By Dongyun Kwon
One of the members of Half Light, a Celtic music duo, will return to Badger Creek in September.
Rennie Pearson will host a solo concert focused on the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and the Maritimes of Canada at the Badger Creek Hall.
The Half Light had a concert at the same place in June.
Pearson said he loved the atmosphere of the Badger Creek community.
“I liked the hall. It was cute and a great space to play a concert,” he said.
“Everybody was into the show and was enthusiastic about the music.”
Bob, the other member of Half Light, who was on performance last time with Pearson as a group, will not come along with Pearson this time.
“Bob lives in New Zealand,” Pearson said.
“Occasionally, I organise shows with other people and Bob’s one of those people, but I also do solo performances.
“If I’m coming back to the same place, I always like to come back with a show that’s fresh, new and interesting so that the same people could come back, see it again and get a completely different experience.”
Grounded in the Celtic musical traditions, Pearson takes the listener on a journey through history, weaving tunes and songs together and the tales that accompany them to create an intricate and varied show.
His engaging stage presence and storytelling open the door for audiences to connect with the music.
Pearson said he would showcase all of the different instruments he plays.
“I play the wooden flute, a variety of tin whistles, the guitar, fiddle and Bodhran, the Irish frame drum, I also sing,” Pearson said.
“There’s quite a selection of different sounds that will be heard throughout the evening.”
Pearson grew up in Wellington, New Zealand with Celtic music in his blood.
Having heard the traditional music of Ireland and Scotland on his parents’ CDs as a baby, he grew up knowing he just had to learn to play like this.
“I had the music of a few different Celtic artists that would be playing for me as lullabies while I was going to sleep,” the musician said.
“Even though a lot of the music was quite fast dance music, I have connected with it since I was a baby.”
When he was seven years old, he was amazed by Chris Norman’s wooden flute concert, which made him learn to play the flute.
Pearson said once he got hold of the music, it never let him go and he has been in love with it ever since.
“As soon as we got home from that concert, I said to my mum ‘I want to start learning to play the flute’, and she dug out her old silver flute which she played in high school, and she started teaching me how to make a sound out of it,” Pearson said.
“And then fairly quickly, my parents took me to a local Irish flute teacher who lived just up the road from me in Wellington [in New Zealand].
“I started going along to the Irish sessions in Wellington from when I was about 13.”
The concert will start at 7.30pm on Thursday 19 September at the Badger Creek Hall.
The tickets are purchasable at the following website, renniepearsonmusic.com/event-details/rennie-pearson-live-in-badger-creek
