Browsing Category

Music

Dance, Music

Kiss Me, I’m Sober

St. Patrick’s Day arrives, and it’s as if someone has uncorked a magic bottle, and the genie of booze appears in our midst, granting but one wish: the wish to become really, most sincerely drunk. Because that’s what the Irish do on St. Patrick’s Day do, right?

Well, there’s no escaping it—some do. But it’s pretty clear that you don’t need to be Irish to wander from bar to bar, wearing silly hats and draped with green beads. Many aren’t.

And it’s a big night for booze, as boozy nights go. According to the financial website The Motley Fool, St. Patrick’s Day accounts for up to 1 percent of annual beer sales in the United States.

The potential consequences of all that binge drinking are pretty serious. More than a third of all traffic fatalities on the saint’s day, especially into the evening and into the next morning—are associated with drunk driving.

Then, of course, there’s a problem near and dear to many Irish hearts—the perpetuation of a cultural stereotype that many find distasteful.

Well, Katherine Ball-Weir wants to shove that cork back into the bottle. So if you’re up for a party, and the thought of waking up the next morning with bed spins doesn’t appeal to you, she’d like to welcome you to Sober St. Patrick’s Day—an epic bash in the Hamilton Media Commons at WHYY studios on Independence Mall on Sunday, March 15. That’s the day of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day parade and the focal point of the city’s celebration.

“We’re bringing in incredible entertainment,” says Ball-Weir, chairperson of the Delaware Valley Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, a worldwide Irish music, dance, language and cultural organization. “It’ll be a wonderful Irish party without any alcohol. There will be children’s activities. They can learn an Irish dance step or how to beat a bodhran (a traditional Irish frame drum) or how to say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ in Irish Gaelic. There will be activities for adults, too.”

A lot of those activities revolve around music and dance, with some truly world-class entertainment—including seven-time All-Ireland button accordion champ John Whelan, four-time fiddle champion Dylan Foley, Patrick Hutchinson, an All-Ireland uilleann pipe champ.

Some young local All-Ireland champs will be on hand as well: The Converse Crew, fiddlers Alex Weir (Ball-Weir’s son) and Haley Richardson, Keegan Loesel on pipes and whistle, and Dylan Richardson on guitar.

If you want a workout, there will be ceili dancing. If you want to replenish all the calories you’ve lost pounding the boards, there will be plenty of baked goods, snacks and drinks—non-alcoholic, of course. Look for special guest Maria Walsh, the International Rose of Tralee and Philly’s Rose, and performances by the Emerald Isle Academy Dancers.

All of this alcohol-free merry-making is not a new idea, says Ball-Weir.

“It’s been a sold-put event in New York City for three years, and it’s in other cities, too. There’s one in Richmond, Va., Casper, Wyoming, Northern Ohio, and Belfast (Northern Ireland) had a huge one. I knew about the event in New York because I also knew some of the musicians who performed in it, and as I learned more about it, I thought: This is a great idea! So I went to Maureen Donachie, who is the number 2 person with the New York Sober St. Patrick’s Day group, and I said, I really like this idea. How can we do this in Philadelphia?”

With some thoughts and encouragement from Donachie, Ball-Weir presented the idea to the Philadelphia Comhaltas (COAL-tuss) board, and they loved it, too.

Presenting a big event like this is exactly up the organization’s alley.

“Although we are a small group, in the last couple of years our branch has been hosting and co-hosting more and more music events,” says Ball-Weir. “We have co-sponsored or helped to support events of the Philadelphia Ceili (KAY-lee) Group or the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series with Frank Dalton, and some events at West Chester University. It’s exciting for me to think about doing things with other groups. The best way for us all to succeed is for us to work together.”

In this case, the partnership is with Frank Daly of American Paddy’s Productions. “They produce the Philadelphia Fleadh and an American Celtic Christmas, among other things. I asked him to partner with us—Frank, specifically, because he and I had teamed up previously to present some Irish concerts and workshops—and he agreed. I couldn’t do it without him.”

