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Review: “Music of North Connacht” by the Innisfree Ceili Band

If you’re a dancer, you’ll love the Innisfree Céilí Band’s “Music of North Connacht.” And if you don’t dance, you’ll wish you did. Well, you can still tap your toes.

The always busy Teada fiddler Oisin Mac Diarmada is the driving force behind the Innisfree Céilí Band. (Thanks, Oisin, for providing the CD.) There are three Mac Diarmadas in the band in all, also including Cormac on fiddle and Maire on flute.

Innisfree won the 2008 All-Ireland Senior Céilí Band competition. It’s easy to see why. In its 12 tracks, “Music of North Connacht” seeks to encapsulate the musical traditions of counties Sligo, Roscommon and Leitrim. It succeeds brilliantly.

In his liner notes, MacDiarmada pays tribute to the flute and fiddle pairings North Connacht is known for and he honors the memory of those superb musicians, such as South Sligo’s Michael Coleman and James Morrison, whose early crackling and hissing 78s captured and preserved the tradition.

Innisfree’s 11 musicians—three fiddles, four flutes, two accordions, piano and drums—play with huge energy, discipline and clarity.

The CD opens with an energetic set of reels, “The Real Blackthorn Stick” and “Trim the Velvet,”and it sets a driving pace for all that follows.

I’m a big fan of the fourth track, a set of marches (“O Domhnaill Abu” and the venerable “Jamesy Gannon’s.” For whatever reason, it put me in mind of a Friday night céilí at the Philadelphia Irish Center. That, and I just like “Jamesy Gannon’s.”

Track nine, is another standout, a set of jigs featuring “Geese in the Bog” and “I Was Born for Sport.”

I have to give props to the drummer, Sligo’s Daragh Kelly. Every céilí band needs a living, breathing human metronome, and Kelly fits the bill.

I also greatly appreciated the detailed little notes on the track list. Each track provides an encapsulated history or the tunes and where they came from.

If you’d like to acquire these splendid tunes for yourself, the CD is supposed to be available at www.innisfreeceiliband.ie, but when I checked, the site wasn’t up yet. That’s how new this CD is. Indeed, the CD release party is scheduled for tomorrow, October 17, in Gurteen, County Sligo. Keep checking.

You can also visit their Facebook page.

October 13, 2009 by
Music, People

Review: “Dig With It,” a New CD from Randal Bays

By Frank Dalton

Under my window a clean rasping sound

when the spade sinks into gravelly ground:

my father, digging. I look down.

By God, the old man could handle a spade,

just like his old man.

My grandfather could cut more turf in a day

than any other man on Toner’s bog.

The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and slap

of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge

through living roots awaken in my head.

But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb

the squat pen rests.

I’ll dig with it.

—From Digging, by Seamus Heaney

Nobel Prize winning Irish poet Seamus Heaney knows that unlike his father and grandfather, he is no farmer. His often-quoted early work ‘Digging’ is meaningful for Randal Bays, whose own working man father “had a hard time watching his son go down the road towards the life of a musician.”

Randal is an American fiddler who has mastered the genre of Irish traditional music to a point where he now plays as well as any native. He has a number of successful recordings to his credit and has played and toured with many of the great names of the music, like fiddler Martin Hayes, button accordionist James Keane and guitarist/singer Daithi Sproule.

Randal’s amazing skill at the Irish style has been honed by more than twenty-five years of fiddling and listening, and the sharing of many a late-night session with the finest traditional musicians. Last winter Randal sat down in the studio again and recorded “Dig With It”, an impressive collection of jigs, reels, hornpipes and marches, and two beautiful slow airs.

The opening track on this thoroughly enjoyable CD, “Master’s Degree March,” is an original composition, as is the reel “Friday Harbor.” The remaining tunes are mostly traditional, or every bit as good as traditional, having been originally crafted by the likes of legendary tunesmith Ed Reavy, fiddler James Kelly, and East Galway fiddler and accordion player Tommy Coen.

“The Blue Whale” is the work of Willie Bays, who appears on that track with his proud father. The accompaniment on the CD is tasteful and unobtrusive throughout, supplied by Canadian musician Dave Marshall (guitar, tenor banjo). Randal himself displays not only his great prowess on the fiddle, but also his talent on the guitar and harp.

The Cork Examiner (Ireland) has called Randal Bays “a rare beast, a master of the fiddle”, while here in America Fiddler Magazine says he is “among the best Irish style fiddlers of his generation.” Randal has clearly earned recognition on both sides of the pond as a musician of uncommon talent.

