Folk column: Lane academy

Having just gotten back from Sligo Live, where folk music greats such as Peter Horan and Steve Cooney rubbed shoulders with young bloods like the Guggenheim Grotto and Duke Special under the shadow of Ben Bulben, I’m convinced all over again that bringing all the disparate strands of acoustic music together is an essential element in keeping it all vital.
The festival buzz was helped no end by the rock-splitting sunshine but the organizers stated aim of replicating the feel of the best international festivals was certainly realized as musicians scurried around backstage renewing old friendships, jamming with performers they don’t run across every day and generally looking happier than musicians ordinarily do.
There were some fantastic performances onstage and as John Scheffler of Central Michigan’s National Public Radio service was there to record proceedings many of these may surface on the station’s webcasts.
Let’s hope the same sun soaked atmosphere holds true for the Streets Of London concert coming up on June 24 and the National Museum of Ireland’s country outpost at Turlough Park near Castlebar.
The surroundings are equally idyllic with the concert being held in the beautiful grounds of the house where the loudest sound normally is the lapping waters of the nearby lake.
Worthy as the cause is, this concert brings together all the ingredients for pure enjoyment – superb entertainment from some of Ireland’s most talented musicians in a family friendly atmosphere.
Where better to remember the “forgotten Irish” than here, in the heart of the Mayo countryside from where so many of them left, never to return?
The line-up is one of the strongest to take a stage this year, featuring Sharon Shannon and her band complete with Dessie O’Halloran, Dervish, Lunasa, Cora and Breda Smyth and the Guggenheim Grotto.
All the money raised at the event will be distributed between two registered charities that help vulnerable, often elderly, homeless Irish people in Britain.
The charities are Cricklewood Homeless Concern and the Aisling Project, both located in London.
Fund-raising by itself is not enough to help Irish people like these who live in many parts of the UK. But it’s something. By attending this concert you will be doing your bit to acknowledge the years of labour these people put in on building sites, on farms and in factories to raise money to send home.
Quite a few people got very excited by the prospect of seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform before the recent Munster v. Biarritz game (well let’s face it they were pretty excited anyway). Texts flew and there may have been a red face or two when they looked a little more closely at the ticket and rumbled that they were about to witness Scotland’s Red Hot Chilli Pipers take the stage. They’re now releasing their debut album on Footstompin’ Records to further confuse the masses. The band is, in fact, an exciting fast paced outfit made up of three pipers and two percussionists. The line-up includes the BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2005, piper Stuart Cassells who has just released his own solo album ‘Blown Away’. Their 10 track debut includes a couple of the late great Gordon Duncan classics and Davy Spillane’s Atlantic Bridge. There is also a big production version of Highland Cathedral.
The unfortunately named, but otherwise laudable, Radio Britfolk celebrates its first birthday at the start of July. The musician-led internet station has recently got its hands on some money from the UK lottery and has treated its website to a makeover and added some new programming strands. Still tiny even by the niche standards of internet radio it nevertheless demonstrates how a community can take the initiative and establish a presence for itself where one would otherwise not be a possibility. The service’s co-ordinator, Kate Bramley, acknowledges that it wouldn’t have got off the ground without the enthusiasm and support of professional musicians across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
The first anniversary is marked at the start of July with the first in a series of exclusive live performances by Steve Tilston, Jez Lowe, Pete Coe and many more that were recorded earlier in the year, as well as a special feature programme on folk duo Show of Hands, which will include tracks from their new album ‘Witness’.
Singer-songwriter and broadcaster Ben Sands hosts ‘Ulster Folk’, Janis Haves continues with her new show ‘It’s a Girl Thing’ with music from a whole host of female folk and acoustic artists, as well as Tim Moon’s ‘Folk-us’ series that delivers an hour long mixed bag of interviews and music. Kate Bramley’s ‘Debut’ series continues with first albums from bright new things Andy Whittle and Edwina Hayes, while Mike Ganley keeps the Irish side up with his excellent ‘Crooked Road’ series.
For the traditional folk fans Pete Coe talks to some of the pioneers of folk recording, with interviews with the founders of Veteran Records and Folksound, tracing the history of some incredible traditional songs and singers. The funky folk selection comes from Jo Leese, from the student radio folk show at Demon FM, as the festival season starts to take off.
The latest in the series of NYAH concerts in Cavan features Charlie McGettigan in concert at the Widow’s Bar in Belturbet on Sunday 25 June. Best known perhaps for winning the Eurovision with Brendan Graham’s ‘Rock and Roll Kids’ he first graced a stage back in the ‘60s, cutting his teeth around the ballroom circuit before moving to Dublin in 1968.
His influences then were people like Paul Brady, Donal Lunny and Andy Irvine and, having played electric guitar up to then, he purchased his first acoustic guitar concentrating on developing the finger picking style, which is now his stock in trade.
Moving to the rural environment of Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim in 1973, Charlie formed the band Jargon, which won the prestigious Letterkenny Folk Festival before signing to Polygram.
During the following years Charlie worked with artists like Maura O Connell and Eleanor Shanley who both recorded many of Charlie’s. He released two solo albums before joining forces with Paul Harrington to win the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.
Charlie has since pursued a solo career releasing a series of albums.
In November 2005 Charlie travelled to Nashville Tennessee to work with the legendary producer Bil Vorndick recording 14 tracks for a new album over the course of a four-day live session.
For anyone left in Dublin, the Cobblestone offers its usual solace with a rare Dublin appearance from Seamus Tansey on Saturday 17 where the entertainment will centre around his much vaunted skills with the flute but probably not be confined to them.
Mike Hanrahan and Leslie Dowdall continue their Tuesday night residency there during the remainder of the month while other high points include Johnny Fean and Stephen Travers on Saturday 24 while Pete Cummins, Ger Kiely and Tommy Moore are up on Friday 30.