The Boston Street Céilí Band

by Mimi Greenwood Knight

IT WAS JUST A REGULAR SATURDAY, and I was busy doing Saturday things. Heading out with a long list of errands, I thought I’d zip into Giddy Up Coffee House in Folsom for a cup of liquid energy to get me through the morning. An hour later, not a single errand was scratched off my list because, as I opened my car door at the coffee house, I was involuntarily pulled into the music swelling from the bandstand across the alley. It was Celtic music—and some of the best I’ve heard this side of Ireland. There was no decision to be made. I slipped my beach chair from the trunk and joined the party.

It was obvious the musicians offering up this heavenly music were having the time of their lives. The smiles and smirks and eyebrow arches that flashed between them were enchanting, and I felt like they’d be playing just as spiritedly if there were no audience listening. They loved the music they were creating and were as fun to watch as they were to listen to. I learned they were The Boston Street Céilí Band, a collection of local music educators and enthusiasts fated to meet and marry their talents. It was just a matter of time.

The first one I met was fiddler Annie Young Bridges. A longtime professional violinist and string teacher in the St. Tammany Parish Public School System, she’s also the founder of the popular Northshore Strings Fiddle Camp, where she teaches students authentic Celtic and Cajun styles of playing, dancing and singing. “This all started with the kids,” she says of her 250 Mandeville-area students. “They were getting bored with the classical violin pieces I was teaching them. So, I started introducing some fiddle tunes just to hold their interest.” That interest grew over the past eight years into a school-based fiddle group and then the fiddle camp, which has been wildly successful.

As the camp grew, George Serban came onboard to help Bridges, and, eventually, so did Jim Gunter. While George originally trained in classical music and Jim began with Scottish bagpipes, the camp’s instructional book, Fiddle Club Favorites by Bridges’ longtime friend and colleague, Tom Morley, emphasized traditional Irish music. So, the two men made the transition. Both men have impressive resumes. Jim had been studying Celtic music since he was 16, but more in the Scottish tradition, concentrating on the tin whistle and Irish flute and competing in Irish dancing

for several years. He’s the director of the New Orleans Strathspey & Reel Society, which focuses on tunes from all the Celtic nations. Originally from Romania, George has a bachelor’s in music performance and music interpretation, is an active chamber musician, a St. Tammany strings teacher, lead tenor in the Christ Episcopal Church choir and has claimed ten national and international first-place awards in music competitions on viola throughout Europe.

Under the instruction of such seasoned, talented and passionate musicians, the students flourished, and soon, the teachers were looking for more opportunities for the kids to play. One way they did this was through monthly Celtic “jam sessions” at St. John’s Coffee House on Boston Street in Covington. Once a month, they welcomed the students to join them in playing for an hour for the coffee house crowd. Then the teachers took over and played for an additional hour. “A few of the kids were so good, though, that they played with us the whole time,” says Bridges.

What had begun as a jam session for the kids quickly turned into a popular local event. As the audience grew, so did the band, welcoming accomplished violinist, ethnomusicologist, private violin teacher, and founding member of the New Orleans Volunteer Orchestra, Madeline Hill; middle-school band director, New Orleans Volunteer Orchestra co-conductor, flutist and Irish whistle player, Kelby Sappington; and accomplished drummer, Pam Brownlee, a member of the popular Haggis Rampant Family Bagpipe Band and one of the founders of the Louisiana Renaissance Festival. They chose the name Boston Street Céilí Band in honor of their beginnings at St. John’s and in reference to céilí music (pronounced kay-lee), which is traditional Irish dance music.

“Céilí means a party or gathering,” says Gunter. “Céilí bands traditionally play for céilí dances.” The band is still growing, too. The newest members are Ricky Stelma, an accordion player with a classical and rock piano background, and George’s wife, Lizzie, who’ll soon be adding her vocals to the band’s vivacious melodies.

There’s no doubt this music, which can be traced back as far as the 1600s, makes you want to dance. I defy you not to at least tap a foot as you listen. It’s generous and invigorating, playful and primal and haunting. There’s nothing pretentious or elitist about it. It’s music for everyone, at any age or station or stage of life.

“When you’ve been classically trained, this music is so fun, because it doesn’t have to be perfect,” says Sappington. “You can be creative and innovative and just do it because you love doing it.”

“We’re all busy with our families and our careers,” Bridges says. “But when something is this fun, you just make time to squeeze it in.”

In fact, when the pandemic put the kibosh on their monthly Celtic jam sessions, the musicians still found ways to get together. “We couldn’t stand the thought of not playing together,” says Hill. “So, we’d practice on porches or under barns with everyone spaced six feet apart.” There’s no doubt those afternoons and evenings got them through what was a stressful time for us all. Just before COVID hit, they’d organized 44 fiddlers to march with the Covington Celtic Band in the Covington St. Patrick’s Day parade. Having to cancel the parade was a blow. But happily, it’s on for this year and on Saturday, March 12, members of the Boston Street Céilí Band will be there at noon marching through downtown with their students and “anybody else who wants to join,” playing the traditional Irish folk music they love. You can also catch them at Spring for Art in downtown Covington on Saturday, April 9 and at the Covington Farmers Market Saturday, April 30. I promise you’ll be glad you did.

For more information regarding Celtic music performance and education or the Northshore Strings Fiddle Camp, contact Annie Young-Bridges at FiddleLady06@yahoo.com.