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Pretty early on during the Sunday, August 24,  musical benefit to raise money for Irish radio, some people forgot they were at a charity event. “Isn’t this a great party?” one happy stranger asked me as I wove my way through the dancers in the Irish Center’s Fireside Room.

In fact, it was a great party and it raised about $3,000 to support The Vince Gallagher Irish Hour and Marianne MacDonald’s “Come West Along the Road” shows that air every Sunday,starting at 11 AM on WTMR 800AM. Along with pledges and sales of raffle tickets, it’s enough for MacDonald to say, “It saved my show—and Vince’s.”

Both radio hosts bear the entire financial burden of airing the shows. WTMR does not sell advertising for them, as other stations do, so they need to bring in the estimated $35,000 a year it takes to pay for the airtime. Hosts have always contributed their own funds, but this year, with the economic downturn, it’s been harder to find advertisers and sometimes harder to get advertisers to pay, One longtime large advertiser not only stopped placing ads, but also failed to pay for ads that already ran.

But Marianne MacDonald, who organized Sunday’s benefit, was heartened by the more than $26,000 in pledges the station received during its 8-week on-air drive, and the help from all quarters of the Irish community. “It was amazing to see such a cross-section of people,” she said. “Especially the older people who have been listening to the shows for years. They’ve been so nice.”

Most of the Irish societies, AOH divisions, and other Irish organizations not only made contributions, but some helped out as pledge-takers over the summer, including the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Committee, members of the Donegal, Cavan, and Mayo Associations,the Irish of Havertown, AOH divisions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the  NJ, Irish Memorial Committee, DelawareValley Irish Hall of Fame, Mayfair Community Development Corporation, Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, and the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Delaware Valley Branch.

Door and raffle prizes were donated by Lisa Carbrey of Celtic Scenes, an online photo and gift shop; the Waterford Wedgewood Company Store in Limerick; artist Patrick Gallagher; Liam O’Riordan of Blarney, County Cork; the Eileen Motel in Wildwood Crest; the New Deck Tavern; Emmett’s Place in Philadelphia; Kelly’s Touch of Ireland in Pitman, NJ; Kathy McGee Burns; the Philadelphia Mayo Association; the DelawareValley Irish Hall of Fame; and www.irishphiladelphia.com.

Local musicians also donated their time and talents, including Kevin and Jimmy McGillian, Mary Malone, Den Vykopel, Patsy Ward, John Boyce, Tim Hill, the Gittlemans, The King Brothers, Round Tower, The McHughs, Fintan Malone, Terry Kane, and others. They’re who kept the dancers busy most of the night to help work off the calories from the buffet dinner provided by caterer Mickey Kavanaugh. 

The fundraising will continue for several months with a raffle—grand prize is atrip for two for a week to Ireland, free lodgings at Faha House, a home owned by local musician Fintan Malone, in County Clare; standard car rental for a week, and admission passes to various sites. The tickets cost $10, or three for $20, and are available from Robert Gessler. You can call him at 215-806-7298, email him at gesslervs@comcast.net or write to him at 2212 E. Norris Street, Philadelphia, PA 19125.

August 29, 2008 by
Music

You Know How to Learn Irish Music, Don’t You?

You’ve gone to the local traditional Irish music sessions and you’ve watched all the musicians plucking away on guitar or tootling on a whistle or flute. And you’ve surely said to yourself: “I really wanna do that!” 

Hey … now you can!

The Delaware Valley Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann will be sponsoring a 10-week series of classes in traditional Irish music at the Philadelphia Irish Center starting Wednesday, September 17.

Here’s the class schedule:

6:30 p.m. – Beginner/intermediate tin whistle and flute
7:15 p.m.- Intermediate/advanced tin whistle and flute
8:00 p.m.- DADGAD (a kind of tuning) guitar accompaniment of traditional Irish dance tunes

Don’t have a whistle? You can buy one at the first class.

The class costs $70 if you’re a member of CCE, and $110 if you aren’t. If two family members hold membership in CCE-DV and are taking classes, the cost is $60 each. If three or more family members are taking classes, the cost is $50 each.

If two or more classes are taken, the cost is $60 per class for CCE members.)

Please bring completed registration forms with you. Forms are available for printing at:

http://www.cce-dv.org/cce/registration.htm

Membership to Comhaltas (or renewal) will be accepted at time of registration. For additional information, please contact Dennis Gormley at (856) 795-7637, or e-mail: gormley@hslc.org

CCE-DV also will be sponsoring classes in the Irish language. Contact Poilin Ni Dhuill at (215) 233-2450. Also, Terry Kane will teach Irish singing. Contact Terry at (215) 541-0282).

