Musical Arts Society welcomes Celtic folk musician
By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor
Photo Courtesy of Irish Mythen
The Irish-born contemporary Canadian folk artist with a Celtic twist caught the attention of the Strathmore Musical Arts Society organizers during one of her performances in Western Canada.
Although Strathmore had never been included on the artist’s busy schedule, one that has her touring 10 months of the year, Irish Mythen now has her sights locked on Strathmore where she will perform her music in two weeks’ time.
“I don’t consider myself a singer-songwriter, I consider myself an entertainer, and so I love especially getting back to the smaller shows. I love reaching out to the audience members and making them a part of the show… I want people to laugh and cry, to get annoyed and to feel something,” she said.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be able to play the bigger venues and to go all over the world, but what I love about the smaller communities, they’re just so intense. They love that you’ve come to their little town; and I always make a point, I never hide in the dressing room afterwards. I usually stand by the door and greet everybody as they’re leaving and thanking them, because at the end of the day money is hard to come by for everybody these days. And if they’re going to spend their hard-earned cash to come see me, then I want to make sure that they have the best night possible.”
Mythen grew up in Ireland before accompanying her parents to the Middle East for a couple of years. To relieve her boredom, her parents bought her a guitar that prompted her to teach herself to play and sing. Upon learning about a folk festival at one of the hotels, Mythen performed two songs and knew then what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. When she returned to Ireland to attend boarding school, she continued to play all over the country. Soon after, she moved to Sweden and broadened her horizons by touring Europe.
Four years later, she once again embarked on another adventure, this time to Australia, where she resided for five years before setting foot on Canadian soil after being asked to perform at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Canso, Nova Scotia.
The gripping landscape and fishing-farming communities in Prince Edward Island reminded Mythen of Ireland and she immediately fell in love with the country; she moved to Canada shortly after. Ready for a challenge, after being told the Canadian music industry was one of the hardest to conquer, Mythen took it by storm.
“I found out it was quite hard for people to break into the Canadian (music) scene, and I never do anything easy, so I thought well if this is the hardest place to break into then this is exactly where I want to go,” she said. “To get that standalone career was quite hard. It’s the same with any job. If you want it hard enough you have to be able to dedicate 24-7 to it and there’s a lot of sacrifice and a lot of people don’t understand that or have the patience for it. Just because you write one great song, doesn’t mean that you should be touring the country. You have to put in the hours.”
However, like any hard-working professional, Mythen takes her personal time very seriously, sharing it with her common-law partner Randell and their wiener-dog fur-baby Dyson when she’s at home in Charlottetown.
“When I’m at home it’s about family and nothing else, that’s what keeps me able to go on the road, the quality of life that I have off the road and we have a really good one,” she said. “It’s really nice when you can look back and see all the career goals that you’ve ticked, and I’ve been extremely lucky with the ones I’ve been able to tick off.”
Her sound is unlike any the Strathmore Musical Arts Society has featured in the past. While the society branches with artists of many genres, Mythen’s credentials, her energy and her talent solidified the organization’s decision to have her come to Strathmore.
“We thought this is something different; we’ve done a lot of folk, a lot of blues, a little bit of rock ’n’ roll. So, we thought we would just try something Celtic, and with her coming from the East coast that would be a good fit,” said Strathmore Musical Arts Society president Linda Storkson. “It’s just a different sound to her music that we decided it’d be fun to try and see what the response in Strathmore is.”
Irish Mythen will be performing in Strathmore on Feb. 9 at the Strathmore Golf Course. Tickets are $35 including supper. Cocktails start at 6 p.m., dinner is at 7 p.m. and the concert at 8 p.m. Hussar local Mary Ann Oxtoby will be the opening act.