Alas, the Waipapa ceilidh has gone into recess.
The ceilidh is on an indefinite hiatus, although there are many of us who hope it will spring back to life.
The Waipapa ceilidh was held every month on the
First Friday of the month.
Welcome to the home page of The Waipapa Ceilidh Organisation. We are a group who live in the Far North of New Zealand and who enjoy celtic music and dance. We invite you to join us for a dance on the first Friday of every month at the Waipapa Hall. Live music is provided by Jiggery Pokery, a band made up of mostly local musicians, some of them professionals and some talented amateurs.
These pages will provide information about our regular dances and about other dances in our region and elsewhere. We will include maps & directions to help you find our dances. As time permits, we will also provide links to other sources of information about celtic music, dance, and culture and about our region. You can also view pictures of the ceili band and dancers.
A word of warning for purists: although we are great fans of celtic music and dance, and most of our tunes and dances are celtic, we do include a few dance sets that are not celtic in origin.
The word "céilidh" is pronounced "KAY lee". A céilidh means a good time. A céilidh was the traditional social dance of Ireland and Scotland, and the céilidh a frequent and important social event in those countries.
What's Celtic?
The celts came from the European continent and at various times became the dominant cultural group of almost every corner of the British Isles. The Breton celts remained on the continent and many still live in the parts of France nearest Britain. In more recent times, the celtic culture has remained most prominent in Ireland, Scotland, & Wales. The most widely known celtic music comes from Ireland (also called Eire or Erin) and Scotland (also called Caledonia). The traditional music of Ireland and Scotland has become dispersed throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. Breton music, too, has found adherents and performers beyond the shores of Brittany, most notably on Cape Breton Island in Canada. For more information on the celts and their culture, you might want to check out these links
Who plays this celtic stuff?
Many groups and individuals in Ireland, Scotland, England, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other odd corners of the world (English-speaking and otherwise) play, sing, & dance to celtic tunes. [I remember playing in quite a good jam session of celtic musicians at a folk festival in Denmark. -Bob] Some of the groups, such as The Chieftains, The Dubliners, & the Irish Rovers have met with huge commercial success. Others, such as The Bothy Band, The Boys of the Lough, De Danaan (later De Dannan), & Patrick Street have achieved sufficient commercial success to provide their members with a decent living but never had major commercial air play and record sales.
Many other groups and individuals eke out a meagre living with their (celtic--as also with other) music, and many play for pocket money or just for fun and to spread the joy and beauty of celtic music. On our musicians page, we'll list as many of these as we can.
What's a céilidh?
For more information about the céilidh, follow these links:
ibiblio.org
a factoid from factmonster
one band's idea of a céilidh
Scottish music
Sheffield University Ceilidh Society
Edinburgh's annual Ceilidh Culture showcase of traditional arts
dancing on the WorldWide Web with Webfeet
Some celtic links
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Weddings
Yes, we do have musicians who play for weddings and receptions:
We have a harper (harpist) who plays for weddings.
We also have a small band/orchestra that plays celtic music for weddings.
And, we have a band that plays celtic music for wedding receptions,
and a caller who calls ceilidh dances for wedding receptions.
To find great musicians and entertainers in a wide variety of musical styles, check out Pacific Entertainment.
Many of our band members live or lived in beautiful spots here in New Zealand's Far North. Click for a nostalgic look at one of them.
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Want to email The Waipapa Ceilidh Organisation? Use the (non-clickable, to foil spammers) address shown below:
This site created for The Waipapa Ceilidh Organisation by nzwebstudio@iname.com.
Now on the First Friday of every month.
