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Kevin Crawford – Carrying the Tune
Lunasa flute player releases new solo album
Carrying The Tune is the latest solo album by Kevin Crawford. A member of the internationally acclaimed traditional Irish music group Lunasa, the ace flautist and whistle player has taken time out from his busy touring schedule with the band to record this new disc in West Clare. The album also features John Doyle on guitar and bouzouki, bodhran player Brian Morrissey plus Mick Conneely on bouzouki. Recorded by Martin O’Malley at Malbay Studios, Carrying The Tune contains fourteen tracks and is a joyful romp through an eclectic yet seamless collection of tunes that are sourced from both the deep well of tradition and from more recent compositions by the likes of Paddy O’Brien, Donal Lunny, Maurice Lennon and Crawford himself.
Born in Birmingham, England to parents from Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, Kevin Crawford’s early life was sound-tracked by the resonance of the lively traditional music scene in the midlands city. Moving to Co. Clare in 1989, he soon became a pivotal member of the effervescent session trail in the Banner county before enhancing his burgeoning reputation in the group Grianan and the trio Raise the Rafters. He then propelled himself to international recognition with Moving Cloud, with whom he recorded Moving Cloud in 1995 and Foxglove in 1998. Kevin joined Lunasa in January 1997 for a tour of Australia and has been ever-present in the group since. To date, the instrumental quintet have eight albums to their credit while Kevin has released two solo records, V Flute Album (1994) and In Good Company (2001). He joined fellow band member, piper Cillian Vallelly for a critically acclaimed duet album, On Common Ground, in 2009. The innovative flute player has appeared as a guest on several albums, including singer Sean Tyrrell’s Cry of a Dreamer (1994) accordionist Joe Derrane’s The Tie That Binds (1998). and American singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant’s 2010 release, Leave Your Sleep.
A year earlier along with his four fellow members of Lunasa, he performed on The Leitrim Equation. One of Kevin’s latest side-projects is the formation of a new super-trio, The Teetotallers alongside John Doyle and fiddler Martin Hayes. They have an Irish nationwide tour mid January 2012.
The music on Carrying The Tune is loving embraced and made anew through the mastery of Crawford’s technical prowess in conjunction with an informed passion for tradition. The overall result is an exuberant celebration of Irish music in its most innovative form. With sympathetic and inventive accompaniment by Doyle throughout and occasional contributions by Conneely and Morrissey, Crawford’s flute and whistle playing creates inspiring music that’s full of surprises sophisticated and completely accessible all at once.
Also available from Copperplate BOR 001 Kevin Crawford & Cillian Vallely: On Common Ground
Press Reviews
TRADCONNECT
The virtuoso flute and whistle player Kevin Crawford has gifted us once again with a superb exposition of the finest in flute and tin whistle playing with his latest solo album ‘Carrying the Tune’. His last solo album was entitled ‘D’ flute album (1994) so perhaps it is no coincidence that this latest album now features Eb, C and Bb flutes.
The album comprises 14 tracks, each containing lesser known tunes (the Hula Hoop reel anyone?) that now demand to be added to the common repertoire. Reels, jigs, airs, horos (yes I said horos) and self-compositions make up the tracks. For the most part the music is energetic, rhythmic and full of pace. However with the tempo turned down we also get to be carried away with sensitive and haunting sounds such as in his whistle rendition of ‘ The Dear Irish Boy ‘.
Crawford’s Grinter flutes purr like a cat, giving us a master class in tightly controlled phrasing, ornamentation and surgically delivered crans. Although a predominantly flute album, it is the measure of the man that his whistle tracks are on equal basis in terms of musicality and technical genius.
Recording standards are also being pushed to new levels. On Slippery Slope a combination of double and treble tracking is used. On the first tune in the set he has double tracked a counter melody line on the flute which drops out for the second tune leaving room for the bodhrán to shine. The third tune kicks in with three flute parts, one main melody flute and two harmony flute tracks basically playing thirds and fifths whilst sticking to the exact same phrasing as the melody line. Ingenious stuff and worth the cover price of the album alone.
Kevin is accompanied for the most part by John Doyle ( guitar/bouzouki ) whose steady and faithful rhythmic playing is a joy in itself. The accompaniment on Double Barrelled deserves repeated listens for its syncopated rhythms, again setting new standards.
Accompaniment is also provided by Brian Morrissey (bodhrán) and Mick Conneely (Bouzouki). Crawford’s latest creation joins the canon of great Irish traditional flute albums and comes highly recommended.
The Living Tradition
If you expect this solo album to resemble edited highlights of Kevin’s Lunasa career, you’re about half right. Fluter extraordinaire though he is, and a defining element of the best band in Irish music for a long time, Kevin Crawford has taken a step back from that intense modern trad vibe. A gentler mood prevails through most of Carrying The Tune, a return to simple arrangements of time-polished melodies. Kevin carries the tune alone: strings and drums are provided by Doyle, Morrissey and Conneely, but the front line is just flutes and whistles. Nothing wrong with that, certainly, and there’s few people better able to fill an album – plus there are none of Kevin’s terrible jokes and stories here. Instead, every minute is packed with the finest of Irish music.
Mostly Irish, anyway. In amongst the compositions of Paddy Taylor, Paddy O’Brien, Pat McNulty, Donal Lunny and Maurice Lennon are two tip-top Scottish waltzes from
Cunningham and Campbell, together with a Bulgarian horo picked up in Brittany. Kevin’s own fine compositions feature strongly too, of course – but only five of them, as he makes room for many traditional favourites.
He has a lovely light touch on John McKenna’s, and a hefty punch for Tom Dowd’s. The slow air The Dear Irish Boy is deeply moving on Bb whistle, and the twin whistles on Flatwater Fran are a clear echo of that great Lunasa sound. Kevin pairs whistle and flute, flute and flute, and mixes the keys from B to F. Its all first rate stuff, with several outstanding moments: Michael Hynes’ jig The Smithstown Jaunt, Willie Clancy’s slide, the traditional Ivy Leaf.
