Irish Traditional Music CD and Book Reviews - 2006
These first appeared in the Irish American Post (IAP), the Irish Gazette (IG), or in The Living Tradition (TLT) magazine. They appear here with the kind permission of the Irish American Post, Irish Gazette, or The Living Tradition.
For Irish Herald CD reviews of 2002, click here.
For Irish Herald CD reviews of 2003, click here.
For Irish Herald CD reviews of 2004, click here.
For CD reviews of 2005, click here.
You can contact the author of these reviews
The Reviews
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February - Siobhán Armstrong: Cláirseach na hÉireann – The Harp of Ireland (IAP)
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February - Seán McAloon: Stór Píobaireachta – Piping from the Archives (IAP)
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February - Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin: Imíonn an tAm - Rogha Amhráin – Selected Songs (IAP)
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March - Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington: Fortune Favours the Merry (IG)
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Aprl - Jackie Daly and Séamus Creagh: Jackie Daly and Séamus Creagh (IG)
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July - Paddy Canny: Meet Paddy Canny - All Ireland Champion (IG)
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July - Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn: Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn (IG)
Cláirseach na hÉireann – The Harp of Ireland
Siobhán Armstrong
http://www.siobhanarmstrong.com/
The Gaelic harp is one of the most ancient instruments in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, going back as it does at least 1000 years. It is also called the cruit, cláirseach (Irish Gaelic), clàrsach (Scottish Gaelic), and wire-strung harp.
As the great Gaelic civilization of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands weakened in the 1600s due to gradual English infiltration, use of the Gaelic harp declined. The tradition died in the 1800s, along with the last of the harpers. At the time, the new gut-strung harp slowly stole the place – and the name – of the old wire-strung Gaelic harp.
However, since the 1970s there has been a revival of the true Gaelic harp, and Gaelic harps strung with brass, silver, and gold are once again being played.
That’s what makes this CD from acclaimed harpist Siobhán Armstrong so special. Armstrong’s music and scholarship are an ongoing part of the Gaelic harp revival. Armstrong is one of only a handful of harpists around the world who studies and plays early harps.
For this CD, Armstrong plays a copy of the 14th/15th century Trinity College harp, Ireland's only surviving medieval harp. Out of it Armstrong brings music meant for the soul, melodies rich and bright. The CD focuses on music of Irish composers of the 16th to 18th centuries, but also has some Renaissance English pieces, like those that played by Irish harpers at the Elizabethan and Stuart courts.
The CD booklet is a world in itself, with information on Siobhán Armstrong, guest singer Bríd Ní Mhaoilchiaráin, the Gaelic harp and its history, and the tunes themselves.
Singer Bríd Ní Mhaoilchiaráin is among the many pleasures of this CD. A sean-nós singer from Conamara, Bríd sings three lovely songs in Irish. This is the first recording of Bríd Ní Mhaoilchiaráin, who has won several awards for her singing in Irish Gaelic. Her Gaelic voice is a perfect match for the Gaelic harp: soulful and clear. Her last song is Seoíthín Seó, a beautiful lullaby.
Stór Píobaireachta – Piping from the Archives
Seán McAloon
http://www.pipers.ie/
A great paradox it is that Seán McAloon was one of the most brilliant uilleann pipers of the last century, and yet he is not well-known, and there are almost no recordings of his music. Fortunately, in the 1970s Joe Corrigan made some recordings of McAloon as part of a teaching project for the Fermanagh school system. Thanks to a chance meeting some two decades on between Corrigan and piper and broadcaster Robbie Hannan, Seán McAloon’s amazing piping is now finally on CD.
Although Joe Corrigan used a wee, battery-operated, cassette recorder, the sound of Seán McAloon’s magnificent playing on this CD still has the power to bend the mind and lift the soul. Undimmed by 25 years on tape, McAloon’s playing is bright and clear, showing off his brilliant gifts.
Tune sets like The Merry Blacksmith / The Boyne Hunt, or Fermoy Lasses / First House in Connaught, reveal his talents well. As McAloon’s fingers find their way through these stunning tunes, his playing seems impossibly wild and intricate, and yet perfectly complete. Like a page from the Book of Kells, where the intricate spirals, knots, and swirls are all part of a larger idea, McAloon’s playing never looses the thread of the tune.
