Fiddle
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John McEvoy & Friends – Traditional Irish Fiddle
youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTeajYhFspA]
Press Reviews
Trad Connect
John McEvoy has called his new album “Traditional Irish Fiddle”. It’s a straightforward, no nonsense description that perfectly describes what is in store for you the listener. This is his third recording, with previous releases including critically acclaimed albums ‘The Kilmore Fancy’ with his sister Catherine McEvoy and ‘Pride of the West’ a collaboration with Roscommon’s John Wynne who also appears here. This album is a clear representation of John’s love for solo and duet playing and he keeps it simple throughout with pure traditional fiddling of the highest calibre. The album kicks off with a moderately paced set of reels called Paddy the Piper/Master Henry’s Reel/The Sporting Days of Easter . With John Blake on guitar you immediately get a feel for his pure traditional style. Both the sound and the feel of the album takes you back to some of the great fiddle albums of the past. The music of Sligo and west Clare have had a major influence on his style of playing and there is little need for modern twists, turns or external influences. This is firmly in the pure traditional mould and is fantastic for that.
Accompaniment is again kept sparse on The Squirrel’s Nest/Mist on the Meadow with piano by Paddy McEvoy. The third set includes duet fiddles with Conor McEvoy joining in on Munster Grass/Lad O’ Beirne’s . Throughout the album you have great arrangements and lots of variety with various musicians adding their support. Apart from John Blake and Paddy McEvoy you have Mick Conneely on bouzouki as well as Conor and Catherine McEvoy on fiddle and flute respectively. Gay McKeon on uilleann pipes, John Wynne on flute, Paudie O’ Connor on box and Jacinta McEvoy on concertina. In fact it is precisely this variety that really engages you throughout. John’s fiddle sits centre stage and with 15 tracks you really get your moneys worth. Traditional music is going through various phases of experimentation at the moment. It’s being mixed with other genres and given a contemporary twist. However all invariably return back to the heart of the tradition and on this album you have just that. John McEvoy is a superb traditional fiddler and on this album he presents some great music with variety, good arrangements and some talented support players making up a really enjoyable recording. A supreme traditional musician delivering another great fiddle album. Tony Lawless
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John Regan & Paddy Glackin – Let Down the Blade
The Golden Keyboard / The Bellharbour Reel
The Maid at the Spinning Wheel / A Visit to Ireland
The Queen of the Fairies / Victoria Hornpipes
The Flax in Bloom / Colonel Rodney
The Tailor’s Twist / The Friendly Visit
Billy McCormack’s / The Ship in Full Sail
The Greencastle Hornpipe / The Kildare Fancy
The Maid at the Well / The Knocknagow Jig
Tom Ward’s Downfall / The Piper’s Despair
The Road to Ballymac / The Policeman’s Request
Sliabh Russell / Bimis ag Ol
Spillane the Fiddler / President Garfield
Scotch Mary / Farewell to London
Buttermilk Mary / The Knights of St Patrick
James F. Dickie / Drops of Brandy
The Laurel Bush / The Sligo Lasses
The Waltz from “Coppelia”
Mulqueeney’s Hornpipe
Miss Langton’s / The Copperplate
Press Reviews
Folk Roots Aug/Sept 2000
John Regan is a north Sligo button box player who moved to Dublin some years ago and bumbed into players like Mary Bergin and a young Paddy Glackin.
Paddy joins John for five tracks and Mary Corcoran’s solid piano underpin a regular but lively selection of reels, jigs and hornpipes that will appeal to his fans.
Joe Crane
The LivingTradition May/June 2000
Back when I’d aspirations to play the button box, I used to listen to as much of John Regan’s playing as possible. My playing didn’t improve but I liked his style, and still do. He partnered fiddler Paddy Glackin on the first ever Comhaltas concert tour of Britain, back about 197O~ Somewhere, I’ve a tape of him playing in the square in Listowel in 1972; no audience, just playing for the love of it. He seemed to drop out of earshot for a long time but he certainly didn’t rust away, because he’s as good as ever I remember him. This is good Sligo-style accordion, crisp and driving, without over-ornamentation. There’s obviously influence from Joe Burke, but Regan’s his own man all the time.
The 19 tracks are a balanced mixture of reels, jigs, and more hompipes than you’d normally expect. Most are familiar, some less so. Besides solos, John plays 5 duets with Paddy Glackin, and accordion duets with each of his young sons, CoIm and Donal. Most tracks have Mary Corcoran’s sensitive and unobtrusive piano accompaniment, a welcome change from some of the piano drivers I’ve heard. A happy combination is of strathspey and slip jig; unusual, but it works. ‘James F Dickie” just slides into a Donegal version of “Drops of Brandy”. The surprise of the album is a duet with Donal on piano on Delibes’ Waltz from “Coppelia”. I’m usually scornful of “cross-over” but if this is what it’s about, then I’m all for it. I suppose it’s evidence that good music is universal and timeless.
The inlay notes are concise and adequate, with the sources of each tune, and tributes to many other musicians, from Patsy Tuohy to the current crop. Definitely one for the more discerning accordion fan.
(By the way, I finally gave up on the box. I realised that nof only did the left hand not know what the right hand was doing, it didn’t even know what it was doing itself.) Mick Furey.
Irish Music Mag
From John Regan, one of the finest accordionists over the past 20 years, comes a new recording that will delight those who have enjoyed his tasteful and relaxed approach to music. Featuring plenty of well known tunes alongside ones of rarity, John Regan strikes a lovely balance on this recording with sets such as The Flax in Bloom/ Colonel Rodney, showing the flowing and unforced quality which is such a hallmark of his playing. Featuring piano accompaniment throughout from the able Mary Corcoran, this album also sees a guest appearance by fiddler Paddy Glackin who joins John for many a fine set. Similarly to Brian Rooney’s album, John plays the great jig, Buttermilk Mary and what great spirit there is in this playing. Another track of note sees John joined by his son, Colm, for a beautifully measured set of unusual reels, The Road to Ballymac/The Policeman’s Request. A most welcome addition to the collection of accordion albums, which like most others, is continually growing. Oisin MacDiarmada. Dec/Jan 2,000
The Irish Post
Irish music is simple. You get three good musicians, pick a couple of dozen tunes from the traditional repertoire of 6,000 pieces and press the record button.
Don’t add anything fancy, mind. Just use a top-class accordion player, (John Regan), a top-notch fiddler (Paddy Glackin), and one of the finest piano accompanists around (Mary Corcoran from the Templehouse Ceili Band).
What you end up with is a memorable traditional album with no frills, just plenty of great music. Let Down the Blade opens with a haunting reel, The Golden Keyboard, composed by Galway man, Martin Mulhaire, who has spent most of his life in New York. This well structured tune has shades of that great Irish set piece, Drowsy Maggie about it, but is altogether less jaunty, giving the melody an added poignancy. Played on the button accordion by John Regan you can almost hear the strains of the immigrant in the Bronx wafting through the air.