Crawford leaves the best to last, I think, as the three final tracks include a pair of fabulous slow reels, two perfectly crafted Crawford pieces, and the happy joining of a classic Irish air with a grand old reel. No fanfares, no fireworks, just flawless flute. Enjoy. Alex Monaghan
Hearth Music Web Site
This album has exactly what you’d expect from Kevin Crawford: rare and carefully sourced tunes, impeccable playing on the Irish wooden flute and tin whistles, tasteful accompaniment, and a modern edge to an old sound. Crawford’s best known as the Irish fluter in all-star ensemble Lunasa, and though a few tracks here have the kind of angular modern arrangements that made Lunasa one of the best and most in-demand Irish trad bands on the planet, most tracks are subtle, tasteful performances of purely traditional music. Carrying the Tune is an all-flute/whistle album, which can get a bit tiring, but Crawford’s one of the few who can pull off an album like this and make every track sound refreshing and different. It helps too that he’s got John Doyle on guitar. Doyle’s got quite the Midas touch in Irish trad today; everything he touches comes out golden. Together Crawford and Doyle are a formidable duo, and if you’re a big fat Irish trad nerd like me, I know you’re waiting very impatiently for the album from the new super-group The Teetotallers, which features Crawford and Doyle together with Irish fiddle genius Martin Hayes. But until that drops (and until you start your own blog to get a promo copy), we’ll have to content ourselves with this album. Actually, rumor has it that this album was intended to be a Teetotallers album, but schedule conflicts kept Hayes from joining Doyle and Crawford. Anyways, we’ll take what we can get, and this is certainly more than we expected! The liner notes here track the source of each tune, and the tunes range the gamut of Irish tune families (including two nice waltzes!), so there’s a ton of great material here for the budding Irish musician. And throughout there’s such a genuine love for the music that it’s hard not to fall in love too. In short, this is the kind of masterful album one would expect from Kevin Crawford. –Devon Leger
www.folkworks.org
In 1989, a young man from Birmingham, England moved to Ireland in order to concentrate more fully on his passion for Irish traditional music and most specifically, on the wooden flute. Instilled with a love and appreciation of Irish music and culture from his Irish-born parents, he quickly settled into the local session scene and a few short years later released his first solo CD. That young man was Kevin Crawford and the CD entitled simply, ‘D’ Flute Album, quickly became a classic of the Irish trad genre and required listening for Irish flute players worldwide. Crawford went on to join the band Moving Cloud, with whom he toured and released two albums. In 1997, he was asked to join the band Lunasa, replacing departing flute player Michael McGoldrick. Crawford’s addition to the then up and coming supergroup marked a turning point in the band’s sound and he has remained a driving force in the group’s arrangements over 7 albums as well as their frontman in concert. In 2001, he released In Good Company, an album of duets with favorite fiddle player friends, and in 2009 he collaborated with fellow Lunasa bandmate Cillian Vallely for On Common Ground, a duo album featuring Crawford on flute and Vallely on uilleann pipes. During this time, he continued to refine and expand his playing and the many years spent on the road and in the studio are highly apparent on his most recent offering, released in February of 2012. Carrying the Tune marks Crawford’s first return to the true solo album format since 1994s ‘D’ Flute Album and the wait, while long, has been more than worthwhile. Teaming up with Irish guitar phenomenon John Doyle, Kevin Crawford proves once again why he is one of the top Irish flute players in the world, and why he continues to be such an influence on the current generation of young Irish musicians.
Originally intended to be a Teetotaler’s album (a trio comprised of Crawford, Doyle and fiddler Martin Hayes) the project was quickly revised into a solo album when schedules conflicted. Mostly recorded over the short span of a few days, Crawford and Doyle recorded their tracks together live and then picked out what they felt to be the best performances of each track for the album. Later some additional bouzouki, guizouki and mandola were added by Doyle, along with some flute and whistle overdubbing from Crawford and some additional rhythm work from Mick Conneely on bouzouki and Brian Morrissey on bodhran. For the most part the overdubs are spare and this combined with the short recording period and rich, warm production value gives the album a lovely intimacy that is often lacking in the great wealth of trad albums now being offered.
The opening set of reels, titled McHugh’s/Michael Murphy’s/The Humors of Tullycrine, immediately dispels any uncertainties about what kind of an album this is. Crawford and Doyle are in top form as they effortlessly plow through a set of reels featuring Crawford on the Eb flute, soaring above Doyle’s driving, syncopated guitar. Indeed, perhaps in a nod to his original ‘D’ Flute Album, there is not a bit of ‘D’ pitched flute to be found on this recording, replaced by C and Eb flutes and D, C and Bb whistles. These differences in pitch from the usual concert D flute allow Crawford and Doyle to play with some interesting textures and tunings for the accompaniment instruments which further adds a very different vibe to the proceedings.
2 Days, the second track, consists of two slip jigs written by Kevin and originally pitched as a set to Lunasa. Vetoed by the band, the version here begins with some gorgeous textures set by Doyle on bouzouki and guitar with Crawford playing whistle and later layering in flute on the second tune. Lucky, Lucky Day, the second slip jig in the set, is a stunning tune that I predict will be making the Irish session rounds in the very near future and the tight, tasteful playing and chordal progressions make this track worth the price of the album alone.
Autumn’s Apples/Cormac O’Lunny’s/Paddy Sean Nancy’s is a light, straight ahead set of reels showcasing the two musicians’ obvious delight in playing together as the flute and guitar call and answer one another through one tune variations after the other. How many of these little bits of the musical “conversation” were planned out and how many were happy accidents in the studio we will probably never know but it is a wonderful track that nicely showcases two master musicians at the height of their craft.
Flatwater Fran/Mrs. Jean Cambell BSC is a set of waltzes, performed by Crawford on several overdubbed low F whistles and a low Bb harmony flute. For fans of Lunasa, this is probably the track that is closest in sound to the band’s now famous “low whistle trio” arrangements. The first tune is a composition of Scottish accordion maestro Phil Cunningham. The second comes from the playing of Scottish piper Rory Campbell and was originally recorded by the band Deaf Shepherd. I had not heard the tune in years and was pleasantly surprised as it is one of my favorite waltzes, and both tunes are given a wonderful life and quality here by Crawford and Co.
