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The Songs She Loves So Well

Singer Fil Campbell

Singer Fil Campbell

Music is everywhere in Ireland, including the North, but because of the region’s turbulent past, many visitors never make the trip to counties and towns where the musical heritage remains rich. Singer-songwriter Fil Campbell wants everyone to know: Not only is it okay to head north, it’s desirable.

Born in the border town of Belleek (home of Belleek Pottery) in County Fermanagh, Campbell grew up just yards inside Northern Ireland. Though her friends across the way may have gone to different schools, they all sang the same songs—songs she is now reviving through her concerts, as well as her CD and DVD, “Songbirds: The First Ladies of Irish Song.”

“These are songs I learned as a child. People will remember their mothers and grandmothers singing them, there’s a great familiarity to them,” Campbell explained. “

“Songbirds” features the stories and music of five women who played an instrumental part in the 20th century lexicon of Irish music: Delia Murphy, Margaret Barry, Bridie Gallagher, Mary O’Hara and Ruby Murray. These were the women, all from greatly different backgrounds, who paved the way for today’s female singers.

Originally aired as a critically and popularly acclaimed series for RTE television, the DVD was Campbell’s brainchild. She conceived, wrote and produced the program after she started getting requests from audiences abroad who wanted her to sing “traditional” Irish songs.

“It was a complete accident,” Campbell laughed. “I knew nothing about television, or making a TV program. But we did it, and by some miracle, we actually got it onto prime-time television.”

There is nothing accidental about Campbell’s love for those tunes. In fact, they couldn’t have been more familiar. “It was interesting, coming back to these songs I’d sung as a child. I’ve always loved them, loved Irish music, but I had sort of run away from it for awhile.  Around the age of 13 or 14, I wanted to sing pop and the blues. I started playing guitar at 14 and, like all teenagers, I was influenced by the popular artists at the time, like Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Sandy Denny and Elton John.”

Music, though, had always been a part of Campbell’s life. “I was always singing as a child, and I just always assumed I’d be a singer. I never thought anything else. We got a TV when I was about 6, and I was fascinated by Judy Garland. In my mind, I was going to be Judy Garland when I grew up?not like her, but her,” Campbell laughed. “It came as a bit of a shock when I wasn’t.”

At the age of 10, she began attending a boarding school in Enniskillen. “I was very fortunate because right after I arrived, the nuns put together a show. They brought out a harp, and I started learning how to play it.”

Around the age of 16, Campbell began writing her own songs. “Misty Morning,” a song she co-wrote with a girl from school, won a competition. The first band that Campbell formed was called Misty Morning. It was the first of many.

“I always sang in bands. I never consciously thought about how to go about having a career as a singer, I just did it. In college, at Queens University in Belfast, I got involved in promoting bands. As long as I was involved in music somehow, I was happy. I started out on the entertainment committee, organizing annual balls and dances. My senior year, I became the director of The Belfast Fringe Festival at Queens.” (A festival that ran for 21 days.)

“I loved that side of it, I was good at organizing. After I left college I worked for the Belfast City Council for awhile. One of the first things I did was to direct a Christmas show?it was a dolphin show,” Campbell laughed. “We drained the pool and filled it with salt water. It was just great fun.”

Through all this, Campbell never stopped singing.  She released three CDs that include many of her own songs: “The Light Beyond the Woods,” “Dreaming,” and “Beneath the Calm.” She’s toured constantly, mostly with her husband and musical partner, Tom McFarland, and with Brendan Emmet, the third member of their current band.

A new Songbirds CD will be released in a few months, filled with more of the traditional songs popularized by the first ladies of Irish song.  “There were just too many to fit on the first CD,” she explained. “This new one will include ‘Johnny the Daisy-O,’ ‘Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry’ and ‘Lowlands of Holland.’ They’re all songs that I’m singing on this tour.  I’m really having great fun running around America.”

Fun, yes, but Campbell knows she has a great place to return home to. “I live now in a small cottage on the shores of Carlingford Lough, in County Down. Still right over the border,” she laughed. “I’m at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, and I can look across the Lough and see Finn MacCool in the mountains on the other side.  We have a small recording studio in our house, and it’s just a beautiful place to wake up every morning.”

“We’re only an hour’s drive from Dublin. And there’s a huge community of artists and musicians there. We’ve got great music, music that’s full of Irish tradition. And we’ve got great shopping, too,” Campbell added. “So the next time your over, come see the North of Ireland. It’s not to be missed.”