John Regan is originally from north Sligo, but moved to Dublin in 66, which accounts for the inclusion of jigs such as Sliabh Russell and Bimis ag Ol on the album, two favourites of pipers and fiddlers in the late 60s/early 70s, but not heard so often these days. John’s sojourn in Dublin however has given him an eclectic repertoire from which to choose. Everything from the definitive Michael Coleman version of the huge reel Tom Ward’s Downfall to the welcome inclusion of that Scottish traditional oddity the Strathspey.
There is one delightful aberration on Let Down the Blade — The Waltz from the ballet, Copelia by the 19th century composer Leo Delibes. From The Geese in the Bog to Swan Lake in one ethnomusicological leap! But I tell you what — it’s a great version and the most ballet I’ve listened to all year. Bravo, as they say at Covent Garden, both to Copelia’s Waltz, and to the whole album. Malcolm Rogers, Dec/Jan 2,000
The Irish World
Of all instruments used in traditional music, the accordion is probably my least favourite, but even so, in the hands of John Regan, and his sons Colm and Donal, it creates quite an effective sound. With fiddler Paddy Glackin and accompanist Mary Corcoran on hand to lend their two-pence worth, there is plenty of music on this 19-track album to fill the ear.
The tracks include, hornpipes: Queen of the Fairies/Victoria/The Tailor’s Twist/The Friendly Visit, Spillane the Fiddler/President Garfield’s, jigs, The Maid at the Spinning Wheel/The Knocknagow, and reels like, Miss Langton’s/The Copperplate, most with the bouncy nature that the accordion offers.
Both Colm and Donal Regan currently hold All-Ireland titles on the box, and the duets with their father make this album a family affair. L.A.Livingston
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John Wynne and John McEvoy – Pride of the West
The combination of flute and fiddle has pride of place in traditional Irish music and many famous duos have used that classic combination — Peter Horan and Fred Finn, Josie Hayes and Junior Crehan, and Matt Molloy and Tommy Peoples, among others. Pride of the West draws on the immense flute and fiddle tradition of north Connacht and on the musicians’ strong Roscommon connections, and communicates the excitement, tension and tranquillity inherent in the combination of these two great instruments. The tunes on the album are mainly from the Sligo — Roscommon repertoire and include unusual local versions of tunes as well as some new compositions. Accompaniment is ably and subtly provided by Paddy McEvoy, John McEvoy’s son, on piano and Arty McGlynn on guitar.
Both Wynne and McEvoy are excellent exponents of the north Connacht style of playing and are established musicians in their own right. John Wynne is from Roscommon and has a strong interest in the music of Sligo, Roscommon and Leitrim. He was a member of the band Providence and recorded two albums with them, Providence and A Fig for a Kiss. He also released a critically-acclaimed solo album, With Every Breath, in 2000 and he produced and played on the recent CD The Flute Players of Roscommon, Volume 1. John McEvoy was brought up in Birmingham of Roscommon parents. He recorded the album Bakerswell with the group of the same name in the late eighties. His solo CD, Returning, was released in 1998, and he recorded The Kilmore Fancy with his sister, flute-player Catherine McEvoy, in 2004.
The album includes a CD booklet containing comprehensive background notes on the tunes. The album will be officially launched on 15 June in Spell’s Bar in Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon and on 8 July at the Willie Clancy Summer School, Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. The musicians will be playing several gigs over the summer to publicize the CD, including a performance at the Cavan Fleadh Cheoil on Sunday 3 June, a concert at the South Sligo Summer School on Tuesday 17 July and a concert at the Joe Mooney Summer School, Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim on Sunday 22 July
Press Reviews
The Irish Examiner
Roscommon man Wynne’s forceful flute-playing coalesces with McEvoy’s bright and nimble fiddling on a sweet collection of tunes, sourced mainly from the Sligo/Leitrim/Roscommon region.
The combination of fiddle and flute is enhanced but never over-shadowed by Arty McGlynn’s guitar and Paddy McEvoy’s (John’s son) piano.
Echoes of the classic duet by Fred Finn and Peter Horan, from the same region, are discernible yet this superb disc stands on its own as a celebration of impeccable taste and tight unison playing. Judicious tune selection combined with impressively uncluttered delivery means a joyous and festive spirit is projected from every one of the 14 tracks.
A pair of locally-sourced polkas, My Love is But a Lassie/The Lakes of Sligo, display a radiance and spirit that epitomises spontaneity, gaiety and deep-rooted tradition in equal measures. Pride of the West is indeed a gem. Gerry Quinn
The Living Tradition
John Wynne – a great technique and a grand ear for the tunes – has been a leading light in Roscommon flute music since his solo recording
With Every Breath . John McEvoy, another Roscommon man many years in exile, is a fine fiddler who’s well used to playing with fluters as his sister Catherine is one of the best. The combination is powerful indeed, and continues the proud tradition of Roscommon flute and fiddle duets.
Pride of the West opens with the title jig, followed by John McEvoy’s composition Kilglass Lakes, two gentle tunes which flow very sweetly here. The pumping jigs The Wandering Minstrel and I Will If I Can are much punchier, more like the rushing style for dancing. The nicely relaxed Fairy Reel starts slow and shifts up to a medium-paced swagger, then up again to full speed for Larry MacDonagh’s. In between there are some big tunes: The Strayaway Child in umpteen parts, The Maid of Mount Cisco, The Crib of Perches as a fiddle solo and the answering flute air Edward on Lough Erne’s Shore, and of course a classic set of reels starting with The Cedars of Lebanon by fiddler Sean Ryan. There are also some surprises here. A strong Scottish influence brings two marches, including the current favourite Auchdon House, and a polka version of My Love is but a Lassie. The set dance or hornpipe An Suisin Ban is a blast from Ireland’s past, and The Tooth Fairy is a charming jig by Mrs Wynne AKA Orla McAtavie. The rest of this recording is pretty much reels, stylish duets and occasional solos, at a collected canter with just a few brief gallops.
Great playing, fine tunes, good sleevenotes and plenty of length at fifty minutes, Pride of the West combines quality with quantity. One thing to beware of if you’re thinking of playing along with the Johns: they base their music around Eb, so the fiddle is tuned up a semitone and the flute is a tad shorter than is usual these days. They do the same in sessions – so don’t be caught out. Not too much of a problem for whistles or accordions, and the drummers won’t even notice, but it must drive the pipers and concertina players mad. Alex Monaghan
The Folk Diary
This is an album of straightforward Irish traditional music; no frills; no extras, but the playing has such skill, verve and understanding of the
form that the album is a complete delight from beginning to end. The music is mainly from the Roscommon/Sligo area where the flute is the dominant
instrument and where so many traditional masters of that instrument come from.
