Harp
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Ailie Robertson – First Things First
Ailie Robertson Trio’s Irish Dates
Ailie’s performances in Ireland mark the latest steps in the 25-year-old’s career, which was launched in 2006 after she graduated with a 1st class MA in Irish Traditional Music Perfromance from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick. Her accomplishment there was such that leading Irish flautist Niall Keegan said: “Ailie’s synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp.”Since then, she has established herself as a teacher, composer and arranger — alongside a string of gigs around the world – this year has seen her perform in Scotland, England, Wales, Germany, France, Spain, USA and Canada!
And all of it stems from her love of the harp, which she first heard as a child in her native Scotland. Transfixed by its beautiful sound, she immersed herself in the traditions of Scots and Irish music — the jigs, reels, hornpipes and airs — which form the centre of her repertoire today. “I was born and brought up in Scotland, so there’s that heritage to draw on, but I did my training in Ireland, which influenced me in a big way,” she said. “It is such a beautiful sound, and people are always amazed when they see our performances at how versatile the harp can be. They always come up and say “I never knew the harp could do that!”. “I’m delighted to be returning to Ireland for this tour – I really enjoyed studying in Limerick, and have a huge love for the music and people of Ireland.”
“Ailie pushes the boundaries of harp technique in exciting but always intensely musical ways. The beauty, the poise, the pauses and the lyricism took my breath away. Robertson earns herself a place among the cream of Scottish musicians” – Taplas
BIOG:
Ailie Robertson: Clarsach
Ailie Robertson is a musician in the broadest sense: composer, arranger, teacher, improviser and ‘harp virtuoso’. Although just 24, she has some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. She holds a 1st class MA in performance from the IWAMD in Limerick, is a 5-time National Mod Gold Medalist, and was also a BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of
the Year 2008 finalist, 1st prizewinner at the inaugural London Harp Competition, and best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival. She has represented Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland, was awarded an ESU scholarship in recognition of her ‘virtuosic clarsach playing’, and was a winner of the New Roots award. She works as a soloist for Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now! program, and has given recitals at events all over Scotland, including performing for HRH the Queen. When not performing, Ailie is in great demand as a tutor and gives lessons and masterclasses all over Scotland and beyond.
‘Inspired genius’, ‘Innovative, assured, and beautiful’, ‘exquisite’, ‘a sure contender for new-comer of the year’, ‘irrepressible joie-de-vivre’, ‘a player of Ailie’s class has the ability to tear your heart out”.
It can’t be often that a Cambridge University graduate with a lst-class honours degree in Genetics decides to give it all up to pursue to her dreams of being a traditional musician,
but that’s exactly what harpist Ailie Robertson did three years ago. With a scholarship from the ESU in recognition of her ‘virtuosic harp playing,’ she moved to Limerick and took the Irish Music Performance course at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, graduating with a first class MA in 2006. Her accomplishment there was such that leading Irish flautist Niall Keegan said: “Ailie’s synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp.”
Ailie grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, and began playing the clarsach when she was eleven years old. Since then Ailie has been going from strength to strength as a professional musician and adding to some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. A four-time National Mod Gold Medalist and a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2008 finalist, Ailie also won first prize at the inaugural London Harp Competition, was judged best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival and won the St Albans New Roots award. She has represented Commun na Clarsach for Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland and played at two World Harp Congresses.
With her debut solo CD, First Things First, Robertson puts the harp within a line-up of guitar, bass, percussion and piano, showing that the harp can really stand out on its own as a solo instrument within a band setting. There are jigs, reels and polkas to get the feet tapping and prove that the harp can be just as fast and driving as a fiddle, while her slow airs have been described as ‘heart-achingly beautiful’. The album was recorded at Watercolour Music in Ardgour, with the help of producer Mary-Ann Kennedy and musicians Paul Jennings on percussion, Duncan Lyall on bass, Ewan Robertson on guitar and James Ross on piano.
Copperplate is very proud to have this title on our roster and to help it achieve its full potential will be supporting this release with a full-scale promotional mail out to media and retail. Please copy us on any reviews/ airplay or interest. Feedback welcome
You can find out more about Ailie at www.ailierobertson.com or www.myspace.com/ailierobertson
BBC Radio Scotland Young Trad Final Clips
You can find audio and video clips from Sunday nights young trad final here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/music/celticconnections/features/young_trad.shtml
Thanks to the BBC for their wonderful filming and recording!
‘Her synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp”.
Niall Keegan
‘Quite simply, this girl is a star’ — Norman Mitchell, Head of Music GWC
‘Your harp playing takes my breath away and makes me weepy! That’s a good thing! I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so beautiful in all my years’ – fan in Florida, USA
‘An act worthy of particular mention was Ailie Robertson, who played the harp so beautifully’ — The Unicorn Folk Magazine
‘Wonderful Stuff!’ — John Kirkpatrick, Bellowhead
‘Very sophisticated and accomplished
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Brendan Hendry, Paul McSherry & Nodlaig Brolly – Stringtones
www.liveIreland.com The Livies Awards 2012 Musician of the Year – Brendan Hendry
This Northern Ireland fiddle player defines what it means to be an Irish musician. His style and taste are impeccable, and nobody deserves this award more. A stunningly gifted musician as evidenced on his two albums so far, Stringtones and Tuned Up. His grasp of the music and soulful playing is what the Irish fiddle is all about. As with all the great musicians, when you hear this artist playing the fiddle, you are hearing Ireland. A master.
