Take five hot chicks and have them sing Irish songs. That’s the marketing concept behind Celtic Woman. I’ve seen this group on PBS and attended their sold-out concert in Buffalo. Their material runs the gamut from traditional songs like “Danny Boy” and “The Isle of Inisfree” to pop songs like Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” and Enya’s “Orinoco Flow (Sail Away).” In addition to the concert footage on this DVD, there’s an hour documentary about the origin of the Celtic Woman group with one-on-one interviews with each of the women. My favorite, Hayley Westernra, has the best voice, but all the women can sing this material. Either you love this kind of slick commercialism or you don’t. In this case, I do.
How much of this comes from they’re being hot chicks and how much of it comes from the music? And most importantly, do they dance?
There’s no doubt that CELTIC WOMAN has a high eye candy index. But on the plus side, all of the women are talented. One plays the fiddle as she dances around the stage, another plays the harp. The fact that they’ve dominated the World Music charts for years and are the highest rated program in the history of PBS shows this marketing concept works.