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Post by Stephany on May 13, 2007 5:49:39 GMT
Hi everyone, Geralynn posted on the North American Tour thread that Hayley is joining the CW for a new tour in Japan, Australia and NZ (November, December) so here is a new thread about it. Here is her post again : Greetings everyone, I was just reading on the Celtic Woman website that Hayley will be with the group until the end of 2007. Celtic Woman will be toring Australia, Japan and New Zealand in November and December. The information came from a member of the Celtic Woman staff. (I belive his name was John Flanagan) In addition, Celtic Woman will be filming a Christmas Special and it will air on PBS . The message said that the Special will be available on CD and DVD in October 2007. As for Hayley's status with C.W. in 2008, there is no confirmed information as of yet. I thought you all would like to know. Best Wishes to all! Geralynn  |
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Post by Stephany on May 13, 2007 5:53:13 GMT
You can see the original email on the Celtic Woman forum here. |
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Post by Stephany on May 13, 2007 5:59:20 GMT
Our Aussies and Kiwis will be glad to hear the news. I must admit I am a bit surprised to see Hayley continue with Celtic Woman. I thought her association with them was mainly to break the US market. Apparently not but I think it's not a bad thing after all.  Looks like she has a lot of fun with the girls and I'm very pleased to see her touring with them around the world...except that she won't really perform her own material. Oh well, we can't have it all (Hayley, I'm coming to the UK and you're already leaving  ) Does that mean there is a position for 2008 but he can't confirm it yet ? She well may be part of the group for another show - or for a European tour ?  Obvious question : will Hayley be with them for that?! |
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Post by grant on May 13, 2007 7:49:47 GMT
This is all very interesing. I wonder if Hayley and her Management know about it yet?  Whilst I think Hayley with Celtic Woman is amazing, it worries me that too much time spent touring with them will affect her solo career. Originally, and I've quoted this recently, we were told that she would be ..."dipping in and out" This is beginning to look like a cross Channel swim!! Hopefully, it will be on a similar basis to the current tour with Hayley only with them part time. Perhaps Roger can get more information on this from Steve Abbott. Best wishes Grant |
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Post by Richard on May 13, 2007 8:31:25 GMT
Hello everybody!  I suspect this tour is intended to raise Celtic Woman's profile in Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Hayley is already very successful there, so she will pull in the fans! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifI altered the title of this thread slightly so we don't lose the 7 in the replies.  Best Wishes, Richard  |
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Post by Stephany on May 13, 2007 8:41:59 GMT
Celtic Woman is already very successful in Japan.
But Hayley's contribution will particularly help in Australia & NZ.
If she continues with a solo tour in the same part of the world early 2008, she will be around her hometown for a while.
That might explain why she signed up for more shows - or maybe, as we said somewhere else, for pecuniary reasons.
To be honest, I seriously thought she would now focus on the promotion of "Treasure" in Europe.
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Post by Martin on May 13, 2007 9:21:52 GMT
This is all very interesing. I wonder if Hayley and her Management know about it yet? Whilst I think Hayley with Celtic Woman is amazing, it worries me that too much time spent touring with them will affect her solo career. Originally, and I've quoted this recently, we were told that she would be ..."https://i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifipping in and out" This is beginning to look like a cross Channel swim!! Hopefully, it will be on a similar basis to the current tour with Hayley only with them part time. Perhaps Roger can get more information on this from Steve Abbott. Best wishes Grant I entirely agree Grant and also with Stephany. Whilst I think this project is great for Hayley it mustn't be at the expense of her solo career and album promotion. If Hayley can balance her association with CW and the solo career without affecting the latter then that must be the aim. It continues to intrigue me however that CW with Hayley has still not stepped into the UK tour market. Perhaps Hayley's management team do not want to adversely affect her solo standing here? Martin |
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Post by Stephany on May 13, 2007 17:17:58 GMT
I only hope it won't "damage" too much her solo career in this part of the world because Hayley & CW clearly have a different music approach and you know like me how we like to categorize singers. That said, I'm sure (I hope) people are intelligent enough to make the difference between "Hayley Westenra" and "Celtic Woman".
It's also a nice experience for her to tour around the world with what I'm sure she now considers a family. Touring with the Il Divo boys was probably different because she was the supporting act and still performing her own material.
With CW, she's entirely part of the show. Visiting places around the world with GIRLS is also radically different. Having someone of her age like Chloe also helps.
After all, it can be considered as a rich socializing experience too.
Just my opinion.
