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Ailie Robertson – First Things First
Ailie Robertson Trio’s Irish Dates
Ailie’s performances in Ireland mark the latest steps in the 25-year-old’s career, which was launched in 2006 after she graduated with a 1st class MA in Irish Traditional Music Perfromance from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick. Her accomplishment there was such that leading Irish flautist Niall Keegan said: “Ailie’s synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp.”Since then, she has established herself as a teacher, composer and arranger — alongside a string of gigs around the world – this year has seen her perform in Scotland, England, Wales, Germany, France, Spain, USA and Canada!
And all of it stems from her love of the harp, which she first heard as a child in her native Scotland. Transfixed by its beautiful sound, she immersed herself in the traditions of Scots and Irish music — the jigs, reels, hornpipes and airs — which form the centre of her repertoire today. “I was born and brought up in Scotland, so there’s that heritage to draw on, but I did my training in Ireland, which influenced me in a big way,” she said. “It is such a beautiful sound, and people are always amazed when they see our performances at how versatile the harp can be. They always come up and say “I never knew the harp could do that!”. “I’m delighted to be returning to Ireland for this tour – I really enjoyed studying in Limerick, and have a huge love for the music and people of Ireland.”
“Ailie pushes the boundaries of harp technique in exciting but always intensely musical ways. The beauty, the poise, the pauses and the lyricism took my breath away. Robertson earns herself a place among the cream of Scottish musicians” – Taplas
BIOG:
Ailie Robertson: Clarsach
Ailie Robertson is a musician in the broadest sense: composer, arranger, teacher, improviser and ‘harp virtuoso’. Although just 24, she has some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. She holds a 1st class MA in performance from the IWAMD in Limerick, is a 5-time National Mod Gold Medalist, and was also a BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of
the Year 2008 finalist, 1st prizewinner at the inaugural London Harp Competition, and best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival. She has represented Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland, was awarded an ESU scholarship in recognition of her ‘virtuosic clarsach playing’, and was a winner of the New Roots award. She works as a soloist for Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now! program, and has given recitals at events all over Scotland, including performing for HRH the Queen. When not performing, Ailie is in great demand as a tutor and gives lessons and masterclasses all over Scotland and beyond.
‘Inspired genius’, ‘Innovative, assured, and beautiful’, ‘exquisite’, ‘a sure contender for new-comer of the year’, ‘irrepressible joie-de-vivre’, ‘a player of Ailie’s class has the ability to tear your heart out”.
It can’t be often that a Cambridge University graduate with a lst-class honours degree in Genetics decides to give it all up to pursue to her dreams of being a traditional musician,
but that’s exactly what harpist Ailie Robertson did three years ago. With a scholarship from the ESU in recognition of her ‘virtuosic harp playing,’ she moved to Limerick and took the Irish Music Performance course at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, graduating with a first class MA in 2006. Her accomplishment there was such that leading Irish flautist Niall Keegan said: “Ailie’s synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp.”
Ailie grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, and began playing the clarsach when she was eleven years old. Since then Ailie has been going from strength to strength as a professional musician and adding to some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. A four-time National Mod Gold Medalist and a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2008 finalist, Ailie also won first prize at the inaugural London Harp Competition, was judged best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival and won the St Albans New Roots award. She has represented Commun na Clarsach for Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland and played at two World Harp Congresses.
With her debut solo CD, First Things First, Robertson puts the harp within a line-up of guitar, bass, percussion and piano, showing that the harp can really stand out on its own as a solo instrument within a band setting. There are jigs, reels and polkas to get the feet tapping and prove that the harp can be just as fast and driving as a fiddle, while her slow airs have been described as ‘heart-achingly beautiful’. The album was recorded at Watercolour Music in Ardgour, with the help of producer Mary-Ann Kennedy and musicians Paul Jennings on percussion, Duncan Lyall on bass, Ewan Robertson on guitar and James Ross on piano.
Copperplate is very proud to have this title on our roster and to help it achieve its full potential will be supporting this release with a full-scale promotional mail out to media and retail. Please copy us on any reviews/ airplay or interest. Feedback welcome
You can find out more about Ailie at www.ailierobertson.com or www.myspace.com/ailierobertson
BBC Radio Scotland Young Trad Final Clips
You can find audio and video clips from Sunday nights young trad final here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/music/celticconnections/features/young_trad.shtml
Thanks to the BBC for their wonderful filming and recording!
‘Her synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp”.
