Eileen Ivers and her band Immigrant Soul brought a taste of Irish heritage to State College just two days after Saint Patrick's Day.

Friday's concert in Eisenhower Auditorium juxtaposed solemn music evoking Irish suffering throughout history with lively tunes showcasing the fiery spirit of the Emerald Isle.

"I thought it was amazing," Erin Fegely (senior-public relations) said. "I didn't know anything about it coming into it."

Accompanied by a guitarist, a bassist, an accordion player/keyboardist and a percussionist who provided lead vocals, Ivers also hosted two professional Irish dancers and five students from the McGinley School of Irish Dance.

Titled "Beyond The Bog Road," the concert was named after the bog roads in Ireland which led emigrants away from their homeland. The Irish preserved their music -- just like the roads -- once they reached the New World, while adding American and Canadian influences.

"This is a celebration of the Irish immigrant," Ivers told the audience. "It's the story of the Irish immigrant's impact on America and America's impact on the Irish immigrant."

The music was interspersed with various video montages, covering such topics as the potato famine, Irish laborers working on the railroad and the trials the Irish immigrants went through.

According to the video, while the Irish were working on the railroad, they used rhythm to sync their work and keep their spirits up. Their Celtic style blended with that of their fellow African American workers, leading to the formation of bluegrass music.

Another video explained how tap dancing is a direct combination of African American and Irish influences. Ivers told the audience that even Louis Armstrong wrote a song about the Irish influence on dance style.

The band played up these influences, using African drums in a few of the numbers.

Ivers and her band, accompanied by the dancers, wrapped up the evening with an animated encore that had the entire audience on their feet clapping. Ivers ventured into the audience at one point, interacting with the concert-goers in the front rows.

Tiffany Winkler accompanied her mother, who loves Celtic music, to the event. Winkler, a DuBois resident, said the end was her favorite part, though she enjoyed the whole concert.

"I wanted to clap and stand up the whole time, so to be able to do that with everyone was great," said Winkler. "I also loved seeing my mother enjoy herself."

Tony Madonna said he couldn't pick a favorite part.

"You felt involved from the start and just flowed with it," Madonna (senior-photojournalism) said.