There has always been, and probably always will be, a degree of tension between traditional and folk music purists, on the one hand, who see the preservation of traditional music as the sole goal of traditional musicians, and, on the other, the – for want of a better word – experimenters, who see no reason not to dip into other gene pools. At the moment though, triggered by the demise of ScoilTrad, there seems to be an upsurge in hostilities, with heated exchanges on bulletin boards and websites about what constitutes traditional music and what should be expelled into the darkness as ‘world music’.
As well as missing the point – a tradition is only a tradition when it is developing – following on this narrow track will lead to you missing out on some great music.
Every animal is the product of evolution and, to survive, Irish music needs to evolve and adapt because the world out there is a scary place and we’ll need to be fittest...
OK, rant over! Aoife O’Donovan and Crooked Still are a young American band, on tour in Ireland throughout the middle of April. They play a mixture of traditional American and Bluegrass, and are getting quite a lot of attention at home for their innovative approach. The mixture of voice, cello, stand-up bass and banjo is unique, as is their sound and repertoire. Sounds promising and as the tour-ette winds up in the Cork area, you might catch up with them if you’re down that way. This is their first tour and as we’re a net exporter of traditional music to the US, we should feel honour-bound to give them a listen. They will also be playing a few radio stations including Clare FM, 103 (Cork) and John Creedon’s Show on RTE...
Fans of Irish Bluegrass can catch up with Frankie Laine at Mother Redcaps on the 23rd, whilst at the same venue on the 29th Scullion will be dusting down the working clothes. Die-hard Scullion fans should also be interested to hear that Sonny Condell’s ‘The Cat She Went A Hunting’ is now a regular feature on the Dervish set list...
Kate Rusby can sing. Hardly news, I hear you mutter, but it means that having had to cancel some dates after going down hard to a severe cold she has now nailed a first session in the studio where she is starting work on a new album. No-one is making any promises but her label, Pure, are hopeful it will see the light of day in time for her Autumn tour...
Taking the “Let’s See Girls Aloud Try This” award are Chloë Agnew, Lisa Kelly, Méav Ní Mhaolchatha and Órla Fallon (not forgetting fiddle player Máiréad Nesbitt), collectively known as Celtic Woman, who have taken the U.S. by storm! Their CD has peaked at the top spot on the Billboard Top New Artist Heatseekers Chart and has been at the top of the Billboard World Music chart for four weeks. The album showcases the unique voices and styles of each of the lay-deez as soloists, along with some ensemble pieces, performing as they do a mix of original David Downes compositions, old favourites like ‘She Moved Through The Fair’, classical favourites and some modern tracks – most notably Brendan Graham’s ‘You Raise Me Up’ which is now on a chart topping album for the second time in a year...
The accompanying television special, recorded at The Helix last year has been airing on Public Broadcast Service stations, where it has drawn a great audience response, helping to send album sales skywards. Bafflingly, the album won’t get a release here until early next year.
Back on this side of the Atlantic the many headed beast that is Kila is revving up again, although they’ve hardly been slacking – using their break from touring to work with Japanese musician Hiroshi, and write music for a 6-part series about Celtic monsters and ghouls, to be screened on TG4 and SC4. They will be back on the road soon, playing at the Evolution Festival in Arklow in May and in Sevilla in Spain at the beginning of June. There are plenty more dates in July and August to follow, details of which you’ll find on their website where you can also nab yourself a copy of Ronan’s new solo album...
If you didn’t manage to make it along to the Dublin gig at the Holiday Inn’s Green Room, you can still catch Sean Tyrell every Sunday at the Róisin Dubh, Galway between 5pm and 7pm, while he’ll also be playing every Tuesday in May in Kilronan on the Aran Islands. After that he’s off to Canada during late May and the first half of June...
On his return Sean will be reminding us that he has more than one string to his bow, when after a five year lay off he will once again be staging The Midnight Court, marking the 200 year anniversary of Brian Merryman’s death. It will begin in the Town Hall Galway on Monday August 15th and run there until Sat August 20th, before moving on to Feakle, where the action is set, for the 25th, 26th and 27th. The show’s previous outings at the Galway Arts Festival were praised equally by Seamus Heaney and the Ulster Newsletter, and not many productions share that particular claim to fame...
The Green Room will be playing host to a sure fire legend in the shape of Chris Hillman, whose time with the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Desert Rose Band made each of these acts enduring and essential listening. Although the gig is still a ways off, taking place on June 15th, this is the only Irish date, so you’ll need to be quick off the mark to secure tickets for what should be a memorable evening.
An Tostal National Song Festival 2005, which is being supported by IMRO, will be held in the Lough Allen Ramada Hotel, Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim on Friday 3rd June 2005 and the organisers are looking for original unrecorded songs for the competition. There is a Prize fund of E2,000 plus a special extra prize of E500 for a song about Leitrim/Drumshanbo. Ten songs will be selected from all of the entries by the An Tostal Committee to take part in the contest. Post your entry, on CD, cassette or mini-disc to Charlie McGettigan, Dristernan, Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim along with a fee of E15. Entries won’t be returned so make sure it’s not your only copy of the song.