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Cantiga: Home

CANTIGA's unique and magical music has delighted visitors to Renaissance Festivals across North America for almost thirty years.


Meet us each weekend April 5 to May 26 at the Scarborough Faire Rennaissance Festival!

See you soon! Martha, Alex, Charry and Bob


Download free MP3s of Cantiga's magical music HERE!

CANTIGA LIVE!

You will love our newest CD! "Cantiga Live!" was recorded at a magical concert in St Petersburg Florida. Now available!

Click HERE to watch a video from the concert.

"Heartstrings" CD now available!

Beautiful harp and cello music from Martha Gay and Max Dyer.
Special thanks to Doug and Jose at Blind Dog Entertainment.

We are very proud to announce that Bob's book is finally here! This has taken 12 years and is truly a labor of love.  143 beautiful old tunes along with a 32-track companion CD of Cantiga's music. Available at music stores everywhere.

MelBay.com: Cantiga's Renaissance Festival Favorites, by Robert Bielefeld

Greetings,

I just wanted to share how much I enjoy your long awaited anthology, Cantiga's Renaissance Festival Favorites. What a treasure trove with interesting historical and performance information included! The CD is very well done. I have been enjoying both listening and playing along with it.

"Thank you very much for sharing this delightful collection. I trust it will encourage many aspiring old world music makers to enjoy these exhilarating genres. "

Judy Siegrist

Recorders, Guitar & Voice

Kerrville, TX

CANTIGA NEWS!

Epilogue Records is releasing a second compilation CD album "Celtic Shores II" through EPI Masterworks. We are pleased to announce that the "Aran Boat Song" from our "Magic Steps" CD will be featured as a track on this album. The proceeds from these albums help fund a program providing music education and training for children whose parents cannot afford the training on their own. These children who are in foster care and from single parent or impoverished families have exceptional potential and will succeed in the music world if given an opportunity to use their talents.

We are delighted to learn that our CD "ONCE UPON A TIME" has been nominated as best Celtic Intrumental Album in the 2006 Just Plain Folks Music Awards. Over 25,000 albums from over 100 countries were screened for these awards. Our special thanks to Owain Phyfe and Nightwatch Recording for making this CD possible.

Hey check out our new website at iSOUND!

NEWS!

Our lovely fiddler Michelle has taken a leave of absence from the renfest circuit to spend more time with her family. After more than 16 months of adventurous outdoor living, she is trying to adjust to having a roof over her head! You can read Michelle's observations on life in the Renaissance Festival in Michelle's Blog. Our fond love goes with you, Michelle!


Note from Michelle: After a visit to Scarborough Faire, I've decided to keep blogging. (Last updated: June13, 2007) I just put up two more entries on the Cantiga site, and will probably continue my blog on a seperate website, TBA....

Our good friend Jerry Coats has been on a pilgimage in France and Spain following in the footsteps of the Cantigas. This just in from his wife, Dianna:

"I want to refer you to Jerry's recent blogging: www.jerrycoats.blogspot.com, particularly the entries of March 15 and 16. As you will read, Jerry was able to touch the Cantigas! "Holding history;" as he puts it, was such an awesome experience, that he didn't know how to express all he had seen and felt. The words he did find to use in the blog are so appropriate. It sounds like the "T" Manuscript of the Cantigas is certainly an amazing literary treasure and absolutely priceless, just like the the music our Cantiga plays on each CD and at each performance we hear. As Jerry said, "Art lives long, life is short," your wonderful music touches us, and will continue to entertain, teach and inspire, long after we all have gone.."

Read Jerry's Blog

Our concert at Tarrant County College with Owain Phyfe was a lot of fun!

Ade

Joining us for the concert were cellist Max Dyer, drummer Jamal Mohamed and Ade Suparman who is visiting from Indonesia. Ade plays the ketapi, a pentatonic Javanese zither plucked with the fingers. Ade sat in with us for one of our favorite tunes, Cantiga 353.

Jamal

Click HERE to listen to Cantiga 353.

Cantiga teams up again with old friend Owain Phyfe on his new album "Lagrimas de Sangria" - a collection of Spanish tunes from Mexico, Central and South America. Charry Garcia made a magnificent contribution to this new CD. You can get Owain's tour schedule here.

Download free iPod videos, free MP3s and check out our new videos HERE

NEWS FLASH--The Amulet (Cantiga 353) from our CD "Once Upon a Time" has been chosen by Canadian filmmaker Morley MacDougall of Braemar Court Productions for use in the soundtrack of his new movie, "The River Jordan". View the trailer HERE. The short film will be submitted to numerous international film festivals in North America and Europe including Toronto, Cannes and Sundance.