Philly’s Comhaltas branch hopes the event will attract families with children, says, Ball-Weir, along with “adults who want to celebrate but not in an overindulgent way, and the third is the recovery community.”

Just because you won’t find Guinness or Jameson at this particular party, Ball-Weir says, doesn’t mean Comhaltas is against drinking, but they are against the binge drinking rampant on St. Patrick’s Day.

As the mother of a one-time Irish dancer, she knows what she’s talking about.

“Alexander was an Irish dancer before he was an Irish fiddler. We went to a lot of pubs on St. Patrick’s Day, where the dance schools would dance, and it was just awful. The bars start serving drinks at the same time they put out breakfast, so a lot of people are totally out of it by the end of the day. These are stupid Americans who are looking for an excuse to get drunk. They hang their hat on St. Patrick’s Day.”

Ball-Weir and her organization want to open Irish eyes to a more authentic celebration, one that hangs its hat on only two things: Ireland and Irish culture.

“This event is basically for anyone who wants to celebrate Irish culture in an environment that will be respectful of Ireland and its culture. It’s a new way to reclaim the day.”

For details and tickets to the event, hosted by WHYY’s Ed Cunningham:

http://www.soberstpatricksday.org/Philadelphia.html

The event starts at 4 p.m., and ends at 7.

January 23, 2015 by Jeff Meade

Music, News, Religion

Caitriona O’Leary Brings “The Wexford Carols” to a New Audience in All Their Original Glory

Caitriona O’Leary’s Enthralling Arrangement of The Wexford Carols

Christmas music evokes the spirit and sublime essence of the season, and Caitriona O’Leary has captured all that is meaningful about the Yuletide in her new CD, “The Wexford Carols,” by restoring original tunes to the 17th century poems and singing them in her glorious voice.

Caitriona, the Donegal born singer known for her ethereal voice and for her group DULRA, became captivated by The Wexford Carols 25 years ago when she first heard Noirin Ni Riain singing them on her album, “The Darkest Midnight.” The story behind the carols is part of Ireland’s dark history: Written as poems in 1684 by Luke Waddinge, Bishop of Ferns, County Wexford, they were published in “A Smale Garland of Pious & Godly Songs.” They were an expression of the politics of the time, and specifically Oliver Cromwell’s 1649 Sack of Wexford, which left the Irish Catholic gentry disenfranchised. The people found solace in this poetry, and began singing them to popular melodies of the era. In 1728, Father William Devereux composed his own version of the carols, titled “A New Garland Containing Songs for Christmas.” There were originally 22 songs, but only 12 are still sung annually in Wexford as part of the 12 days of Christmas. They were passed down as all traditional Irish songs have been—from “mouth to ear to mouth, through the generations.”

“Indeed, it is fascinating how songs are kept alive like that,” Caitriona said. “And how they develop and change, even if only tiny bit by tiny bit over the centuries. You can sometimes see this in songs that have been passed down orally in other regions—they may have started off the same but through the inevitable personal nuances of different singers end up quite different indeed. Look at how ‘Barbara Allen’ is sung in England versus Appalachia versus how it was written down in 18th century Scotland!”

Caitriona’s captivation with the carols led to her 25 year journey researching the history, and then thoroughly and meticulously recreating the original melodies to the songs.

“I listened to recordings of the traditional carolers in Kilmore (as well as hearing them live) and I read every scrap of history I could find. I was very fortunate to be able to hold in my hands and peruse an original 1728 edition of Waddinge’s ‘Garland’ (the second edition) in The National Library (Ireland) and had access to the treasure trove that is the Irish Traditional Music Archives,” Caitriona explained.

Some tunes were easier than others to restore to the poems.