McAloon, also a gifted fiddler, recorded on the first ever pipes-dulcimer duet album, Drops of Brandy, with John Rea. That inspired the second ever pipes-dulcimer duet, An Mhéar Fhada – The Long Finger, by Joe McHugh and Barry Carroll, reviewed here recently.
Although Seán McAloon went on to “the other country” in 1998, his playing lives on through these rare recordings. If you’re a piping devotee who has never heard Seán McAloon play, this CD will amaze. If you’re a music lover interested in Irish piping, this CD will be a wonderful introduction.
Available at http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_McAloon_Sean.html.
Imíonn an tAm:
Rogha Amhráin – Selected Songs
Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin
http://www.futafata.com/
What a wonderful CD this is, showing as it does that the songwriting tradition in Irish is alive and well. Not only that, it shows a talented Irish singer and songwriter putting out rich songs and melodies that do not follow what have become thought of as “traditional” Irish themes. The songs come in a variety of styles, from bluesy to melancholic to country.
The CD is a collection of some of Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin’s best-loved songs from the last 20 years. Imíonn an tAm (imeun un tahm), which means “Time Goes By”, is also the name on a particularly beautiful song on the CD. The song is about a young girl who asks her father one fall day why the tree has given up her leaves, and why the bird nest at the end of the garden is empty. Imíonn an tAm.
Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin, born in the West of Ireland, has had a long career as a teacher, broadcaster, and promoter of the Irish language. He has also been a key part of CDs and TV programs aimed at Irish language learners and speakers, especially children. He most recently released “Gugallaí Gug”, a collection of traditional children’s rhymes in Irish.
Most of the songs are in Irish, and there are no translations next to the lyrics on the CD jacket. That said, if you can’t read Irish, or aren’t learning it, the melodies themselves are beautifully crafted, and a great pleasure on their own.
Fortune Favours the Merry
Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington
http://cic.ie
In “Blooming Meadows, the World of Irish Traditional Musicians”, Peter Horan, in classic Irish understatement , praised his musician mother to the sky when he said she had “nice, clear, open playing”. The same high praise belongs with this new CD.
This fine CD captures creatures increasingly rare on Irish recordings that style themselves “traditional”: moderation in pacing, tasteful accompaniment, and even “nice, clear, open playing”.
Together with Sliabh Luachra fiddler Gerry Harrington, Peter Horan plays fiddle and flute on this duet CD. Although they come from different parts of Ireland and have different musical styles, both men share a great “grá” and “meas” for the music. That love and respect push them to play the music as it was intended to be played. They know the show is the music, not their speed or cleverness.
Peter Horan hails from Killavil, Co. Sligo. He was born in 1926, and is the last of a famous generation of players from a musically rich part of Ireland. Unlike most of his contemporaries, and even the generation of Sligo musicians before him, which included Michael Coleman and James Morrison, Horan stayed home in Ireland. There he preserved the music in its most traditional form, and taught and inspired new generations of Irish musicians.
Gerry Harrington is from Kenmare, Co. Kerry. He has made several recordings, including the beautiful The Smoky Chimney.
The selections on this CD include tunes from the Sligo area, from Sliabh Luachra in Southwestern Ireland, and from other parts of Ireland. Lord Gordon’s, the brilliant Scottish reel recorded by Michael Coleman years ago, is also on this CD.
Ceol áthasach atá ann. It’s joyful music.
Available at http://www.tayberry.com.
Saol na Suailce
Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde
Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde is a rare treasure, a young man with a great respect for songs in Irish, a native speaker of Irish, and a fine singer himself.
Doimnic hails from Gaoth Dobhair, in remote northwest Ireland. There he learned his store of songs, some of which came from nearby Tory Island. He has put together here a wonderful set of songs, most of them sean nós, or “old style” songs. He starts off with a happy, uptempo song in Irish about a cheerful rover who lived “the happy life”. Saol na Suailce translates loosely as “The Happy Life”.
His other songs treat of subjects like failed love, missing Ireland, and uncooperative bartenders. The most beautiful song may be An Draighneán Donn (The Blackthorn). The story of love found, love lost, and love found again, with several twists, is fun on its own merits, but Doimnic’s hypnotic voice makes it a meditation on fortune and misfortune. This classic song is as near to perfection as any human could take it.