John Wynne is clearly one of this worthy heritage. He is clearly a master of the instrument and shows good empathy with the other John, a fiddler. Their playing has great clarity even when played at speed; the sets of reels produce excitement even though the players sound relaxed and
are playing within themselves and are well- chosen to contrast one another.
Two very fine accompanists are sparingly used; Arty McGlynn on guitar and Paddy McEvoy on piano and even where they are used, they are well back in the overall mix, allowing the glory of the tunes to come through. Vic Smith
www.liveireland.com
There are certain labels where you know. You just know. Anything that comes out on them will be fab. Clo-Iar-Chonnachta is one of them. Now comes, “Pride of the West” featuring the flute of John Wynne and fiddler, John McEvoy. It is in the north Clare style. That is not important. What IS important is that if you like trad, this one is a must-have. Accompanied by the legendary Arty McGlynn on guitar and Paddy McEvoy on piano, this is a delight. Tons of tunes, perfectly played. Perfectly. Great lift and ambience. There are 14 sets of tunes. We wanted 14 more. Many are rarely, if ever, heard. We adore this album. Rating: Highly Recommended. Bill Margeson
Irish Music Magazine Aug 07
Another excellent collection from CIC and we wouldn’t expect less which brings out a beautiful blend of flute and fiddle. It could hardly be otherwise when John McEvoy is brother to Catherine, who already has a notable flute CD of her own. The opening tracks are fine examples of musical understanding, with two instruments and two players totally together.
The reels like The Cedars of Lebanon/ John Egan’s are taken at a fair lick: so also are jigs like Happy to meet, Sorry to part. But there is no sense of anything rushed or forced. It’s delightful precision playing and very often the two instruments sound as so much as one that the only way you can tell there’s a pair is when you hear the breathing on the flute.
The best track? A near-run thing, but The Stray-Away Child is a great jig that will repay repeated listening. Listen out, though, for The Crib of Perches. It’s a fine reel, and understandably a favourite. There’s strong and sinewy playing in the set of two polkas. For learners there’s a special value in having well-known tunes like The Mountain Top and The Maids of Mount Cisco, and showing how they can be shared. For a solo showing the characteristic vibrato of the Connacht style, John Wynne’s playing of the air Edward on Lough Erne’s shore is a model of lyrical restraint.
The accompaniment is also thoroughly musical: you often have to listen for it, but it’s there doing a fine job even if unnoticed first time out. One lesson from this CD is that the music is about people. The fine bi-lingual liner notes normally trace the lineage of the tunes, even back a hundred years and more.
Thus John Wynne has a couple of Scottish tunes, which come from his wife, Orla McAtavie, who comes from Ballybay in Co Monaghan. The primrose and blue may not be doing too well on football pitches these days, but there can be real pride in Roscommon for having produced music of this quality. John Brophy
The Irish Times
Regional accents are alive and thriving on this collection of north Connaught tunes. Roscommon flute player John Wynne and Birmingham-born fiddler John McEvoy make sprightly, uncluttered music: filigree playing that stitches the two instruments together seamlessly. Anyone whose flute and fiddle appetite was awakened by Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington’s sublime Fortune Favours The Merry will savour the local blas of the polka set, My Love Is But A Lassie and the wistfulness of the reel set, The Mountain Top. Although Arty McGlynn’s pristine guitar accompaniment never overwhelms, at times it veers too close to oblivion, buried too deep in the mix. John’s son Paddy lends equally subtle piano accompaniment, though: a perfect suitor for such refined musicians. SIOBHÁN LONG
The Irish Echo 13.6.07
North Connacht Clout from John Wynne and John McEvoy: “Pride of the West” Pairing Impressive
CEOL COLUMN
Several years ago a prominent Irish record company owner, who shall remain nameless here, surprised me by saying, “We don’t need any more albums of nicely played tunes.” In that owner’s mind, there were too many recordings by Irish traditional instrumentalists whose playing ranged from competent to good.
So, are trad-heads really holding their breath for further pleasant iterations of such familiar tunes as “The Maid of Mount Kisco,” “Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part,” “The Mountain Top,” and “The Strayaway Child”? Haven’t they been done to death?
All four of those tunes are on the brand-new “Pride of the West” album by flutist John Wynne, who’s from Roscommon, and fiddler John McEvoy, who was born in Birmingham, England, to Roscommon parents. It is one of the best albums of Irish traditional music I’ve heard this year and will certainly crack my top 10 list at the end of it.
What distinguishes this “tunes” album is, at heart, a paradox. The liner note written by the two musicians claims that “the commitment to compromise, in blending one’s own individuality towards the achievement of something greater, is foremost” on the CD. In short, rein in virtuosity to better serve a more coveted, higher equilibrium. But in that “blending,” Wynne and McEvoy have given us both individual virtuosity and ideal balance. Tight flourishes and nimble nips of improvisation seep from the marrow of their bone-strong tandem playing. Reach and grasp are equal here, creating an Irish traditional performance all the more impressive because it doesn’t strive to impress.
Twelve of the album’s 14 tracks are duets, all drawing on this rare ability to match temperament and talent without the slightest tapering off in separate originality. The jigs “The Wandering Minstrel/Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part/I Will If I Can” begin with unaccompanied flute and fiddle, each supporting and nudging the other, and soon Arty McGlynn gently introduces an acoustic guitar rhythm underneath the two melody players. Nuance, piquancy, drive, and non-showoff embellishment swell the fluidity of Wynne and McEvoy’s joint playing.
Unaccompanied flute and fiddle start another medley, “The Mountain Top/Ciaran’s Reel,” where again the playing features spare, spot-on ornamentation wholly within the flow created by the two. This time, the able backing eventually comes from Paddy McEvoy, John’s son, on piano.
Flute and guitar lead off the march, highland, and reel medley of “The Balmoral Highlander/Thistle and Shamrock/Thistle and Shamrock.” Wynne’s flute work is inventive and intricate, and McEvoy’s imaginative fiddling glides in beneath a flute sustain of a single note and assumes melodic responsibility. Then fiddle and flute join, gaining in pace as McGlynn complements on guitar. It is a superbly conceived and executed arrangement.
A reel sometimes attributed to Sligo fiddler Paddy Killoran that cites a town in Westchester County, N.Y., “The Maid of Mount Kisco” is a session staple performed with distinctive verve and touch by Wynne and McEvoy, accompanied by Paddy McEvoy on piano.
Paired with the album-titled trad jig “Pride of the West” is “Kilglass Lakes,” a jig composed by McEvoy as a nod to his ancestral turf of Kilglass and Kilmore in North Roscommon. Flute, fiddle, guitar, and piano blend stirringly in this track. (Finishing third in the Irish Echo’s top ten trad albums of 2004, “The Kilmore Fancy” also acknowledged the area and featured another exceptional fiddle-flute duo, John McEvoy and his sister Catherine, with Bronx-born Felix Dolan on piano.)