Niall Keegan
‘Quite simply, this girl is a star’ — Norman Mitchell, Head of Music GWC
‘Your harp playing takes my breath away and makes me weepy! That’s a good thing! I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so beautiful in all my years’ – fan in Florida, USA
‘An act worthy of particular mention was Ailie Robertson, who played the harp so beautifully’ — The Unicorn Folk Magazine
‘Wonderful Stuff!’ — John Kirkpatrick, Bellowhead
‘Very sophisticated and accomplished
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Andrew Dinan & Jim Richardson: Inside Out
Track Listing
- Little Katie Taylor’s/The Blocker’s/The Silver Spear
- The Night Owl/Horsebite/Our Kid. (comp Grace Kelly)
- 10 Bar Blues. (comp Andrew Dinan)
- Old Fashoned Morphine. (vocals Nancy Dinan)
- Civil War Lament (comp Andrew Dinan)
- Ronnie Cooper’s/Tommy McElvogue’s/Sean Walsh’s
- Exile of Erin (comp Tony Sullivan)/The Conversation. (comp Grace Kelly)
- Transmission. (comp Joy Division/ vocals Nancy Dinan)
- Holes/The Strong Men From Kilfinane/Time Flies Too Fast ( both comp by Andy Dinan)
- La Polka des Ours (comp Lors Jourin)/Glen Cottage/La Polkade la Meteo Marine (comp Jean-Michel Veilon
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Ben Lennon & Friends – The Natural Bridge
- Memories of Ballymote /Gurkin Cross
- The Enchanted Lady /The Holy Land
- The Donegal Mazurkas
- The Blackberry Blossom /McFadden’s
- Song: Flora
- Maguire’s Fiddle /O’Donnell’s Hornpipe
- Rattigan’s /The Collier’s
- Mick McNamara’s /Touch Me If You Dare
- Return of Spring /The Mountain Pathway
- Johnny Henry’s /Ryan’s Rant
- Cathleen Hehir’s
- Song: The Banks of the Clyde
- McDermott’s Hornpipe
- The Lonesome Jig /The Tenpenny Bit
- Batt Henry’s Barndance
- The Boys of Ballisodare /The Five Mile Chase
- The Primrose Polka
- Farrell O’Gara /Lucy Campbell
- The Flax in Bloom
Press Reviews
Irish Music Magazine. July 2000
Originally released in 1999 it’s taken a while to pecolate it’s way through our review pages, but like that famous water, it’s the pure drop bottled. The wait only increased the thirst and pleasure from subsequent quenching. For some of us, who have already clocked up four decades, this music will recall the past masters and the sound we grew up with. Remember those old 78’s of Coleman, Morrison and Kiloran? Theirs was a regional style but was that qualitythey had just a little to do with the recording equipment? Not a bit of it, this album proves that gool old-fashioned music is as good as ever. And it can still be made.Proof too that there is a lyrical voice from Leitrim that’s accented and eloquent. Ben Lennon, the elder statesman of Leitrim music, brother of composer Charlie, and father of fiddler, Maurice and fluter, Brian, (all of whom guest on this album), is joined here by Garry O’Briain, John Carty, Ciaran Curran, (Altan) and Seamus Quinn on piano. Gabriel McArdle who plays concertina gives us a song, The Banks of the Clyde, collected from John Redhill, on an island in Loch Eirne. The acompanying 20 page liner notes area a tastefully designed store of information. I’ve now another classic recording to add to Milestone at the Garden, Paddy in the Smoke and The Long Strand, The Natural Bridge links the tunes and styles of two generations ago in a seamless road without a halt in the step, rising above the turbulent waters of fashion with elegant grace. An architectural treasure if ever there was one. You won’t really know the tradition until you number albums like this in your collection. Sean Laffey
Taplas
There’s a wonderful lilt to the tunes, especially the polkas and the barn dances, and a tremendous sense of fun and enjoyment. Not only is this CD a natural bridge between the traditions of north Leitrim and south west Fermanagh, but also between the present and the music of the past, like Paddy Kiloran, Johnny Doherty and Batt Henry.
The Folk Diary #178 Aug/Sept 99
One of Ireland’s best loved, most respected old fiddler’s offers a wonderful selection of his playing, mainly in the Leitrim/Sligo style of his birth. Though the fact that he has lived in Donegal (and played regularly with Johnny Doherty) also shines through. There are only a few solo moments as Ben immerses himself in what sound like a variety of different sessions, featuring his brother Charlie and friends. Mostly recorded in one takes and using an empty pub as a studio, this is fine, varied playing. Ben also shows himself to be a fine singer in a style that seems to derive from the same inspiration as that of Cathal McConnell. Another triumph for the company that are becoming THE company for Irish traditional music and song. Vic Smith.
The Living Tradition #34
Ben and Charlie Lennon together should be enough to make you listen: add Brian and Maurice Lennon, Gary O’Briain, John Carty, Ciaran Curran, Gabriel McArdle and Seamus Quinn, and you really sit up and take notice. This is a typical Clo Iar Chonnachta production; well balanced and with twenty pages of comprehensive notes. There’s one particular Irish label that ought to take heed of CIC’s thoroughness in that regard. “The Natural Bridge” is north Leitrim style at it’s best; flowing and unhurried, giving the music elbow-room, yet with a strong assured rhythm. Maybe maturity in traditional music comes when you don’t play floridly and fast just because you can? As the title implies, there’s feeling for the styles of near neighbours from South Leitrim, Sligo and Fermanagh. The bridge is also with the past, because Ben pays tribute to the older musicians whose records influenced him; Coleman, John and Mickey Doherty, Killoran, James Morrison, etc. There are also tributes to musicians who are still with us, like Michael McNamara of Aughavas, south Leitrim. McNamara’s influence shows through on the reel named for him. Instrumental balance in varied throughout 17 tracks of reels, jigs, hornpipes, polkas and a great barndance, as well as two songs from Gabriel McArdle. An inspired idea is Maurice Lennon’s fine Viola. It fits really well; “Rattigan’s and The Collier’s” rarely sounded so good. There are rarely played tunes as well as old favourites; and the best version of “Cathleen Hehir’s” I’ve heard yet. This is great stuff; definitely one for the ready-for-use rack. Mick Furey.
