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Post by grant on Mar 12, 2010 23:34:13 GMT
Hi Michal and everyone
I think Celtic Woman was a very valuable experience for Hayley; and although I think she found the intensive tour schedule quite grueling, being part of the CW 'show' was different from anything she has done before or since and I think she found that immensely pleasurable.
The problem, I think, stemmed from the fact that bringing Hayley into the group didn't quite go the way CW management anticipated. Yes, she was there in part to allow Maeve to take some time out with her family but it was poorly advertised which led to Maev's fans being annoyed to find her replaced by Hayley whilst on the other hand, Hayley gained an importance in the group that I don't think had been anticipated. Very soon the word on the street sounded like "gotta go see Celtic Woman this new girl is awesome!"
It's been said elsewhere that the reason Hayley broke away from CW is unclear - it may be. But I'm sure I heard somewhere that CW management planned the UK leg of the tour without any consideration for Hayley's solo UK commitments at the time which would have made her continued association with the group untenable.
I guess we will never know the full story.
Best wishes
Grant
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Post by larryhauck on Mar 13, 2010 0:28:27 GMT
Hi Larry, Greetings from freezing Dublin.. There is more on the old official forum about Hayley and Celtic Woman bb02.sov.uk.vvhp.net/hayleywestenra/YaBB.pl?num=1178681755You may have to dig around on the old forum a bit.. the search function seems to be "punctured" and not much use. There is a lot of interesting info about why Hayley quit CW. The management according to member Alcan had a lot to answer for, he implied they were a bunch of money grabbing "Certain type of file or rasp" people I think life on the road in the tour buses took it's toll on Hayley, Hi Paul Well we hit 0 degrees Fahrenheit and thats way too cold for me. Winter is for the birds. I opened an interesting can of worms with the Celtic Woman inquiry. I've leaned some interesting info regarding this subject. So I think it's time to put it to bed and move on. Hope to come to Dublin this year to see you and of course Hayley. I'm curious why no dates have been announced for Hayley's 2010 schedule yet. She's been in Ireland the last three years and i hope she comes back this year. Also Paul we have yet to find that strip club that girl was looking for that night. I was insulted that she would have the audacity to ask a couple of upstanding men like us to direct her. But please Paul no more trips to Belfast without my GPS. But we did have fun with Paddy in the pubs. Larry |
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Post by larryhauck on Mar 13, 2010 1:16:47 GMT
Hi Larry, Yes, there was certainly a UK/Euro tour planned for CW. I even had tickets! My understanding was that the tour was cancelled followig the sudden departure of Meav and Hayley. Clearly they couldn't go on tour without either finding replacements, who would have to learn the songs, or changing the arrangements to work with only three singers. It seems neither was practical, and since in Europe, people would have gone to see CW becuse it included Hayley, not because they were known for any other reason. ISTR that the official reason given for the cancellation was "poor ticket sales". That might have been an issue too. Celtic music seems to do poorly in England at least, I remember seeing Anuna in concert once, they were absolutely wonderful but I also noticed a lot of empty seats. Another reason why I don't think Hayley would have gone the way you suggest Larry is that we know Hayley likes to be in charge, and to run things her way. With CW the management, not the artists run things. If someone in the US had wanted to take her on, they might have wanted to do it their way and not hers. I think Hayley values her artistic freedom very highly, and would not put up with other people telling her what to sing and how to sing it for long. And I think that is a good thing, and we see her now developing into an innovative and original artist. This could not have happened if she let someone else pour her into a mould. Martn D Hi Martin Thanks for your input. Well sounds like a combination of things that caused the cancellation of th U K concerts. But I'm glad I opened the can of worms. Well I learned a great deal about the question so now I'm ready to move on. Contrary to what some may think my purpose was not to have Hayley gain acceptance in the U S. Although it would be o k. I say let Hayley be Hayley and let her do as she chooses. Larry |
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Post by Richard on Mar 13, 2010 9:14:42 GMT
Hello folks!  I think it would be better if everybody considered Celtic Woman as being associated with Hayley for a short while, rather than the other way round.  Richard  |
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Post by Libby on Mar 14, 2010 20:33:08 GMT
I'm glad Hayley was with Celtic Woman long enough to gain lots of new American fans; the new members on the official forum are nearly all from the U.S., and nearly all of them discovered her through CW. Not all, but a very large percentage.
