Interkelta Festo Noz

...de BZH Novjorko:

BZH New York has organized the first Interceltic Fest Noz which will take place in New York on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at Connolly’s Times Square.

The Fest Noz is a celebration of music, dance, and culture of Brittany, Galicia, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and will feature 40 musicians from the 5 Celtic nations, dance sets from the different Celtic cultures and a silent auction.

In addition, the evening will celebrate the Celtic festival of Imbolc. Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals celebrated among Celtic peoples, either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring.

The current lineup of performers includes the following:

Bretagne: Duo Morgane Labbe and Francois Tiger - Bagad de New York - Marie Martin

Ireland: Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra Led - Tony DeMarco and Friends - Niall O'Leary School of Irish Dance

Scotland: Wild Thistle featuring Mary Morrisson Abdill and Hannah Maire Marcus – Aodhagán - Capital Region Celtic Pipe Band,

Wales: Honey and Biscuits featuring Helen Ellis and Mary Morrisson

Galicia: Nosa Terra

Silent auction from 7pm to 10pm: Artists Capucine Bourcart and Christophe LeGris will auction 6 photographies with all proceeds going to Action Against Hunger and its Relief Efforts in Haiti...

Nelson McCausland

….de Nelson McCausland:

This afternoon I met representatives of the Irish language organisation Pobal. At the present time I am preparing a paper on a minority languages strategy for Northern Ireland and it was an opportunity to hear the views of Janet Muller and her colleagues.

We have two indigenous minority languages in Northern Ireland, Ulster-Scots and Irish, and I said to the folk from Pobal that the nearest situation to that in Northern Ireland was the situation in Scotland, where there are also two indigenous minority languages, Scots and Gaelic.

There are differences but there are also similarities, not least the fact that the two minority languages in Ulster are sister languages to the minority languages in Scotland. Scottish Gaelic developed from Irish Gaelic and Ulster-Scots is a variant of Scots.

I also explained that one of my priorities was to promote a shared and better future and that the minority languages strategy would reflect the core principles of that priority, which are equity, diversity and independence.