The sole album track without any accompaniment is “The Strayaway Child,” a jig credited to Sligo fiddler Michael Gorman that the Bothy Band memorably covered on their “Out of the Wind Into the Sun” album in 1977. Wynne and McEvoy invest this jig with a litheness and buoyancy that set into relief the separate strengths of each musician. The same performance traits surface in “The Fairy Reel/Larry MacDonagh’s Reel,” which skillfully wends its way from flute, fiddle, and guitar, to just flute and guitar, to flute, fiddle, and guitar again, and finally to flute, fiddle, guitar, and piano.
In an album chock-full of highlights, “The Cedars of Lebanon/John Egan’s/Doonagore” and “The Piper’s Despair/The Mullingar Lea” reels, as well as “My Love Is but a Lassie/The Lakes of Sligo” polkas (the second polka stems from a 1950s recording that included Joe Derrane), also stand out for flute-fiddle playing.
In addition, Wynne and McEvoy take a solo track apiece. Backed by his son on piano, John McEvoy steps out on “The Crib of Perches/The Tinker’s Stick/Come Up to the Room, I Want Ye” reels, where his bowing is nothing short of mesmerizing. For his solo, John Wynne movingly plays an air, “Edward on Lough Erne’s Shore,” followed by “The Tooth Fairy,” a jig composed by his wife, Orla McAtavie, and the traditional “Fraher’s Jig.” McGlynn’s guitar provides light, rhythmic undergirding for those jigs.
Recorded during Dec. 2006 and Jan. 2007 in Kinvara, Galway’s Open Ear Studios and in Ballaghadereen, Roscommon’s Spells Pub, “Pride of the West” avoids any trace of roteness by relying on near-telepathic communication between Wynne and McEvoy. Their fresh settings or regional variations of familiar tunes reinvigorate them, and their respect for the vaunted flute-fiddle tradition of North Roscommon-South Sligo informs every melody they play.
“Flute music is all verb, and Matt Molloy conjugates it joyfully in all its moods and tenses,” poet Seamus Heaney noted on “Stony Steps,” a 1987 solo recording by Molloy, who hails from Roscommon. Heaney’s words also fit the flute and fiddle music on “Pride of the West.” In every sense, this is a win-Wynne-McEvoy situation. Earle Hitchner
[Published on June 13, 2007, in the IRISH ECHO newspaper, New York City. Copyright (c) Earle Hitchner. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of author.]
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Karen Ryan – The Coast Road
The Coast Road
Debut solo album from Karen Ryan Released on the Clo-Iar Chonnacht label The long-awaited solo album, The Coast Road, by highly-regarded fiddler, music teacher and promoter of traditional Irish music, Karen Ryan, founder-member of the renowned traditional Irish music group, The London Lasses and Pete Quinn.
A musician, teacher and promoter, it would be no exaggeration to say that Karen Ryan lives and breathes traditional Irish music. Born in London to Galway and Mayo parents, it was a strong Connemara tradition of melodeon players and traditional singers on her mother’s side that initially fired her love of the music.
Karen started playing music at the age of nine, taught by the North Leitrim musician Tommy Maguire at the London Irish Centre, where she herself now teaches. It was here that she met lifelong friends and fellow fiddle players, Elaine Conwell and Teresa Connolly (nee Heanue), with whom she won the under 12 Trio competition at the All-Ireland Fleadhin 1985.
Karen was fortunate to hone her musical skills through playing with a vast array of musicians in the vibrant London Irish session scene and during frequent visits to musical gatherings in Ireland and the US. Whilst gleaning much from all these players she cites Brian Rooney, Brendan McGlinchey, Danny Meehan and the recordings of Andy McGann as having the most influence on her fiddle playing.
As a founder member of the renowned traditional Irish six-piece, The London Lasses and Pete Quinn, Karen has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious festivals and concert halls, including the Royal Albert Hall, where the band performed the first ever BBC Proms ceili in 2008. The band have recorded four albums to date.
Whether as a teacher with Meitheal Cheoil in north London, a workshop leader or an adjudicator both in the UK and overseas, Karen continues to pass on the tradition to both young and old.
Also available from Copperplate, featuring Karen Ryan:
LL001 London Lasses & Pete Quinn
LL002 London Lasses: Track Across the Deep
LoLa004 London Lasses: Enchanted Lady
LoLa005 London Lasses: By Night & By Day
for more information about Karen Ryan and upcoming tour dates, please visit www.karenryan.net.
Press Reviews
www.liveireland.com Margeson on the Music Oct 12
The Coast Road is just out on Clo-iar-Chonnachta. Veteran fiddle goddess Karen Ryan is brilliant. Never mind her work with our music’s best female group, The London Lasses (sorry, Pete!), she is a master. As good as any, we reckon. Stunning playing from a real musician. All 15 selections are instrumentals. While the album favors the jigs and reels, all tempos and time signatures are brought to the fore. We love it. Every cut. This woman is a real presence and a true musician on the scene. As she is one of the folks in charge of the wonderful Return to Camden Town annual festival, we have a recommendation. Book yourself immediately! This is a great album and she is immediately in contention as the Female Musician of the Year. Lovely, altogether. Bill Margeson.
The Living Tradition
London’s vibrant Irish community has, amongst many other things, evolved a style of traditional music, and particularly fiddle music, which is as identifiable as any of the major styles on the other side of the water. Karen Ryan perfectly represents this tradition, being born in London to Galway and Mayo parents and starting to play at the age of nine. She now teaches at the London Irish Centre, is a founder-member of the celebrated London Lasses and directs the Return to Camden Town traditional festival.
Accompanied here by partner Pete Quinn on piano and keyboard; Conor Doherty, guitar; Gary Connolly, accordion; Elaine Conwell, fiddle, Teresa Connolly, fiddle, Colman Connolly, uilleann pipes; and her aunt Nancy McEvaddy on vocals, Karen plays mostly fiddle, but with whistle and banjo as well.
She has a very clear playing style, which is well demonstrated in the slow air, where she lets the tune take its own time, keeping everything nicely balanced. When things speed up a bit in the jigs and reels, however, there’s no dropping off – each note is well-defined, with a crispness and deftness of touch making for a rare listening experience.
Pete Quinn should also get a specific mention for his piano arrangements – not for him the plodding thump that can mar so many otherwise good sets, rather a well thought-out and sensitive range of slightly understated playing, which reminds us what the word “accompany” really means.
As I’ve come to expect from Clo lar-Chonnacht, this is an extremely well-packaged CD, with bilingual notes and information on all the tunes and a transcription of the macaronic song.
Well worth a listen! Gordon Potter
R2
Few musicians have been as indefatigable in championing the cause of Irish traditional music in London as Karen Ryan. As part of the group London Lasses and organiser of the Camden Irish music festival she has worked tirelessly to disseminate the music to her contemporaries, aspiring players and audiences alike.
