Hornpipe Magazine Irish Music Reviews Vol. 4

Volume 4, Issue 6

CD Review

The Coors, Live in London

Now available. Bands are coming out with DVD's giving the best of both worlds - video and audio. The DVD features 23 performances from their 2000 European tour, including hits like Runaway, Breathless, and Radio. The DVD also includes extras like the Access All Areas documentary, multiple viewing angles, and a bonus track, Happy Xmas (War is Over).

Westlife

From the town of Sligo two hours west of Dublin, IReland, come forth Kian Egan, Mark Feehilly and Bryan McFadden, all 19-years olds, Shane Finland, age 20, and Nicky Burne, 21. They are Westlife, and they have already cracked the UK's record books as the first act to debut at #1 with their first two singles, then raising the ante to four in a row, a show-stopping event on either side of the Atlantic.

Other cd's reviewed in this article:

Os Amores Libres
Rego Records

Kerry Life & Lore
Rego Records

Celtic Divas
Rego Records

Island Angel
Green Linnet

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Volume 4, Issue 5

CD Review

by David Armstrong

The Pound Road

Dessie O'Halloran (2001)
Daisy Discs
topfloor@indigo.ie
www.daisydiscs.com
www.hummingbirdrecords.com

Here is one of the most interesting and compelling cds I have heard in a while. Dessie O'Halloran's The Pound Road is his first solo offering: it is also a musical adventure that mixes traditional instrumentation with a wide range of cultural styles and unique solo vocals backed by a powerful choral sound. The overall effect is startling, humorous, interesting, and very, very comfortable.

...

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Time to fall

Karen Matheson (2002
Sanctuary Records
c/o BMG Records Group
www.karenmatheson.com

Karen Matheson's Time to fall is a delight. She has a lovely voice which, on first hearing, will trick the unsuspecting listener into believing that her expression is "natural" or untrained. This is because the depth of sincerity and stark simplicity of her delivery overshadow the discipline and dedication that makes her sound so appealing. On further plays it becomes clear that Ms. Matheson is one of the new breed of Celtic singers who can deploy a fully trained and masterfully controlled vocal expression in what appears as a cascade of effortless beauty.

...

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Volume 4, Issue 5

Derek Bell - a real passion for folk music

Derek Bell, harpist with traditional Irish super group the Chieftains, died suddenly October 17 while touring in the United States. Bell, 67, had been recovering from minor surgery and had been cleared to return home. He had played with the group for some 30 years, in tandem with a successful solo career.

Irish music promoter Dennis Desmond told BBC News Online that Bell's death was a "terrible tragedy". It's particularly sad because everyone thought the man was fine," he said. "He will be terribly missed.

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Volume 4, Issue 4

CD Review: Chulrua

Reviewed by Thomas Miner

Barefoot at the Altar
Paddy O'Brien, Pat Eagan and Tim Britton

The best way to enjoy Irish traditional music is to invite the musicians to your back porch or in the kitchen for a pint and something special to eat but if you cannot lure them to your home perhaps a small venue is the next best thing. In the small room of the Cactus Café (within the Student Union Building of the University of Texas at Austin) I was able to witness what might be the closest to a sessiun I have heard other than visiting a few pubs in county Sligo. The band was Chulrua (kool ROO ah), which translates as red back. It was the name of the ancient Irish hero Fionn MacCumhaill's favorite wolfhound.

Chulrua, the band, is a fine recipe for genuine Irish traditional music combining the midlands of Ireland, Paddy O'Brien, - accordion and Pat Eagan - guitar and vocals, with the Irish-American experience in the persona of Tim Britton. Not only is a patron entertained with musical talent but educated by the interactive explanation by spokesman Tim Britton. His historical knowledge and affinity to the American experience is refreshing and allows neophytes to share in the richness of the Irish music and culture as one might learn in Ireland. After the formalities of introducing the players and their instruments and he is quick to tell the audience the correct pronunciation of the uillean pipes - himself an avid student of the old master, Tim Britton, is a virtuoso on the rare uillean pipes, wooden flute, and tin whistle. His profound insight into the Irish music tradition is tempered by the many influences he grew up with in Philadelphia but it was button accordion icon, Paddy O'Brien that established the band in 1995 with Tipperary men, piper Michael Cooney and singer and guitarist Pat Egan. Michael was replaced in 1997 by Tim Britton.

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Volume 4, Issue 4

Irish instruments

True Irish dance music should make one desire to dance, drink, weep or fight. And while this may be the result of music as representative of Irish history, it is more likely that the basic instruments of Irish dance music produced tones that fostered melancholy in many a player.

To understand why Ireland has no long tradition of classical music and symphonic greatness, one must understand the evolution of the instruments of Irish music. Two factors governed the development of Irish instruments - portability and poverty. Clearly, Irish dance music developed as a response to the stresses of isolation, poverty and oppression by occupying cultures. And while the ancient nature of some of these instruments has been unchanged for centuries, their adaptation for modern Irish music has not been widespread. Groups such as U2, the Cranberries, the Pogues and other notables have not included much use of these native instruments in their work.

