Pic: Rapid City

At Rapid City in the Black Hills, the Rapid City Journal reports:

An inflatable Loch Ness monster lurked the waters of Memorial pond as Celtic enthusiasts donned tartan accessories amidst a backdrop of lilting bagpipes Saturday at the Black Hills Dakota Gathering of the Clans.

Cymdeithas Eisteddfodau Cymru (Association of Welsh Eisteddfodau) was established by Dr Aled Lloyd Davies and others 10 years ago to support and promote the 120 smaller eisteddfodau across Wales.

It is now absolutely certain, that no other traditional breton group caused as much anticipation as the two brothers at the party! The amount of photographers, both amateur and professional, who were there demonstrated the respect that the current duo demand !

We talk about some of the modern Stone Circles that have been or are being built and introduce you to an unpublished book about the Ancient Celts: Land, Sea & Sky. More about this book, as well as anything else we discuss on the show, can be found in the Shownotes for this episode.

There is some great music from the Connemara Stone Company, Damh the Bard and Kellianna.

Kelley Heckart, famed for her Celtic Romances, has contributed a section from her book, White Rose of Avalon, to the show and we’d like to send her a big Thank You. We hope you enjoy the story. There are links in our Shownotes telling you how you can get hold of this book.

A concert of Robin & Bina’s original and traditional pieces from Celtic, Indian, Old Timey and English roots - on harp, bowed-psaltery and other instruments - and featuring the East West harmonies of Robin and Bina’s voices.

After the Incredible String Band, and all the other projects they have been involved in as a duo and individually over the past years, Robin and Bina have put together something completely new..

Performing and recording since the 1990s, their songs and music feature the evocative East-West harmonies of their voices with harp, percussion and other instruments in a style described recently as Indo-Celtic-Delta.

We also talk about a possible delay in releasing Episode 11. Two or three days should be enough to get us back on track.

The Episode is available for subscribers on the feed, or you can download it or listen to it from our Episodes page. You can find the Shownotes for this episode in the Shownotes section.

The Chicago Daily Herald tells us that on June 20-21 the Highland Games will be in full fling in Chicago. When it comes to celebrating Celtic culture around Chicago, people of Scottish descent always seem to be overshadowed by the Irish.

There’s no national holiday like St. Patrick’s Day when “everyone is Scottish for one day.” It would also be impossible to dye the Chicago River plaid.

The school, which offers classes in music, dance, singing and visual arts, will be held at Malaspina University-College.

Instructors Mac Morin, Mairi Rankin and Wendy MacIsaac will join Toronto’s champion piper Bob Worrall and his group Scantily Plaid.

Daniel Telford, the correspondent says:

The weekend festival invited a number of the major Scottish clans that have representatives in the U.S. to have booths and inform the public about their heritage. The booths lined the streets of the expo, offering information, T-shirts, trinkets and the chance for some to trace their genealogy.

There were also Scottish bands and music, as well as boutiques and kilt stores.

This Special is just under 1 hour long which is a bit of a monster for us (hence the lateness!) but the good news is, as a Special, it is outside our main story-line, so you don’t have to download it to keep up with the story.