Write a commentThe Riverside Church in Newry are hosting a fascinating evening of soulful ballads on Saturday 14 May at 8pm, with a musical group all the way from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.
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The Singing Pilgrims will be on their second tour of Ireland and perform a mix of Irish traditional music and gospel songs. Starting off their tour in Newry they will also be playing in Boyle, Mohill, Galway and Kilorglin.
The three band members have been playing together for nearly twenty years, two of them Bria and Natasha played as children in the Apple Mountain Harp Kids ensemble, a group directed by third member Jeanne. In recent years Jeanne and Natasha played with band The Next Chapter playing the World Bodhran Festival in Killarney.
Jeanne Page is a best-selling author of Hammered Dulcimer books with Mel Bay Publications. While the hammered dulcimer was Jeanne’s main instrument in previous bands, in “Singing Pilgrims,” she focuses on her first love, the guitar.
Natasha Coffing is a multi-instrumentalist composing on the piano as well as the Celtic harp, but long ago, the fiddle became the instrument that felt most at home in her hands. Tasha’s aggressive and passionate playing stye has become the centerpiece of the “Singing Pilgrims” signature sound.
Gabrielle Coffing (Bria) rounds out the trio and it has been harder to nail her down to one primary instrument. She provides a strong rhythmic heartbeat on bodhran or dumbek for Tasha’s sparkling jigs and reels but moves to the keyboards for most of the vocal numbers.
All three play the harp.
Check out their music at singingpilgrims.wordpress.com