Fil Campbell will be performing at The Irish Center, 6815 Emlen Street, in Mt. Airy, this Sunday, September 26, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15. For further information, go to Fil’s Web site:  http://www.filcampbell.com/index.htm

Also, check out Fil’s myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/filcampbell

Links to Fil performing some of her songs:

“Good-bye Mick, Good-bye Pat” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJD4UX5_avk

“Seoladh na nGamhna”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3mKvseQuxo&feature=related

“The Homes of Donegal”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3xp_DgHLgQ

“Farewell My Own Dear Native Land” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1puRgf_FJ0

“The Bonny Boy” http://www.youtube.com/user/irishphiladelphia#p/u/3/27gSkn7TLOo

September 23, 2010 by
Music, News

Singing for the Swells

John Byrne at a recent World Cafe Live performance with his band.

John Byrne at a recent World Cafe Live performance with his band.

By John Byrne

I had just landed in Dublin in late July. My wife, Dorothy, turned on her phone and saw that there was a message from Laura, the booking manager from World Café Live, inquiring as to whether or not we might be free for a gig on Monday, September 13th. Now, I run the Trad and Ballad Session at Slainte every Monday—and I don’t like to mess around with regular gigs at a place where we have a great relationship with the owners and staff. So I told Dorothy to tell Laura that I do have a booking that day but if it’s a big deal we can definitely look at working something out. Laura replied, “Oh, it’s a big deal.”

Zoom forward about 6-weeks and we were at the Constitution Center on 6th and Arch setting up the sound for our performance at the Presidential Reception for the Liberty Medal Presentation. The Liberty Medal folks had contacted the World Café folks and asked them to recommend a band for the show; they had recommended us. The room was pretty bare and some workers were milling about moving tables and chairs out of the room. We finished setting up the sound and ran through a few songs to make sure everything was quality. We were set to play from 5pm until just before 7pm when all the VIPs would move outside for the presentation itself.

All of our background checks came out clean (ha!) and all that was left for myself, Maura Dwyer, Andy Keenan and Chris Buchanan was to show up respectably dressed and do what we do. There were rumors of Bono showing up although the official word was that he would show up only on the giant video screen to the right of the stage – this turned out to be the case.

On the day we arrived about 3:30 PM, escorted through the waiting crowds by big blokes in black suits, and couldn’t believe the transformation that the room had made. An area that functions as the cafeteria had been completely transformed into an indoor English country garden complete with park benches, fountains, patio furniture, excellent English-themed food, and an enormous arrangement of flowers and trees. At 5 PM we were given the signal to begin and as the VIPs were led into the room we began with the tradition tune “Merrily Kissed the Quaker” following it with one of my own compositions “A Song With no Words.”

There were politicians and faces from local and national news, photographers from Philadelphia Style Magazine, and all-in-all a very polite and appreciative crowd. About 6:45 PM, President Bill Clinton, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mayor Michael Nutter and others were ushered past the room to the stage. The guests followed to their section as we played “I’m a Man You Don’t Meet Everyday”….and that was it. 

We got to stand to the left of the stage and watch the speeches, the moving video tributes from Bertie Ahern and Bono and the beautiful performance given by the Irish Tenors. A little after 8 pm we were asked to move our sound equipment as the VIP Room was to be transferred into the Press Room after the presentation. Once again, the big blokes in the black suits appeared to escort us, and by 9pm we were playing “Merrily Kissed the Quaker” again, this time at Slainte, preparing for our show the following night at World Café Live with The Young Dubliners. One of the TVs in the corner was showing highlights of the presentation—by then it all seemed just a little surreal.

September 15, 2010 by
Music

Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival Ends on a High Note

Kevin McGillian was honored for his 30-plus years playing at the festival.

Kevin McGillian was honored for his 30-plus years playing at the festival.

They’re going to be talking about this one for a long time. The Philadelphia Ceili Group’s annual festival of Irish dance and music ended a three-day run on Saturday night, September 11, at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy with a concert that audience members were calling magical—even before it was over.