October 13, 2009 by
Music

Review: Pride of New York

It’s just a brace of reels, a smattering of hornpipes, a few jigs, a set of marches, and an air. But that’s like saying the Empire State Building is just a steel skeleton and a stack of bricks.

Like the famous Fifth Avenue landmark, the new CD, “Pride of New York,” is a towering achievement in its own right.

Just consider the musicians who make up this killer ceili band: Joanie Madden on flute and whistle, Brian Conway on fiddle, Billy McComiskey on button accordion, and Brendan Dolan on piano. Toss in essays by Catskills Irish Arts Week artistic director Paul Keating, journalist Earle Hitchner and Baltimore Singers Club director Peter Brice, with tune notes by the percusssionist Myron Bretholtz. It all adds up to a memorable, very nearly flawless Irish traditional recording that is not only one of the best of the year, but probably one of the best of any year.

“Pride of New York” is pure dance music. Yes, I know it’s supposed to be dance music. But not all modern American Irish music invites people to put down their beers, get up out of their chairs and dance. But with Brendan Dolan laying down the delicate rhythms, it’s all too easy to envision folks whirling about the hardwood floor, feet stamping, whoops of unbridled joy.

Each of the artists is well-known individually, but here they come together as a solid, perfectly harmonious group. There’s a cohesiveness that is possible only when individual motivations are set aside and the music moves to the fore. Again, it all sounds blindingly obvious, but there’s a world of difference between a mere assemblage of prodigies and a band. Make no mistake: this is a band.

Which is not to say that there are not standout individual performances. Not to emphasize one contribution over all the others, but Dolan’s sure and confident hand is what makes “Pride of New York” a ceili band. His entry on one set of jigs, Happy Days/Boys of the Lough Gowna/The Knights of St. Patrick, and again on the introduction to a set of slip jigs, Redican’s Mother (The Barony)/The Bridal/Humours of Whiskey, shows him at his best, setting not a merely metronomic cadence but playing with great expression—light, airy and musical.

Joanie, who plays flute on most of the tunes, offers up a memorable tin whistle performance of the haunting air Slán le Máigh. She makes a dime store instrument sound symphonic. You’ll tap your feet to McComiskey’s accordion on a brisk set of reels, Mulhaire’s #9/Grandpa Tommy’s Ceili Band. Conway sets a masterful pace on a set of hornpipes, The Stage/The Fiddler’s Contest/The High Level.

I’m not a fan of waltzes generally—to me, they have too much of a “man on the flying trapeze” quality to them—but the band’s performance of Sean McGlynn’s Waltz shows “Pride of New York” at its most impressive. There’s a gentle lift to this tune, contrasted with some seriously complex but deftly played melody. I promise I didn’t think about the circus, even once.

Though it seems unfair that the Big Apple should play host to so many monuments, you can add this recording to New York’s trove of treasures.

September 3, 2009 by
Music

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day With Solas

Two noteworthy changes to Solas as they appeared at World Café Live on St. Patrick’s Day.

First, vocalist Máiréad Phelan seems now more comfortably and confidently integrated into the band. Máiréad replaced Deirdre Scanlon last year. We first saw Máiréad at World Café not long after the release of the band’s latest, “For Love and Laughter.” She sang well, but her time on stage was limited to her vocal performance and she seemed, to me, a bit shy.

In her St. Pat’s performance, she seemed much more confident, and she spent more time on stage. When she wasn’t singing, she added piano accompaniment. Overall, a more complete performance. It’s easy to underestimate her vocal power, but it really came through in this show.

The second noteworthy change: box player Mick McAuley has lost his signature ponytail.

Other than that, it was just another Solas performance—an amazing display of musical virtuosity. If Solas ever has an “off” performance, I haven’t heard it. Whether roaring through a blast of reels or delivering a soulful rendition of the traditional “Mollai Na GCuach Ni Chuilleanain (Curly Haired Molly),” Solas—even with all the changes to the lineup over a decade—is still one of the most creative and dynamic Irish bands going.

In their most recent home town performance, Solas performed many tunes off the most recent CD, including Ricky Lee Jones’s “Sailor Song” and “Seven Curses” (with tight harmonies by McAuley and guitarist Eamon McElholm on the latter). McAuley also paid tribute to the late songwriter John Martyn with his moving rendition of “Spencer the Rover.”

Noting that “the banjo is an occasionally maligned instrument,” leader Seamus Egan went on to set things right with a blistering performance of “Vital Mental Medicine.” And the bow-shredding fiddler Winifred Horan, when she wasn’t setting new land speed records on assorted jigs and reels, offered more laid-back displays of her talent such as her lovely and sad “My Dream of You.” (“We’re not actually that depressed,” she insisted.)