August 22, 2008 by
Music, News

How Do the Irish Raise Money?

Radio fans

Radio hosts Marianne MacDonald and Vince Gallagher, far right, with just some of the folks helping out with the pledge drive. From left, Attracta O'Malley, Vera Gallagher, Jimmy Meehan, Fintan Malone (behind Meehan), Carmel and Barney Boyce, Kathy McGee Burns and Brenda McDonald.

A musical benefit on Sunday, August 24, will mark the end of the on-air campaign to raise money to save two Irish radio shows on WTMR 800AM.

“So far we’ve gotten $26,965 in pledges—and we never expected to get that much,” says Marianne MacDonald who hosts the “Come West Along the Road” traditional Irish music hour every Sunday at noon, following the Vince Gallagher Irish Hour. “To date,” she said this week, “WTMR has received $19,225.”

The pledges and the money raised by the benefit and a special raffle will help offset the cost of producing the shows, which, along with a little advertising money, has been borne by both MacDonald and Gallagher who estimate each has personally spent about $10,000 to keep the Irish music cranking out every weekend.

Many of the region’s Irish organizations have rallied to raise the funds. Along with making donations—some as high as $1,000—Philadelphia’s county societies, AOH divisions, and organizations such as the Delaware Valley Hall of Fame and the Mayfair Community Development Corporation have supplied volunteer pledge-takers every Sunday since late June.

The fundraising effort hits a crescendo with the benefit, featuring John Boyce of Blackthorn, Round Tower, the King Brothers, The Vince Gallagher Band, Fintan Malone, fiddler Mary Malone with piper Den Vykopel, singer Terry Kane, and Kevin and Jimmy McGillian (who will be playing for the all-afternoon ceili dance in the Fireside Room), and many others.

The $20 ticket includes food and music and an opportunity to win several door prizes, among them a “Wheelbarrow of Cheer,” a large framed photograph of an Irish scene, and an original painting. A raffle is planned, but the grand prize is still being “assembled” so details will be available at a later date.

The event starts at 5 PM and the music kicks off at 6 PM at the Irish Center, Carpenter and Emlen Streets, in the Mt. Airy section Philadelphia.

If you’ve already made a pledge and haven’t sent it in, mail your donation to WTMR Radio, C/O Sunday Irish Radio Shows, 2775 Mt. Ephraim Avenue, Camden, NJ 08104. If you haven’t made a pledge and would like to donate, do the same thing. Write “Irish Radio Shows” on your check. Thanks!

August 15, 2008 by
Music

Review: “For Love and Laughter”

Solas, in a Chestnut Hill concert in Pastorius Park.

Solas, in a Chestnut Hill concert in Pastorius Park.

Previews of the new Solas CD, “For Love and Laughter,” have been up on the band’s Web site for many weeks. The clips are short, but tantalizing. There’s just enough there to make it clear that Solas—with the band’s new singer Máiréad Phelan—is evolving.

The clips are just a half a minute long—the merest tease. So you were left to wonder just how much Solas might change following the departure of singer Deirdre Scanlan.

Whatever were you fretting about? 
Solas is still Solas—the band’s trademark sound fully intact—and all’s right with the world. With the new singer and some intriguing collaborations, including cellist Natalie Haas, world music artists The Duhks and the Appalachian multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell—they might even be better. And of course, no Solas performance would be complete without longtime bassist Chico Huff.

The opening set—“Eoin Bear’s Reel,” “Tune for Sharon” and “The Rossa Reel”—could settle comfortably into any Solas CD to date. With leader and all-Ireland multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan setting the pace, the rest of this gifted band—the fiddler Winifred Horan, button accordionist Mick McAuley and guitarist Éamon McElholm—merrily bend tradition to their will. The first sound you hear is a sly little smile of a note from Horan’s fiddle. The two tunes that follow are tightly controlled—but just barely—with Horan’s fiddle and McCauley’s accordion playfully crossing paths, occasionally overlapping, then spinning off in opposite directions. This is Irish music as Jezzball. Egan and McElholm close out the set with a strong, percussive “Rossa Reel.”

(In fact, the whole album is percussive. Perhaps because it was recorded and mixed by Solas associate and drummer John Anthony, who plays on several tracks, “For Love and Laughter” seems like the most percussive Solas recording since 1997’s “Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers.”)

