Character Fleadh

Description

Irish and Scottish traditions with a Chicago twist

Work Sample

Live concert performance playlist in a variety of configurations.

It is an unedited presentation of Character Fleadh's current live set, which is also a preview for Logical Fleadh, our forthcoming album-length collaboration with Tautologic.

History

Since its formation in 2008, Character Fleadh has performed at Irish bars, weddings, colleges, and festivals throughout Chicago and the midwest.

Founder Ethan Sellers has guided the band through a number of line-up changes while maintaining a top-quality ensemble comprised of some of the Chicago area's finest Irish and Scottish musicians.

Character Fleadh's past gigs include Gaelic Park Irish Fest in Oak Forest, Nevin's Pub in Evanston, Beverly Arts Center, Fiddler's Hearth in South Bend, Durty Nellie's in Palatine, Loyola University Chicago, Kalamazoo College, Palatine's inaugural Irish Parade, the Skokie Festival of Cultures, Irish Oak in Lakeview, Molly Malone's in Forest Park, Hidden Shamrock in Lincoln Park, College of Lake County, Duke's Alehouse in Crystal Lake, Lincolnwood Public Library, and many others.

Founder Ethan Sellers has received multiple awards from Illinois Arts Council and the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events - and the most recent of which will assist in the release of Logical Fleadh, an album collaboration between Character Fleadh and progressive rock band Tautologic.

Artistic Vision

Character Fleadh blends the Irish and Scottish traditional melodies with polyrhythmic, contrapuntal, and orchestration ideas from classical and world music. Our goals in this fusion are to pay tribute to these traditions, add something new of our own, and to build musical bridges between styles, players, and audiences.

Perhaps our ambitions are best summed-up by the lyrics for Ethan Sellers original song, "The Ballad of Saint James," in which Sellers sings of Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap (a bar in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago) as a "place where the people all meet, where the black and the white converse and don't fight - I wish the whole world was so sweet." In contentious times like these, we want our music to be that kind of shared space.

Traditional Folk/Ethnic Artform Statement

We are an Irish/Scottish/Celtic neo-traditional/fusion band whose music honors not only its old country inspirations but our upbringing and lives in Chicago - reflecting both specific and universal aspects of the American experience.