Her first sob album, The Coast Road is dedicated to her father Michael Ryan “for loving the music so much that you did everything to help me love it too” Touching but true, for this is music that is as much about family and tradition as it is musical education.
Karen honed her fiddle skills in Irish music sessions in London and Ireland, it was her own family’s ability to transmit this music to a new generation that provived her with that first real spark of creativity. Accompanied mainly on piano by Pete Quinn, Karen plays reels, jigs, polkas, hornpipes, a waltz and one song, ‘An Draighnean Donn’, sung in a disarming fashion by her aunt, Nancy McEvaddy. There are contributions from life-tang friends and fiddlers Elaine Conwell (London Lasses) and Teresa Connolly plus others, but it is Ryan’s album and her playing shines brightly throughout. John Crosby
www.tradconnect.com Album of the Month July 12
London based musician Karen Ryan is the latest in a long line of London Irish fiddlers and on this her debut album she steps very comfortably into the shoes of those that have gone before. Musician, teacher and promoter Karen is well known and established on the London scene both at sessions and as a founding member of The London Lasses and Pete Quinn. More so than any city, London is a place where the big players come out to play and I did have the pleasure some years ago in some long forgotten venue to hear Karen. No doubt in the company of Brian Rooney, Brendan Mulkaire or the crop of great talent that was coming through all those years ago. Players like Lamond Gillespie and John Blake who have since gone on to great things.
Karen Ryan is another name that rightly deserves to be heard and The Coast Road is an absolute joy of an album. Karen’s style is strongly traditional, very expressive and true to those musicians that have inspired her. It’s a classic recording that harks back to her early musical influences. This includes Tommy Maguire, Brendan McGlinchey, Andy McGann and others, and there are echoes of their contribution within the heart of her very own style. For those reasons there is a breath of traditional fresh air in the tracks she has recorded. This is exciting, passionate and driving fiddle playing inspired by a lifetime of music. When slowed down to simple solid tunes there is nothing quite like it, especially on jigs like Kitty’s Rambles/Kitty of Oulart/An Rógaire Dubh. Some of the best fiddle music has always had a strong, solid and uncomplicated vein running through it and Karen Ryan excels in this respect.
Included in the tracks is the magnificent hornpipe called McGlinchey’s which I haven’t heard for some time. A classic tune that Karen twists and turns with triplets and rolls that display the scale of the tune from low A and on up to the top of the scale. Her tone, control and phrasing is exemplary and always does justice to the music that she is playing. Even her one set of Polkas on the album, Dan Herlihy’s/Tom Billy’s, jump to life with superb accompaniment by Pete Quinn on Piano and Conor Doherty on Guitar. In addition to these fine musicians she has also brought on board long term fiddle friends Elaine Conwell and Treasa Connolly as well as Gary Connolly on Accordion and Nancy McEvaddy on voice.
The first set, The Limerick Lasses/The Gatehouse Maid/The Mountain Top is a great opener with its driving rhythm and strong piano accompaniment. The reel set Sally Gardens/Miss McCloud’s/Tommy Maguire’s pick up the pace. Karen and Pete Quinn called them the “Black Horse Anthem” as a result of repeated requests at a session in the Black Horse in London. The last in the set is a great Charlie Lennon composition. Karen also displays her banjo skills on a couple of jigs called Kiss The Bride/Shandon Bells. As a fan of Brendan McGlinchey, a set of reels composed by Brendan deserves mention. Called Mrs Lawrie’s/Karen Ryan’s the latter was written for Karen by Brendan some years back. It has all the hallmarks of Brendan and the piano accompaniment by Pete Quinn is simply untouchable with it’s phrasing and tone.
Fiddle music in all it’s forms has a place, be it with more modern influences, newly composed or with elements external to the tradition. This is music that will not disappoint and is most definitely traditional with a capital T. On a kitchen shelf bursting with great fiddle albums by Peoples, Carty, McGlinchley, Collins and dozens more this Karen Ryan album will also now sit proudly putting London and Karen on the map when it comes to touching the heart of traditional brilliance.
The Folk Diary
That the London Irish fiddler, some time visitor to Sussex folk clubs, should turn up on that most respected and highly regarded of Irish labels comes as something of a surprise. Most on this label are from rural Ireland but as a great deal of superb Irish music is played in north London, and has been for decades, there is no reason why Karen should not be represented along with her pianist partner
Most of her previous recordings have been as part of the excellent London Lasses, but the extra focus given by this album shows just what a fine fiddler she is. She has a wide and varied repertoire and the album is given extra interest when she occasionally changes to banjo or whistle and towards the end of the album she broadens the scope by introducing friends and relatives that have played with her since childhood. Ringing endorsements from the likes of Danny Meehan and Brendan McGlinchey in the booklet show just how much Karen is respected in Irish music circles – as teacher, promoter and organiser as well as musician. Vic Smith
www.LiveIreland.com
Karen Ryan is part of the best female group in the business, The London Lasses. Her new solo album with Pete Quinn is ‘The Coast Road.’ We know it is available through Alan O’Leary at Copperplate in London. Karen is such a wonderful fiddle player, and this album immediately nominates her for Female Musician of the Year. She has a lot of tasty guest musicians in, but it is her playing alone that transcends all. This is a very, very exciting album. This woman can play, and look; we know that Pete Quinn is also in the group, The London Lasses, but he is vastly outnumbered, the lucky dog! One of our favorite groups meets one of our favorite fiddle players (Karen) and here we are on The Coast Road’ and you should take the trip, also. It is a beautiful journey.
The Journal of Music: The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaion
An Album of Tribute from Karen Ryan
Being dedicated to her father, Michael Ryan (‘for loving the music so much that you did everything possible to help me love it too’), and featuring so many tunes Ryan learned from Tommy Maguire in the London Irish Centre, this is clearly a recording with a strong sense of tribute at its heart.
London fiddle player Karen Ryan has released her first solo album, the Coast Road, featuring Pete Quinn on piano, published by Cló Iar-Chonnacht. Ryan is a founder member of the London Lasses and Pete Quinn group (who have recorded four albums to date), as well as a much sought-after workshop teacher and music promoter.
She started playing music when she was nine years old, taught by the Leitrim musician Tommy Maguire at the London Irish Centre, where she herself now teaches. It was here that she met life-long friends and fellow fiddle players, Elaine Conwell and Teresa Connolly (née Heanue), with whom she won the under-12 trio competition at the All-Ireland Fleadh in 1985.
While being very active in the London Irish session scene and festival and Fleadh circuit, as well as visiting Conamara regularly, she cites in particular Brian Rooney, Brendan McGlinchey, Danny Meehan and the recordings of Andy McGann as having the most influence on her fiddle playing.
Through her role as Director of the Return to Camden Town festival of traditional Irish music, song and dance, she is also an award-winning promoter. Now in its fourteenth year, the festival has become a key date in the Irish music calendar and celebrates the historical link between Camden and traditional Irish music.