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Ben Lennon & Tony O’Connell – Rossinver Braes
Music from Two Different Generations
Rossinver Braes is the new album of traditional Irish music on fiddle and concertina from Ben Lennon and Tony O’Connell, released on the Cló Iar-Chonnachta label.
Ben Lennon is a legendary figure in traditional Irish music circles, a fiddler from Co. Leitrim who celebrates his eightieth birthday this year and who has been playing the fiddle for seventy of those years. Although almost fifty years separate Ben from his fellow musician on this album, Tony O’Connell from west Limerick, there is an undeniable musical connection between them. David Lennon, Ben’s son, says in his introduction to the CD: ‘Tony is probably the most empathetic musician I have heard my father play with. There is an understanding of phrasing, time and nuance that one finds only rarely in any musical form.’ This is O’Connell’s second album; his first album was recorded with another Leitrim fiddler, Andy Morrow, and was released to critical acclaim in 2005. The album came second in the top ten albums of 2005 of highly-respected traditional Irish music reviewer Earle Hitchner of the Irish Echo, second, interestingly, to the album Within a Mile of Kilty released on the Cló Iar-Chonnachta label that year and featuring Ben and Charlie Lennon, as well as four other superb Leitrim fiddlers.
Rossinver Braes features both traditional and newly-composed tunes. Several of Charlie Lennon’s compositions are included, including the hornpipe that gives the album its title, named after the village where Ben now lives. Charlie also composed two barn dances in honour of the musicians while the album was being recorded at his Cuan Studios outside Spiddal, ‘Lord Leitrim’ and ‘The Earl of Thomond’, tunes which he feels reflect the spirit of both musicians and their dynamic playing together. The tune selection leans toward the Sligo—Leitrim area and includes many tunes associated with Michael Coleman and James Morrison. Accompaniment is provided by Charlie Lennon (piano), Alec Finn (bouzouki) and Jerry McNamara (guitar).
Ben Lennon is from Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim and has recorded many albums during a long and illustrious traditional music career. He is regarded as one of the very finest of Leitrim’s fiddlers, no mean feat in a county renowned for its fiddling tradition.
Tony O’Connell is from Glin in west Co. Limerick and is currently living in Limerick city where he plays regularly and teaches at the Irish World Music Centre in the University of Limerick. He has won All-Ireland concertina titles at both underage and senior levels and has toured Asia, America and Europe with various shows and groups.
Also available from Copperplate and featuring Ben Lennon
CICD 139 The Natural Bridge
CICD 159 Within A Mile of Kilty
Press Reviews
Irish Music Magazine March 09
“When my father mentioned that he thought it would be a good idea to make a CD with Tony, I sensed that something special was happening, and so it proved to be.” That quote is taken from the CD notes of Rossinver and was written by David Lennon, one of Ben’s sons. David also said that when his father first mentioned he had been playing music with a top-class concertina player called Tony O’Connell from Limerick, he realised that this man must be good. “My father is not in the habit of praising musicians without considerable merit…”
Ben is a great living exponent of the strong, regional style of fiddle playing from the north Leitrim, south-eastern Fermanagh area and the fact that he took up with a man from far-off Limerick and almost fifty years his junior was also a bit of a surprise. “It took a while for us to get it all together,” Ben says, “because we have different styles of playing but he was able to adapt. He’s very adaptable, very musical, and he has a great passion for the music. He’s a younger man, but he really knows what it’s all about.”
That said, Ben is no stranger to playing with musicians from all over Ireland, having lived at various times in Cork, Limerick and Donegal. “When I was in Cork we had a group with Jackie Daly and Charlie Piggott and Gary Cronin. At that time there was great music in Cork and we had regular sessions, maybe twice a week. We formed this little group and called ourselves The Shaskeen, long before the well-known band of the same name came along. I enjoyed that very much. Then in Donegal we had a band called Dog Big Dog Little that featured himself, Seamus Quinn, Gabriel McArdle & Ciaran Curran. I liked playing with them very much. And then I played with my own family, my sons, Brian and Maurice, and my brother, Charlie.”
David notes: “Tony is probably the most empathetic musician I have heard my father play with. There is an understanding of phrasing, time and nuance that one finds only rarely in any musical form.” You can check it out for yourself in this delightful fifteen-track album of reels, jigs, hornpipes and barn dances that comes with the typical Clo lar-Chonnachta attention to detail in notes that are full and generously informative on the musicians and their music. Aidan O’Hara
LiveIreland.com
You can always, always count on Clo Iar Chonanachta to put out wonderful, traditional music. Now the label brings us Ben Lennon on fiddle and Tony O’Connell on concertina in a magical thing called, Rossinver Braes. Wonderful. Guest musicians include Charlie Lennon on piano, Alec Finn on bouzouki and guitarist, Jerry McNamara. A contender for Instrumental Album of the Year. If you love real Irish music, this one is for you. A wondrous and lively piece of work, altogether. Rating Four Harps Bill Margeson
The Folk Diary
The much-loved octogenarian fiddler from Co. Leitrim with the totally distinctive way of phrasing his tunes teams up with a much younger concertina player from west Limerick.
