Diane Maranchie - Pat Black - Tracy Gallagher - Bill Black - Nicole Engstrom
Formed seven years ago, CELTIC TIDE is a group of five musicians from the Falmouth area, playing
traditional music on fiddle, banjo, guitar, bouzouki, bodhrán (Irish drum), whistle, and flute.
Their repertoire is primarily but not exclusively Irish traditional - there are Scots, Canadian,
and American traditional influences in CELTIC TIDE's repertoire as well.
Vocals in English and Irish are also included in CELTIC TIDE's performance repertoire, but the
group is not a "ballad group".
CT has appeared extensively on Cape Cod, including featured performances at Mashpee Commons, in the
"Citizens Bank Music on the Green" summer concert series, at various Cape Cod FiddleFests, in the
Bourne Library concert series, and Woods Hole Illuminations. They were also featured performers
(with piper Jerry O'Sullivan) in the Brian Boru Pipe Band fundraising concert in November 2000,
and are the "host band" for various local fundraisers on behalf of the local homeless prevention
campaigns.
Performances in 2005 include the Cape Maritime Festival in May, Woods Hole Music Festival and
Falmouth Arts Alive in June, and the Truro Summer Concert Series in August.
The band features the traditional dance music of Ireland (jigs, reels, hornpipes), as well as
polkas, slow airs and harp tunes. Their repertoire also includes songs in English and Irish.
CELTIC TIDE has also performed at many private functions (family reunions, weddings, etc.)
and was also the subject of a recent local newspaper article.
A list of scheduled CELTIC TIDE performances is included on the CAPETRAD page.
Click here for some samples of the group's sound.
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BILL AND PAT BLACK
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The husband-and-wife duet features flute and guitar arrangements of traditional Irish music, mainly
ballads and harp tunes. Some of their tunes are well-known and others not so well known, but the music
is all beautiful and deserving of a greater audience.
The Blacks are founding members of CELTIC TIDE and have been active in the lively Irish music and dance
scene in the Boston area. They have lived on Cape Cod since 1979, after moving here from the New York
City area. Pat is a native of Dublin and Bill is a native New Yorker, born in Manhattan and raised in
Brooklyn. The couple have two grown sons.
Pat is a former warpipe instructor with the New York Transit Police pipe band who has exchanged her
bagpipes for the flute and tin whistle. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the
Cape Cod Celtic Society . Pat is an accomplished graphic artist specializing in Celtic subjects.
Bill is the banjo/guitar player with the Northeast Ceili Band and is also an active composer of songs
and dance tunes in both traditional and non-traditional modes. His most recent project, still in
progress but nearing completion, is a book of piano arrangements of Irish traditional airs, songs, and
harp tunes.
Bill is active in the local session scene and as of mid-May will be running three Irish trad sessions
here on the Cape. He was also the guitarist with the "Boston Irish Return" group which did concerts
in Boston and in Dublin in Spring 2004.
Bill is also the assistant music director of the Cape Cod Celtic Society, and via a new company
CAPE IRISH PRODUCTIONS is working closely with local resort owner Jack Hynes to produce the "Cape
Cod Ceili Weekend" series at the Irish Village in West Yarmouth.
Bill also maintains the CAPETRAD web page which lists various events of a traditional nature in the
Cape Cod/SE New England area, and also includes links to similar sites elsewhere.
The Blacks are also actively involved in the musical fundraising efforts that take place in Falmouth in
December of each year. To date (January 2006) they and their colleagues have raised a total of $28000
for the local Homeless Prevention Fund.
Falmouth Enterprise article
publicity pictures
sound bytes