In one of his last performances as a faculty member in the Southwind Celtic Ensemble, Randal Allred performed lively folk music with fellow students and faculty. The ensemble celebrated Celtic culture through the upbeat tap of the traditional bodhrán drum, high melodies of the flute, and the traditional resound of the bagpipes on March 13 in the Aloha Center to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
“I love to spend time with [the band] and I feel we get along really well,” said Allred, the guitar player and BYU–Hawaii English professor. “We can almost read each other’s minds. It’s also fun to provide the kind of music that is normally never heard in this community,”
Rebecca Carlson, the harp player, said the type of music their ensemble plays isn’t very common in the community. “You should’ve seen the strange looks we got when we tried to play at the Polynesian Cultural Center. We were thinking, ‘Are we on the right island?’”
Allred, who served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ireland, said he arranged the event with a combination of Irish and Scottish jig music.
Joseph Gudmunson, a senior from Utah studying peacebuilding, is a featured performer with the group and has played bagpipes since he was 10 years old. “It’s been nice to have a reason to use my pipes. I find I don't have a lot of opportunities here I do in other places, so I appreciate the chance to play.
“I was a part of the Nauvoo Pageant bagpipe band for seven years, a seasonal band that comes together for the summer months in Nauvoo. I also played off and on with the Blackridge Bagpipe Band in southern Utah.”
With a smile, Allred said, “It’s the kind of music that makes you tap your toes,”
“[The] Southwind Celtic Ensemble is dedicated to bringing the sounds of the Emerald Isle to Oahu’s North Shore,” according to Rebecca Carlson’s website. The group plays two whistles, a guitar, fiddle, an Irish harp, and a bodhrán, with the recently added bagpipes.
Caryn Houghton, a special instructor of art from Idaho, plays the fiddle. Keith Lane, department chair of Religion, plays low whistle; Randal Allred plays guitar, and Russell Carlson, assistant mathematics professor, plays the whistle. Sariah Taylor played the bodhrán.
The inspiration for the name “Southwind” derives from a poem from John Keats, an English Romantic poet from Italy, according to the Southwind Celtic Ensemble Facebook page. The poem says, “Come blow, soft wind of the soft spring rains, Make every pasture green again. Come salmon leaping up the streams. Come flowers and fruit in the sun’s bright beams. And when at times my spirit’s low, Revive me as your warm winds blow. May God Almighty keep you strong. And bless this good land with your gentle song.”
Rebecca Carlson and Allred formed the ensemble after Allred saw her play the harp in sacrament meeting. Allred said he played the guitar and later they planned to get together to play music.
Celtic music in daily life
Since the 19th century, Celts were recognized descendants of Western European regions of France, Great Britain, and Ireland, according to Britannica Encyclopedia. According to Taylor, their music was heavily characterized by their instruments.
Taylor shared the interesting history of the bodhrán. The instrument was created in Ireland in a region called Perry, and was known as ‘the poor man’s tambourine.’ In Ireland, you didn’t use a drum, you used a tambourine with your band. “Those who couldn’t afford a tambourine used a frame and laid the goatskin and there we have bodhrán.”
Allred explained Celtic music is often related to Christmas music. He said, “Usually we play a Christmas program too because a lot of the Christmas carols that are popular in England and North America are Irish, Scottish and Welsh songs, such as ‘Deck the Halls.’”
Other non-traditional Irish songs include: “Haste to the Wedding,” “Sally Gardens,” “The Spanish Lady,” “Ballinderry, Kesh Jig,” “Star of the County Down,” “The Southwind,” and “The Parting Glass.”
The Southwinds Celtic Ensemble has also played regularly at the Laie Temple Visitor’s Center, performing familiar hymns in Celtic style. An example of a common hymn they would play would be, “If You Could Hie to Kolob,” as this was originally a Celtic tune.
The Southwind Celtic Ensemble has its own Facebook page and is on Bandcamp and YouTube.
Writer: Geena DeMaio