Headliners Liz Carroll—the only Irish trad artist ever nominated for a Grammy award—and Daithi Sproule, best known for his work with the Irish group, Altan, invited the performers who preceded them on stage for the finale which brought the audience to its feet before the last note sounded.
It was an appropriate finish for a festival that couldn’t have gone any better. There were crowds for the Singers Circle on Thursday—dedicated to the late Frank Malley, who ran the festival for many years—for the Gary Quinn and Anthony McGrath concert on Friday night, the ceilis on Friday night and Saturday and the workshops, from the fiddle session with Carroll to the St. Brigid’s Cross lessons and the drama workshop for kids. 
The kids were well taken care of. In fact, many stayed for the entire afternoon,  having their faces painted, coloring, learning to act, blowing bubbles, and making new friends.
On Friday night, the Philadelphia Ceili Group recognized musician Kevin McGillian, who has been playing at the festival for almost its entire 36 years, with a plaque and a lifetime membership. They also surprised festival organizer Anne McNiff—the emcee of Saturday’s concert—with an award for her work. 
 
Check out our photos of the event.
September 15, 2010 by
Music

Five MORE Questions for Eileen Ivers

The acclaimed fiddler Eileen Ivers.

The acclaimed fiddler Eileen Ivers.

The fire-breathing fiddler Eileen Ivers has deep Irish roots. Her parents are from Ireland. She learned fiddle from the great Martin Mulvihill. She won the All-Irelands nine times. (Yikes.)

But if you know Ivers at all, you know she’s profoundly influenced by other musical genres, from jazz to Afro-Caribbean roots music. She was the featured fiddler in the megahit Riverdance, which brought Irish music to the fore in the United States and throughout the world (and which many purists regard as not at all Irish).

If you’ve ever attended an Eileen Ivers show, you know that her performance (and that of her band Immigrant Soul) can be both exhilarating and exhausting. She pours absolutely everything into a show—blood, sweat, tears, shredded bow hair and all. I attended an Ivers outdoor summer concert a few years back and, at the end, she was just drenched. (I hugged her, anyway.)

We chatted once before, and her upcoming show (Saturday, September 25, at 8 p.m. in the Zellerbach Theatre on the Penn Campus) gave us an opportunity to touch base once again. So we just picked up where we left off the last time. Here’s what she had to say.

Q. How often do you get into traditional Irish music sessions these days?

A. Not nearly as much I would like. Were going to Ireland in October and I seem to play in more sessions there than I do at home. We have a little house in Mayo, and there are a couple of really good sessions that I try to get to. It totally rejuvenates me. Sometimes, at festivals, there are great sessions on when you get back to the hotel. They’re always good to sit in on, of course.

Q. Is playing in sessions something you do, mostly, when you’re home? Or something you fit in when you’re on the road?

A. Definitely more on the road. When you’re home. you’re in a “home” mode. When I’m out and about, that’s when I hang out in sessions.

Q. What do you get out of sessions that you don’t get from performance?

A. It’s really all part of being an Irish traditional musician. It’s a wonderful privilege to be traveling around and playing Irish music. The venues that are looking to book Irish artists are really spectacular. We’re blessed to be able to perform, to do the symphony work. But at the same time, it’s important to get off the stage and sit in where the music is really living and breathing, playing with friends and remembering tunes, playing tunes that you haven’t played in years. You have to get back to that. It brings back why you’re playing in the first place.

Q. I don’t play fiddle, but if I did, I’m not sure I’d be able to play with you sitting next to me. My guess, though, is that you’re not really all that scary … or that’s not how session etiquette would dictate that people respond to you.

A. I don’t feel like that at all, and I would hate to have anybody think that or feel that. What I love about this music and our culture is that you’re part of a much bigger thing. And when you’re sitting down with a bunch of folks, and you look around and see the smiles, it’s healing. You’re just a part of it, and it’s so cool.

Q. How much time do you spend in teaching and workshops these days?

A. Not as much as I would like. That’s such a great feeling to put the music out there, especially to kids. I actually love when the band is in stage with me for the master class. They talk about the history of the music and the rhythms, and each musician will show how his instrument works. All of sudden, they’re inspired by this stuff. They see the fun, the joy of it. They think it’s the coolest thing ever. We do it as much as we can. We always offer it and we love doing it.”

September 14, 2010 by
Music

A Night of Songs and Memories

Everyone had Frank Malley on their mind. Standing alongside the photo is his daughter Courtney.

Everyone had Frank Malley on their mind. Standing alongside the photo is his daughter Courtney.

“This is like having a big night in your own living room,” said singer and publican Gerry Timlin as he looked out on the crowd gathered in the Philadelphia Irish Center for Singers’ Night at the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival.

It was hard not to think of the Fireside Room as Frank Malley’s living room. Frank was, for many years, the driving force behind the Ceili Group Festival. He died of cancer last July. Singers’ night was dedicated to him. In fact, a large colorful portrait of a smiling Frank Malley was propped on an easel just to the right of the stage.