“In the case of ‘An Angel This Night’ it wasn’t so hard at all; Waddinge intended for all of his poems to be sung and beneath the title of each is the instruction ‘To the tune of…’ In this case the tune in question was ‘Neen Major Neel.’ While the tune with that title is no longer known, two other Waddinge poems (‘On St. Stephen’s Day’ and ‘Song of the Circumcision, New Year’s Day’) are also to be sung to ‘Neen Major Neel’ and are both still sung traditionally. I have made the assumption that this is the original tune. In other cases, the prescribed tunes have been a little harder to hunt down. But by trawling through old ballad books and dance books from the 17th and 18th centuries, I did find some that I think are right. Like, for example, ‘This is Our Christmass Day’ which is supposed to be sung to the tune of ‘Bonny-brooe.’ I reckon that Waddinge probably meant ‘The Bonny Broom,’ a popular 17th century Scottish song.

“I really love these texts, the wonderful contrast between the humble and the lavish expressed in fabulously rich, yet accessible language. The tunes are beautiful, too, and the fact that so much of the tradition has been kept alive by the folk is really wonderful. Apart from ‘The Ennisworthy Carol’ (which is quite well known, generally by the name ‘The Wexford Carol’), these songs are almost unknown outside the parish in which they are still sung. And there is not a huge amount of traditional Irish Christmas music in the general repertoire. That fact also made these songs all the more precious to me. Also, I lived in New York for many years, and while there Irish culture took on a whole new meaning for me. Sometimes it takes exile to strengthen ties (the old ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’)!”

And how did her three co-vocalists come to be involved in the project?

“The producer of this record, the lovely Joe Henry, suggested Tom Jones and Rosanne Cash and also Rhiannon Giddens—whose star is rising very fast; she is a member of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops and the New Basement Tapes (a ‘supergroup’ that also includes Elvis Costello and Marcus Mumford). He had worked with all three in the past and thought they would be a good fit for the project—I think he was right! These three singers, along with the band of brilliant players, gathered in a circle around Joe and me in a former stable (that is now the Grouse Lodge Recording Studio) and gave their individual and collective artistic responses to the tunes as I sang them, and together we made this beautiful music.”

Beautiful. Stunning. Sublime. It takes more than one adjective to describe “The Wexford Carols.”

Watch the video of “The Angell Said to Joseph Mild:”

Visit Caitriona O’Leary’s website, where you can order the CD.

December 19, 2014 by Lori Lander Murphy

Music

Merry Christmas from Karan Casey and Lúnasa

Christmas is more than two weeks away, but from now through December 20, it’s going to be Christmas nearly every day for Irish music superstars Karan Casey and the members of one of Ireland’s top bands Lúnasa.

“Christmas with Lúnasa and Karan Casey” is touring the U.S. for the second year in a row, stopping for a concert this Sunday night at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The show starts at 7. (Info and tickets here.)

To hear Casey tell it, performing with Lúnasa is a nice little gift all by itself.

“Musically, they are incredibly tight, well-practiced, and supportive. It’s lovely having the bass, with Trevor (Hutchinson). That adds a lot. To me, the Lúnasa tour is a kind of luxury. I don’t have to do much of the organizing. Cillian (Vallely, uilleann pipes and whistles) is very good at it. I just have to swan in, and sing my songs. And with Kevin (Crawford, flutes and whistles), sure, I laugh most of the tour. I can’t repeat a lot of what he says. It’s good fun more than anything.”

Casey travels a lot during the year, performing with the cream of Irish musicians, so the Christmas tour is certainly no hardship. For one thing, as any musician will tell you, it’s great to have work, and some of the stops along the way offer the prospect of warmer temperatures. “There could be no gigs … and from an Irish person’s perspective, you get to go to California. How good is that?”

It also helps that Casey really likes Christmas. Not the kind of Christmas that begins in the United States in October, with glittery snowflake decorations and cheesy carols piped over the P.A. systems in the department stores—Casey means the kind of Christmas that actually begins sometime around, oh, let’s say, Christmas.

“I love the way everybody sings together,” she says. “I like that everybody talks about peace, and sings the music of peace. It’s acceptable to say that in December.”

Casey, who tours with Lúnasa a few times a year, likes Christmas songs, if for no other reason than that they’re tunes she normally wouldn’t sing.

