The Eclectic Celtic Band (ECB)a group of irish celtic folk musiccelebrates his tenth anniversary and look back at all the memories collected in these ten years, where the collection of concerts with which they have made their audience vibrate stand out, such as the four times they have celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day at the Zentral hall in Pamplona, the Aitzina festival Folk de Vitoria in 2016 and the triplet in the Aste Nagusia, the Semana Grande of San Sebastián.
ECB was born in Pamplona ten years ago as a result of the Celtic music sessions that were organized in bars in the Navarrese capital. These sessions, very popular in Ireland, have the characteristic of giving rise to “very simple music”, so some of their participants thought they could “rehearse it, prepare it a little more and give it more richness”.
So remember Javier Turulols, 62 years old, the emergence of the group. Currently, ECB consists of five members, since along with Javier’s flute you can hear the bodhràn, an Irish drum, of Fernando Izco55 years old, the double bass of Pablo Jimenez32 years old, the violin Daniel Velasco35 years old, and the guitar, the bouzouki and the psaltery of Carlos Turullols, 32 years old and Javier’s son. However, none of them forget the figure of Maria Fernandez, who was part of the group with his voice and viola for several years interspersed with breaks, before leaving permanently at the end of last year. Daniel was also a member of ECB intermittently and, in the case of Pablo, he defines himself as “the late member” as he was the last to join. This leaves Carlos, Javier and Fernando as the trio that has never left the group, even in that stage that Fernando remembers as a “little journey in the desert”, although he did not prevent them from continuing to play.
Like the Irish sessions, ECB is made up of professional or non-professional friends of music. Daniel and Pablo share training at the Pablo Sarasate Professional Conservatory and Carlos at the Navarra Superior Conservatory of Music. Although this is not the case for Fernando and Javier, it does not detract from their passion, which has led them to learn to play instruments on their own.
Discography
In this decade ECB has released three albums. Their debut album ¿Subes? It was published in 2014 and was recorded entirely live, Javier’s favorite. “It’s without tricks or cardboard, that’s what the group sounded like 10 years ago. No more getting into a studio until you get it right and adding touch-ups.” They followed this same method on their second album, Balfolk (2017), created from the concert at the Aitzina Folk festival in Vitoria. It was not until 2022 when ECB published a studio album, Baile de luna, which includes own compositions by María, Carlos and Fernando.
The title of their second album, Balfolk, was named in honor of the “balfolk” they performed at that concert in Vitoria, that is, the combination of music and dance in the same show. They themselves come off the stage to teach the audience the steps they must perform with the song that will be played next. As Javier explains, “it makes for a very fun atmosphere because people who like to dance and know a little bit get it right away and enjoy it.” And for those who can’t bring themselves to go out on the dance floor, “they have a good time watching how others dance,” he adds.
Tenth anniversary
In this year of celebration, ECB plans a special concert at the Nuevo Casino of Pamplona, in June, in which María will join her colleagues to play the odd song. In this same space They will offer, on March 16, a concert for St. Patrick’s Eve.
“These ten years have given us a lot,” says Carlos. And ECB has given something to each of its members. For Pablo it has been “enjoying in a group leaving the score.” And Daniel, who “until now had only made classical music,” the group “was a way for me to get closer to the most popular ones,” in addition to giving him “a friendship forged around music, even though we are very different people.”
In Fernando’s case, the years have allowed him to learn to enjoy live music. “It has cost me a lot because a concert is much more demanding and hard than I thought, but this has made me grow as a person.” And he assures that the basis of this change in mentality was in his own attitude. “You are not always going to be able to connect with the public and you have to accept it, because it is neither automatic nor simple. You have to enjoy it as it comes and when things work, which is wonderful, I enjoy it a lot.”
Although at the moment there are no plans for a new album, since the group is still adapting to María’s departure, the idea of re-record a couple of old songs to see how ECB has evolved, since this anniversary is not only to celebrate, but, in Pablo’s words, “it is a very nice excuse to look back.”
2024-02-13 17:16:19
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