NWT Arts

Hailing from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Ceilidh Friends is a four-voice group that performs traditional, modern and Northern music. Know for vocal harmonies, the group also plays a variety of acoustic instruments including guitars, Appalachian and hammered dulcimers, recorders, percussion, tenor and five string banjos, mandolin, bowed psaltery, and autoharp. Since 1980, the group has played many Northern venues including Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, Folk on the Rocks Music Festival, and CBC North Radio in Yellowknife; Great Northern Music Festival and other events in Inuvik; Midway Lake Music Festival, and Fort Smith Friendship Festival. Career highlights include an appearance on Peter Gzowski's national CBC Radio program, "Morningside", performances during Queen Elizabeth's visit to Yellowknife, three NWt Aurora Awards for performing excellence, and showcases at the North American Folk Alliance conferences in Toronto and Vancouver. In January 2005 Ceilidh Friends was very excited and honored to be one of only two Northern acts chosen to perform as part of the cultural program at the Canadian pavilion at EXPO 2005 in Aichi, Japan.