Volume 9, Issue 3

CD Review:

Across The Black River

If there is one musician that remains true to his Sligo roots and plays like a violin virtuoso it would be Michael Coleman. In this case it is Kevin Burke. Burke is an acknowledged master of the highly ornamented Sligo style and is well established from his Planxy, Bothy Band and DeDannan connection. On this CD Kevin has teamed up with American guitarist and gifted film composer Cal Scott.  Scott composed three of the instrumental album’s tunes, including the haunting “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Waltz.”

Kevin Burke and Cal Scott first met in Portland while working on a documentary film The Troubles. Scott, a film composer from Oregon with a background in American roots, folk and jazz, was commissioned to compose the score. He engaged Kevin as a consultant on the project. “We enjoyed working together so much,” said Kevin, “that when the score was done we continued to spend time together, playing, recording and exchanging musical ideas.”

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Volume 9, Issue 2

Jimmy Rankin Solo answers call of the wild
By Seamus Bellamy

The Rankin Family is, in two words, shatteringly famous.

It’s a fair shake to say that even the most devout fans of the underground Serbian death metal scene be fibbing to say that they’d not at least heard Fare The Well Love at least once since it’s release in 1989.

Much of the Rankin Family band’s success was arguably due to the excellent song writing and soulful vocals of Jimmy Rankin. If you’re a fan of the band’s award winning ten CD catalogue and are looking to hear the Mabou, Cape Breton musician at his best push the old material to the side and turn your attention to the songs Rankin’s sung since striking out on his own.

Jimmy is set to offer his latest solo effort Edge of Day to a devoted fan base and love-at-first-listen converts on May 1st. In conversation, Rankin is candid about the differences between writing as part of a group and the intimidating pleasure of writing for oneself.

“There’s definitely a sense of freedom, that’s for sure. I can do pretty much whatever I want to do, although I did that with the Rankins anyway,” Jimmy said in a recent interview.

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Volume 9, Issue 1

CD REVIEWS
By Bill Bennett

Time to Dance 2

Cathal Hayden, Mark Mohan, Brian McGrath, Mairtin O’Connor, Alan Kelly & Arty McGlynn (2006). This delightful album meets the challenge of how to include enough tracks, long enough to be useful in a class, by having two CD’s to hold them all. Why didn’t someone think of that before? One disk is intended for champions and the other for dancers who are still getting there. More than the physical arrangement of the music, the music itself is what recommends this album. Sometimes, the more musicians you get in a session, the muddier the beat becomes but what saves this excellent album is some outstanding banjo playing which helps drive the beat and keep it distinct. There’s also fiddle, button and piano accordion, keyboard and guitar to move the wide variety of tunes along. The recording engineer, Kenny Ralph, deserves credit as a member of the band! All the dances are presented, the hard shoe at both slow and fast speeds, including the four “old” trad sets and one of the new ones, “King of the Fairires.”

Right on Time

Niall Mulligan (2006). Fine album of dance tunes played by an expert; his “growly” bass makes his playing distinct. There are two sections, fhe first for beginners and the second for more advanced dancers, separated by three of the “new” trad sets, “Three Sea Captains,” “The White Blanket” and “Jockey to the Fair.” All the dances are presented, the hard shoe at both fast and slow speeds. Don’t be put off that the light jig music is called “light double jigs” because, musically, light jigs and treble (heavy) jigs are done to double jigs. This album will be especially useful for novice dancers and above; the fine artistry that Niall Mulligan puts into some of the tunes that don’t have a drum machine accompaniment may make the beat a bit difficult for a beginner to follow, and the single jigs at 126 may be livelier than some dancers want to keep up with.

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