Stephany
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Dave
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Post by Dave on May 13, 2007 19:24:22 GMT
I only hope it won't "https://i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gifamage" too much her solo career in this part of the world because Hayley & CW clearly have a different music approach and you know like me how we like to categorize singers. That said, I'm sure (I hope) people are intelligent enough to make the difference between "Hayley Westenra" and "Celtic Woman". Stephany Hi Stephany, I fear that if it happens as stated, it will harm her solo career overall; many people will eventually start to see not much distinction between the old Hayley and CW Hayley. The longer Hayley stays with them the more she will become associated with them (it?) and "Irish" music, more so than just "Celtic" music. But a lot of people in the UK have a fairly low tolerance level for Irish music... it's nice occasionally in small bites; much less so as the main meal. You hardly ever see Irish folk music in the UK charts and Celtic Woman CDs and DVDs are notable by their complete absence. It will be interesting to see if that changes in the future. And I don't see a corresponding "improvement" in her solo career in the US or other parts of the World in fact, In NZ there is only one way for Hayley to go, if she is perceived to have changed, or becomes a small part of the CW machine. I say this because of the limited impact the CW tours have had on the solo careers of all the Celtic Woman women including Hayley's Celtic Treasure sales. The big benefit for Hayley would come from increased earnings (because of the Decca/Pure mess-up) and that could make a huge difference for her, so who am I to discourage it? I don't have to like it though, I like to see Hayley high in the charts and anyway, I'm not a huge fan of Irish Music or Celtic Woman (except for the odd song or three)... probably I am in a minority of one here!  Cheers, Dave |
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Post by milewalker on May 13, 2007 21:20:56 GMT
Dave,
I am not quite sure what to make of this myself - though as I have said before, future work with CW would not surprise me at all. On balance, I like the idea more than I dislike it I suppose - though I would caution her that there is a downside if she does this for too long - I dont think the balance of this year, or even some of next year is a big problem in that regard though. We tend to forget that she is so young
A sudden infusion of cash into her income at this time may have other effects besides the obvious. Keep in mind that even if she does decide to do this, she is also still a solo recording artist. Even if I accepted that the colloboration might hurt her sales in the UK, this must be evaluated against the backdrop that her sales levels there may be falling gently anyway. A bigger consideration though is that it may help to mitiage the temptation to play each album "safe" - which is perhaps the biggest credible criticism I have seen of Hayley - that at times she doesnt take enough chances. Some financial independance from the need to sell a minimum amount of albums to simply survive cant be a bad thing. In the short to medium term, the chance that she has a breakout release might even increase if she feels comfortable enough to display more creativity.
I understand that this isnt exactly what many of her fans had hoped for her, or what they had in mind for her. Having said this, I think she has been around so long that we sometimes forget just how old/young she is. Any positive impact she had derived from her age when she released Pure has faded now - but having done the moderated child star thing, it probably is time for her to look at what helps the rest of her career, where at 20 she is just a babe in the woods. What I have been trying to say all along is that she was going to have to do some sort of moderate "reinvention" in order to have more success. This not only would give her time to reassess - but might actually turn out to be a major coup when it comes time to assess her adult resume. For example, what was Sarah Brightman doing when she was 20?
In other words, the first chapter of what may be a very long career may simply be starting to wind down now, to be replaced by other things.
It will be interesting to see how she plays this.....
Jon
PS Stephany, it is possible that it started out as a way to increase her profile in the US and has become or is becomming more than that now. As you say, maybe it is as simple as the fact that she is having a lot of fun. Or maybe it has succeeded in ways that we dont see.
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Post by thomas on May 13, 2007 21:36:53 GMT
Hi all!
I like Irish music and I would love to see Hayley together with Celtic Woman. It would be nice if they toured Europe as well. But I hope that Hayley will also continue to do solo tours. I'm sure Hayley and her management know what they are doing.
I love events in small venues like Cadogan Hall. I prefer them rather than the big concert halls.
But back on topic: I'm very happy for all the Hayley fans in Japan, Australia and NZ. They don't get to see Hayley very often so it's nice that she'll perform there with CW.
Thomas
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Post by postscript on May 14, 2007 8:12:16 GMT
No Dave, post 8. I entirely agree with everything you say. I have kept quiet about my own negativity to Irish music simply not to be negative unnecessarily, although perhaps I have hinted indirectly that there are aspects of this association that do not sit well in the UK (nor in some parts of the US). So, just to be supportive, I've chipped in as your view coincides in large measure with my own.
Peter S.