Most of the tracks on the Coast Road feature Ryan on fiddle accompanied by Quinn on piano or keyboard, although Ryan plays banjo on the jig set of ‘Kiss the Bride’ and ‘Shandon Bells’, and whistle on the reel set of ‘The Swallow’s Tail’, ‘The Sunny Banks’ and ‘The London Lasses’. For some tracks they are joined by Conor Doherty on guitar. On the waltz-reel set featuring ‘Tim O’Leary’s’ and ‘The Rabbit’s Burrow’ she plays with fiddlers Elaine Conwell (of the London Lasses) and friend Teresa Connolly. And for the jig set of ‘Going to Mass Last Sunday’, ‘The Gold Ring’ and ‘The Battering Ram’ she plays with Gary Connolly on accordion and Colman Connolly on uilleann pipes. Ryan plays one slow air, ‘Sliabh Geal gCua’, which she writes that she learnt from Séamus Begley’s singing; and there is one song on the album, ‘An Draighneán Donn’, sung very naturally and gently by Ryan’s aunt, Nancy McEvaddy of Claregalway.
The twenty-two pages of sleeve notes include a short biographical note on Ryan, comments on her playing by Danny Meehan, Brian Rooney and Brendan McGlinchey, Irish and English versions of all the extensive track notes, and a wide range of photographs of Ryan, of instrument details and of family and friends.
Being dedicated to her father, Michael Ryan (‘for loving the music so much that you did everything possible to help me love it too’), and featuring so many tunes Ryan learned from Maguire, this is clearly a recording with a strong sense of tribute at its heart.
The Folk Diary
That the London Irish fiddler, some time visitor to Sussex folk clubs, should turn up on that most respected and highly regarded of Irish labels comes as something of a surprise. Most on this label are from rural Ireland but as a great deal of superb Irish music is played in north London, and has been for decades, there is no reason why Karen should not be represented along with her pianist partner
Most of her previous recordings have been as part of the excellent London Lasses, but the extra focus given by this album shows just what a fine fiddler she is. She has a wide and varied repertoire and the album is given extra interest when she occasionally changes to banjo or whistle and towards the end of the album she broadens the scope by introducing friends and relatives that have played with her since childhood.
Ringing endorsements from the likes of Danny Meehan and Brendan McGlinchey in the booklet show just how much Karen is respected in Irish music circles – as teacher, promoter and organiser as well as musician. Vic Smith
Irish Music Magazine
Of Galway and Mayo parents but born and reared in London, Karen Ryan has been a mainstay of Irish music in the province of Great Britain for longer than her youthful looks would suggest. Whether founding The London Lasses a decade ago, running the Camden Town festival, leading the young Trad Gathering ensemble, or just teaching and playing in sessions across North London, Karen’s unruly hair and restless feet have featured in most aspects of the musical life of London’s Irish community. Although best—known as a fiddler, Karen also plays banjo and whistle on this debut solo recording — no sign of the mandola she’s been toting at recent gigs. Several members of the London Irish scene drop in for a tune on The Coast Road, but most tracks are just Karen and her ivory—tickling husband Pete Quinn.
Every set comes with a story: the sparkling Limerick Lasses learnt from Leitrim man Tommy Maguire in the eighties, or the sprightly version of Saddle the Pony from her grandma’s melodeon days. Karen’s repertoire includes all the old favourites, and she isn’t afraid to play them. The Sally Gardens, Shandon Bells, Miss MacLeod’s, The Battering Ram, Trans—Roscommon Airways and The Musical Priest, great tunes all, are trotted out in fine form here. There are rarer delights too, Kitty of Oulart and Walsh’s Hornpipe among them. Brendan McGlinchey’s distinctive dark style is beautifully demonstrated on his reels Mrs Lawrie’s and Karen Ryan’s, while Karen’s own composing gift gives us three flowing slip—jigs. The final few tracks ring the changes with a sean nos song from Nancy McEvaddy, a fiddle trio waltz, and a set of céilí jigs featuring pipes and accordion, before the final big set of reels on fiddle and piano.
The Coast Road combines the best of old and new music, the antique gold of An Roghaire Dubh and Sliabh Geal gCua alongside a bit of bling and skank on Dan Herlihy’s Polka. This mix and match approach also applies to the glossy sleeve notes, which add photos and fancy graphics to the trusty old way of listing the names and composers. It seems Karen can put her own sheen on more than just the music. Livelier than a Camden pub on Paddy’s Night, and more full of Irish spirit than the off—licence across the street, this is a cracking new album. Alex Monaghan
www.folking.com
This is the kind of recording that harks back to the old days of “Paddy In The Smoke” and Danny ‘Concrete Fingers’ Meehan playing at The Favourite. Possibly aimed at a more traditionally biased audience Ryan’s style of fiddle playing (sometimes opening with the predominantly two chord piano introduction so beloved of Irish set dancers everywhere provided by long term associate Pete Quinn) will give some indication to those like myself who used to sit at the altar of the likes of Raymond Rowland, Liam Farrell and John Bowe. There are plenty of great standards including “Sally Gardens”, “Miss McCloud’s” and “Saddle The Pony” but it’s Karen’s beautifully fluid whistle playing on “The Swallow’s Tail/The Sunny Banks/The London Lasses” set that does it for me. This may not be a rip-roaring album or one that’s trying to be ‘different’ but if its rock solid performances of some excellent tunes you’re looking for I’d suggest you check it out. PETE FYFE
www.musicaltraditions.com
Clo Iar Chonnacht have a reputation for releasing quality Irish traditional music CDs and this one is no exception. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable recording. There is a mix of mainly reels and jigs, but with a hornpipe, a couple of polkas, a waltz, a slow air and a song. There is also a variety of ensembles, duets and some group playing so that the CD gives the impression of listening in to a high quality session.
Fiddle player Karen Ryan is well embedded into the trad Irish scene in London. A founder member of the London Lasses and Pete Quinn, she teaches, judges and also organises the Return to Camden Festival. Although from London, Karen Ryan’s parents are both from West Ireland and she has inherited the traditions of Connemara from her Mother’s side of the family. Some of the music was recorded on a trip back home with her relatives in Galway.
