Celebrating St. Patrick’s with Celtic music fresh from the Isles

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day weekend brought a night to remember to a nearly full house at Weiser’s Snake River Heritage Center auditorium with the real-deal in Celtic music.

 It’s been five years since Imar, an award-winning Glasgow, Scotland based traditional folk band, toured in the U.S., and this time around the Treasure Valley got in on a pair of exhilarating performances, the first here in Weiser on Saturday, March 16. The band then played to a sold-out Sapphire Room audience in Boise the following day, before wrapping up their U.S. visit March 21-24 in Vancouver, BC, Mount Vernon and Seattle, Wash., and their finale at the Winona Grange in Tualatin, Ore.

 The group’s lineup features current and former members of well-known and acclaimed bands Mànran, Mec Lir, RURA and Talisk.

 The five members who make up Imar are: bodhran player and guitarist Adam Brown; fiddler Tomas Callister; uilleann piper, flautist, and whistle player Ryan Murphy; bouzouki genius Adam Rhodes; and master of the concertina Mohsen Amini. 

 Bringing an energetic and exciting performance to the stage, the authentic friendship among the bandmates is unmistakable with rib-tickling banter thrown in between songs.

  The evening’s opening act featured the western Treasure Valley’s Cole Brooks Band duo, entertaining the audience with several well known and new country western favorites, along with inviting the crowd to sing along with the 1970s John Denver hit “Country Roads” and “Wagon Wheel.” 

 The Weiser performance was booked through Pickers Paradise Presents, with Bee Tree Folk School’s Dennis Cooper arranging and managing the sound system for the show. Cooper said he had set up 21 channels to tight specifications for the band prior to the performance.

 “The sound check for this amazing group of musicians took less time than I’ve ever spent with any other group,” Cooper said. “And during the performance, I only slightly moved a couple of slides in a pair of slower fiddle numbers the entire evening.” 

 Watch for more live music opportunities coming our way as we head into this summer’s music festival season.