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Post by milewalker on May 14, 2007 16:26:00 GMT
Postscript. I am not exactly thrilled with Celtic Woman myself - though I dont know that I have the dislike for it that you and Dave seem to. The bigger question for me though is which factor is the most important, her current sales, her current income, or the longtime effects this might have on her career. I am not claiming to know the answer to that - what I said above is little more than an educated guess. I am assuming that Hayley and her management have a better grasp of this than we do - yet that is also an assumption. I guess the bottom line is that what is best for Hayley may not always be what is best for her fans. This is precisely the sort of venture that I would be willing to support - after all Hayley is a prime contributor. Given this, how bad can it be? I would be very interested in your thoughts on these issues, as well as feedback from others. Jon PS, I was not aware that there was a huge negative reaction to Irish/Celtic music in the US per se. I mean there actually arent many kinds of music that wont offend some market or other here (very little rap sells in my demo ) - on the other hand Hayley solo or CW combined would not impress my granddaughter much. What I do know is that Enya is one of the highest selling non-American artists here over the past several years, and CW is at least popular enough to dominate PBS. |
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Post by postscript on May 14, 2007 16:48:20 GMT
Postscript. I am not exactly thrilled with Celtic Woman myself - though I dont know that I have the dislike for it that you and Dave seem to. The bigger question for me though is which factor is the most important, her current sales, her current income, or the longtime effects this might have on her career. I am not claiming to know the answer to that - what I said above is little more than an educated guess. I am assuming that Hayley and her management have a better grasp of this than we do - yet that is also an assumption. I guess the bottom line is that what is best for Hayley may not always be what is best for her fans. This is precisely the sort of venture that I would be willing to support - after all Hayley is a prime contributor. Given this, how bad can it be? I would be very interested in your thoughts on these issues, as well as feedback from others. Jon PS, I was not aware that there was a huge negative reaction to IrishCeltic music in the US per se. I mean the actually arent many kinds of music that wont offend some market or other here (very little rap sells in my demo  - on the other hand Hayley solo or CW combined would not impress my granddaughter much. What I do know is that Enya is one of the highest selling non-American artists here over the past several years, and CW is at least popular enough to dominate PBS. Hi Jon. I'll leave Dave to make any comment from his angle if he feels it necessary. For my part I'm sorry if my reply to him was ambiguous or gave off the wrong signals. I could well have misinterpreted Dave. How I had seen his comment was in relation to Irish/Celtic music in the UK per se and was not (and it may be I responded to text without reference to thread title) specifically to Celtic Woman. In so far as her links with them are concerned as at present and the immediatre future, I am in full support of Celtic Woman, that point being brought home to me in seeing the excellent (though small) picture of Celtic Woman shown in the current issue of 'Classic fm Magazine', under which thread I will post again. To me the 'Celtic Woman' is 'that bit of Irish' I can live with, especially if Hayley is interested in it and if it is helping her. As I have written elsewhere, as far as her singing is concerned I can listen to what I would not normally listen to if it is Hayley's voice singing it. This applies ( to an extent) with everything else Hayley associated. However, I never liked the 'Il Divo' association so that does indicate that even with Hayley I have my limits BUT the more this girl tries new things the more 'stuck in the mud old stickleback' I feel and I increasingly question my prejudices. Regarding the future period with 'Celtic Woman', I think the overall view is 'balance' and 'opportunity'. If the opportunity is there to go solo, then go solo. If there is a blank in the diary and her relationship with 'Celtic Woman' is to be able to switch in and switch out, go for it. Peter S. |
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Post by Dave on May 14, 2007 17:01:36 GMT
Postscript. I am not exactly thrilled with Celtic Woman myself - though I dont know that I have the dislike for it that you and Dave seem to. Hi Jon, I don't have a dislike for CW or Irish music it but it just doesn't "do much" for me, apart from an occasional few songs. I tend to think it's too narrow a genre (if it can be called that), albeit broadened somewhat if it's truly Celtic... but Hayley seems to always focus on the Irish aspects of it in her interviews. If she focuses further in that all too narrow direction (for my tastes) her music will lose one of its main attractions for many people including me... its variety (which you may find an interesting comment as several professional reviewers of Hayley albums have accused them of having a lack of variety!). That would be a sad thing indeed I think and for that reason, I hope her next album does not follow the Celtic/Irish route. There is a lot of good traditional/folksy and light classical or sacred music out there in the World - and Irish/Celtic is but a small part of the whole. As for the association with CW, that's fine by me and obviously good for Hayley but I hope it is just a stepping stone in her career and does not come to dominate it in the medium or long term. I hope she has moved on by the time of her next album but I will always like her to sing the occasional Celtic/Irish track, to add variety to her music but not, hopefully, to dominate it. I should also add that some of my all-time Hayley favourite tracks are ones with a mystical, perhaps Celtic air... such as The Mists of Islay and Across The Universe of Time. I am not sure where to categorize Dark Waltz but I love that one too - and Let Me Lie. Add them to the light classical, poppy numbers and trad/folk/sacred from around the World that Hayley does, and you have the variety that I love! Cheers, Dave |
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- on the other hand Hayley solo or CW combined would not impress my granddaughter much. What I do know is that Enya is one of the highest selling non-American artists here over the past several years, and CW is at least popular enough to dominate PBS.