On an album that features primarily flute and guitar, even well played music can quickly become stale if the same formula is repeated over and over and Crawford wisely finds ways to avoid this problem without ever losing the essential momentum of the recording as a whole. I have long said that Kevin is one of the Irish music’s premiere air players and on The Dear Irish Boy he takes up one of the big standard pipe airs on the Bb whistle, infusing the tune with his usual sense of melodic taste and emotional clarity. The result is a truly haunting performance, supported by sparse but perfect guitar accompaniment from John Doyle. The two then continue on with a set of darkly rhythmic jigs, The Hole in the Boat/Sally Sloan’s.
The Slippery Slope may take my vote for favorite track on the album. Finely textured guitar opens this set of slip jigs with Crawford leaping forward on both melody and harmony flutes. I have always appreciated musicians who, while talented, restrain themselves from the absolute craziness you know they could ascend to if they wished, and instead choose to implement that prowess for just the right moments. Crawford exercises that tasteful restraint here though you hear his energy and enthusiasm bursting at the edges of his music until the track hits the final tune (a traditional Bulgarian ‘Horo’). He then unleashes several harmony flutes and, along with Doyle’s lush chordal arrangements, builds the track in intensity until the satisfying climax.
Repeal of the Union is a set of reels starting with the eponymous old piping tune before switching into one of the nicest and most interesting versions of the Ivy Leaf I have ever heard. This particular reel is oft played by many pipers and flute players and Kevin presents an interpretation that combines elements of many different versions of the tune while adding in various aspects of his own inimitable style.
Della the Diamond is a set of three tunes written by Crawford, each for a member of his family (mother-in-law, sister-in-law and wife, Tracy, respectively) and it provides a wonderful example of his tune writing abilities. This is one of several tracks that feature bouzouki player Mick Conneely. Conneely plays a Greek bouzouki with 6 strings and his style is very reminiscent of Alec Finn’s classic approach to the instrument. You would think that his rolling, old school playing on the bouzouki would clash with Doyle’s very modern, syncopated style on the guitar but in fact the two very different accompanists mesh perfectly on this track, providing a sure and measured textural net underneath Crawford’s lilting whistle playing.
The Hula Hoop opens with a jig written for a neighbor and snooker rival of Kevin’s and it is another example of his gifts for hiding subtle musical ‘winks’ in his playing. The tune takes some unexpected variational paths, replacing legato phrasing with a staccato phrase here and there and is a testament to the sheer joy and love of playing that is inherent in this album. The set then shifts gear into a reel and churns along to the solid, neatly locked rhythms of Doyle on guitar and Brian Morrissey on bodhran.
The album ends appropriately with the air Ag Taisteal na Blárnan (Travelling Through Blarney) on the low C flute, once again displaying the ease and understanding with which Crawford presents slower melodies. The air is then followed up by one last reel in the form of the session favorite, Come West Along the Road.
Kevin Crawford has said that this album was meant to be primarily about musicality rather than showy technique, and this choice becomes more and more evident upon both first and repeated listenings. The technique and pyrotechnics are there, but they never get in the way of the melody and there is a excitement and playfulness to his music that grabs the listener from the first note. All in all, this album succeeds brilliantly because it takes no shortcuts in how it presents the material. Talented and inventive musicians with a deep respect for their craft and tradition coupled with a simple approach to the arranging and a stellar production make this CD a must have for fans of the genre and for Irish flute players especially. Zac Leger
Folkworld 47
Kevin Crawford of Lúnasa fame is taking a break from the band’s hectic touring schedule. Together with the help of John Doyle on guitar and bouzouki and occasionally Mick Conneely on bouzouki and Brian Morrissey on the bodhran, Kevin recorded 14 tracks that weren’t meant to become part of Lúnasa’s repertoire, though I see no reason why not. It’s a party, it’s fresh and innovative as we knew it from Lunasa – though more stripped down here, of course. I love the nice slip jig set of Maurice Lennon’s “La Ollamh” and Donal Lunny’s “Lucky Lucky Day”. There’s a pair of lovely waltzes, Phil Cunningham’s “Flatwater Fran” and Rory Campbell’s “Mrs Jean Campbell (BSC),” and before finishing off Kevin throws in a couple of his own original jigs. The highlight though is in the middle of the album, the song air “Dear Irish Boy” followed by two jigs with a total lenght of seven minutes. For sure, Kevin Crawford can carry a tune. Great traditional Irish music, not only for flute afficionados!
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Liam Kelly – Sweetwood
Sweetwood is the name of the area in Co. Leitrim where his father hails from, and Sweetwcod is the name of Dervish flute-plijyer Liam Kelly’s debut album.
Celebrating his twentieth year with Dervish, one of Ireland’s most successful traditional-music group.s, which Liam co-founded in 1989, Sweetwood is a culmination of thirty years of
flute and whistle playing and of his experiences in travelling the world, meeting people and playing music.
He cites Matt Molloy, Seamus Tansey and Mary Bergin as major influences.
Sweetwood includes a lament written by Liam entitled ‘Sweetwood’.
Liam is performing at the flute concert at the Willie Clancy Summer School on July 7th and this summer is performing with Dervish in Stuttgart, New York and California.
Sweetwood will be launched on July 24th in The Glens Centre, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.
Sweetwood is Dervish flute-player Liam Kelly’s debut album. Celebrating his twentieth year with Dervish, one of Ireland’s most successful traditional-music groups, which Liam co-founded in 1989, Sweetwood is a culmination of thirty years of flute and whistle playing and of his experiences in travelling the world, meeting people and playing music. Sweetwood includes a lament written by Liam entitled ‘Sweetwood’ and a tune co-written with Dervish bouzouki player Michael Holmes, ‘Bethnal Green’, which recalls their time in London.
