WEYBURN – A Christmas show with an Irish folk and East Coast flavour will be showcased for the Weyburn Concert Series, as the Ennis Sisters from Newfoundland will perform on Thursday, Nov. 30 at the Cugnet Center, starting at 7:30 p.m.
The RISE Choir from Weyburn Comprehensive School will perform prior to the Ennis Sisters concert, and will entertain the audience as they arrive at the Cugnet Centre from 6:45 to 7:15 p.m. They will be accepting donations to help fund their annual Spring Music Trip.
The sisters have an atmosphere of family togetherness at their concerts, as Teresa Ennis noted in an interview, the girls grew up in a musical family and music was a big part of their lives.
The Ennis family lived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and the dad played the accordion while mom played the piano and guitar.
“We just naturally gravitated towards music. As children, we sang together and danced at gatherings or at Christmas,” she said, noting they took piano and voice and learned how to improve their musical abilities. They competed at the Kiwanis Music Festivals, and the sisters were often invited to sing at community events.
In 1996, the trio of sisters decided to see if they could make a recording, an expensive undertaking at the time, so they approached their father to loan them the money to do it, around $25,000.
He put up the money, the sisters made their first record, and it did so well they were able to repay their father within three weeks of the record’s release.
“We loved performing and singing, and we dreamed of doing this for a living. We’ve never looked back,” said Teresa.
The sisters will come with a band that includes a multi-instrumentalist who plays banjo, guitar and piano, plus each of the girls play an instrument. Maureen plays the guitar, Karen is on accordion, and Teresa plays percussion, including a hand drum used in traditional Irish folk tunes, and she does some Irish step dancing as well.
“Our show is rich with traditional Irish tunes mixed with more well-known carols and original songs. We tell a lot of stories and have humourous banter, and there’s opportunities for the audience to sing along or to move around if they feel like dancing,” said Teresa.
A lot of people are interested in the relationships between the three sisters, and they get a lot of questions about how they get along or funny anecdotes about their growing up years, she added.
As their ancestors came to Canada in the 1800s from near Dublin, Ireland, there is a lot of Irish influence in their music, noted Teresa, plus they listened to music that makes use of harmonies, like Foster and Allan, the Irish Rovers, the Rankin Family and Great Big Sea, and groups like Wilson Philips.
She said Allan Doyle of Great Big Sea worked with them on their latest album, which the girls really enjoyed, as he shared some of his knowledge and experience of the industry with them.
“We’ve played in Saskatchewan a number of times before COVID, but we’ve never played in Weyburn, so we’re really looking forward to that. It’s going to be a great time,” said Teresa.
Concert Series organizers noted that intermission snacks will once again be available at this concert. KidSport members will provide snacks and water for donations. Please bring some cash to support these two worthy causes if you so wish.