However, I'm extremely grateful that she did not stay with them, because I would have missed her beautiful solo albums terribly. At the time she was with them, I didn't know whether she was planning to stay with them or not. I was afraid she was with them for good. So I was very unhappy about it. I was afraid all we'd ever hear from her was 1 or 2 solos, plus a few group songs. I couldn't stand the thought of losing Hayley as a solo artist.
But now I am very grateful that she did participate for a while, because it has increased her popularity in the U.S.
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Post by Libby on Jun 15, 2010 2:26:05 GMT
This is a continuation of the discussion started in the Songs you'd like her to do sometime thread.
Nicola, I think maybe you don't care for CW because maybe you don't like Celtic/Irish music that much. I first liked CW because of Hayley, and even then I wasn't sure, especially after Hayley left. But now I enjoy them more for their Celtic/Irish songs, rather than just their voices. Their voices are nice, but not as amazing as Hayley's. I also enjoy Enya's music, particularly her slower, ethereal songs, but you've said you don't enjoy her. Again, maybe the reason is that you don't enjoy Celtic music that much. You may not like Enya's repetitive, rhythmic songs, and I understand that to some extent; there are only a few of those that I like that much. But where she really shines is in her slower, ethereal songs, where her gentle, rich tones can be better heard. How anyone could dislike the song Fallen Embers is beyond me. It's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, I could listen to it over and over, and not get tired of it. I think you should try it, if you haven't.
But then again, for me CW is more interesting to watch in a performance, rather than just listen. Maybe you should try getting A New Journey DVD rather than the CD. I love watching Hayley in the show.
I agree that the CW ladies' voices used to be much more distinctive. But without Meav or Orla, and Chloe's voice a little different, it's harder to distinguish. I can figure it out, but not it's not nearly as easy. Lynn is sort of like Meav, but not enough for me to distinguish her from Alex, without looking.
I also am beginning to enjoy the recording of Scarborough Fair from New Journey slightly more than the one on Hayley's CDs. I especially like the end where "a true love of mine" is drawn almost in two syllables; it creates a more dramatic effect.
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Post by nicola on Jun 15, 2010 8:11:48 GMT
I do like Enya. There are things I have criticised about her, but I'm a horrible person and I criticise everybody - doesn't mean I don't like them. I criticise Sarah Brightman, too! I don't particularly find Enya Celtic anyway - I don't really find her anything. New age, if I'm forced. I'm not crazy about Celtic. I do dislike "pure" celtic music. The hardcore stuff. Can't get into that. But I don't mind pop/celtic crossover like Celtic Woman are. I don't know if you heard of a group called Trinití (unlikely in America), but I really like their sound. Especially their 'Rose on Water' www.myspace.com/trinitimusicI find Celtic Woman too polished (their arrangements) and too soft (their vocals). It's like their dedicated to singing "pretty" versions, but not much else. It's not like I want them to rock out, but Hayley has a "pretty" voice, and she takes her songs somewhere and gives her performances more oomph. |
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Post by mihizawi on Jun 15, 2010 12:10:20 GMT
Hi, Nicola, I've commented on Méav on the CW Without Hayley subboard, take a look at it.
About Enya, well, I agree with you, she doesn't fit in any category, maybe New Age, but she is wider than that. Her roots are Celtic and Irish traditional, she started in her family's band Clannad, but she soon became much more experimental and innovative on her own (well, Clannad too ended up being very innovative, but Enya even more). I think Celtic Woman are highly inspired in Clannad, but they've done it much more "pretty and spectacular", I agree. But I like it, specially in A New Journey.
Michal
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Post by martindn on Jun 15, 2010 22:07:54 GMT
Celtic Woman for me are a very processed and commercialised form of Celtic music. They are a band you could enjoy even if you weren't into Celtic. And a lot of their stuff, and especially Hayley, isn't Celtic. How is Laschia Celtic? Or Scarborough Fair, an English folk song with American influences. Or Over the Rainbow or Beyond the Sea. Of Hayley's triumphs, only The Last Rose of Summer really qualifies.