The instinctive way that their instruments phrase together belies the near half century that separates their ages. This is delightful inspiring music that produces a sense a
relaxed control in their playing, even when they are playing reels and the sense of space in The Cavan Reel/The Galway Rambler is delightful though the real beauty of their playing
is when they playing at a slower pace – barn dances and hornpipes and even a tune that is somewhat dubiously deemed to be a foxtrot.
The recording mix favours strongly the lead instruments so that the superb playing of the likes of Alex Finn of De Danann fame and Ben’s brother Charlie on piano is very much in the background. As well as being Ireland’s top accompanist of choice, Charlie Lennon is also one of his country’s leading composers of dance tunes and here he contributes two barn dances,
each named for the lead musicians. Vic Smith
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Billy Clifford – Echoes of Sliabh Luachra
“A clear and sweet tone announces the flute music of Billy Clifford captured here on 20 tracks – over an hour of skilful and distinctive playing of traditional music tunes of many types including two slow airs with some selections played on tin-whistle to add further variety.
Billy inherited music from both of his parents – his father John Clifford was a highly regarded accordion player and his mother was Julia Clifford, one of a family of ten, the Murphys of Gneeveguilla, all of whom played traditional music. She is acknowledged as having been an outstanding fiddle player of her generation, and so Billy has a rich Sliabh Luachra heritage on both sides of his family.
Although the main instruments in the Sliabh Luachra area are the fiddle and accordion, Billy’s choice was the concert flute and this makes his playing of slides and polkas and indeed the other tunes and airs on this disc all the more appealing and interesting. He has rare tunes and also unusual versions of other tunes that are commonly played. The music he has selected from many sources for this recording and his ability to use tasteful ornamentation and variation give his playing a special quality. He has also over the years of his life absorbed many musical experiences and all this has given his music a rounded depth which will give pleasure and value to those who hear it – listeners, learners and lovers of traditional Irish music”. Peter Browne
Press Reviews
Folkworld
This is one for the archives. Billy Clifford was a childhood hero of mine: fluter with the Star of Munster Trio, playing alongside his parents John and Julia Clifford, or his uncle Denis Murphy. Billy Clifford’s flute was a distinctive sound in Sliabh Luachra music, at a time when flute players were not so common. Several decades later, Billy is still keen to preserve the regional character of his music, and to present the Sliabh Luachra repertoire to an audience unfamiliar with the style of Munster’s musical heartland. Billy plays wooden keyed flutes in the Boehm and Radcliffe systems, similar to orchestral flutes in appearance but with a very different tone, and he switches to the tin whistle for a few selections here. He is accompanied on several tracks by Máire Begley on piano.
Echoes of Sliabh Luachra crams more than two score tunes into just over an hour, mainly in sets of two. The majority are Sliabh Luachra classics, with some unusual versions. The Blue Ribbon Polkas, Tom Billy’s Jig, The Ewe Reel, Denis Murphy’s Jig, Dinnie Dennehy’s Polka and John Clifford’s Polka are among the melodies in this collection which encapsulate that Cork and Kerry sound. Billy also plays two beautiful slow airs here, The West Wind and The Dear Irish Boy, as well as some widely known reels and hornpipes. Billy Clifford has produced other recordings, and some of them are still available, but he never recorded a large body of music and we’re fortunate indeed that he has found time to put down these twenty tracks. Alex Monaghan
Irish Music Magazine
SLIABH LUACHRA FLUTE PIONEER HONOURED
One of Irish music’s true gentleman Billy Clifford was presented with the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Gradam at Ballykisteen Hotel during the start of the Tipperary Fleadh. Billy who has lived in the premier county for four decades made two of the classic Topic albums of Sliabh Luachra music over forty years ago. Billy is the son of the late John and Julia Clifford, his mother was the sister of Dennis Murphy. Their Julia, John & Billy Clifford – The Star of Munster Trio (Topic – 12TS310 – 1977) was recorded between 1964 and around a single microphone in Eric and Lucy Farr’s kitchen. Billy was joined on stage by his son Dennis who played his uncle Dennis’ fiddle. Billy is due to release a CD in late summer.
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Bobby Casey – The Spirit of West Clare
West Clare is a place of natural beauty with a magic all its own. Though it is now a very popular tourist destination, it is still possible to be completely alone there. Even on the warmest day in summer, just wander a mile off the beaten track and you will be all by yourself. The views, the sounds and the smells are all yours. Wherever I hear Clare music I am instantly transported back. As a young man I spent lots of time in Clare listening to the old musicians. Too numerous to mention all by name, but the Russells of Doolin, Paddy Killoury and Junior Crehan spring immediately to mind.
The music of Bobby Casey takes me instantly to that place. I can be in The Burren looking over the Atlantic Ocean towards the Aran Islands, or standing on the Cliffs of Moher hearing the seagulls shriek or drinking a pint of porter in Miltown Malbay, despite the fact that I am many miles away, maybe even on a foreign shore. The fiddle playing of Bobby Casey does that to me. DERMOT KEARNEY, SEPTEMBER 2007.
