the Amazon Music player, it's under:
Library > Albums
It's not 100%. Because some of the CDs I bought off Amazon are not there, but some of them are.
You can listen to it now? Or do you mean by 7th November?
Digital release is also Nov 7.
Again, IDK if it is guaranteed to include a digital release w/ hard CD. But the last 3 CW CDs I bought on Amazon are on the Amazon Music player.
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FYI. In case you didn't know. If you order a hard CD from Amazon, you can listen to it streaming on their Amazon Music player for free.
In the Amazon Music player, it's under:
Library > Albums
It's not 100%. Because some of the CDs I bought off Amazon are not there, but some of them are.
You can listen to it now? Or do you mean by 7th November?
Digital release is also Nov 7.
Again, IDK if it is guaranteed to include a digital release w/ hard CD. But the last 3 CW CDs I bought on Amazon are on the Amazon Music player.
Oh, sorry 😭 for some reason, I thought you were saying that if you buy the CD in advance, you can listen to the album digitally on Amazon Music now 😭😭 what’s even worse is that I use Amazon Music 😭
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The Spotify pre-save has a countdown.
https://open.spotify.com/prerelease/48RQ3HWTrjrOWnb9XbtzYV
If it is accurate, the release is scheduled for midnight EST (aka. New York time). Depending on where you are, that could be later today.
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I got my preorder CD today and have had several run thru on the cd and I like it very much Thanks to Amazon for shipping on time this time
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It’s already released here in the UK!
I’ve just listened to it all the way through and it’s a very good album!!!
Favourites so far are Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - it’s such a cool arrangement they’ve done with this!
Codail a Linbh - sounds so ethereal and relaxing!
In The Bleak Midwinter/Goin Home - Harmonies are INSANE on this one!
Hope you all enjoy it too 😊
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I haven't listened to all the songs yet...
Anyways, if you haven't been to their YouTube page, they released a bunch of 'yule log' videos. Like they did with the Magic of Christmas.
https://www.youtube.com/@CelticWomanOfficial
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Can some give me a breakdown of who’s singing in which songs? It’s kind of tough for me with Sibeal
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Can some give me a breakdown of who’s singing in which songs? It’s kind of tough for me with Sibeal
Sure! I’m rather unsure on some of them, though, so maybe this isn’t the best help. :-\ It’s especially hard for me to tell if Tara/Ciara is on there as the Brian Byrne arrangements tend to blend her in too much with the other background instruments. Muirgen and Caitríona have somewhat similar voices as well, so it’s difficult to tell between them.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: group
Nollaig na mBan: group featuring Sibéal
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: group
River: Mairéad solo (I believe it’s just her, but Tara/Ciara might be on there as well)
Codail A Linbh: group featuring Sibéal
Silent Night: instrumental (I’m afraid I don’t know if it’s Tara, Ciara, or both)
Wexford Carol: Muirgen singing with Tara/Ciara on fiddle
Little Drummer Boy: group
Don Oíche Úd i mBeithil: group featuring Sibéal
Silver Bells: ??? It’s either a group, just the vocalists, or Caitríona and Mairéad together. Caitríona and Muirgen have very similar ranges so it’s hard to tell for me. It’s also odd that Caitríona didn’t get a solo.
In The Bleak Midwinter/Goin’ Home: group (I think?)
The Bells Of Dublin/Christmas Eve/Navan In The Snow: instrumental featuring Tara Howley, either Tara, Ciara, or both.
Auld Lang Syne: group
(sorry if this was all wrong!)
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I was planning to check the liner notes, but my CD shipment got delayed indefinitely. Lol.
Wexford Carol was Muirgen and Tara (confirmed via a social media post)
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Here I hope this helps
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Here I hope this helps
Thank you so much!!!!
It is interesting how Don Oíche Úd I mBeithil only had Sibéal on the track. They didn’t even have Tara or Ciara doing instrumentals! It’s also odd that Caitríona didn’t get a solo.
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They did the two versions of auld lang syne in one track and Caitríona sang the first version alone so I think that was her solo then they resent the second version together. Maybe they considered that her solo
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They did the two versions of auld lang syne in one track and Caitríona sang the first version alone so I think that was her solo then they resent the second version together. Maybe they considered that her solo
How did I not notice that they did two versions of it on here? 🤦♀️ Sorry about that, I suppose.
By the way, Caitríona is extraordinary in this song! She has the same sort of Lisa Lambe effect that made the original so iconic.
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By the way, Caitríona is extraordinary in this song! She has the same sort of Lisa Lambe effect that made the original so iconic.
That’s very interesting and I agree, on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen we can’t hear her distinction so you can imagine Lisa Lambe as she did with them on last year’s tour. Other times she sounds like Megan but with a very Eabha style and much very Irish.
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My CD finally arrived today (with a set of Postcards from Ireland postcards as compensation for the late postage)!
If anyone wants a quick breakdown without looking through the liner notes photo, there was split between Tara and Ciara on the album (EDIT: there were some mistakes in the liner notes, which I have rectified below)
Tara:
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
- Silent Night
- Little Drummer Boy
- In the Bleak Midwinter / Goin' Home
- Auld Lang Syne
- Wexford Carol
- Don Oíche Úd I mBeithil
Ciara:
- Nollaig na mBan
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
- Codail a Linbh
- Silver Bells
- The Bells of Dublin / Christmas Eve / Navan In the Snow
It looks like Ewan Cowley was back on guitar for this album.