We’re connecting with the Celtic diaspora on two sides of the river, much like they straddle the North Channel.
In Florence this weekend, many will gather fife, pie, and drum, don their kilts and take to Look Park for the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival. We speak with founder Peter Langmore about the 700 musicians, crafters, athletes and more that will gather to celebrate. We will also hear live music from Roger Bernier, bagpipe major for the Holyoke Caledonian Pipe Band, the oldest continuously operating in the country.
Then we slip west to the Irish side to hear more of the 2 decade-long collaboration between Éilís Kennedy and Peter Blanchette. Tomorrow night at The Drake, they will reunite to translate music, traditional and modern, from many continents into duets of archguitar and voice. We also hear new adaptations they've been developing based around the work of local poet Emily Dickinson.
And, Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster, helps us explore the word “restaurant” and “restaurateur,” and the rabbit hole of linguistic lineage that opens from the suffixes "-ant" and "-eur."