“We do a mixture. I’ll do a few songs from my own catalog, like ‘Lady Mary Anne’ and ‘Sixteen Come Next Sunday.’ But we’ll also do ‘Silent Night,’ and even a few well known jazz Christmas songs. I really love doing ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ and ‘The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).’ And Kevin sings as well. I can’t get him to stop. We’re just doing ones we like.”

After the Lúnasa tour, Casey returns to Cork for a brief break, followed by a tour of Ireland with Maura O’Connell, Ed Boyd and Martin Tourish, and a stop in Glasgow for the annual winter music festival Celtic Connections.

Then it’s back to the United States for a brief tour (February 12 through March) with her second band (after Atlantic Bridge), the Philly-based supergroup Solas. Noriana Kennedy, who had been singing with Solas following the departure of Niamh Varian-Barry, took maternity leave. Last spring, with a Japan engagement coming up, Solas front man Seamus Egan asked Casey if she would step in.

“Seamus texted me, and said, Karan, this is a long shot, but can you go to Japan next week? I texted back and said, yes, I can, actually,” Casey says. “For Japan, I had to learn all the songs from the ‘Shamrock City’ album. That was a bit of a shock. I had to learn 10 songs in a week. It was a great week, though, really great. Then, he said, ‘Can you do a few more gigs this year? Noriana’s not fully back.’ So for 2015, we’ll be doing some of ‘Shamrock City,’ and some other ones.”

The last time she sang with Solas, Casey says, was in 2006, for the band’s 10^th anniversary album. Soon, we’ll be looking at the 20^th, so the tour represents an opportunity kick ideas around for the next big anniversary recording. With a smile in her voice, Casey says, “We can discuss, if not argue, over the songs we’re going to do.”

December 4, 2014 by Jeff Meade

Music

2014 St. Malachy Benefit With Mick Moloney & Friends

Paraic Keane

“When I first came here, I thought I would be coming for two years. It’s stretched out a bit.”

That was musician and folklorist Mick Moloney ruminating on the annual benefit concert that benefits St. Malachy’s Church School in North Philadelphia. Moloney, as always, was accompanied by some of the finest Irish musicians you’re ever going to hear, including accordion player Bill McComiskey, uillean piper Jerry O’Sullivan, and fiddlers Paraic Keane, Athena Tergis, Liz Hanley and local phenom, Haley Richardson. Though the lineup has varied over the more than 25 years of the concert, Moloney’s friends are always the cream of the crop.

You’d think that after all those years, the whole thing might be getting a bit tired. Not so.

“We’re very honored to be here again,” Moloney told the huge crowd of music lovers and school supporters who filled the church. “There’s nothing more that we like than playing these tunes together.”

And the tunes went on for well over an hour, closing with paster emeritus Father John McNamee’s favorite sing-along song, “Wild Mountain Thyme.”

We have scads of concert photos. Here they are!

[flickr_set id=”72157648700662417″]

November 7, 2014 by Jeff Meade

Arts, History, Music, News, People

Duffy’s Cut: A Voice in the Arts

Matt Patterson, Walt Hunter, Bill Daly, Pat McDade, Anna McGillicuddy, Bill Watson, Earl Schandelmeier and Frank Watson

They’ve been called the “forgotten souls” of Duffy’s Cut, but the 57 Irish railroad workers whose deaths in 1832 remained a mystery for nearly 180 years are now well on their way to achieving immortality.

The story of the immigrant laborers hired by Philip Duffy to work Mile 59 of the Pennsylvania-Columbia Railroad in Malvern, PA, but who died within six weeks of their arrival and were buried in a mass grave alongside the tracks, has captured the interest of the news media since it first came to light through the efforts of the Duffy’s Cut Project, led by Bill and Frank Watson, Earl Schandelmeier and the late John Ahtes.

But the story is far from finished (there is still much excavation work to be done, DNA testing, historical and genealogical research), and the impact of the discovery of the Duffy’s Cut site has significance that demands an audience far beyond the one it’s already found.