The next song nearly surpasses An Draighneán Donn, but in this case it’s for the choir Cór Thaobh a’ Leithid, a group of friends that sings with Doimnic. The song is Áirdí Cuan, one of the most beautiful songs ever to come out of County Antrim. This song has been recorded by various singers, including Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, whose family originally came from near Doimnic’s home. The choral arrangment, done by Doimnic himself, is simply lovely.
There is uilleann pipe and accordion accompaniment on a couple lively songs, but most of the songs are in the warm sean nós style, in which the singer and the song are the focus.
All the songs are in Irish, with lyrics in Irish on the CD jacket. The comments for each song are in Irish and English. Even if you haven’t a word of Irish, the songs are pure magic, rich with mirth, mischief, and melancholy.
A magical CD.
Available at http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CGhome.html.
Live in Dublin
Kíla
http://kila.ie/
For those who don’t know Kíla, the band is like none other in the Irish music scene. With traditional, melodic instruments, like the uilleann pipes, fiddle, flute, and whistles, and non-traditional instruments like hand drums and electric guitar, they play a mixture of traditional melodies sometimes mixed in with African rhythms. At the same time, the lyrics to their songs are all in Irish.
On stage, their sets are wild and colorful. In performance, Kíla are casual and confident, taking obvious great pleasure in playing.
Kíla’s tunes and songs range from sensuous to sentimental to wild. The common thread binding them all together is an Irish genius for melodic invention, arrangement, and lyrical composition.
Live in Dublin is a good introduction to Kíla, as it gives you a taste of their various albums. The sensuous, stunning Wandering Fish may be one of the most unforgettable tunes that they ever written. There is the fast, flowing Her Royal Waggledy Toes. Cabhraigí Léi is an uptempo song in Irish. The lovely, all too brief Faoiseamh is a solo song about seeking peace of mind. If you don’t have any Irish, lyrics are to be found in three other major European languages on Kíla’s web site.
Like all of their albums, Live in Dublin is more evidence that Kíla remains the most brilliant, exciting Irish band around. Galánta ar fad.
Jackie Daly and Séamus Creagh
Jackie Daly and Séamus Creagh
http://www.gaellinn.com
In 1977 this stunning album first saw the light of day, and it’s now been re-issued to dazzle a new generation of players and listeners. The CD is a duet recording of tunes played in the Sliabh Luachra style, Sliabh Luachra being an area in eastern Co. Kerry and northeastern Co. Cork.
Brilliant button accordion player Jackie Daly makes up half of this duet. One of the most respected box players in all of Ireland, Daly is a veteran of many bands, including De Danann, Buttons & Bows, Arcady, Reel Union, and Kinvara. He now plays with Patrick Street.
Fiddler Séamus Creagh makes up the other half here, and together these men truly bring out the “anam”, or soul, of these tunes. From the quickest reel to the slowest slow air, the vibrancy and clarity of these tunes take them to the highest level.
Beyond the brilliance of these two traditional musicians, most of these tunes are unaccompanied duets, and so the full power and simplicity of the tunes can be felt.
This CD features a charming song in English called The Tailor Bán. Séamus Creagh sings this rollicking Kerry song.
In 1977 this came to be regarded as a classic recording, and, almost 30 years on, the beauty of these duets is undimmed. If anything, in a sea of new so-called “traditional” recordings, this truly traditional CD reminds us of the sound of real Irish music.
Available at http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Daly_Creagh.html
Meet Paddy Canny - All-Ireland Champion — Violin
Paddy Canny, P.J. Hayes, Peadar O’Loughlin, Bridie Lafferty
Almost 50 years on, the re–issue of this rare 1959 recording shows the strength of a tradition that seemed to have one foot in the grave in the 1950s, owing to the famines, emigration, and flight from native culture.
Despite its title, the recording actually was of Paddy Canny with fiddler P.J. Hayes, Peadar O’Loughlin on flute, and Bridie Lafferty on piano.
As described in Blooming Meadows, the 1959 recording was made possible thanks to the loan of a car to make the drive from County Clare to Dublin. The four musicians recorded a couple takes that night, then returned in the morning to record the other tunes, totally unrehearsed.
Despite the lack of practice as a group, they made a recording of such quality and spirit that it soon became an inspiration to other musicians and listeners trying to save the music.
