Gabriel Donohue

Gabriel Donohue won’t soon forget his visit to the Mercy Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

A couple of years ago, Donohue joined fellow Irish musicians Mick Moloney, Athena Tergis and Niall O’Leary to play for—believe it or not—the Asian Gaelic Games, which were being held in Bangkok. Mick Moloney, well-known folklorist and multi-instrumentalist, has had a long association with the Centre, which provides services for orphans, street kids, and children and adults with AIDS, so he asked his traveling companions to join him there in an impromptu concert.

“Mick made sure we got down to the orphanage to play for the kids,” Donohue recalls.”I saw the work Father Joe (Maier) was doing there in the slums. It’s an amazing place. It’s in the worst neighborhood in Bangkok. It’s the Slaughterhouse District, which is a Catholic neighborhood. Buddhists won’t kill animals, so Catholics run the slaughterhouses. These kids have lost their parents to AIDS, and they have it too. Father Joe just wants to make sure they have a good quality of life.”

Donohue is far from the only Irish musician to come away impressed by Father Joe and his mission. A few years ago, he says, fellow musician Donnie Carroll met Father Joe at a benefit, and he resolved to raise funds for the Centre. The project that emerged from that resolution is a new CD, “Irish Musicians for the Mercy Centre,” produced by Donnie Carroll and mastered by Donohue. Nearly 20 Irish musicians and ensembles, including Donohue and partner Marian Makins, Moloney, Tergis, Joanie Madden, Larry Kirwan and Black 47, contributed tracks.

If you want to get a sampling of the tunes that made their way onto the disk, you can attend a CD launch party Sunday, December 11, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Shanachie Pub, 111 East Butler Avenue in Avenue. Music will be provided by Timlin & Kane (Gerry Timlin is one of the pub’s owners), Donnie Carroll—and out own Donohue and Makins. Copies of the CD will be on sale, of course. Every CD purchase benefits the Mercy Centre. There will be a raffle, with special prizes donated by the musicians and Marianne MacDonald, host of “Come West Along the Road” Irish radio show.

And hey, remember Christmas is coming. An all-star Irish music CD makes a great gift.