Irish Network Philadelphia President Bethanne Killian, who is also deeply involved with Duffy’s Cut, realized that the project has established a voice in the Arts. To promote awareness of the presence it’s found in film, music, theater, painting and literature, as well as to raise funds for the continuation of the work, she organized “Duffy’s Cut & the Arts: A Symposium.” Held at Immaculata University, where Bill Watson is both a professor and the History Department Chair (and it’s also the home of The Duffy’s Cut Museum as well as the center of the project), the Symposium was a daylong event that focused on the artistic achievements that are bringing Duffy’s Cut into greater public awareness.

“I’m still amazed at the number of people from the Philadelphia area who are completely unaware of Duffy’s Cut,” Bethanne explained. “Anyone I’ve shared the story with who hears it for the first time is fascinated and appalled. We need to get the word out there—this isn’t just for history buffs. This is a human story—and given its reach into the art world—the humanities as well.”

With an appearance by Irish Vice-Consul Anna McGillicuddy, who braved the trip down from New York for the occasion, the Symposium officially was underway.

Throughout the day, there was music provided by Vince Gallagher and his Band, Marian Makins (who sang Wally Page’s haunting song “Duffy’s Cut”), Pat Kenneally (who sang her original song “Duffy’s Cut” that won first place in the 2013 Pennsylvania Heritage Song Writing Competition), Karen Boyce McCollum, Rosaleen McGill, the band Irish Mist and Bill and Frank Watson on the bagpipes.

There were readings by poet John Bohannon who recited three poems from his collection, “The Barmaids of Tir na Nog,” writer Kelly Clark who has a forthcoming book called “Duffy’s Cut—A Novel” and writer Kristin Walker whose forthcoming book is titled “Between Darkness and the Tide.”

Maria Krivda Poxon performed scenes from her play “Ghost Stories of Duffy’s Cut” with actor Mal Whyte, there were showings of the documentaries “Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut” and “Death on the Railroad” and the presentation of the music video “57” from Kilmaine Saints.

A lot of interest was generated by the panel discussions. The first was “Duffy’s Cut and The Pennsylvania Railroad” with Bill and Frank Watson and Earl Schandelmeier. The second was titled “Duffy’s Cut: Why It Matters” featuring CBS3 news reporter Walt Hunter, film producer and director Bill Daly and actor and Drexel University Film Studies Professor Pat McDade. Daly and McDade have partnered to form their own production company, Duffy’s Cut Films. They have three feature films in development, and first up is a movie based on Duffy’s Cut. They have the script written, and filming is scheduled to begin in Ireland in April of 2015.

Walt Hunter, who was the first Philadelphia area reporter to cover the Duffy’s Cut discovery explained why the story resonated with him from the beginning. “This was a no-brainer for me. My grandfather was a railroad engineer. He came over from Ballina in County Mayo…it is a very captivating story…at it’s most basic level it is a deeply human story of people with a hope, a dream…and everybody dead within six weeks.”

It was Pat McDade who summed up the the motivation behind the upcoming film he and Bill Daly are developing. “These guys who died, these 57 men, they’re the real Irish story, and we never hear that…here is the beginning of it. Because there are 8,000 other stories out there, about these hardworking, honest people that come to try and find America and don’t find it. And then some of them do. And we’ve got to make sure to get the story told.”

A CD titled “Songs of Duffy’s Cut” was introduced at the Symposium, with all proceeds going to raise money for the Duffy’s Cut Project. It will be available at future Duffy’s Cut events and may also become available for purchase online.

Check out our photos from the day’s events:

[flickr_set id=”72157648281641087″]

October 17, 2014 by Lori Lander Murphy

Music, News, People

Last Call Tour for Singer Mary Black

Singer Mary Black

Just a couple of years ago, Dublin-born singer Mary Black was touring the world with a new album, “Stories from the Steeples,” her twelfth studio album. This year, she’s taking what might be called a victory lap around the world, marking the last time she’ll be singing abroad. At 58, with grandchildren to cosset, she’ll be bringing her “Last Call Tour” to Phoenixville’s Colonial Theater on Friday, October 24, and drawing it to a close this spring in Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK.