In this new CD, the 1959 recording is unaltered, and the richness of its sound is undimmed. It’s the best of dancing music, and the sweet edge of tune sets like Rolling In The Barrel, In The Tap Room, The Earl's Chair is undulled. Listening to these tunes, you can feel what so many Irish at home and abroad felt when they heard this bright music for the first time, at a time when Irish traditional music was on its back foot.
Available at http://www.celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Canny_Hayes.html.
Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn
Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn
http://reeltrad.com/
This sparkling CD features Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn, a husband and wife team on banjo and button accordian.
Born in Britain in the late 70s into a County Longford family famous for traditional music, Angelina returned to Ireland when she came of age, settling in County Galway. Martin also comes from a musical family, and, since starting some 25 years ago, he has come to be one of the most respected accordian players in the country.
There is accompaniment on some tunes, but the tunes that squeeze out the most sparks are the ones with just the banjo and accordian. They bring out the real roll of the tunes, with the melody being in the ears, not choppy guitar chords heard on so many other recordings. A good example of this is the second tune set on the CD, Murphy’s Hornpipe and The Fair-Haired Girl. The natural vibrance and native rhythm in these melodies blossom better without guitar chords laid on top of them like a grey shroud.
Above everything, of course, is the great talent of these two young musicians. Martin’s playing can be heard at its greatest clarity and beauty in Aililiú Na Gamhna, a slow air which he plays alone. The dynamic tune set called The Peacock's Feather / Sporting Nellie / The Green Pigeon is a lively living echo of the vibrant solo accordian tradition that would have been heard at Irish house dances over the past 150 years or so.
Angelina’s banjo is especially bright on Col Me Bain / Roll Out The Barrel. This tune set is also a good example of how guitar accompaniment, played by the note more than by the chord, can add to a tune.
A truly wonderful CD, from two traditional musicians whose family histories and their own style of playing echo past and present.
Available at http://www.celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Carberry_Quinn.html.
An Mileoidean Scaoilte
Johnny Connolly
Listening to this CD, you can imagine yourself sitting in a kitchen on a lonely Conamara island, next to one of the most brilliant musicians in Ireland, Johnny Connolly.
Johnny Connolly plays the one-row melodeon, which is now rarely played, but which puts out a wonderful, clear sound when coaxed by a master like Johnny Connolly. Johnny started out on a two-row melodeon, but went back to the one-row melodeon some 20 years back.
Part of what makes the one-row melodeon so special is that it takes a village genius to bring the music out of it well, as its single row offers just seven buttons, all diatonic.
The CD title comes from a time in Johnny’s youth when he found a melodeon at home. He wanted to play the melodeon, but the melodeon case was locked, and the parents were away. One of Johnny's older sisters, Nain, found the key and unlocked the melodeon case. An Mileoidean Scaoilte means the melodeon set free, or unlocked. The CD is dedicated to Nain, who died before the CD was put out.
Charlie Lennon's piano accompaniment complements Connolly's playing. We are even privileged to hear Lennon’s lovely fiddle playing on one tune.
The shoes of sean-nós (shan-noess) dancer Seosamh Ó Neachtain are also featured on Johnny’s playing of the Conamara set, a rousing set dance.
This CD is a chance to hear the lively music that people still dance to at local set dances in Conamara, as Johnny is in high demand as a musician. Whether you are footing it at a rousing Conamara set dance with this music, or enjoying this music in your own kitchen, it’s “the thing itself”, “an rud a fhéin”.
Available at http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Connolly_Johnny_Mileoidean.html.
The Fairy Bridges
Josephine Keegan
Josephine Keegan is a champion fiddler, pianist, and composer who has worked for many years as an accompanist to better-known Irish musicians. Although this resident of South Armagh, Ireland, has released a solo fiddle CD before, this is her first fiddle CD with accompaniment.
This lovely CD is a mix of Josephine’s own tunes, and other musicians’ tunes. Those musicians include famous accordion players Martin Mulhaire of the Tulla Céilí Band and Paddy O’Brien of Nenagh, County Tipperary, as well as Tom Anderson of Shetland.
The jigs, reels, hornpipes, barn dances, waltzes, and slow airs are beautifully played on fiddle by Josephine, with fine accompaniment from pianist Kathleen Gavin.
Along with the liner notes from Josephine about the tunes’ sources, the CD jacket is blessed with a commentary in Irish from the great Conamara sean-nós singer and musician Meaití Jó Shéamuis Ó Fátharta, who praises her musicianship and dedication to the sky.