Her fiddle playing is confident, energetic and expressive and she puts in some interesting twists and turns into the tunes which are mainly well known favourites. Ryan takes one track on the tin whistle and is also a handy banjo player, though not to the same standard as her fiddling and it sounds as if she has twisted the setting of Shandon Bells to fit more comfortably under her fingers. Overall there is plenty of evidence of her London heritage in hints of the fierce drive of Danny Meehan mixed with Brian Rooney’s creativeness. The sleeve notes mention the influence of New York’s Andy McGann but her tone is quite different to McGann’s so it’s not so easy to hear him in her playing
The CD starts with a real swing with three duets from fiddle and piano; reels followed by jigs, then hornpipes, showcasing Karen’s vigorous fiddle playing and Pete Quinn’s excellent accompaniment and the opening track is certainly strong enough to pull anybody into wanting to hear more. There’s a bit of a dip in the next track of polkas which seemed both geographically and musically out of place here. They just seemed too long and repetitive and just don’t have the Sliabh Luachra style to make this a good track. By contrast, the slow air, the song tune Sliabh Geal cCua, learned from Kerryman Seamus Begley, is beautiful and tender, and not overworked demonstrating Karen’s sense of musical integrity. Karen’s Auntie Nancie’s song An Draighnean Donn is delicate and captivating. The CD finished very strongly with a final set of reels from fiddle and piano.
It is obvious Karen and Pete enjoy the music and have the depth of skill to let the music speak for itself and for the most part the recording is clean and straight, without tricks, too much ‘drip’, or over arrangement. There’s no sense that the players are stretched or ‘performing’ to a crowd, the music is always centre stage and is just gorgeous for that. It takes a lot of sensitivity and understanding to take old tunes like Miss McLeod’s (here interestingly titled Miss McCloud’s) or The Lady on the Island and make then sound new and vital. Karen deserves a lot of credit for the way the choice of tunes on this record reinforce the impression that this is a few friends playing for an intimate circle.
The CD is well produced, the piano might be a bit too high in the mix for some and the squeak of fingers on guitar strings is a personal dislike, but these are minor niggles. The sleeve notes give just enough information about sources and influences to introduce Karen to those who don’t know her as a solo player.
This CD should give pleasure to enthusiasts and casual listeners alike, and there’s a lot of depth that will reward repeated listening. Ken Ricketts & Marya Parker – 5.4.12
Rock solid performances of some excellent tunes
This is the kind of recording that harks back to the old days of “Paddy In The Smoke” and Danny ‘Concrete Fingers’ Meehan playing at The Favourite. Possibly aimed at a more traditionally biased audience Ryan’s style of fiddle playing (sometimes opening with the predominantly two chord piano introduction so beloved of Irish set dancers everywhere provided by long term associate Pete Quinn) will give some indication to those like myself who used to sit at the altar of the likes of Raymond Rowland, Liam Farrell and John Bowe. There are plenty of great standards including “Sally Gardens”, “Miss McCloud’s” and “Saddle The Pony” but it’s Karen’s beautifully fluid whistle playing on “The Swallow’s Tail/The Sunny Banks/The London Lasses” set that does it for me. This may not be a rip-roaring album or one that’s trying to be ‘different’ but if its rock solid performances of some excellent tunes you’re looking for I’d suggest you check it out. PETE FYFE13/03/2012
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Kevin Glackin, Ronan Browne, Sean Tyrrell – And so the story goes
and so the story goes…
Inspirational Traditional Trio Tour Ireland
A new album and a national tour, scheduled for this May & June, 2011, will harvest the talents of three of the most highly respected musicians within the Irish traditional/folk scene.
Sean Tyrrell, renowned for his unique singer/ songwriter talents, legendary fiddle player Kevin Glackin and creative uilleann piper Ronan Browne will fuse their talents on stage, for what promises to be an inspiring tour. Gigs have been scheduled across Ireland, from Dublin to Clifden and from Monaghan to An Daingean.
Sean, Kevin and Ronan have been playing together socially and for tours and shows since the 1980s but are only now (after major hounding by their fans) releasing a CD of songs and tunes. The CD is nicely balanced between gentle and wild music, without suffering from
that dreadful modern ailment of over-production; just warm, friendly music and singing. The tracks are rounded out beautifully by the delicately responsive accompaniment of three fine musicians.
Commenting on the forthcoming tour, Sean Tyrrell said, “Although the three of us are old hands in the business, we are very much looking forward to this tour. We respect one another’s talents and know that, as always, we will each benefit from this collaboration. We are also confident that our audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy an honest performance.”
Full tour details available at www.tyrrellglackinbrowne. com
Press Reviews
R2 Magazine
Irish musicians Sean Tyrrell, Kevin Glackin and Ronan Browne, each well respected in their own right, are also longstanding friends who’ve played together socially since the 1980s. And So The Story Goes is a collection of their favourite songs and traditional tunes
Glackin and Browne are at their best on Micho Russell’s Jigs’, which are actually from Sliabh Luachra rather than from the playing of the late Micho’. Their logic for the naming of this set perhaps sumes up the sentiment of the CD. “No idea what happened, but why change our ways at this late stage!” However the story goes, the fiddle and pipes meld into one in a way that is only achieved through years of playing together.
Tyrrell’s songs are unusual yet charming. Dan O’Hara was made famous by Ronan Browne’s grandmother, Delia Murphy, tells of th eimpact of the 1846-47 famine on the life of a Connemara farmer.
The recording makes you feel you’ve been invited to sit in on a live kitchen session, rather than it being a studio piece. As the lads put it. And So The Story Goes,..is warm, friendly music and song”.
Keith Whiddon
The Irish World 7.7.11
And So The Story Goes is the new album by Sean Tyrrell, Kevin Glackin and Ronan Browne, harvesting the talents of these three greats of the traditional music scene. As you can imagine, the result is pretty good.
Relaxed and honest, each track on this long-awaited album exudes a natural ease which can only be earned between musicians who go back a long way and have seen out more than a few lively sessions together.
Tyrrell, renowned as a singer-songwriter, legendary fiddler Kevin Glackin and unique uilleann piper Ronan Browne fuse their skills both on this album and on stage, as the three have just finished a set of acclaimed dates across Ireland.
As old friends, Sean, Kevin and Ronan have been hooking up to play a few tunes together as well as shows and concerts since the 1980s, but only now (after a serious amount of pressure from fans!) have they released a CD together.
And So The Story Goes balances both the gentle and the wild elements of their musk, warm, friendly and not at all overproduced; letting the talents of each of these three brilliant musicians reign supreme.
Unusual song choices and a deep-rooted vivacity underpinning each offering make for a truly excellent listen.
Sean Tyrrell said of the trio getting back on the road together – also very fitting with regards to the album: “Although the three of us are old hands in the business, we are very much looking forward to this tour.
“We respect one another’s talents and know that, as always, we will each benefit from this collaboration. “We are also confident that our audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy an honest performance.”
For more on the band and live dates, see www.tyrrellglackinbrowne.com.
The Irish Post 19.6.11
Although great friends this is the first time Sean Tyrrell, Kevin Glacken and Ronan Browne have actually recorded an album of their own.
They have, however, been performing together in various combinations on and off for about 30 years. I have always liked Sean Tyrrell’s voice and choice of material and the Galway man’s vocals and mandocello combined with the fiddle and pipes of Dublin men Glackin and Browne works perfectly.