“Last Call” has an unmistakable finality about it. “I’m trying not to think about it too much,” said Black on the phone from her home in Ireland, where her daughter, Roisin, a singer-songwriter who will be opening for her, was making tea. “Cuppa tea, love,” she calls out to her. “I’m looking at her now,” she says into the phone. “I’d love a cuppa,” she says to Roisin.

Along with Roisin, Black has two sons with husband, Joe O’Reilly of Dara Records—Danny is part of the popular Irish group The Coronas and Conor “is the only one in the family with a real job,” she laughs. He’s a surveyor.

It was tough balancing motherhood and a music career that kept her away from home for weeks at a time. It occasionally burned her out—hence the long stretches between tours—and finally, she says, “I had enough of traipsing around.

“I’m not giving up singing,” she hastens to add. “I’ll still perform in Ireland and I may pop across the water to England and if the odd interesting festival pops its head up, I may go. But it’s time to call it a day.”

The tour coincides with the publication of Black’s autobiography, “Down the Crooked Road,” which she wrote, with Roisin’s help, at the request of Transworld Publishers—their second request for a book in two years. (The book was released in Ireland on October 9, but isn’t available in the US until late November.)

What made her say yes the second time?

“In light of my last world tour, if I ever needed to write my autobiography, this was the time,” she says. “Roisin stepped in, typing and drawing the stories out of me. She’s an avid reader and has a natural instinct for painting a picture and setting the scene. It’s hard to be objective about it because I was so involved in it, but I think for fans it will be a good read and will give them insights into who I am and how I handled the ups and downs of life.”

There are no big revelations, she says, but the “crooked road” reference is to more than just a line from one of her songs. “My life was all twists and turns all the way, little hills and dips,” she says. Fans may be surprised to learn that at the height of her career in the 1990s, Black was beset by depression. “It’s very personal, really, but I thought it was important to speak about these things because mental health issues are still a little bit taboo. At times it was a huge problem in my life, so it seems silly to write a book about my life an not say anything about that. At one stage it was really bad, probably the highest point in my life from a career standpoint, when I was really flying high—that was the toughest time. ”

She also struggled, like most working mothers, with the dreaded “work-life balance,” and she delves into the ways “the Catholic religion affected me,” both deep sources of guilt. “I was riddled with guilt and not even aware of it,” she admits. “When I finally realized I thought, well, what the hell was that about?”

Black was born into a musical family. Her father, who came from a rural part of Antrim, played the fiddle and other instruments. Her mother was a singer. Black began singing Irish traditional songs at the age of eight, and she and her four siblings, brothers Shay, Michael and Martin, and her sister, Frances, performed as The Black Family in little clubs around Dublin.

In the 1980s, Black joined a small folk group called General Humbert. They toured Europe and produced two albums. Then, in 1982, she put out her own solo album, Mary Black, which went gold in Ireland. She was part of the group De Dannan and the album, Anthem, which she recorded with them was named Irish Album of the Year.

Her subsequent solo efforts took her into new territory for someone who still sang centuries-old songs in Irish. She began to blend more contemporary tunes into the mix, drawing particularly from two songwriters she loved: Jimmy McCarthy, who wrote “Adam at the Window,” “Bright Blue Rose,” and “Wonder Child;” and the late Noel Brazil who wrote, among other songs, one of Black’s biggest hits, “Columbus,” from her “No Frontiers” album. “No Frontiers” was a career changer for Black. It stayed in the top 30 in Ireland for a year and went triple platinum. It’s also the album that won attention—and adoration—from a new group of American fans. She did her first American tour in 1991.

Though she has co-written several songs, Black does not come from the tradition of singer-songwriters, as her daughter and son are. Her gift and what she is recognized for is her remarkable voice, her interpretation of songs, and a talent for choosing the right material.