Nor were we.

March 27, 2009 by
Music, People

The Chieftains Deliver the Goods Again

It was a stripped-down version of the Chieftains playing in Verizon Hall for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day concert—they were missing fiddler Sean Keane, said to be averse to making long flights at this stage of his career. Canadian fiddler Jon Pilatzke stepped in to fill the breach and—with help from Nashville bluegrass fiddler Deanie Richardson, singer/guitarist Jeff White and harper Triona Marshall—the Chieftains had no problem dazzling a Philadelphia audience once again.

Chieftains leader Paddy Moloney probably has lost count of the number of St. Patrick’s Day concerts the band has played in Philadelphia, but it’s enough so that a Chieftains concert has become an essential and expected part of the annual Delaware Valley celebrations.

If you saw last year’s Kimmel Center concert, this year’s version was virtually a carbon copy of last year’s. If anyone noticed, they didn’t seem to mind. By this point, the Chieftains have their act down to a science. The band played selections highlighting the various stages of their career, from the traditional jigs and reels to tunes from “Down the Old Plank Road,” one of their forays into American bluegrass and country.

But the Chieftains always have a “next” project going, and they offered a preview. The next recording heads down Mexico way for a musical commemoration of the San Patricios, a band of Irishmen who fought on the side of Mexico in the Mexican-American war. “They were shooting Catholics down there in Mexico,” said Moloney in an unusually succinct summary of the Irish volunteers’ involvement, “and they didn’t like that.”

For this selection, the Chieftains were joined on stage by a group of pipers and drummers from City of Washington Pipe Band, one of just three grade 1 competition pipe bands in the United States. Together they played a “March to the Battle,” filling Verizon Hall with the droning sound of pipes, leading into a stirring lament, featuring Moloney on uilleann pipes.

Of course, traditional Irish is what this St. Patrick’s crowd came for, and the Chieftains were only to happy to oblige. Just because a Chieftains performance has become a somewhat predictable commodity doesn’t overshadow the fact that they’re still masters of their art. They’ve been at it for 45 years, but they easily match the energy of much younger bands.

Joining Moloney, flutist Matt Molloy and Kevin Conneff, the Chieftains’ singer and bodhran player, was Scottish singer Alyth McCormack, who delivered a memorable version of “The Foggy Dew.”

As is the custom with Chieftains shows, dance also figured prominently, with frenetic performances by the Jon Pilatzke and brother Nathan, and Cara Butler. The highlight of their performance was a crazy legs little dance featuring all three seated in chairs.

Coming to the stage late in the show were members of the Ryan-Kilcoyne School of Irish Dance.

A standing O was also predictable—and richly deserved.

March 27, 2009 by
Arts, Music

Danu Dazzles at Zellerbach

There was a moment, just after intermission at their concert Saturday night, when members of the Irish band Danú took to the Zellerbach Theatre stage wearing the kinds of tacky Irish hats you might otherwise see on the street at the Wildwood Irish Festival.

The stunt got a good laugh and they proceeded to play a set of tunes while wearing the headgear—picture box player Benny McCarthy with a tatty leprechaun beard and guitarist Donal Clancy with an undersized green plastic derby. And that’s as green-beer Irish as the band was ever going to get as they presented two hours of solidly traditional Irish music, played with passion and consummate skill.

Zellerbach certainly is capable of handling large crowds, but the theatre somehow comes across as small and cozy. Consequently, the concert at times felt more like an intimate Irish music session—albeit played by musicians who are among the best in their field.

Lead singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh was in great voice. Her strong, smoky alto stands in contrast to the breathy sopranos who seem to front most other bands. She knows how to deliver a song, from the sublime (Tommy Sands’ “The County Down”) to the wonderfully ridiculous (“Only 19 Years Old,” a tale of regret told from the standpoint of a young man whose blushing bride turns out to have more in common with the Bride of Frankenstein).

Nic Amhlaoibh also is a master of the flute and whistle, and she gamely jumped between one and the other all night.

Of course, all of the members of Danú are acknowledged masters. Along with Clancy and McCarthy, bouzouki player Eamon Doorley and fiddler Oisin McAuley (brilliant on a “Breton Lullabye”) all provided shining moments.

Sitting in on bodhran was Glaswegian Martin O’Neill. His solo was mind-blowing.

A superb, sure-handed performance by all.

March 10, 2009 by
Music

A Real Hand-Clapping, Foot-Stomping Time

Slide at the Irish Center.

Slide at the Irish Center.