Standing alongside the portrait, Frank’s daughter Courtney said she was sure her father would have approved of this year’s Singers’ Night. “He would have been thrilled,” she said. “My dad was a singer, and there were so many other singers he enjoyed. He loved all of these singers.” Courtney, a well-known singer herself, confessed to also being partial to Singers’ Night. “For me, this is my favorite night of the festival,” she said.

It was evidently a favorite of many other Irish music fans. Most of the chairs in the Fireside Room—and at the nearby bar, of course—were filled. Surely no one could have been disappointed by the showing of singers, starting with Gerry Timlin himself, who also threw in a funny little story about what would have to be the ultimate handyman, Dixon from Dungallen. (Ask him to recite it. It’s a hoot.) And he shared memories of some of the greats who have gone before, including the late musician and radio host Tommy Moffit, who died in May.

There were several superb singing performances from the likes of Marian Makins, Rosaleen McGill and Karen, John and Michael Boyce. If you came hoping for the old standards, you couldn’t have been disappointed by Karen Boyce’s tender rendering of “Skibbereen” or all the Boyces’ superb harmonies on “Peggy Gordon.” Marian Makins sang a lovely version of “Green Grows the Laurel,” and everyone loved Rosie’s take on “The Emigrant’s Farewell.”

Couldn’t be there? We have photos and videos!

Here are the videos:

September 10, 2010 by
Music

Gary Quinn: He Keeps Her Lit

Accordion player Gary Quinn from Galway.

Accordion player Gary Quinn from Galway.

There’s just no way around the truth of it—life and Facebook, they work in mysterious ways. One minute, you’re updating your status, and the next Facebook friend whom you’ve never met invites you to fly into Philadelphia to play the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s 36th Annual Traditional Irish Music and Dance Festival. (It starts this coming Thursday and runs through Saturday night at the Irish Center.)

For former All-Ireland Champion Accordion player Gary Quinn, this is exactly what happened a few weeks ago when a last minute change was made to the Festival’s line-up, and a spot became open for the Friday, September 10 Fireside Concert.

The County Galway musician was happy to take the gig. Since his debut cd, “Keep Her Lit,” launched in 2008 to critical and popular acclaim, Quinn has seen his music career take off. A performance stateside is a natural progression.

“A few years ago, I was getting near to turning 40, and I began to take my music more seriously. I’d always been playing, and writing tunes, but I decided that I mean to go out of this world the way I came in—playing music.”

Quinn isn’t kidding. He began taking accordion lessons at age 4, but a deeper interest in the chips at the nearby take-away shop caused his mother put a stop to the lessons. A year later, at age 5, Quinn was listening to the radio when a tune came on that hooked him, and he sat down and played it on his accordion.

“That was my first reel, ‘Bonnie Kate,’ and it’s still my favorite tune,” Quinn recalled. “I’ll play it next Friday night at the concert.”

“I realized that music is the international language of the world. If you can play music, you can communicate with anyone. It doesn’t matter if you can’t speak the same language … if you can sit down together and play the same 8 notes, then you can understand each other.”

Quinn immediately knew who to call to bring with him for the trip: Derry-born guitar player Anthony McGrath. “He’s a fantastic guitar player, and a really good guy. He’s played with all sorts of people.”

In fact, Quinn and McGrath joined forces recently with Limerick fiddle player Kevin Farrell and Dublin singer and bodhran player Joyce Redmond to form the band Eriuna. The name is derived from that of the celtic goddess Eriu, also the source of Ireland’s identity as Erin.

Quinn, who hails from Brierfield near Moylough in County Galway, where he still lives now with his wife and two young children, grew up in an area infused with brilliant music and brilliant musicians. His first influence was Joe Cooley, “who was a revolutionist when it came to accordion playing. You could hear his personality in his music. He played with such feeling.”

Joe Burke and Finbarr Dwyer, “both technically brilliant and fantastic players,“ also left an imprint on Quinn’s style. But it is Mairtin O’Connor that Quinn holds up as “a total gentleman. He gave me permission to record a few of his tunes on my cd.” And after the album was completed O’Connor had this to say about it: “The spirit of joyful music is alive and well in his hands and on this recording he keeps our spirits well buoyed … He is joined by some wonderful players and the overall result is a pleasure to listen to.”

Quinn could not have been more elated by this endorsement from his hero.