“I knew Bobby Casey primarily as a pub musician in London, and, although his lonesome fiddle playing reeked of rural Ireland, it was equally the voice of the Irish working men who settled in great numbers in north London. Born into a rich tradition of music-making and country-house dancing at the Crosses of Annagh in Co. Clare in 1926, he is reputed to have had all his fathers tunes by his early teens, and throughout his life he retained the
style he had inherited from his youth. He continued to learn all the current tunes as they came out, and, as can be seen from these recordings,
he transposed even Coleman and Killoran material into his own method of playing. In the early 1950s, he regularly partnered his townie, the piper
Willie Clancy, and the Galway fiddle player Martin Byrnes in the Laurel Tree in CamdenTown, and he maintained long-term musical friendships with Andy Boyle from Co. Mayo and Claremen Paddy Breen and Tommy McCarthy. In fact he knew all the West of Ireland musicians of his generation in town and had played in just about every Irish music venue in Greater London. The odd parish concert, the occasional broadcast on Radio Eireann and a few Fleadh Ceoil successes put his name about a bit, but his real forte was playing his heart out for his fiends in some quiet back-street pub in Kentish Town for little fame and no fortune. He is for many of us one of the greatest artists Ireland has produced”. REG HALL, OCTOBER 2007.
Press Reviews
English Dance & Song Mag
“The technique at work here is breathtaking, but this is traditional music that moves the heart and mind in equal measure”.
Bobby Casey, who died in 2000, was one of the leading lights of the generation of Irish traditional musicians who arrived in London in the years after the Second World War. This CD is a collection of recordings made by Reg Hall between 1966 and 1971, and both the technical and musical quality is nothing short of outstanding.
Bobby Casey’s style was highly ornamented and flamboyant, relying on ornamentation and expression rather than speed. His playing was highly individual and multi-faceted, with a very rich combination of drive, rhythm and precision. The technique at work here is breathtaking, but this is traditional music that moves the heart and mind in equal measure.
Many of the tunes have since become well-known through the later recordings of younger artists, but there’s no denying the thrill of hearing recordings of tunes that are now so familiar, from the man who would have been the source for many younger musicians — especially as these performances are every bit the equal of any later versions and, for the most part, their superior.
My own favourites include the epic set of reels starting with ‘The Liffey Banks’, where Bobby’s playing really takes flight — the set is over eight minutes long but it goes by in a flash. The set dances, ‘The Ace and Deuce of Pipering/Rodney’s Glory’ give him plenty of opportunity to display his talent for ornamentation but never to the detriment of the tune. However, there is so much great music on this collection that something new jumps out every time I play it (and right now I’m playing it a lot).
These recordings were made over a period of some years and a few tunes appear twice, like ‘The Star of Munster’ and ‘The Legacy’. It’s notable, however, that you can’t tell which are the earlier or later recordings — this is a player at the height of his powers and the consistency of performances is very striking.
Collections of music of this quality from this period don’t come out very often: for those of us who came to traditional music as kids in the 1960s and 70s, it’s a reminder of why we did so in the first place. For musicians who’ve come to traditional music since then, through the music of artists such as The Bothy Band, Lunasa and Martin Hayes, this is an eye-opener: music from the source (or as close as you’re likely to hear).
Either way, this is an essential purchase and I can’t recommend it too highly. All credit to Reg Hall and Dermot Kearney for bringing this collection together and to Alan O’Leary and Copperplate for making it available. Chris Boland
The Folk Diary
In the 1970s I booked the Clare piper and concertina player, Tommy McCarthy and his three young daughters to play at a folk club in Lewes; they were excellent but the revelation of the evening was the magnificent fiddle playing of the older chap that they brought with them. This was Bobby Casey.
The same feeling engendered by that evening is brought by the mesmerising playing on this album. Bobby is a truly rounded player, excelling on all aspects of the repertoire from a very moving slow air, The Dear Irish Boy, to some exciting driving reels. As well as being a supreme solo player, he shows himself to be an alert and responsive ensemble musician on the tracks that he shares variously with Tommy McCarthy, Paddy Breen, Andy O’Boyle and his own son, Sean. This album, reassembled from tracks recorded by Reg Hall and Bill Leader from 1967 to 1971 is surely destined to become one of the all-time classics of Irish traditional music. Vic Smith
www.netrhythms.com
West Clare fiddler Bobby, who died a little over seven years ago, was an undisputed doyen of, and a major influence on, the London Irish traditional music scene in the 50s and 60s. He made some recordings for Bill Leader and Reg Hall in the mid-to-late 1960s, including the sterling examples of his playing which appeared on Topic Records’ landmark collection Paddy in the Smoke; the hour’s worth of tapes comprising this new release were recorded both at around the same time (1966/67) and slightly later (1971).
The phrase Banish Misfortune (being the title of that wellknown jig of course) could easily and rightly be used as an epithet for Bobby’s playing. Yet it’s also probably atypical of the West Clare style, in that it’s characterised by both a sweeping flamboyance and a relatively heavy level of ornamentation (albeit still exhibiting a degree of fluidity). It also carries traces of the Sligo style and the Irish-American Michael Coleman records to which he was exposed, but Bobby’s biggest inspiration was arguably Junior Crehan.