Cantiga has joined with Renaissance Festival groups from around the US to produce"The Circle", a Renaissance Festival compilation CD. All Profits Donated to the Red Cross to Benefit Hurricane Katrina Relief.

Another NEWS FLASH---We are very pleased to announce Cantiga has been selected to join the Special Events roster for Cirque du Soleil! - (tho we have not been invited yet to play at any special events!) More about this below in Michelle's blog.

Cantiga fiddler Mark is now a daddy, taking time off the road as he and Holly take care of little Sky who just turned ONE. Go and see more pictures on our photo page..! Our love and best wishes to you, Mark, Holly and Sky.

You can read Michelle's observations on life in the Rennaisance Faire just below and in her own special section "Michelle's Weblog"

Listen to Cantiga broadcasts, podcasts and download free MP3s here.

Check out this nice REVIEW of our latest CD, "Martha's Dragon from the good folks at www.midwestbands.com.

We have a new webpage at GarageBand.com. Come see it. Our tune "Skillywidden" is entered the Acoustic Chart at #303 and finished at #41 and was featured as Acoustic Song of the Day on June 28. Read the reviews!

Our concert with Owain Phyfe at Tarrant County College, Arlington TX was a lot of fun and a great sucess. Read reviews here.

See Skillywidden the Cat HERE

All of our music is now available at CDBaby and in MP3 format at Apple itunes and at most major MP3 download sites.

In addition to Renaissance festivals, we play concerts, book college performances, do great weddings, and fabulous gaudy summer night house and backyard parties with lots of torches! Just ask!

A very special greeting to all our international friends and visitors!

If you are in New York, Texas, Pennsylvania or Florida, we look forward to seeing you all again soon!

( Special thanks to Mike Miller for our great new photo! )

...And don't forget to sign our guestbook. We love to hear from you!

Skillywidden - April 21, 2006

"Hello Cantiga!
I was playing around on my computer the other day and googled my cat's name just for fun, and ended up buying your "Martha's Dragon" album. It's wonderful. This is our dear kitty Skillywidden."




"Imagine my surprise when I found out she has her own tune! We were entranced. It's so sweet, and really is rather like a cat (my cat!) ambling about exploring in the grass and hunting up bugs real and imaginary. I ended up tracking the tune down and bought the whole album on iTunes before I found your website. Your music reminds me of the good old days at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Novato, Ca. years ago. What fun. I'm so glad I have found you and your music, and just thought that since you have shared your "Skilly", I'd share my Skilly with you too."


Thanks!

Sláinte! – Jennifer Capra



You can listen to our tune "Skillywidden" HERE

Michelle's Weblog: Reflections of a New Rennie - October 1, 2005


October, 2005
The Audition

Two hours before we had to leave for our big Cirque du Soleil audition, we still hadn't decided what to play. It had been 3 months since we had all played together as a group, and Charry, Martha, Bob and I had not been all together for a month until that weekend. With the exception of Max and Charry, we had just barely gotten off the road in time for TRF after a marathon of driving through most of the US (me from MA and Bob from PA), with just enough time to set up camp before a busy weekend in almost unbearably HOT weather conditions. And to top it all off, we mourned the fact Jamal could not audition with us that day. It seemed to be the worst possible time for an audition.

Everyone was calm, although there was an intensity between us that affected every word we spoke and every note we made. Criticisms were delivered tersely and decisions were reached quickly. I wasn't happy with one of the songs we had chosen-- I didn't have the melody completely under my fingers and had to think more than usual about the notes. But as we jammed on the tune, it became clear to all of us that although perhaps the music would not be perfect, there was a freshness and an energy that could not have emerged had we all been rehearsing it into the ground. The music was wild, unpredictable, hovering dangerously between success and failure. Anything could happen, and that's how we wanted it.

And the strangest thing happened, something that had never happened to me before at an audition; I had a darn fun time. Claude, the Cirque du Soleil Music Director was absolutely beaming as we ripped into "Martha's Dragon"! Casting Director Rick took us aside afterwards and said "OK guys, you're in". Max and Jamal also auditioned separately, as soloists for the sub list, and they're in too! Special Events... It turns out this is incredible glitzy parties in Montreal which Cirque du Soleil is hired to entertain. Wow- I can imagine us at a Winter Olympics gala in amazing Cirque du Soleil costumes- surrounded by acrobats and jugglers- maybe a fire eater! Of course, they haven't promised us anything yet. But we'll see...


more... go to "Michelle's Weblog" .

a sweet note from a friend.. - August 10, 2005


"I visit Sterling every year to experience Cantiga. This year was the best by far. I didn't think anyone could stand in for my favorite fiddler, but Michelle stole the show without upstaging the rest of the band. She is supreme!
"Martha's Dragon" is a magnificent CD. Fine work!
I am your most bashful fan. See you next year!"
Janet