Thanks to this dedication to the Irish musical tradition, this CD manages to stand apart from many Irish CDs now being turned out. Because of its light touch and unhurried playing, this CD avoids the heavy, featureless sound of so many Irish music CDs that have rhythmic guitar accompaniment. It’s a soft reminder that melodic playing is the heart of the tradition, and this new CD is another eloquent expression of that old, soulful music.
Available by special request at:
http://www.celticgrooves.com/. Email the owner at: philvar@erols.com.
Play On
Celtic Fiddle Festival
After the sudden death in 2003 of Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham, co-founder of the Celtic Fiddle Festival, fiddlers Kevin Burke and Christian LeMâitre had the impossible task of finding someone to fill Johnny Cunningham’s shoes. They chose French-Canadian fiddler André Brunet of La Bottine Souriante, and in 2004 put together the first Celtic Fiddle Festival CD since Johnny’s death.
This new CD flows from music that was recorded during three shows in Portland, Oregon, in 2004. The CD title, Play On, also captures in its title the sense of what one does after a great loss.
The artists each bring the best of their respective regions. Irishman and now Portland resident Kevin Burke is a master of the Sligo style of Irish fiddling. A member of many seminal bands, including the Bothy Band and Patrick Street, Burke is one of the most respected Irish musicians of his time.
Fiddler Christian LeMâitre was born in Brittany. André Brunet comes from Quebec, and also plays fiddle. Ged Foley is a noted guitarist, fiddler, and singer, and has performed with many bands, including Battlefield Band, Jez Lowe, The House Band, and Patrick Street.
Together, these men bring a deep love of music to their shows, and to this CD. From Kevin Burke’s low-key fiddling genius, to André Brunet’s wild, foot-stomping fiddling style, their shows bring out the best in themselves and the audience.
The tunes on the CD include the driving Quebecois tunes brought to life by André Brunet and his rolling foot-stomping rhythm. Leaving Brittany is a tune which Johnny Cunningham wrote a few years before his own death, a tune he turned out while thinking on friends that he himself had lost. It’s played with great tenderness by his old friend, Kevin Burke.
Another bright spot on the CD is the dark Yiddish tune, Itzikel. It’s played by Kevin Burke, which is appropriate, as Irish traditional music often speaks to the terrible beauty of life that also comes out in Yiddish tunes.
Other tunes include beautiful pieces from Brittany, including a march and a Gavotte. There are also lovely tunes composed by Turlough O'Carolan.
Available at:
http://greenlinnet.com/shopping/search_detail.cfm?productID=1066
The Music of Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan
Although Kevin Keegan was a master of the accordion, this is the first authorized CD of his music ever made. His brother Vincent and the great Galway box player Joe Burke put this CD together, using tape recordings of Kevin made by his friends over the years, since he shunned the studio and the spotlight until his death in 1978.
Because the tunes on this CD are all from home recordings, they lack the acoustic polish of new studio work. But the tunes more than make up for this want in the vibrancy and verve of Keegan’s playing, which come shining through from the old tapes.
The drama and the drive of the old dance tunes remind us that the music was mainly played for dancers, and that live music was an integral part of an evening’s fun, and not just for listening. Then, it was not played to be enjoyed later on a perfect recording, but was as rough, wild, and free as the dancing itself.
The extensive CD notes are in Irish and English. They include a heartfelt note in which his old friend, the great Joe Burke, praises Kevin’s playing to the sky.
All in all, there are 23 tracks, including jigs, hornpipes, reels, waltzes, marches, long dances, and even a couple songs.
After moving to the U.S. in 1954, Keegan lived in Boston, Chicago, and later in San Francisco. Most of the recordings on this CD were made in the U.S. One of the most striking pieces on the CD is Kevin’s voice on Adeste Fideles, recorded with organist Eoin O’Kelly in Boula Parish Church in County Galway, on Christmas Eve, 1954.
This is not only a CD of great historical and musical importance, but also a pure delight to listen to.
Available at: http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_Keegan_Kevin.html
Useful Links
| The Irish Herald | ||
| Raidio Uladh / Radio Ulster | ||
| Raidio na Gaeltachta | ||
| RTE Radio | ||
| Irish Music Magazine | ||
| Shamrock Club of Clarksburg, CA |