What impresses me most on the recordings collected here, though, is the sheer weight of tone Bobby achieves from his fiddle for much of the time, a richly layered sound that often almost makes you think he’s been doubletracked!
Bobby’s sense of conveying the tune’s essence is unerring: unhurried but still unbridled. Just listen to the slyly sliding swing on the final Moving Bogs reel-set, for instance.
A very small handful of the disc’s 18 tracks feature other musicians in tandem: there’s a particularly invigorating set of jigs (track 7) with Tommy McCarthy on concertina. But I never tire of Bobby’s constantly inventive fiddling (and his tin whistle playing is pretty nifty too – he also gives us a brief reel on that instrument, The Laurel Tree). This is a happy celebration of Bobby’s talent indeed. David Kidman
The Irish Democrat
THIS IS some of the finest and most authentic traditional Irish fiddle-playing that you could hear anywhere. It is re-mastered from recordings made in Camden Town, London in 1966-71 by Reg Hall and Bill Leader – both of whom certainly know their subject.
Bill Leader has made a great contribution as a recorder of folk music of these islands. Reg Hall, though an Englishman, used to be well-known in the London Irish scene in the 1960s and 70s as a musician, as well as being active in the English folk music revival of that period (when he had a lot of influence on this writer).
I remember him playing piano at The Favourite in Hornsey Rise, one of the best Irish music scenes in London at that time, accompanying some of the finest Irish musicians with his own unobtrusive, supportive style.
He also played melodeon in The Rakes, often with Geordie singer Bob Davenport at The Fox in Islington, linking up the Irish and English musical traditions and introducing London’s Irish and English communities to each other on a cultural level.
Bobby Casey was part of that thriving Irish music scene in London and I often heard him (and even played with him) in pubs where the Irish community gathered at weekends.
Most of the tracks are solo fiddle, but in some he is joined by Tommy McCarthy on concertina. (McCarthy was another stalwart of that London scene, with his numerous children whom he taught himself, although they all played different instruments). On others Bobby is joined by Sean Casey on mandolin and Paddy Breen on tin whistle.
On one track Bobby plays the reel The Laurel Tree on solo tin whistle and on another his fiddle playing is joined by Andy O’Boyle on fiddle and Paddy Breen on tin whistle.
There are many reels and jigs, two hornpipes, two set dances, two waltzes and one slow air (The Dear Irish Boy, beautifully played), though for my own taste I would have preferred to hear an even greater spread of rhythms (set dances, polkas, slides, slip-jigs and more slow airs) at the expense of fewer reels.
The skill and the personal and regional style of a fiddle player are expressed in the bowing, and Bobby Casey is a master of it. This is a wonderful recording and I’m delighted that this great exponent of the old West Clare style has been captured for all time on CD. Ken Keable
The Irish Post 21.3.08
Irish fiddler Bobby Casey’s music on CD
ONE of the greats of Irish fiddle playing, Bobby Casey was born at the Crosses of Armagh near Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. His father John ‘Scully’ Casey, who died when Bobby was a teenager, was a well-known fiddler as well as being a flute and concertina player. Scully gave lessons to Junior Crehan, as did Scully’s cousin, the noted dance master Thady Casey Bobby in turn learned much of his playing from Junior Crehan and the two remained lifelong friends.
He moved to London in 1952 and was a regular at the Sunday morning sessions in the Favourite and Bedford Arms pubs which became rallying points for Irish musicians and rural emigrants in the ’60s.
In 1959, Ita Crehan helped him record Casey In The Cowhouse, literally recorded in an old cowhouse and which, along with four other tracks, are now available on tape.
“A musician’s musician,” is how Muiris 0 Rochain of the Willie Clancy Summer School described him.
He had an easygoing and likeable personality His style was described as gentle “with an exceptional flair for variation”. With Seamus Ennis, he performed at the first Willie Clancy Summer School in 1973 and returned frequently to Miltown Malbay to give classes.
In later years he moved from London to live in Northampton. Bobby died in 2000 and is buried in his native Clare. Dermot Kearney said:”Wherever I hear Clare music I am instantly transported back. The music of Bobby Casey takes me instantly to that place. I can be in The Burren looking over the Atlantic Ocean towards the Aran Islands or standing on the Cliffs of Moher hearing the seagulls shriek or drinking a pint of porter in Milltown Malbay, despite the fact that I am many miles away, maybe even on a foreign shore.
“The fiddle playing of Bobby Casey does that to me.” Always associated with West Clare, the music of Bobby Casey brings to mind the sights, the sounds and smells of Clare.
Bobby Casey is the most influential and inspirational fiddler of his generation and at long last his music is now available on CD.
Hopefully the listener will get an idea of the nature and humour of Bobby and will have your heart warmed by his music. Musicologist and collector Dr Reg Hall, who was at the original sessions, has produced this 18 track CD, lovingly restored and remastered for the 20th century. Initially recorded in Camden Town, London by Bill Leader and Reg Hall in 1966, it was produced by Dermot Kearney and Reg Hall. Joe Mullarkey.