When you add in touches by guests Fergus Feely on mandola, Jimmy Fitzgerald on guitar and Paul O’Driscoll on double bass the overall sound is one of taste and style where nothing is overdone or intrusive. They combine brilliantly to get the best out of each other and you get the impression that they are playing to their individual and collective strengths.
It is a lovely album and I was delighted to see that Sean included Dan O’Hara on the CD. This sad song of forced emigration in the aftermath of the famine has always been a favourite of mine and he does a lovely job on it. Putting WB Yeats’ poem Cap and Bells to music was a brilliant idea with a jig added in for good measure. Joe Giltrap.
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Le Cheile – Out of the West
Le Chéile was formed from musicians who played regularly in The White Hart, Fulham Broadway in the early 1970’s. The 1960s and ’70s were golden years for traditional Irish music in London when musicians played before packed audiences and sparked the revival which went on to spread back home and around the globe. Le Chéile were the cult trad Irish group of 1970s London, producing some of the most memorable recordings of the time. The 1970s album Lord Mayo, was reissued on CD in 2006. To coincide with that release the surviving original band members — master fiddler Danny Meehan, Liam Farrell (banjo), John Roe (piano) and Kevin Boyle (guitar) — reformed alongside new recruits, flautist Paul Gallagher and Andy Martyn (box).
So now they’re back, adding powerful momentum to the revivalist movement within Irish music today with their exciting new big band mix of back to basics traditional Irish music from Donegal and Galway.
In March 2008 the boys began recording their long awaited third album which has now arrived.
This is the first new ‘Le Cheile’ album since 1977. A CD re-release in 2007 by Limerick University of a compilation of albums made in 1974 and 1977 reignited the band and with new members, Andy Martyn and Paul Gallagher, we returned to the studio in 2008 to put together recently developed selections of music. Though once entirely instrumental, we now incorporate songs into our repertoire.
We would like to thank our producer and engineer Gerry Diver for his great skill and remarkable patience during the recording of this album. Also, thanks to all of those who have supported and given endless encouragement to Le Cheile and the ‘Scene’ over the years. Particular thanks to the Cartys (Maureen, James & John), Annette Roland, Alan O’Leary, Austin Dawe, Bill Walsh, Lisa Knapp, Steve Dent, Karen Ryan and Noel & Mary at the ‘Kilkenny’ South Wimbledon. A particular thank you to Brendan Mulkere who is largely responsible for getting the band back together after all these years and to Niall and Sean Keegan of Limerick University for their work in releasing our 2006 CD ‘Lord Mayo’.
Also to our families and friends whose inspiration and encouragement helped us capture our music in this album.
Also available from Copperplate
Danny Meehan: The Navvy on the Shore
Kevin Boyle: Palestine Grove
Gerry Diver: Diversions
Press Reviews
Chicago Irish News
This group is a London-based quintet sent to us by Alan O’Leary at Copperplate Distribution and Promotions. Copperplate is the best and only handles the best. Le Cheile is wonderful. These guys make you feel that they are right there with you in an incredible session. They have a ball, and just play it ahead. Lay it out, and “Bob’s ‘yer uncle”. This is the stuff we all love. The vocals are not to be believed. Every now and then we hear an album and smile through the whole thing. This is one of those. Terrific, wonderful music. Bill Margeson
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Marcas O Murchu – Turas Ceoil
Turas Ceoil means a musical journey, a title that aptly captures the essence of this album which pays homage to the roots of the tradition, with tunes from as far back as the eighteenth century, while also looking to the future with new compositions by Ó Murchu. He is joined on the album by guest musicians that include Teada’s Oisin Mac Diarmada, Ben Lennon, Jose Climent, Sean Óg Graham, Gearoid Mooney, Seamus Kane, Ciaran Curran and Seamus Quinn.
The colourful CD booklet includes 24 pages of information about the tunes as well as photos of the musicians.
Ó Murchu is originally from Belfast but has been living in Derry for many years. He is a master of the rolling Sligo-Leitrim-Roscommon style of flute-playing. He is in constant demand internationally as a performer and as a music tutor. He teaches at many of the music schools throughout the country, including the Willie Clancy Summer School and the Frankie Kennedy Winter School. As well as being a musician, Ó Murchu also presents a music show on RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta every summer.
Turas Ceoil is his second album. His first, Ó Bheal go Beal, was released in 1997.
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.
Press Reviews
“Marcas Ó Murchu’s flute and whistle bristle with exhilaration … he makes joyful music that never reveals signs of force or haste nor loses touch with his love of the tradition”. – The Rough Guide to Irish Music
The Folk Diary
It is now ten years since Marcas released an album, ‘Ó Bhéal go Béal’, which had a huge impact on the traditional music community in Ireland. Ten years later another album of his mesmerising flute playing is bound to have a similar impact. As a young man, he met and learned from the great rural flute players in the Roscommon/Sligo area that his family originated from, so that we can still hear the influence of the likes of Josie McDermott in his playing.
One of the great things about his playing is that he is able to give the music a modern feel without in any way compromising the traditional lilt of
the tunes. The album is very carefully programmed with solo items in different rhythms mixed with Marcus working with a variety of different
settings, with the best track saved for the seventeenth and last; two delightful polkas.
Every single tracks bubbles with vibrancy on an album that stands as a type example of what can be done to make an album of traditional music exciting. This is outstanding stuff. Vic Smith
www.liveIreland.com
Few labels guarantee a great album, but Ireland’s Clo-Iar-Chonnacta comes close. Here’s another winner. Marcas O Murchu’s Turas Ceoil is just the best. This flute player has gathered some of the tradition’s great players around him, ranging from Altan’s Ciaran Curran on guitar and Oisin McDiarmada on fiddle to Ben Lennon on fiddle, with the great Seamus Quinn on piano. There are more, but the trad buff gets the drift. This album is really filled with the northwestern style of flute—you know the deal— Sligo, Roscommon and Leitrim. Polkas, reels and jigs abound. One complaint. There are only two airs, with one thrown overboard too quickly in favor of adding a hornpipe. We have long argued against recording a gorgeous air, only to have it turn half-way through into an uptempo piece of business. It is as if the musician does not trust the audience to cherish the air, hold it close to the heart, and make it a part of their soul. Rather, it seems to say, ” Okay, we won’t bore you any longer with this. We know what you want, hear comes some faster stuff.” Shame. BUT–that is only nitpicking! This is a great, great album by a master musician. Flute players the world ’round know about, and respect, this brilliant interpreter of the staccato, yet flowing style that marks his geographic style of playing. We are rapidly losing the regionally stylistic features of Irish traditional music for a number of reasons frequently described here. The point is that these styles can still be found, thanks to labels like Clo-Iar-Chonnacta, and true-to-the-bone musicians like Marcas O Murchu. This is a great album. Not very good, mind you. Great. Bill Margeson. Rating: Four Harps
£14.99