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Mick O’Brien – May Morning Dew
- Statia Donnelly’s/ I Will if I Can/ Patsy Geary’s
- Higgin’s Hornpipe/ The Cuckoo’s Nest
- Kerry Reel/ Kerry Fling/ Joe Bane’s
- Bumper Squire Jones/ An Sean Duine/ O’Sullivan’s March
- Caslean an Oir/ Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back
- May Morning Dew/ Sporting Nell
- Micko Russell’s/ Moneymusk
- An Rogaire Dubh/ Connaughtman’s Rambles/ Cailleach an Airgrid
- The Strawberry Blossom/ The Honeymoon
- Johnny Cope
- Farewell to Miltown/ West Clare Railway/ Sporting Molly
- Humours of Lisheen/ Tom Billy’s Fancy/ Humours of Kilkenny
- An Buachaill Dreoite
- The Camaronion/ Greenfields of Rossbeigh/ Connaught Heifers
Press Reviews
Irish Music Magazine
Concert and flat pipes, whistles and Flutes not only demonstrate Mick O’Brien’s great instrumental versatility, but also make a fine job of the challenge of presenting yet another fine piping album…award this piper his pedestal and to prove that the Uilleann pipes can still do what they were designed for; self accompaniment of a primary melody. Fintan Vallely,
Hot Press
May Morning Dew is a snapshot of the best in trad music with not an inch left over for ego. Get your record shop to stock it and put it on their play station and you’ll be seduced utterly. Siobhan Long, 11 out of a possible 12
Evening Herald
May Morning Dew offers an interesting selection of tunes played in an easy unpretentious style with tasteful accompaniment by fiddler Terry Crehan and producer Garry O’Briain on Mandocello and Keyboards. This recording is one the nicest packages I’ve seen in a long time, beautifully designed with lovely photography and detailed notes. With
Terry Crehan: Fiddle
Mick Giblin: Guitar
Gary O’Briain: Mandocello & Keyboards
Seamus Brett: Piano & Keyboards
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Mick, Louise & Michelle Mulcahy – Reelin’ in Tradition
Following their outstanding 2005 recording Notes from the Heart on the Cló Iar-Chonnachta label, Mick Mulcahy and his daughters Louise (26) and Michelle (24) are back with a new album, Reelin’ in Tradition.
If their first album was a revelation for the rhythmic and beautiful Mulcahy sound – as well as the virtuosity across several instruments of Michelle and Louise – Reelin’ in Tradition presents a new level of musicianship exploring their collective repertoire.
Mick Mulcahy from Brosna, Co. Kerry, recorded two accordion albums on the Gael-Linn label in 1976 and 1990, and, while he always played music at home, he never had to try to get his children to play as they quickly found their own way to it.
Louise and Michelle both started on tin whistle. At age 10 Louise moved on to the flute and as a teenager began playing uilleann pipes. Mick recalls driving Louise to Dublin from their home in Limerick every month for a year for lessons in Na Píobairí Uilleann. Louise recently guest-presented the TG4 traditional-music show Geantraí.
Michelle started playing the accordion aged six and surprised everyone when she asked for a harp at age ten. She subsequently took up the fiddle, piano and concertina. Michelle was TG4 Young Traditional Musician of the Year in 2006 and recently featured on Riverdance composer Bill Whelan’s new album, The Connemara Suite, on a piece for harp and orchestra which he wrote for her.
Mick, Louise and Michelle Mulcahy regularly perform in Ireland the USA and have an unmistakeable, infectious sound. As Martin Hayes writes, ‘I first became familiar with the music of Mick Mulcahy from his first solo recording… I remember that both my father and I felt that his music had a great depth of feeling. That same feeling that first made an impression on me has been handed on to his daughters and continues all the way through this recording.’
Also available from Copperplate: CICD 160 Mick, Louis & Michelle Mulcahy: Notes from the Heart
Press Reviews
The Folk Diary 4.10
The previous album of this family of traditional musicians from County Limerick in 2005 did to an extent sound like Mick and his daughters, but it is clear that here the three have equal status. In fact the album is at its most impressive when the three of them are playing at full pelt; Mick on button accordion, Michelle on concertina, fiddle or piano. Louise on flute, uillean pipes or harp. There is that
close understanding that comes from talented blood relations playing together
and jointly their music really soars.
They have a carefully chosen programme drawing on tunes from all over Ireland and they show their ability to demonstrate region variations in style, particularly when it is the lovely Sliabh Luachra polka style.
The tracks led by individuals don’t have quite the same spark as those featuring all three and the least successful are the harp tracks. It is clear that Louise is a very fine harpist, but the recording here is a bit unbalanced and does not do her justice.
As on their previous album there are two accompanists; Tommy Hayes on bodhrán and bones and Cyril O’Donaghue on bouzouki but the recording balance keeps their contributions very much in the background
to favour the superb melody playing. Vic Smith.
2009 TOP 10 TRAD RELEASES in Ceol Column in The Irish Echo newspaper, New York City
“Reelin’ in Tradition” by Mick, Louise, and Michelle Mulcahy (Clo Iar-Chonnachta CICD 180).