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Brendan Hendry, Paul McSherry & Nodlaig Brolly – Stringtones
www.liveIreland.com The Livies Awards 2012 Musician of the Year – Brendan Hendry
This Northern Ireland fiddle player defines what it means to be an Irish musician. His style and taste are impeccable, and nobody deserves this award more. A stunningly gifted musician as evidenced on his two albums so far, Stringtones and Tuned Up. His grasp of the music and soulful playing is what the Irish fiddle is all about. As with all the great musicians, when you hear this artist playing the fiddle, you are hearing Ireland. A master.
Press Reviews
The Living Tradition Jan/Feb 2011
Brendan Hendry – Fiddle, Paul McSherry – Guitars and Bouzouki, and Nodlaig Brolly – Clairseach, Piano and Vocals, have produced a very nice album of music and song.
Traditional and traditionally set items sit comfortably together in one of the best programmes of recorded music I have heard for a long time. Their repertoire includes songs, two sung in Irish, one in English,
reels, jigs, strathspeys, a slow air, and hornpipes. The songs are perfectly suited to Nodlaig’s slightly wistful voice, and the arrangements are very sympathetic to the mix of instruments.
Everything is faultlessly performed – these three musicians are very together. All three are new to me and so I know nothing of their backgrounds or influences, but based on the evidence of this CD they must
be wide and varied. Highly recommended. Danny Saunders
American Public Radio
What a great new album! More to come, as we will be playing it a lot.
This is great stuff. Sounds like the real deal to us!
Chicago Irish American Newspaper
Thhis is such a brilliant piece of music from one of the best musicians in the business. Wonderful stuff, true to the bone.Terrific follow up to his first album. Stringtones brings together Brendan Hendry on fiddle (excellent) , Paul McSherry on guitar and bouzouki in a very tasty accompaniment and Noldaig Brolly playing a lovely harp and piano, while singing beautifully. The whole thing has a real sense of class, style and real musicianship in the tradition.
LiveIreland.com
Another great piece of work from Derry and Brendan Hendry. Real trad played and sung perfectly. Oh! Such a tasty treat! Stringtones is one of our favorites of the 2010 albums. We trust Brendan Hendry and his fiddle to bring music of real quality. Here, backed by John McSherry on guitar and Noldaig Brolly on piano and harp, we have a real treat. We also really like Brolly’s voice. Great job all round!!!
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Brian Conway – Consider the Source
Brian Conway
Born in the Bronx, New York, to Irish parents from Co. Tyrone, Brian Conway was fortunate to have grown up in a home frequented by some of the best Irish traditional musicians of the time, such as Vincent Harrison, Louis Quinn, Tom Connolly, Paddy Reynolds and Andy McGann, a musician who was to have an enduring influence on him. His tutors were also musicians of note, Martin Mulvihill and Martin Wynne. Brian’s first solo album, First through the Gate, was released on the Smithsonian Folkways label in 2002.
Also available from Copperplate
Brian Conway: First Through The Gate
Brian Conway/Joe Burke/Felix Dolan/ A Tribute to Andy McGann
Press Reviews
www.LiveIreland.com
We first heard Conway at a special concert for Andy McGann last year at the Irish-American Heritage Center in Chicago, along with Joe Burke on button box and Felix Dolan on piano. The resultant live album won a number of Awards, and rightly so. This is a lively 14 tunes and a beautiful song, Highland Mary by Niamh Parsons. Guest musicians are sitting in, including Billy McComiskey on button box , Joanie Madden on flutes and whistles, and Felix’s son, Brendan on piano. Terrific. We MIGHT have preferred one of the many pics not to be showing Brian displaying his great teeth through so many smiles, but we quibble. The music is the thing here, and it is lovely. Rating: 3 and
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Brian Conway – First Through the Gate
First Through The Gate
In his long awaited, stunning solo debut, premier Irish-American fiddler, Brian Conway performs with a skill, grace and force that are steeped in tradition but distinctively his own. Well known in the New York Irish community. Brian has won numerous All-Ireland fiddling competitions, and has been called “one of the best fiddlers of his generation”. Nothing is missed or missing in his Sligo style fiddling. From hop jigs to hornpipes,
from highland to slow airs, Conway preserves and passes along the best of the past, while melding it with the talent and imagination of the present.
Brian Conway’s new recording on Smithsonian-Folkways offers the “Sligo-New York Style” of fiddle playing. One special moment includes three generations of fiddlers where Brian plays with former mentor Andy McGann and former student Pat Mangan. Another great moment is the set of 4 Martin wynne reels back to back. The title “First Through the Gate” refers to W.B. Yeats’ poem: The Fiddler Of Dooney. Includes extensive liner notes.
Named “CD of the Year” for 2002 by the Irish Echo, the largest Irish American newspaper in the United States, this long-awaited, stunning solo debut was identified as a benchmark release. Premier Irish American fiddler Brian Conway performs with a skill, grace and force that are steeped in tradition but distinctively his own. Well known in the Irish Celtic community, Conway has won numerous All-Ireland fiddling competitions, and has been called one of the best fiddlers of his generation. Nothing is missed or missing in Brian Conway’s Sligo-style fiddling. From jigs to hornpipes, and highlands to slow airs, Conway preserves and passes along the best of the past while molding it with the talent and imagination of the present.