Slide didn’t slide. They played slides, but they played them with an aerobic fervor that pleased and delighted the crowd at The Irish Center in Philadelphia on Saturday, February 28. For those lucky enough to fill the audience in The Fireside Room, the four lads of Slide (Daire Bracken, Eamonn de Barra, Aogan Lynch and Mick Broderick), along with the ethereal-voiced Eithne Ni Chathain, performed for almost three hours.

Traditional tunes, like “Poor Liza Jane” and “Dance Boatman Dance” shared the bill with those penned by the group, like “Tredudon” which was written while they were on a holiday in the idyllic Brittany region of France. All three tracks are among those featured on Slide’s latest cd release, “Overneath.” Eithne, who recently released her own solo self-titled cd, joined in on the fiddle and keyboard, as well as singing several songs including her own composition, “What’s in the Bag Love.”

With Eamonn playing the keyboard and the flute, Aogan on the concertina and Mick on the bouzouki, the group achieved their “harmonic motion.” Throw in Daire’s kinetic fiddle playing, and things really heated up. It was a small stage, but that didn’t deter Daire, who made bountiful use of the space to perform his stringed wizardry.

Captivating onstage, and gracious off, Slide is just beginning their three-week American tour that will bring them back this way before it ends. So, peruse the photos here, and watch the videos, and then be sure to catch them when they stop at The Grand Opera House in Wilmington, DE, on Thursday, March 19, or Chickory House in Wilkes-Barre, PA, on Friday, March 20. You won’t want to miss them twice, but you will want to see them again.

March 5, 2009 by
Music

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

When Beoga plays, the joint is jumpin'.

When Beoga plays, the joint is jumpin'.

Beoga is endowed with massive musical talent. Much of “The Incident” is simply thrilling, an auditory high-wire act without a net. Button accordionist Damian McKee, in particular, is consistently acrobatic in his play, and bodhran player Eamon Murray is one high-flying goat whacker. I’m convinced that pianist Liam Bradley hasn’t encountered a sound or style he can’t play brilliantly. Let’s not forget the world-class Seán Óg Graham, who plays button accordion, guitar, bouzouki, banjo and low whistle on the recording. Finally, we have Niamh Dunne, the classically trained fiddler who also is blessed with a lush, luxurious voice.

With so many gifts, a band like Beoga simply has to push the boundaries. They can do anything—and they do. At times, the result is dazzling. At other times, it’s distracting. You find yourself scratching your head and asking yourself, “Why did they do that?”

Case in point: “Mister Molly’s,” a delicate set consisting of a slip jig and a jig, both masterfully executed. I very much liked some of the band’s artsy touches, including a few bell-like dings and even the cute whistling and hand claps on the exit. But in the midst of the set, right at the transition from the slip jig to the jig, we’re treated to a low whooshing sound effect that sounds like either a sink draining or a toilet flushing. Or maybe a jet taking off—it’s hard to be sure.

On the opening number, a rollicking set entitled “Lamped”—a set that gets progressively more rollicking as it goes on—the transition from a tune called “The Pandoolin Dumpling” into the reel “Silly Batteries” is marked (or marred) by a fire siren. We know the set is getting hot; we don’t need the clues.

There are more examples of gratuitous little excesses—musical nervous tics—but not worth dwelling on. Beoga is a fusion band, perhaps the purist and fullest expression of Celtic fusion I’ve heard. And if it seems like the lads (and one lass) of Beoga didn’t quite know how, when and where to curb their creative impulses, that’s both the blessing and curse of fusion. A pioneering band like Beoga takes risks, and there are far worse faults.

To adopt too purist a pose would be to miss out, for example, on the performance of Niamh Dunne on a Paul Kennerly tune, “Mary Danced with Soldiers.” The liner notes say Beoga became familiar with the tune from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Emmylou Harris. Dunne’s voice is perfectly lovely on this heartbreak song. Her spare singing style also well suits the closing tune, “The Best is Yet to Come” and the soulful “Strange Things.”

Nor would you want to miss Murray’s creative bodhran pyrotechnics, which reminds me of John Joe Kelly.

Several sets, grounded in tradition but taking some creative liberties, are memorable. My favorite is called “The Flying Golf Club,” which starts out with something quirky that sounds like a horah, and moves into a seriously stellar set of reels, including “The Gooseberry Bush.”

“The Bellevue Waltz” is also particularly lovely.

So bring on the Hammond organ sounds and the kitschy Klezmer clarinet, and park your traditionalist expectations at the door. Here’s a band that will challenge those expectations and take you on quite a ride. It’s a bumpy ride at times, but a kick nonetheless.

February 11, 2009 by