Published: March 15, 2006 11:03 pm         

B-Sides: The Women of Erin keep Celtic music alive

On the down side, they were aboard the Titanic.

But the immigrants traveling as third-class Irish passengers in its steerage section enjoyed some of their fateful journey (at least according to the 1997 movie “Titanic”) thanks to one special commodity they’d brought along — their music. Obviously, it didn’t save them. Still, that film’s scene full of sweaty, rowdy, clapping and jig-dancing people made the lower levels of the ship seem like the place to be (until the iceberg showed up, of course).

On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day 2006, folks with family ties to Ireland can rest assured that the country’s Celtic music survives — even right here in Terre Haute.

Just last Sunday, the Women of Erin marked the upcoming Irish holiday by playing Celtic songs during services at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Terre Haute Church on Fruitridge Avenue.

Now, the originators of this all-female group of musicians steadfastly insist they are not professionals. As fiddler Kathy Romero put it, “We’re definitely not going to go out on the road with our act.”

Yet their listeners seem to approve. “Our church seems to go along with it,” said a chuckling Ellen Hughes, who plays the bodhran drum. “And sometimes they even applaud.”

And sometimes, she added, little kids dance around as the Women of Erin play their fiddles, drums, penny whistles, guitars, flutes, spoons and autoharps.

“That is what Irish music is supposed to be for — dance,” Hughes said. “If it makes you want to kick up your feet, that’s a good thing.”

Despite those reactions, the Women of Erin occupy the smallest of niches in Terre Haute music circles. It’s not hard to find a country band playing on a Saturday night. But just try yelling out, “Play ‘Danny Boy’ or ‘Are You Sleeping, Maggie?’” when they ask for requests. Indeed, when the Women of Erin first began playing together about a decade ago, Romero, Hughes and Cathie Laska — the three original members — were among just a handful of other local folks dabbling in traditional Celtic music. Since then, even some of those people have moved away.

But pockets of interest in that jovial Irish folk sound aren’t too far off. Sometimes, a few members of the Women of Erin will travel to Illinois for the Second Sunday Celtic Music sessions at the White Owl Winery, just a couple miles south of the Crawford County line in Birds. “It’s a very impromptu jam session, and sometimes it sounds like music,” Laska quips. They’ve also attended instrumental workshops at Bloomington (a Celtic music hotbed), Indianapolis and St. Louis.

As for Terre Haute venues, the Women of Erin have played at their church, the Farmers Market each April and Terre Haute’s annual Fiddle Fest each fall. Their lineup includes Laska and Romero on fiddles, Romero on drum, Louise Clark on penny whistle, Lisa Baer on guitar, Kate Prouty on flute, Brenda Ramponi on spoons and Heather Dhar on autoharp.

It’s a style of music passed down, through hundreds of years, literally by ear. Learning to play Celtic jigs and reels from sheet music is like reading about the taste of ice cream. Samples of bands such as The Chieftans, Flogging Molly and Gaelic Storm (the musicians cast in that scene from “Titanic”) are great starting points.

“It’s best just to hear people play it, and then play it,” Laska explained.

Romero’s first exposure came in the 1975 Stanley Kubrick movie “Barry Lyndon,” which is set in 18th-century Ireland.

“That’s the first time I heard genuine Irish music and fell in love with it,” she recalled.

“Genuine” is a key word there. Romero is not talking about “schmaltzy” or “sappy” Americanized Irish tunes, but rather “songs that you’d hear in taverns in Ireland.”

Laska witnessed a bit of that in person during a trip there in 2003. She attended a fiddling school, and heard experts discuss Irish dance and language.

She also saw cousins from her mother’s family for the first time. “I do have some Irish in my background,” said Laska, a Vigo County School Corp. art teacher, “like almost everyone else in the world.” Indeed, 10.6 percent of Vigo County’s 59,563 residents claimed Irish ancestry in the 2000 U.S. Census.

Laska saw family pictures, heard stories about her mom and grandparents, visited a few castles, heard harp music atop the Cliffs of Moher, and visited postcard-perfect places. “Every little town — every picture you’ve ever seen of Ireland, that was just how they were … very beautiful,” she said.

And to those 10.6 percent of Vigo Countians who call themselves Irish, Laska would tell them the music of their homeland is very beautiful, too. Its effect on people, just as in that scene from “Titanic,” is easy to see there.

“One of my favorite memories is the dancing every night,” she said. “It seems in Ireland, the arts are just a part of everyone’s everyday life.”

Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.