A later set—the improbably named “Vital Mental Medicine” paired with “The Pullet”—cinches the deal. The first is a scary Rubik’s Cube of rhythms and counter-rhythms, Egan leading the way on banjo. The whole “Mental Medicine” gives way to a furious interpretation of “The Pullet.” If you’ve ever seen Horan play, you know that she does cruel things to bowstrings. It’s a pretty good bet she shredded a few on this number.

That’s the Solas we know. But what about the new singer?

Máiréad Phelan gets a chance to earn her pay early on. She is front and center on the second track, “Seven Curses,” and she more than holds her own.

It’s clear from the start that Phelan does represent something of a departure. Her voice is softer and breathier than Scanlan’s. And she’s not a belter like the diminutive Karan Casey, Solas’s first vocalist. Think Heidi Talbot or Pauline Scanlon. That’s closer to the mark.

Phelan’s voice stands out on its own, but she is often supported by harmonies from McAuley and McElholm.

The material is generally very well matched to her talents, perhaps especially the haunting traditional long song, “Molly na gCuach Ni Chuillean.” It sounds like a tune she was born to sing. Once again, McAuley and McElholm join in on harmonies. Natalie Haas also makes her first of three appearances. (A later pairing with Horan on the instrumental “My Dream of You” is dreamlike and nothing short of inspired.)

Probably the best overall vocal performance features Phelan with accompaniment by The Duhks on the bluegrass-flavored “Merry Go Round,” written by frequent Solas contributor Antje Duvekot. If there is one number destined to become the perennial crowd-pleaser, this one probably is it.

McAuley’s vocal talents also are showcased on the tune’s title track, with superb harmonies from McElholm and Phelan. During the brief period in which the band was without a lead singer, McAuley and McElholm (who also plays piano and Hammond organ on some tracks) stepped into the breach. It’d be nice to hear more from them.

At the heart of it all, of course, is Seamus Egan, who plays no fewer than nine instruments on this album—crushingly depressing to those of us who play only one, and not as well. Certainly not to discount the contributions of others—notably, the wonderful Winifred Horan—Egan pretty clearly remains the soul of Solas.  So long as that is the case, the band can weather personnel changes, as it has many times in its 13 years.

You can see and hear the proof for yourself September 21 at 7:30 at World Café Live.

You’ll also be able to hear the whole album—and not just our few clips—when “Love and Laughter” goes on sale August 26.

August 8, 2008 by
Music

Review: The Big Spree (Compass)

“The Big Spree” is a big darn deal from a hot little Scottish band.

I’ll admit to being hooked from the first track, featuring Breabach’s two pipers Donal Brown and Calum MacCrimmon on a perky little traditional tune, “John MacColl’s March to Kilbowie Cottage,” which gives way to a more contemporary piping number, “Davy Webster’s.” Accompanied by Patsy Reid on fiddle and Ewan Robertson on guitar, Brown and MacCrimmon set just the right tone for a CD that artfully blends the ancient traditions with a more updated approach to Celtic music.

Like most contemporary Irish and Scottish traditional bands, Breabach boasts an abundance of talent. Brown and MacCrimmon also play flutes and whistles; Reid plays cello and viola, and sings; and Robertson is also the band’s lead vocalist. The band invites comparisons to ensembles like Lunasa, Danú, Flook, Old Blind Dogs and Solas. “Super group” is an overused description. But don’t let that stop me. Breabach is super.

Breabach’s debut album features 11 tracks, all firmly grounded in the music of Scotland, whether it’s an up tempo version of a classic piping tune like “Merrily Danced the Quaker’s Wife,” or “Caber Feidh,” a lush version of “Hector the Hero” or Ewan Robertson’s spirited interpretation of Scottish folk singer Matt McGinn’s “Rolling Hills of the Borders.” (With tight, bluegrass-like harmonies from Reid and MacCrimmon on the last.)

I also fell in love with Reid’s sweet vocals on “Lochaber No More,” a classic farewell song with lyrics by the poet Allan Ramsay, written in 1724.

Hope for a tour. And while you’re waiting, “pick up The Big Spree.”

July 29, 2008 by
Music

Concert Under the Stars

Theresa Flanagan Murtaugh at the mike.

Theresa Flanagan Murtaugh at the mike.

“We’ve started something tonight that’s going to just get bigger and better,” Paul Murtaugh told his audience over well over 500 concert-goers.

His wife, Theresa Flanagan Murtaugh, put it another way: “Just wait ’til next year … when we’ve got Bono!”

OK, Bono isn’t really going to play under the tent at the Murtaughs’ house in Media. (But if anyone could talk Bono into it, the Murtaughs could.)