It’s not fair. No three family members should have the abundance of musical talent that Mick, Louise, and Michelle Mulcahy of Abbeyfeale, West Limerick, have. On this, their third album together (“The Mulcahy Family” and “Notes From the Heart” came out in 2000 and 2005, respectively), the Brosna, North Kerry-born Mick Mulcahy on C#/D, B/C, D/D#, C/C#, and D button accordions joins daughter Lucille on uilleann pipes and D and E-flat flutes and daughter Michelle on harp, concertina, fiddle, and piano for a largely familiar repertoire that’s freshly and impressively played. Earle Hitchner
www.liveIreland.com
The Livies 1.1.2010
Instrumental Album of the Year
Reelin’ in Tradition by the Mulcahy family is the easy choice. The album is being handled by the unequalled Alan O’Leary out of Copperplate Distribution in London, and he handles only the best. The Mulcahys won this Award with their last album, and we suspect they will again with their next album! Mick, Michelle and Louise are the real, true deal. Michelle is best known for her harp work, Louise for her uillean pipes and father, Mick for his button box. But, Louise and Michelle seem to play every instrument ever made—and they play them perfectly. Indescribable. We’ll settle for the word, ‘fabulous’ and leave it at that. If you love trad, and you do, why would you not have this album? Every note perfect. Instrumental Album of the Year. Bill Margeson
www.liveireland.com
So, with this rambling in mind, I received the new Mulcahy family album from the best promoter and distributor in the business, Alan O’Leary of Copperplate in London. Michelle Mulcahy, sister Louise and father, Mick have done it again. This time, it is called, Reelin’ in Tradition. Mick holds forth on the accordion, Michelle and Louise on every other instrument in the tradition. Does it do to tell you that Michelle was teaching master classes in the Irish harp at the age of 18? That, at 16, Louise was in the very forefront of uillean pipers? See, for you, after all these years, the hope is that you find a critic or writer in whose taste you trust. Our pal, Jimmy Keane—himself the best piano accordion player in Irish music
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Neansai Ni Choisdealbha – Draiocht na Feadoige
Press Reviews
The Living Tradition Jan/15
Well known in lreland and beyond as a broadcaster, Nancy Costello shows herself here to be an equally ?ne fluter. In a generous 21 tracks, she covers a wide range of lrish music from session tunes to slow airs, on flutes and whistles, joined by some excellent accompanists and other musicians.
The title of this CD might translate as ‘Woodwind Wizardry’ and that would be no great exaggeration, although Nancy has no pretentions to be a Finnegan or McGoldrick.
She breathes life into these tunes though and it’s the warmth and spirit which really comes across in her music, with enough technical skill to make her playing seem the most natural thing in the world. Most of these tunes are ones l often play myself, being a whistler, so l have to take a step back from the familiar and try to be objective.
The material here comes from the heart of the tradition, well loved but sometimes neglected melodies. John Brennan ‘s and George White’s Favourite are great old reels, not heard so much in sessions these days. Tommy Mulhaire’s Jig is another rarity, but Condon’s Frolics is currently in favour. A set of polkas rolls beautifully off the fingers – no slides though. There are some exemplary hornpipes here too: The Navigator is a politically correct title and The Swan is rather less well known. Oiche Nollaig is a tune which is usually only heard for about one week a year, which is a shame. Redican’s Mother; The Skylark, The Green Mountain and The Lark On The Strand are all welcome as old friends. Lorna Hunter’s Reel puts a name to a tune for me, and Nancy’s Reel is a composition of Michael Hynes who joins Nancy here to play it. Fiddles, button boxes, jaw harp and the pipes of Nancy’s mentor, the iconic Meaiti Jo Shéamuis, provide duets and an occasional kitchen session sound, but most tracks are flute or whistle solos with deft accompaniment.
Slow airs and waltzes are plentiful, some of them true solos. Taimse im Chodhladh, An Buachaillin Ban and Ballyvaughan Bay come from the lrish repertoire, while The Duchess Tree, Westering Home and Scottish Lament have crossed the North Channel at some stage.
Alter more than an hour of fine music, Nancy launches into the pair of challenging reels, Colonel Rogers and Happy Days Of Youth, before a final house céili on four reels from Patrick’s Night to Ormond Sound. Warm, spirited and inclusive: The Magic of the Flute is a charming album which will bring a smile to the face of any lrish music fan. Alex Monaghan
R2 Magazine Nov/Dec 14 * * * *
Nancy Costello is one of the foremost’ broadcasters on RTE Radio na Gaeltachta, where she was appointed Head of Music in 2010.
Originally from a Gaelic-speaking part of Galway, a small locality that has always been renowned for tradition, Nancy was first encouraged to play music by her parents.
Accompanied by some excellent musicians, including Michael Hynes, Johnny Connolly and Eoin O’Neill, The Magic of the Flute is a varied collection of jigs, reels, hornpipes and airs, led by Nancy on flute and whistle. The playing and arrangements are solidly traditional.
Nancy is a very capable flautist with a rock-steady rhythm. Her version of the C reel ‘Swinging On The Gate’ is beautifully played, with each rolling triplet adding to the flow of the tune. Likewise, Nancy is similarly adept on the whistle, as her excellent playing of ‘The Sweep’s Hornpipe’ demonstrates. The majestic slow air, ‘Taimse lm chodladh is na duistear Mé’ (I am Sleeping, do not awaken me) is, for me, a highlight of the CD. Here Nancy nicely decorates the melody and plays with true emotion.
Draiocht Na Feadoige translates as the ‘Magic Of The Flute’, which is a very fitting title for this lovely CD. Keith Whiddon
www.liveireland.com
One of my favorites is by a terrific flute player named Nancy Costello from the Connemara in Ireland. The title: The Enchantment of the Flute on Clo Iar-Chonnacht. There are 21 cuts of fab fluting. Good heavens, this girl can play. I’m going to suggest that you get to the Clo Iar-Chonnacht website or Alan O’Leary at Copperplate Distribution in London to get this. Why? For some reason, this cd has the title, ‘Draiocht Na Feadoige’ by Neansai Ni Choisdealbha. Good God. That translates to Enchantment of the Flute by Nancy Costello. The title cannot possibly help sales, and that is a shame. All 21 tunes here are played impeccably in a gorgeous style. Nancy is a master musician. We will be playing this a lot on our LiveIreland show to help introduce this wonderful talent. Part of the fun will be to try to pronounce it. We can hear the purists calling in now. This is a terrific album, and qualifies Nancy for serious consideration as Female Musician of the Year. Bill Margeson
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Oisin MacDiarmada – On the fiddle (ar an bhfidil)
Press Reviews
Irish Music Review
One of the brightest young stars in the panoply of Ireland traditional music, this is fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada’s third album, though the first to bear just his own name. First came, in 2000, the sparkling Traditional Music on Fiddle, Banjo & Harp, recorded with banjo player Brian Fitzgerald and harper Micheál Ó Ruanaigh, followed earlier this year by Oisín’s band Téada’s self-titled debut album, also on Ceol Records. However, Ar an bhFidil (‘On the fiddle’) tops the lot, fully confirming Mac Diarmada’s position as a wonderfully adept and evocative musician.