“Coming from a folky background, the tradition of writing isn’t there,” she explains. “You’re always on the lookout for a good song, something you hear at a session, but I never thought to pick up a pen. My real talent is interpretation, that’s what I’m good at. I leave the really good writing to people who are really good at it. If you’d ever heard Noel sing his own songs, you would not be impressed. He’s probably listening to me saying this from wherever he is.” She laughs. “But I would take them and put in a bit of magic, not change the lyrics but build on the arrangement. “

Nevertheless, the first piece of advice she gave to the offspring following in her footsteps was “Get the pen out and start writing. Number one, that’s where the money is,” she says, laughing again. “But you need to start from an early age learning the craft. When you’re younger you’re too full of emotions, with the ups and downs, the sadness and the heartbreak, and it’s easier to write when you’re vulnerable like that.”

Though she’s happy with her decision to pull the plug on extensive touring, Black admits that the words “last call,” when she does think about them, leave her “a bit emotional” knowing that this will be a final time she’ll be traveling this particular crooked road.

“But I’m looking forward to it and it’s great having Roisin with me and all the amazing musicians in the band,” she says. “As I said, I try not to think too much about it being the last tour, about it never happening again. I’m just going to try to enjoy it.”

October 16, 2014 by Denise Foley

Music

Matt Cranitch & Jackie Daly: Philadelphia Ceili Group Concert

Matt Cranitch & Jackie Daly

The Philadelphia Ceili Group hosted two of Irish music’s greats at The Irish Center last Saturday night: fiddle player Matt Cranitch and accordion player Jackie Daly. Their forte: the Sliabh Luachre style of playing that’s unique to the region of northwest Cork and east Kerry, and they’re considered to be among the preeminent interpreters of this music. And not only that, but they’re funny, too.

The two are on an October tour of the U.S. with their new CD, “Rolling On.” For more information on their tour dates, check out their website.

We captured a few of their tunes on video, but as Matt said at the end of the evening, “These concerts are only successful if there’s an audience…The world’s infested by disco culture, so let’s fight back and support live music. Make live music where it’s happening.”

Next up for the Ceili Group concerts: James Keane & Michael Tubridy at 8PM on Friday, October 24th and Rose Flanagan & Laura Byrne at 8PM on Saturday, November 15th. Come out and make live music where it’s happening!

Here’s a sample of what they played:

October 10, 2014 by Lori Lander Murphy

Dance, Music, People

Rambling House Night at the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival

Sean Og Graham, Mickey and Niamh Dunne

The Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival may have ended last week, but there are still musical riches from the event that need to be shared.

In Ireland, a Rambling House is a long-held tradition, an evening where people gather to share music, songs and stories in an atmosphere based on community and good cheer. The Irish Center here in Philly was the setting for just such an event on the second night of the Festival.

Hosted by Galway native Gabriel Donohue, whom we now claim as one of Philadelphia’s finest musicians, he brought his music and stories to the evening as well as introducing and joining in on the fun. The special guests of the evening were Niamh Dunne and Sean Og Graham, who are part of the super group Beoga, but have been touring recently as a duo, performing songs from Niamh’s solo album “Portraits.” And as an added bonus, Niamh’s father, Mickey Dunne, a talented Uillean pipe and whistle player, was along for the craic. The musical legacy of the Dunne Family is well-known in Ireland and includes the late Pecker Dunne.

Among the wealth of talent present for the evening were singer Briege Murphy who hails from County Armagh, Philadelphia’s Rosaleen McGill, Terry Kane and Ellen Tepper (who play together as the Jameson Sisters) and some outstanding younger musicians from Philadelphia: Uillean piper Keegan Loesel and fiddlers Alex Weir and Haley Richardson. Keegan, Alex and Haley recently returned from Sligo where they competed in the Fleadh Cheoil.

So, if you were unlucky enough to have missed it, or if you were wise enough to have been present for the unforgettable evening and want to relive the experience, sit back and enjoy some of the videos from the Rambling House.

September 26, 2014 by Lori Lander Murphy

Older Posts

Newer Posts