As it is, Friday night’s concert featured The Three Irish Tenors, and if anyone missed U2, they didn’t say so. Actually, the standing O at the end spoke volumes: They loved it.

They loved, too, the auction, which included this pretty great prize: a week at the County Mayo farm of Irish-American Chamber president Bill McLaughlin.

And everyone felt pretty good about the reason for the show. It was a benefit for two great schools: LaSalle Academy, a Kensington-based independent school to address the needs of underprivileged kids, and Drexel Neumann Academy in Chester, Delaware County, an independent Catholic grade school sponsored by Neumann College .

It was a blazingly hot night, with fans going full-bore throughout the Murtaughs’ big top.

The Tenors had something for everyone—a mostly Irish repertoire featuring a stunning version of “Danny Boy” and a sing-along version of “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” but also including a bit of the classical. All performed with style, and under trying circumstances. (It was really hot up on that stage.)

At the end, Irish eyes were smiling indeed.

See for yourself.

July 19, 2008 by
Music

A Little Traveling Music

Will fiddle for airfare. Caitlin Finley, playing at the Philly benefit.

Will fiddle for airfare. Caitlin Finley, playing at the Philly benefit.

Tullamore, County Offaly, is 3,200 miles from Philly. It’s a long way to go, and a lot of money.

If you’ve flown to Ireland recently, you know the drill. Now imagine trying to arrange passage for 10 young Irish musicians–in this case, the Pearl River Ceili Band, winners of the Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Cheoil, and contenders in the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Tullamore later this summer. (http://www.fleadh2008.com/)

Now, thanks to two big fund-raisers, Tullamore is a lot closer for the 15- to- 18-year-old band, which features Philadelphia’s own Caitlin Finley on fiddle and banjo.

First, there was the June 20 ceili at the Philadelphia Irish Center. Then, a couple of days later, an all-star blowout at Rory Dolan’s in Yonkers, featuring Joanie Madden, Eileen Ivers, Brian Conway, Gabriel Donohue and Brendan Dolan.

You can always count on Philly’s Irish traditional crowd to support the cause—and they sure did, to the tune of $2,600.

Rose Conway Flanagan, fiddler, teacher and an original member of Cherish the Ladies, played a leading role in the group’s Philadelphia appearance, and she passes along her thanks for the local support: “What a great time the kids had playing for such an enthusiastic crowd of people.”

The $2,600 raised here, she says, was quite helpful, especially given the $600 to $800 cost, per student, of just the airfare alone. “Add to that the cost of housing (figure another 500 Euros) and food,” she says, “and you have quite the bill (especially if you have more than one child going).”

The fund-raiser at Rory Dolan’s added even more to the kitty. How much more isn’t certain, but it’s clear that it will put the group in a good position to compete in Tullamore. “This (Rory Dolan’s) was a great sucess and we do have some money still forthcoming,” says Flanagan. “I believe we will have enough to cover the cost of most of the airline tickets for these kids. They will still have to foot the bill for the rest of the trip but it’s a great help!”

Those of us who were down at Penn’s Landing for the annual Irish Festival along the Delaware missed the amazing outdoor benefit at Rory Dolan’s in Yonkers. Caitlin Finley, the local fiddler and banjo player and member of the Pearl River group, says we missed quite the show. “Some of the musicians included a group who they called the New York All-Stars, made up of Joanie Madden, Eileen Ivers, Brian Conway, Gabe Donohue, and Brendan Dolan. There was also Jameson’s Revenge.”

Flanagan sums up the all-star lineup in one word: “Wow!”

“We had quite the crowd for Jameson’s revenge with Issac Alderson, the McCarthy brothers, Keith O’Neil, and many others and we had a Rockland county band that took the house down—DD Royal,” she says. “Our under-18 band got up to play and then Girsa, an all girl band from this area (which includes some of the band members) got up and also brought the house down—they were having so much fun onstage that Joanie and Eileen jumped up to join them for a few sets! (double WOW!) We had the Ruffians up on stage then and the senior ceili band (which was made up of the teachers) we had a few extra musicians join us for that as well, including Joanie and Eileen !”

Next big stop for the band: Tullamore, County Offaly, for the Fleadh, which take place August 17-24.