But then I like Celtic music. I love Meav and Orla, Anuna and Alan Stivell, if you can remember him. To me this music has a wonderful ancient spirituality that I love. It is timeless, like all the best music in my opinion. Enya too, I usually like, although like CW she often ventures to close to the commercial, and mixes in other influences.
Hayley is a spiritual powerhouse, and could perform this stuff convincingly. Most singers cannot, they lack the deep understanding that it needs. I would love to hear Hayley perform some more serious Celtic music, but fear it will never happen. She has too many other fish to fry I fear, and has never had the time to give this genre the attention it deserves. That's a pity.
Martin D
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Post by Libby on Jun 16, 2010 4:05:16 GMT
I find Celtic Woman too polished (their arrangements) and too soft (their vocals). It's like their dedicated to singing "pretty" versions, but not much else. It's not like I want them to rock out, but Hayley has a "pretty" voice, and she takes her songs somewhere and gives her performances more oomph. I think you've just hit the nail on the head. I like pretty, but their pretty doesn't generally move me that much (unless Hayley's with them); whereas Hayley's does, except hers is actually gorgeous. I think Enya is influenced by New Age and Celtic, but I think mostly she's just Enya, just like Hayley is Hayley. That's the kind of artist I like best. Ones who are very talented, move me emotionally, and aren't necessarily confined to one genre. I usually like them for them, not their genre. I like crossover music more than I would've if I hadn't discovered Hayley or Josh, but I still don't necessarily like something just because it happens to be crossover. They have to be really, really good, and and be fairly original for the most part. That's just Hayley and Josh from what I can tell. The rest sing the same-old-same-old, and are not extraordinarily talented vocally in comparison to Hayley, at least. Martin, don't give up hope on Hayley ever singing Celtic/Irish again. I think it could be missing this next time, since her last album, particularly the American release, was a lot of Celtic. But I believe she'll still do at least maybe a song or two every so often. Somehow I doubt there'll be a Maori song on the album, either, although she may surprise us. |
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Post by Libby on Jun 21, 2010 3:55:43 GMT
I was searching youtube, trying to find videos of Hayley performing with CW live in concert (amateur videos, basically), and I discovered one of Hayley performing Spanish Lady on the Martha Stewart show on March 16, 2007. Then I saw one of them singing Beyond the Sea the very next day on the Early Show on CBS, but Meav was there, not Hayley. Here's the Martha Stewart one with Hayley: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc9-1_qUZtU Maybe that's where Hayley's interest in Martha Stewart came from!  |
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Post by Sing on Oct 12, 2014 20:37:45 GMT
Celtic Woman live from Slane Castle is being shown on Sky arts 2 (UK) now. Nice to see it's still being shown now and then on tv.
From Facebook
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Post by Libby on Oct 13, 2014 18:59:50 GMT
I posted this in another thread recently, but I'll post it again here, since it's more relevant here (plus, I had no idea where to find this thread!):
I just visited Hayley's page on the CW forum, and here's a wonderful quote I found from one of the members:
This was actually just one of the many praises for Hayley; in fact, it was in a whole thread devoted to saying why you loved Hayley. Yes, Hayley is still much loved by the CW community!
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Post by Simba on Mar 18, 2015 7:57:34 GMT
Not sure if everyone has seen this video, but I only recently found it, and have been hoping for many years if somebody had recorded more of this song, and there you go! Not the best quality, but gives you the full song  Here's DULAMAN BY HAYLEY WESTENRA! And she rocks it! |
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Post by gillette on Mar 18, 2015 13:33:50 GMT
Not sure if everyone has seen this video, but I only recently found it, and have been hoping for many years if somebody had recorded more of this song, and there you go! Not the best quality, but gives you the full song Here's DULAMAN BY HAYLEY WESTENRA! And she rocks it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=0un1Kqu1kaoA brief clip to complement Simba's post. (Note Simba's comment to the video.) BobS www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gctVZN82Qs |
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Here's DULAMAN BY HAYLEY WESTENRA! And she rocks it!