Press Reviews
Conway, Kanes Head Up Best Traditional Albums of 2002
CEOL
By Earle Hitchner
[Published in Earle Hitchner’s “Ceol” column in the IRISH ECHO newspaper on January 15, 2003, in New York City. Copyright Earle Hitchner. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of author.]
CD sales, including for Irish music, can generally be summed up last year in two words: slipped disks. As of late December, the number of units sold fell 9.3 percent, from 688.2 million in 2001 to 624.2 million in 2002.
Record companies put much of the blame for this decline on the downloading, file-sharing, and pirating of copyrighted music. Not surprisingly, the Recording Industry Association of America has increased its efforts to monitor these activities and prosecute transgressors. But you have to wonder how successful the RIAA will be when just recently hackers broke into its website and posted fake messages such as this: “Government bans music as final desperate attempt to control piracy.”
Ironically, as mainstream music market woes deepened last year, the number of Irish traditional recordings I received for review grew exponentially. In 2001, I got roughly 300. In 2002, over 1,000 arrived from all points of the globe (farthest: from a tenor banjoist in New Zealand). Though there was inevitable mediocrity and dross among these CDs, the overall quantity of quality was encouraging.
The vast majority of the recordings I received were self-released, and half of my top 10 picks were self-released as well. It’s a clear sign that established record companies, major or indie, are no longer the only recourse for musicians who know how to slap Sonex on the walls of a spare bedroom and use affordable recording equipment and computer software to create a home studio.
In this brave new world of technological advances and marketplace regresses, these 10 Irish traditional albums stood out. Over the years I’ve been warned many times that a top 10 list “really only sends one artist home happy.” I accept the risk, partly because I dislike critical cop-outs and partly because I’m confident these choices pose no risk at all aesthetically. They’re the cream of an abundant crop and belong in your music library.
Conway, Kanes Head Up Best Traditional Albums of 2002
First Through The Gate
Smithsonian Folkways Record 40481
Review by Ken Ricketts and Maya Parker
used with Permission
Brian Conway, a fiddle player born and raised in New York, is one of those rare musicians who has developed a naturally Irish way of playing without having spent long periods in Ireland. This is his first solo release made up from studio sessions over a few years. This unhurried approach to making a CD means all the tracks are top class and have a freshness and clarity which adds to enjoyment of the music. He is joined on some selections by his mentor Andy McGann and by his own pupil Pat Mangan, another New York native.
It takes a special combination of circumstances to produce a fiddler of this maturity and style, and Brian has enjoyed his fair share of help and encouragement. His first teacher was Martin Mulvihill from Limerick. Brian’s other big influence was Martin Wynne, one of Sligo’s best-loved sons who died in America a few years ago. As his experience and ability grew he became friends with Andy McGann, himself a native of New York but a man who in his early days met, studied with and played with some of the great names of the 78rpm era, including Michael Coleman, Lad O’Beirne, Paddy Killoran and others. Brian has stayed faithful to the style of those exiles of the past and it pleasing to report that the influences of American swing, jazz and all the other paraphernalia that are obvious in the playing of Eileen Ivers or Liz Carroll are completely absent from this record.
Kicking off with a set of reels, Brian’s mastery of the instrument is immediately obvious, as is the influence of Andy McGann. Anybody who has listened to McGann’s classic Shanachie LP from the ’70s will recognise the master’s tricks; a wonderfully light touch on the bow that emphasises the triplets and rolls and a fierce rhythm that bounces the tunes along without ever feeling hurried. What can’t be learnt though is the way traditional players introduce subtle variations in ornamentation and melody. Brian Conway shows tremendous understanding of the possibilities presented by the idiom in his own use of rolls, triplets and the occasional drop to the bottom string to play a note an octave lower than normal.
The choice of tunes often has references back to those recordings that McGann made with Paddy Reynolds or Joe Burke, although they are not slavish copies. A brisker tempo than McGann’s in the slip Barney Brallaghan show that Brian Conway is his own man. The McGann and Reynolds LP is also brought to mind when Conway plays a couple of duets with his guests. All three fiddlers join forces for one selection each of reels and jigs and their playing is wonderful throughout. This is a good example of how Irish music bridges the generations. There are more links with the past when Brian and Pat Mangan play four of Martin Wynne’s reels. Three of these tunes are fairly well known and widely played but this is the first time the fourth has been recorded. The sleeve notes tell a nice tale of how Brian coaxed this reel out of Martin.
Mark Simos on guitar and Felix Dolan on piano provide most of the backing. Dolan’s piano has graced some of the great New York recordings since the ’70s and his touch is always sure and supporting. The guitar sounds very well mixed and sits comfortably against the fiddle, clear and yet never dominant.
The sleeve notes on this CD are exemplary. Running to nearly 30 pages, they give a short biography of Brian and his musical influences and each selection of tunes is supported by some brief but informative notes.
All in all this is an unassuming classic and a worthy addition to the Smithsonian catalogue. There has been no great hype to launch the CD and indeed it took several months before it was available in the British Isles. If you see a copy grab it with both hands.
Ken Ricketts & Marya Parker – 21.9.03
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