Oisín’s early years were spent in County Clare where he learnt his first music before the family moved to South Sligo where he took lessons from the notable fiddle teacher, Paddy Ryan. Now noted as a music tutor in his own right, and still only in his early twenties, Oisín’s playing on Ar an bhFidil creates a relaxed confection of the music of Sligo and Clare, topped with the delicacies of an astounding technique given full expression by the sheer imagination of his tune settings. His playing of the slow air Bean a ‘leanna, associated with the late Connemara singer Joe Heaney, simmers with an unrequited passion. Jigs and reels are threaded with an innate merriment and, above all, Oisín has the power to invest very familiar tunes, such as The Lark in the Morning with new life fashioned by the pure merriment in his playing. Thoroughly enjoyable throughout, this is unquestionably an album that merits repeated listening.
The Living Tradition Dec/ Jan 2004
This is really good fiddle playing by a 24 year old who’s got more talent than many older fiddlers. Moving from Clare to Sligo as a lad must have done something for him because he has a mixture of both styles as well as his own personality stamped on his playing.
He wrote his own concise but thorough sleeve notes giving due credit to the players he got the tunes from and they show the wide range of the players who influenced him, Coleman, James Morrison, John McKenna, and Ennis (of course).
He seems to be able to change style as easily as changing key, from the old Clare style of the first track, to the 1920s James Morrison/ Michael Coleman tracks on The Tap Room/The Kerryman’s Daughter, via John McKenna, Josie McDermott, Denis Murphy and Ed Reavy. Yet throughout, he puts his own style of playing on every tune. In some ways, his ability to do this is reminiscent of Frankie Gavin in one of his mischievous moods.
There’s a good mix of tunes, mostly well known but with rarities like a Seamus Ennis version of The Lark in the Morning that’s not often played now. Reels predominate, of course, but ther are single and double jigs, hornpipes, and Leitrim style polkas too. A big surprise is The Strayaway Child, composed by Maggie Barry (who’s become known as Margaret lately), that Michael German used to play But the big one for me is The Morning Thrush, composed by Seamus Ennis’s father James. I’ve never heard anyone else but Ennis play this, and Mac Diarmada makes a great fist of it. It’s a great pipe tune that deserves more playing.
My old friend Paddy Ryan wrote the introduction to the CD and says at the end that he can highly recommend it. I sometimes disagreed with Paddy in the past, but not this time. This is great music, well played by a fine young fiddler. I look forward to his next release. Mick Furey
Irish Music Magazine April 2003
Of late, there seems to have been a trend among traditional musicians of a younger generation to move from fiery blistering pyrotechnics to more mellower and laid back means of musical expression. By that, I mean players are engaging themselves with the details of the music and it’s manifold subtleties rather than kick stepping their ways to oblivion. Martin Hayes is one such example and on this showing, Oisin MacDiarmada is another.
Oisin MacDiarmada’s debut solo album, Ar an bhFidil typifies this laid back approach. MacDiarmada’s fiddle playing is rooted in the Sligo style. While the frantic wildness of a Michael Coleman is evident on, The Tap Room, he is no idle speed merchant. He favours the low-fi approach with the music speaking for itself; the result is a warm natural sounding album.
Ar an bhFidil revels in the small dry sounds so beloved of Television’s, Tom Verlaine on their seminal Marquee Moon album. This is low-key traditional music, yet rich in character, subtlety, and individual strength. The 17 tracks on show augurs well for the purse strings along with a plentiful supply of notes for each track detailing source musicians and other details. We aren’t talking encyclopedia type documentation, but enough for the casual reader to get the gist of what’s going on, and yet nail the vital facts down.
The accompaniments are also sparse with a minimum on one extra instrument whether, it’s piano, flute, second fiddle or bouzouki – the balance between featured protagonist and guests is just right. Add to that, a concise production from Harry Bradshaw and this becomes one well thought and enacted affair. Ar an bhFidil is a work of discernment and quality, check it out. John O’Regan.
Claddagh
A very pleasing trait of some current young musicians is that quite a few of them are happy to play in the way their antecedents played; one thinks immediatly of the Kane sisters, Harry Bradley, Martin Hayes. Oisin MacDiarmada is another such. He has the lonesome touch, and quite a few of the tracks are totaly unaccompanied. Where accompaniment is used, it is not as an offensive weapon, and throughout. he proves that he is not just a very fine fiddler, but a young man with an understanding of exactly what the music means. Yet another very worthwhile release in a year that has provided us with many great recordings.
Hot Press November 6th 2002
This debut solo CD by 24-year-old Sligo fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada opens with a superbly confident set of tunes played without accompaniment, full of lovely raw scraping double-stops and rolls. Elsewhere on the album, Séamus Quinn contributes a bouncy piano to a few tracks, a set of reels played by Mac Diarmada on the whistle has bodhrán backing from Tristan Rosenstock, and several others feature bouzouki or guitar accompaniment; there are also a couple of fine duets with fellow fiddler John Carty. Mostly, though, it does exactly what it says on the tin – pure traditional fiddling, raw and unadorned, and all the better for it. The album was produced by RTÉ’s Harry Bradshaw, who’s done a beautiful job at keeping the sound natural and letting the tunes take centre stage. Sarah McQuaid. Nine out of Ten.
The Irish Times (Irish Newspaper) September 26th 2002
Fiddle music for folks who like their trad infusion unadulterated. Oisín Mac Diarmada, Sligo fiddler and member of young turks téada, is already on his second solo run, and how his pace has slowed – but admirably so. Ar An bhFidil is exactly what is says on the tin: a stripped down sally (back and) forth through the Sligo tradition. Duelling and duetting with fellow fiddler John Carty on the set of Michael Coleman jigs, Jackson’s Morning Brush/The Rambling Pitchfork, Mac Diarmada’s playing is feisty and earthy at the same time. Not afraid to let the fiddle’s hoarseness seep through, this is a player who cajoles his instrument through nooks and crannies in the tradition that lesser players would avoid. Lonesome magnificence.
