Keeping Open Ears

Eileen Ivers' credentials as an Irish fiddle player are well-established. She has been an all-Ireland fiddle player numerous times, and fans of Celtic and world music know her work with the "Riverdance" musical, Cherish the Ladies and more recently with her ensemble Immigrant Soul.

But music fans shouldn't make assumptions about Ivers' sound. This fiddler, who grew up in the Bronx and absorbed the music of her Irish immigrant parents, has an eclectic sonic palette. She has toured with Hall and Oates, and performed with Sting and violinist Regina Carter. Listen to Ivers, and you will hear strong bowing technique. She also experiments with the electric violin, hooking it to distortion pedals to explore different effects.

Ivers' personal musical journey through different styles in many ways mirrors how Irish music influenced Bluegrass, Cajun and other American roots musics, and how they in turn influenced Celtic music. That journey is celebrated in "Beyond the Bog Road," which Ivers and ensemble will perform Wednesday in Memorial Hall at UNC. "Beyond the Bog Road" is a multimedia presentation using film, dance and music. In a phone interview from New York, Ivers called the show "a celebration of the journey of Irish immigrants' impact on America, and America's impact on the Irish immigrant."

The show has been in production for about two years, and had its debut in February. Ivers and her band currently are putting the last touches on a CD of the music in the show, to be released later this year. 'Bog Road' has more than 17 hours of film footage shot in Ireland at her parents' birthplace.

The challenge in this production is making sure the elements of music, film and dance mesh, she said. "You don't want the film to overtake the stage at any point. There are times when the film ... becomes the center point," Ivers said. "It all thankfully works very well to tell the story, and your focal point shifts very much throughout the night in an interesting way."

'Bog Road" refers to ancient roads that lead to peat fields, "the source of fuel and warmth that the Irish would heat their homes with," Ivers said.

To illustrate the cross influences of Irish and American music, in one segment of the show, the band illustrates how an Irish piece and a traditional Appalachian tune are similar — with the Appalachian version less ornamental than the Irish original. Dancers also demonstrate similarities of dance steps. “It’s the meeting of these different ethnicities that makes it so interesting … and that’s a big part of what we celebrate and what we look at,” Ivers said.

As she was absorbing the music of her parents' native land growing up, Ivers said she also cherished the times she went to the Blue Note to hear jazz players, and "a lot of incredible world music."

"Being brought up in an urban environment made me a different kind of player," she said. In the early 1990s she started a group with an African percussionist, a musical experience that she said opened her eyes to the cross cultural elements of African and Irish music.

She studied with Irish fiddler Martin Mulvihill, but did not study classical violin, although a listener can detect classical bowing skills. Violinists Jean-Luc Ponty and Stephane Grappelli also influenced her sound, hence "techniques from bowing and finger work outside the Irish tradition" are part of her playing.

The electric violin maker ZETA Music recently introduced the Eileen Ivers Signature Series Violin. Audiences will hear both acoustic and electric violins in "Beyond the Bog Road," she said. During the second half she "turn[s] on the wah wha and distortion pedals,' which takes the violin sound "into a different place. That's kind of fun to explore."

That exploration fits with her philosophy of "having open ears, and being open to learn." Her collaborations with numerous and varying artists during her career have all "helped shape me musically and as a performing artist," she said.

WHAT: Celtic fiddler Eileen Ivers and ensemble perform "Beyond the Bog Road," a multimedia work

WHERE: Memorial Hall, UNC Chapel Hill

WHEN: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

ADMISSION: For tickets, call 843-3333 or visit www.carolinaperformingarts.org