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Na Fidleiri – Fantastic Irish Folk Fiddlers

Young and Irish at Heart You certainly didn’t have to be Irish to enjoy Na Fidleiri Saturday, May 30 during Piccolo Spoleto at Circular Congregational Church in downtown Charleston. The hour and one half show featured sixteen fiddlers, plus a whistler, guest percussionist, Danny Mallon, guest guitarist, Chris Teves, and guest cello, Wade Davis. They kept the audience’s toes tapping and heads nodding to the driving beat of traditional Irish tunes from Lannigan’s Ball, to Lafferty’s Reel, and the classic Danny Boy sung by soloist Kiri Taylor. The group has performed extensively throughout the Southeast and toured in Ireland in 2007. The members range in age 9 to 18 and attend a number of Charleston area grade and high schools. Most are classically trained and learn the Irish folk tradition when they join the group, mainly by playing by ear without sheet music, although it is available to them. Try outs are held each year in August. This year auditions will be held 10 a.m. Aug. 22 at the College of Charleston, Simons Center for the Arts. Na Fidleiri, founded in 2000 by Mary Scott Taylor, a first-generation Irishwoman whose parents instilled in her the love of Celtic music, is part of The Taylor Music Group, founded by her husband Robert Taylor, which supports activities that incorporate art music and folk music in performance and education through guest professional performances and the Festival Choir. Na Fidleiri will perform again 7 p.m., Monday, June 8 at Circular Congregational Church with Ferintosh.  For more information about Na Fidleiri or auditioning, contact Mary Taylor at 843-819-6961.

Charleston NAMI Breaks Stigma

An estimated 185 participants and raised more than $2,500 for local National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) outreach effort Saturday, May 16 at the Charleston 5th Annual Mental Health Month 5K Fun Run & Walk at Hampton Park.            
The fundraiser in part earned enough to provide scholarships for consumers to attend the 2009 NAMI South Carolina Fall Conference Saturday, Nov. 14 in Charleston.           
“The main focus is to gather those committed to raising mental health and decrease the stigma. No one wants to talk about it,” said Bryan Counts, one of the event’s planning committee members and Patient and Family Education Coordinator at the Institute of Psychiatry, the Medical University of South Carolina.           
“One of my favorite quotes by a [mental health] consumer is: ‘Mental illness is not a casserole disease.’ “           
Counts explained that unlike other illnesses or problems where neighbors and clergy come in to help by cooking, running errands and being there in other ways, mental illness is a mystery to most people and they don’t rally ‘round when there is a need.           
Supporting partners for the event included Charleston/Dorchester Mental Health Center, MUSC Institute of Psychiatry, Palmetto Behavior Health, and the City of Charleston Department of Recreation.           
NAMI, founded in 1979, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with mental illness and their families. NAMI has become the nation’s voice on mental illness. The national organization is supported by chapters in every state and in over 1100 local communities across the country who join together to champion the mission of NAMI through advocacy, research, support, and education.           
If you would like to learn more about mental illness, what you can do to help or receive support, see the following Web sites below.