Siobhán Long**** (4 stars)
The Irish Examiner (Irish Newspaper).September 26th 2002
In traditional music, as in other forms, solo albums are rarely what they claim to be. At a minimum, musicians like to use the safety net of an accompanist. Other players are added, sometimes in a perfectly valid attempt to recreate some fondly remembered session. When the process is taken to extremes, the leading player is often relegated to the background. In his new album, Ar an bhFidil, Oisín Mac Diarmada sets a brave course.
This is a solo fiddle album and, on many tracks, solo fiddle is exactly what we get. When he moves beyond the strictly solo format, it is in the company of another melody player – John Carty on fiddle and Damien Stenson on flute. Or in tandem with a single accompanist – Séamus Quinn on piano, Seán McElwain on bouzouki, Tristan Rosenstock on bodhrán and John Blake on guitar all take turns. Mary Brennan’s Favourite kicks off, slow and steady. The pace picks up for The White Leaf, but the velocity remains on the leisurely side. John Carty joins for the jigs, Jackson’s Morning Brush/The Rambling Pitchfork, and the hornpipe/schottische Peter Wyper’s/The Killarney Wonder. The two players meld wonderfully. Mac Diarmada shows another part of his musical personality in switching to whistle for the reels The Flannel Jacket/The Maid That Dare Not Tell. The Cisco Hornpipe and Walsh’s Hornpipe are taken at a strolling pace, which allows both the music and the musician room to breathe. The Morning Thrush – written by Séamus Ennis’ father James – is a beautifully clear and expressive slow reel. A jokey piano line introduces The Tap Room, pushing forward to the point of interference. In contrast, the bouzouki background on The Rainy Day is unobtrusive.
Ar an bhFidil is warm, rich music that combines a high level of technical skill with a sense of humour. Pat Ahern
Pay The Reckoning Web Site
Pay The Reckoning was captivated by Teada’s recent offering and so we were excited to hear rumours that Oisin MacDiarmada, the band’s fiddler, was in the process of putting together a solo recording. Well, folks, the patient wait is at an end and the results of MacDiarmada’s time in the studio have surpassed our high expectations.
MacDiarmada proves himself yet again to be one of the most sensitive and soulful fiddlers around. The album’s design, simple and straightforward, reflects his own approach to his craft. MacDiarmada isn’t a man for pyrotechnics, he doesn’t batter a tune into submission and then bends it to his will. His is a more subtle approach; he gives the tune room to develop in a seemingly organic way, so that his ornamentation and embellishments seem natural, unforced.
However, as any musician will tell you, such apparently natural ease with a tune is the product of two elements – natural talent and hard work. MacDiarmada has no end of the former and has no fear of the latter. The result is pure magic!
MacDiarmada’s knowledge of, and captivation by, the music of the 20s and the 30s (the “golden age” of Irish music, as some have dubbed the period) is worn proudly on his sleeve as he gives us versions of a number of tunes and sets on the album which were recorded by such legends as Coleman, Morrison, John McKenna, Patsy Tuohey and Paddy Killoran. However, you mustn’t get the impression that MacDiarmada’s an academic. His interest isn’t so much in the history of the tunes as their timelessness and his playing of the tunes represents a reawakeneing rather than a resurrection.
There are moments of savage, soulful (there goes that word again) perfection on this album. His playing of “The White Leaf” – a version of the more widely known “Mason’s Apron” – is so elementally powerful a sound as to cause the listener to wonder how one tune can express at the same time such extremes of joy and melancholy.
On the polka set “The Merry Girl/Charlie O’Neill’s”, MacDiarmda lays claim to Sligo/Leitrim influences. But to our ears, the latter tune in particular sounded as if it was being played by the ghost of the long-dead John Doherty (and we know of no higher compliment), so refined was the blend of dazzling technique and sheer emotion.
The reel set “The Flannel Jacket/The Maid That Dare Not Tell” is of interest in that MacDiarmada shows us another aspect of his musical ability as he gives both tunes an airing on the whistle. Accompanied by Tristan Rosenstock on inventive, yet rock-solid bodhran, the “spare” feel of the track conjures up an atmosphere which a more busy production could never capture.
And so, throughout the album, MacDiarmada, along with various musical sparring partners (Seamus Quinn on piano, John Carty on fiddle, Damien Stenson on flute, with guest cameos by fellow Teada members Sean McElwain on bouzouki, John Blake on guitar and Trisan Rosenstock on bodhran), lays out his stall of mighty talent, a great ear for a tune and a great feel for capturing mood.
However, even amid all the excellent music which MacDiarmada provides, his solo version of “The Strayaway Child” stands out as a defining moment of the album. Played to great effect by Kevin Burke in his Bothy Band days, MacDiarmada nevertheless manages to inject the tune with so much of his own feeling that it’s difficult to imagine it ever having been played by anyone before and almost impossible to imagine anyone else ever doing the tune justice.
A massive album. Honest, passionate and quietly defiant. You’d do well to visit http://go.to/copperplate and get yourself a copy. And while you’re at it, grab hold of a copy of Teada’s debut!