July 10, 2008 by
Music

A Pre-Concert Tune-Up From One of the Three Irish Tenors

There is nothing that warms my sentimental heart more than hearing an Irish tenor sing “Danny Boy.” I know it’s old-fashioned and maybe syrupy enough to have diabetics reaching for their insulin, but I say this as someone who divided her teenage devotion between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, loved Judy Collins and Pink Floyd, and blames the perpetual ringing in her ears on a Grateful Dead concert and the Clancy Brothers’ tape that circled endlessly in her Walkman. Eclectic is my middle name. And hearing an Irish tenor (or even Sinead O’Connor) sing “Danny Boy” always makes me cry.

So when I recently talked to Ciaran Nagle, one of the “Three Irish Tenors,” who will be performing on July 17 at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, I had to know what songs these three classically trained singers would be performing.

It’s in there. The Three Irish Tenors sing “Danny Boy” along with many old tunes such as John McCormack’s “Macushla” (a poignant song with such staying power that Rufus Wainright performs it in live performances); the fast-paced 19th century traveling song, “The Rocky Road to Dublin; “When Irish Eyes are Smiling;” “The Donkey Serenade”; and even some of homeboy Mario Lanza’s standards.

The Mario Lanza-John McCormack songs are part of a medley the Three Irish Tenors commissioned several years ago when they performed at a Fourth of July event with singer Neil Diamond in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. “We allowed him to come on and support us,” jokes Nagle, who is one of the founding members of this group which should not be confused with The Irish Tenors (its most famous member being Ronan Tynan).

“So,” I said, “this means there are actually six Irish tenors.”

“Six?” he retorted. “There are about 6 million Irish tenors. There are two, arguably three principal groups out of Ireland. Each has had great success in the States and Canada, all have had shows on PBS, all have survived and been successful at selling out houses, and we all know each other pretty well. There’s room for everybody. Fortunately.”

The Irish tenor biz is a small one, says Nagle, so when one tenor drops out, there’s always another to take his place. The Three Irish Tenors started in 2000 when a promoter called and asked if he’d be interested in doing “tenor gigs.”

“I’d come straight from performing in Riverdance and I was delighted with the idea,” says Nagle. “The original group were all friends of mine, people I’d sung with in the National Chamber [National Chamber Choir, Ireland’s only professional chorus] and Opera Ireland. Originally, we only had a handful of dates for particular occasions. The first was the opening of a new theater in Armagh. We thought there wasn’t going to be any future in it. The Irish Tenors already existed. We didn’t believe it was going to take off and, lo and behold, it did.”

At their first gig in Armagh, they got a standing ovation at intermission. “That was quite outstanding,” said Nagle. “We were having a great laugh up there, here we were doing this and it didn’t feel like work, we’d decided on the program the week before, so we were over the moon. Then it snowballed. We were touring the country for a period of time then six weeks after our incarnation we got a call from a U.S. producer who said, ‘We have a tour lined up. Do you want to perform in it.’ Well, what were we going to say: ‘The Guinness isn’t as good over in America and, unless it’s better, we’re not going?’”

They went and have been coming back once or twice a year ever since selling to packed houses.

The current incarnation of The Three Irish Tenors includes Kenneth O’Regan and Des Willoughby. “Kenneth has one of the biggest, most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard,” says Nagle. “I knew him from Riverdance and we would meet up more on a social basis. When an opening came up and I said, ‘Kenneth, would you be interested,’ he said, ‘Absolutely, it sounds like a lot of fun.’ We don’t do open auditions and then try to make the person fit. The personalities have to work. Des Willoughby has a gorgeous, gorgeous voice, and the chemistry between the three of us is smashing. “

And, as you can probably tell, despite their classical training, their performing style bears no relation to a concert hall recital. There are no white shirts and tails, and there’s plenty of onstage—and offstage—banter.

“The more clapping and shouting and jeering and comment, whatever, we welcome that,” says Nagle. “We interact with our audience. God help you if you’re sitting anywhere near the front, and I will say no more!”

And that, he says, is the key to the Three Irish Tenors’ success. “The audience will always say, ‘you guys look like you’re having an absolutely fantastic time up there, ‘ and we are. The day it becomes a job to me, the day I don’t enjoy it, that’s it, I’ll close the door, and it’s over.”

The Three Irish Tenors will be performing on July 17, at 8 p.m., at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville. Tickets start at $29.95.

On Friday, July 18, starting at 6 p.m., the group will entertain at a benefit for the Drexel Neuman Academy and LaSalle Academy, both independent Catholic schools, at the home of Theresa and Paul Murtagh in Media. The $150 individual ticket price includes cocktails, dinner, and a concert. For more information about the benefit, contact irishconcert@yahoo.com or call (610) 496-7390.

July 4, 2008 by