At the same time, traditional Irish dance music has gained a new following the world over as a result of the international interest in Irish dance. Groups such as the legendary Chieftains, the Wolfe Tones, and others have become staples on the European and US concert circuit. This, of course, includes the evolution of the greatest of Irish instruments, the voice and a new dimension has been added to Irish music with the advent of New Age vocalists harkening back to real or imagined ancient airs.

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Volume 4, Issue 3

CD Review: The West

Stories by: Eddie Stack
Music by: Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill

The four stories read by Eddie Stack are from his collection The West. The stories are set in the west of Ireland and reveal a community – it's hopes and dreams.

Truly the best of both worlds are on one recording – Clare Fiddler Marrtin Hayes and Dennis Cahill's theatrical; Irish words accompanied by Irish music.

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Volume 4, Issue 3

CD Review: October Road

...reunites Taylor with producer Russ Titelman, who first worked with the artist on Gorilla (1975) and In the Pocket (1976). Described by Taylor as "a very guitar-centric album", most of the arrangements on October Road are centered on his vocals, guitar, and his rhythm section of Jimmy Johnson (bass) and Steve Gadd (drums). Among the guest artists are guitar legend Ry Cooder and saxophonist Michale Brecker (on the album's title track).

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Volume 4, Issue 3

Irish dance enhanced by music study and 'mature' dancer

It has long been apparent that great Irish dancers know the music that they dance to intimately. It is often the case that a dancer will play music, too. What are the advantages to such interactive studies? Do they make for well-rounded students? The first two sections here answer those questions clearly and urge Irish dancers to study traditional Irish music, to learn to play and to be at one with the spirit of it all.

The tradition of Irish dancing in the US as a young person's activity has largely stemmed from the fact that in their late teens or early 20's the young people find more of life's maturing moments demanding their attention and dance seems to fade away. Hornpipe has always believed that encouraging older people to take up Irish dancing, or return to it, offers a special dimension to expanding the art that is not being explored. The third section in this piece addresses the joys and demands of a "mature" dancing career.

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Volume 4, Issue 2

CD Review
by David Armstrong

Jiggernaut - In search of more
Off Hand Productions
www.jiggernaut.com

Down Where the Drunkards Roll
The Corgi Set
Calton Weaver
I have Come to Take my Boy Home
The City Boy Set
Amazing Grace Again
Home Front
Best o' the Barley
Cullen Anderson
Kishmul's Galley
Solbury Hill
The Brewery Tap
Legacy

Once again we find Wolf Loeshcer coming to us surrounded by a brilliant and colorful band of minstrels. His reputation for fine playmates remains unsullied. Jiggernaut is a veritable who's who of Celtic performers from all over. The band's lineup includes Deanna Smith, Matthew Williams, Roger Harrison, Brendan O'Sullivan, Lars Sloan, Richard Dean, and Mr. Loescher... who also produced this, their debut album....

Casey Neill Trio (1999) — Skree
Appleseed Records
www.appleseedrec.com

A Mighty Love
Hare of Kilgrain
Okanogan County
Destitution Road
Scrounge Around
Emma's Garden
Saints of the Ditches
Dusty Windowsill Set (jigs)
Araby
Hallowed Be Thy Ground
Love is a Killing Thing
Mingulay Boat Song

The Casey Niell Trio is one of those bands which manages to impress musicians ranging from Dick Gaughan to Fello Biafra. One time through this CD and you'll understand what all the stomping and cheering is about. They have a raw Celtic energy which can remind you of the Pogues, but there is also a gentle sorrow to some of these cuts which reveals a more meditative side. ...

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Volume 4, Issue 2

New releases

The Irish Tenors — Ellis Island
The Irish Tenors — Anthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan, Finbar Wright.
Recorded at Windmill Lane Recording Studios, Dublin, Ireland

Natalie Macmaster, Live

McMaster live is like being there. She has eleven East Coast Music Awards, including 2002 Enterainer of the Year. She's been named Fiddle Player of the Year the past five consecutive years by the Canadian Country Music Awards.

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Volume 4, Issue 1

Shame the Devil
Reviewed by Ursula Parks

Could you give up your steady job and take a leap of faith with just your talent to support you? This engineer did, and he never looked back.

He is one of seven musically gifted children, and the finest piper to come out of Ireland this century. His name is Tulach Boylan and he is deeply devoted to the traditional Celtic music, moreover he plays it with perfection. I first heard him play in an Irish pub called McGonigals Mucky Duck where most of Houston's Celtic musicians meet every Wednesday evening for Irish Open Session. From that first note, his awesome talent captured the audience. The flute is his passion, but he is equally talented with a tenor banjo. He left Derry, Ireland, over ten years ago through a job transfer. An engineer coming to the USA, he was leaving the traditions behind; or so he thought.

Turlach is a shy, tall, dark headed, good looking Irishman, but don't let that fool you. He is as quick witted and sharp with the tongue as most Irish that I know - and I am second-generation and know a bit about dry Irish humor. He doesn't smoke or drink and is considered a god by most of his good friends, such as band member E.J. Jones of Clandestine.

With Celtic Rock on the rise with artists as the Corrs and Natalie McMaster, there is no Celtic Rock for this man; he is deeply devoted to the tradition of Celtic music. With his deep Irish brogue he will tell you, "It is not that I do not like Celtic rock - some of my good friends play in Celtic Rock bands - but I believe that the traditional music is the only music worth playing."