Live Reviews
Teada Live Review
The Herald (Scottish Newspaper) April 25th 2003
The name, like k d lang’s, is determinedly lower case. It’s pronounced “tay-day”. It’s Irish for “strings”, and it might be advisable to get used to it because there was a feeling of portent as pronounced as a poteen hangover about this gig. The band are young – how young you can guess by the news of teada’s bodhran player’s absence due to exams – and maybe it was the novelty of having an accordionist make up the quartet, but loathers of football clichés look away because I’m going to use one: this was a game of two halves – bloody good and bleedin’ marvellous. The first established the group’s liking for variety of metre and arrangement, pairing off for fiddle and flute duets, and employing numerous other instrumental permutations, from solo to quartet. It also confirmed that, in Oisin Mac Diarmada, teada have a fiddler of quite starting old-head-on-young-shoulders ability. You could hear centuries of tradition and doubtless long hours of dedication in his sweet and graceful melodiousness. If at times, then, his colleagues seemed to be playing catch-up, later they were right on the pace, adding richness and precision on banjo, bouzouki, box, and flute. Flautist John Blake, English-accented but Galway-based, takes stick for his origins but brings natural aptitude and technique on tunes, and in doubling upon guitar he offers harmonic invention and real drive. One complaint might be their one song per set ration. Mac Diarmada sings well, interestingly, and with feeling, and might do even more so with some practice. But with such quality of musicianship and attention to a tune’s essential shape, they’ll so as they are for now. Rob Adams
Teada Live Review
Edinburgh Evening News (Scottish Newspaper) April 24th 2003
Edinburgh’s Ceilidh Culture programme continued last night as young Irish band Teada brought their classic Celtic credentials to town in their debut Scottish gig. Now a five-piece outfit since the recruitment of accordion player Paul Finn earlier this year, Teada were shorn of their bodhran player Tristan Rosenstock, back home in Dublin preparing for his finals, but, in his absence, the band, with Oisin Mac Diarmada leading on fiddle and excellent vocals certainly passed this test. Traditionally Irish but with a punkish edge to their style, Teada, which is Irish for strings, genuinely enjoy their music, and their repertoire had enough shifts in pace and style to keep the band, and their audience, on their toes, raucous one minute, sensitive and serene the next, traditional Irish music with attitude. Seemingly playing well within themselves in their first set, with an intriguing mix of reels, jigs and hornpipes, the band cut loose in a second set that got one encore, but could have received several, such was the reception they received. Mac Diarmada is a real talent, his fiddle-playing of the highest order, but with a distinctive, almost discordant edge to it, and his Irish vocals were full of Irish passion. Teada, however, are no one-man-band, and with banjo/bouzouki player Sean McElwain offering subtlety and style, Finn on accordion and John Blake on guitar and flute, they are a refreshing addition to the genre. The highlights were the numbers in celebration of the piping tradition shared on both sides of the Irish Sea, and the hornpipes, especially Tom Connor’s and Mayday, and reels such as Teetotaller and Billy McCumiskey’s showed the versatility of Teada goes across the spectrum of Irish music. Teada are a tight, traditional Irish band with something quite intangible to separate them from the rest, and if there is a better new band on the Emerald Isle, then they must be very, very good. Mike J. Wilson
Customers Comments.
I was having a few tunes with Marcus O’Murchu this evening, (as you do) & he happened to have a few copies of this new CD about his person, so I took out one of those crisp foldy things & exchanged it for Oisin’s brilliant new CD – fair exchange is no robbery.
It is lovely piece of work, from this highly accomplished young musician, who is confident enough to play many of the tracks without any accompaniment, & his playing stands up beautifully on it’s own, a joy, especially for Fiddlers, to listen to.
He is joined by John Carty on a couple of tracks for some super double Fiddle magic. Seamus Quinn comes in on a couple of tracks on Piano, while Sean McElwain does the same on Bouzouki, John Blake lends a hand on Guitar on one track & Tristan Rosenstock accompanies Oisin’s whistle playing, on Bodhran, on track No. 5.
Paddy Ryan writes about how ‘the music is tastefully played by a musician who knows his art form. He has a deep understyanding of the richness & beauty of the music & an innate ability to interpret a good tune.
The imaginative tune settings, the intricate variations & technical mastery, & the full-bodied, sweet tone are the hallmarks of his superb musicianship. His style is very distinctive & very personal with influences from Clare & North Connaught showing through. This recording encapsulates the artistry of Oisin MacDiarmada as a top class Fiddler. The music flows with clarity & fluency, & the rich variety of tunes displays his extensive musical range.’
Paddy concludes by saying he ‘can highly recommend it’. Well I concur, it’s a beezer, & if your a Fiddler, it will be added to your collection, sooner or later, mark my words.
One wee gripe, & it’s nothing to do with this CD, or it’s incredible music, which is sure to delight all who are fortunate to listen to it. It’s just that since James Morrison’s Orchestra recorded this tune in the 20’s, & someone miss spelt the name, nobody has since checked up, they just copy the fault. For anyone interested, take out an atlas & find Aberdeen, on the NE coast of Scotland, now travel due west until you come to the village of Monymusk – not Money Musk. OK – you have now been warned!
Posted on August 30th 2002 by PtarmiganSligo fiddle-player Oisin Mac Diarmada, at 24 years of age, is an honours graduate in Music Education from Trinity College, Dublin. In addition to widespread performing activity whish has brought performances in venues and festivals throughout Europe and the USA, Oisin is respected internationally as a fiddle tutor and his journalistic, lecturing, examining and production work. He is fast becoming one of the most exciting young musicians on the traditional music scene, his playing on a previous release, CICD144 Traditional Music on Fiddle, Banjo and Harp (available from Copperplate) was described by renowned music journalist, Simon Jones as “so sensitive it’s enough to make grown men cry”.
Now, performing with exciting young traditional band, teada, who have released their highly successful debut album (available from Copperplate) recently, Oisin’s performances bring a strong flavour of the rich Sligo tradition of fiddle-playing, together with what fiddler/ researcher/ broadcaster, Paddy Ryan describes as ” a deep understanding of the richness and beauty of the music, and an innate ability to interpret a good tune”.
On this new release, Oisin predominately features traditional Irish fiddle-playing in a pure, solo context, performed in a uniquely personal and traditional style with flavours of the great Sligo fiddle tradition. Additionally there are a number of tracks which separately feature artists of the calibre of John Carty, on fiddle, Seamus Quinn on piano, Sean McElwain on bouzouki, Damien Stenson on flute, John Blake on guitar and Tristan Rosenstock on Bodhran.
We at Copperplate will be supporting this release with a high profile promotional campaign and full-scale mail out to media and retail sectors. Feedback always welcome. Thank you for your support.
£14.99