Many of the tunes on “Keep Her Lit” are Quinn’s own compositions, including the title track. A mechanic by trade, Quinn hears music in the whole world around him.

“I get inspiration from everything. Good feelings, happy feelings, sad feelings. For instance with “Keep Her Lit,” I could hear the tune in the lorry engine as I was working on it. I’m so fortunate to be able to combine these two things I love, playing music and working on cars.”

“I’m very, very happy right now. It’s a bit too late for me to get famous now, at 40, but my life is exactly where I want it.”

Gary Quinn and Anthony McGrath will be performing at 8PM, Friday, September 10 at The Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival, and will be teaching workshops on Saturday, September 11th from 11AM to 1PM. The Irish Center is located at 6815 Emlen Street, near the Carpenter Lane SEPTA station, in Philadelphia.

September 2, 2010 by
Music

Solas in Concert at Longwood Gardens

Seamus Egan last played in the Open Air Theatre at Longwood Gardens about 20 years ago when he accompanied Mick Moloney and Eugene O’Donnell. Let’s hope it won’t be another 20 years before he plays there again.

Egan and his Solas bandmates closed out the summer with a memorable performance in one of the Delaware Valley’s prettiest places. At Longwood, the theatre itself is part of the show. Lush, tall arborvitae flank the stage. Flagstone walls and and lacy wrought iron gates form the backdrop. The place holds 1,500, but it seems more intimate than that. No roof … just cool breezes, dark skies, chirping crickets, bright stars and, on this night, a creamy gibbous moon.

All that atmosphere, and a big, splashy fountain show worthy of Esther Williams at the finale … fans will be talking about this one for a long time.

Egan on flute, joined by Eamon McElholm on guitar, took the stage first and set the tone with a sublime version of the slow air “An Buachaill Caol Dubh (The Dark Slender Boy).” The mellow mood didn’t last long, though. A slimmed-down Mick McAuley on button accordion (I heard someone near me ask “Who is that guy?”) and fiddler Winifred Horan joined Egan and McElholm, and launched into the band’s trademark “Wiggly Jigs” set. They moved on from there to a smoking set of reels. Joining them onstage for the reels was another skinny guy, Lord of the Dance star Jonathan Srour, who popped out of the hedges at stage right and had the audience clapping right from the start. He made two more appearances later on in the night.

Another surprise—a different singer, Niamh-Varian de Barra from Cork, practically just off the plane and making her first appearance with the band. Regular lead singer Mairead Phelan was off that night.

de Barra seemed a bit tentative on her first tune, “The Gallant Hussar.” By the time she made her second appearance, singing “The Ditching Boy,” she seemed to have shed any first-night jitters she might have had. She sang “Seven Curses” with the same confidence and energy.

McAuley and McElholm sang harmony in support of de Barra’s efforts, but it was hard to hear them. Sound quality was a bit out of whack throughout the night. de Barra sounded just fine; McAuley and McElholm were underamplified. Horan’s fiddle came through loud and clear; Egan’s guitar at times was barely audible. On balance, though, everything else about the concert was just so blissful—Horan’s tender rendering of “My Dream of You,” McAuley’s performance of the John Martyn tune, “Spencer the Rover,” and “Vital Metal Medicine,” Egan’s knuckle-busting banjo piece—it’s impossible to get tied up in knots over such a minor point.

It’s easy to forget tiny imperfections, too, when your favorite Irish band appears to be caught up in the middle a massive MGM water ballet. A bit campy? You bet. But the band seemed to be enjoying it, and who were the rest of us not to join in the fun?

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August 30, 2010 by
Music

Runa: Providing a Little Night Music

Shannon Lambert Ryan, Fionan deBarra, and Cheryl Prasker of RUNA.

Shannon Lambert Ryan, Fionan deBarra, and Cheryl Prasker of RUNA.

The cicadas and the Chestnut Hill East commuter train provided a little extra percussion for RUNA, the contemporary Irish group that performed Wednesday night at Walk a Crooked Mile bookstore, housed in the old Devon Street train station in Mt. Airy.

There was a sultry breeze, enough kids and dogs to make it homey but not distracting, and more than a few people sipped glasses of wine and ate a home-packed dinner from their lawn chairs while listening to this talented group, fronted by Philly native Shannon Lambert-Ryan. Canadian percussionist Cheryl Prashker, who now lives in Mt. Airy and Lambert-Ryan’s husband, guitarist Fionan deBarra round out the trio.

August 13, 2010 by