Goitse, from left to right, James Harvey, Tadhg O'Meachair, Aine McGeeney, Colm Phelan and Conal O'Kane

---

Celtic band Goitse performs Friday at the State

March 14, 2016
By: Pati LaLonde

Irish band Goitse promises an evening of lively energetic fun music to kick off St. Patrick's weekend in Bay City.

The group, hosted by Friends of Celtic Culture, perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the State, 913 Washington Ave.

Tickets are $20, and available at the box office.

"We have some fun Irish dance music, some nice ballads, sung by Aine (McGeeney)," said Tadhg O'Meachair, who plays piano and piano accordion. "Traditional music is the genre. Certain tunes have been around for hundreds of years, and we create new music all the time. It's a mix between the two. It's how you interpret the melody that has been around. You have to flesh it out and make it your own."

Joining O'Meachair and McGeeney, who also plays the fiddle, on stage are James Harvey on banjo, Colm Phelan on percussion, and Conal O'Kane on fiddle.

Hooking up at Limerick University's Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, the name came about when other members of the band heard McGeeney call out goitse to O'Meachair, a word they didn't understand.

"It's a Gaelic slang term from Northwest Ireland and it means come here," said O'Meachair. "She called out to me one day. The rest of the guys thought the word was hilarious and we ran with it from there."

With three CDs under their belt, a fourth will be released in April.

Get a taste of their music at goitse.ie.