Press Reviews
The Living Tradition Jan/Feb 2011
Brendan Hendry – Fiddle, Paul McSherry – Guitars and Bouzouki, and Nodlaig Brolly – Clairseach, Piano and Vocals, have produced a very nice album of music and song.
Traditional and traditionally set items sit comfortably together in one of the best programmes of recorded music I have heard for a long time. Their repertoire includes songs, two sung in Irish, one in English,
reels, jigs, strathspeys, a slow air, and hornpipes. The songs are perfectly suited to Nodlaig’s slightly wistful voice, and the arrangements are very sympathetic to the mix of instruments.
Everything is faultlessly performed – these three musicians are very together. All three are new to me and so I know nothing of their backgrounds or influences, but based on the evidence of this CD they must
be wide and varied. Highly recommended. Danny Saunders
American Public Radio
What a great new album! More to come, as we will be playing it a lot.
This is great stuff. Sounds like the real deal to us!
Chicago Irish American Newspaper
Thhis is such a brilliant piece of music from one of the best musicians in the business. Wonderful stuff, true to the bone.Terrific follow up to his first album. Stringtones brings together Brendan Hendry on fiddle (excellent) , Paul McSherry on guitar and bouzouki in a very tasty accompaniment and Noldaig Brolly playing a lovely harp and piano, while singing beautifully. The whole thing has a real sense of class, style and real musicianship in the tradition.
LiveIreland.com
Another great piece of work from Derry and Brendan Hendry. Real trad played and sung perfectly. Oh! Such a tasty treat! Stringtones is one of our favorites of the 2010 albums. We trust Brendan Hendry and his fiddle to bring music of real quality. Here, backed by John McSherry on guitar and Noldaig Brolly on piano and harp, we have a real treat. We also really like Brolly’s voice. Great job all round!!!
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Eilis Kennedy – Time to Sail
Press Reviews
Mike Harding, BBC Radio 2 presenter 18.9.02
I think this is one of my albums of the year so far, because it’s got some of the finest versions I’ve ever heard of Crazy Man Michael, Lord Franklin and the Nic Jones song, Canadeeio. I want to play now what I think bar Sandy Denny’s version of Who Know Where The Time Goes. I think this is 100% gold.
BBC Radio 2 Folk Web Site
Kerry-born Éilís (say Aylish) Kennedy comes of an Irish family where both music and the Gaelic language were part of everyday life, a happy fact reflected in this debut album. Time To Sail was recorded in her home town of Dingle and features, apart from her own pure, natural voice, a ton of top Irish artists including Máire Breathnach (fiddle, viola), William Coulter (guitar), Virginia McKee (clarinet), Bruce Abraham (slide guitar) and Séamus Begley (vocal).
Subtle and lush arrangements woven around traditional songs in two languages are the order of the day. Most of the ten tracks have been round the block many a time but Kennedy reworks them with a freshness that belies any qualms of pastiche. The Factory Girl, bouncing along on Gregg Sheehan’s funky percussion, dives into two slide guitar and kalimba-drenched barn dances; gorgeous layers of cello and clarinet drive away any echoes of Sandy Denny in Crazy Man Michael and Who Knows Where The Time Goes; Black is the Colour’s characterful phrasing and spooky slide guitar/woodwind soundscape prevents it neatly from stepping on Cara Dillon’s justly acclaimed version. Of the less familiar material, two Gaelic songs in particular tug the heartstrings – Amhrán na Leabhar (The Song Of Books), an 18th century poet’s lament for the loss of a boatload of beloved books to the sea and a song of loves’ tribulations, Tá Mé ‘mo Shuí.
Whatever it is, that indefinable quality that raises one singer above the many in these days of talent glut, Éilís has it. A great debut from a major new talent, Time To Sail is making big waves on both sides of the pond. Let’s hope some UK gigs are in the offing – I hear she’s really stunning live. Mel McClellan – November 2002
Live Ireland Web Site Nov 02
What a discovery Eilis Kennedy is! We have been stunned by her debut album, Time To Sail.
Eilis lives in Dingle, Co. Kerry and runs a music bar with her husband John. Also a high school teacher, Eilis is currently on a career break. We are the lucky ones.
This album showcases a major new voice in Irish traditional music. Some of the country’s best musicians have gathered around to appear on this album. The guest list includes the likes of Maire Breathnach, William Coulter, Seamus Begley, and Bruce Abraham on a great slide guitar.
There are more. Here’s the point. This woman can sing. Really sing! A lot of the female voices currently heard in Irish music are very similar, and they must be listened to closely to hear any difference. The great ones–Triona and Maighread ni Dhomnaill, Cathie Ryan, Maranna Mc Closkey and Fionola o’ Sciochru can be identified by voice in a storm! Different. Clear. Strong.
And, now, we add Eilis Kennedy to that very special list. This is a wonderfully produced album, with a really striking cover. Lovely. Also on offer here is the definitive version of “Franklin”, the song about the 19th century explorer, Lord John Franklin, lost in a polar expedition in 1845. We heard Altan and others do this, but Eilis’ version stopped us dead in our tracks.
A gob- smacking stunner. Great other tunes–uptempo, ballads, airs, a really lovely mix. Get your mitts on this one! and be prepared to listen and fall in love.
This is an incredible new talent on the international scene following recent tours with William Coulter. WOW! Bill Margeson
Pay The Reckoning Web Site Review
A major new talent emerges!
Kennedy’s debut is a thoughtful, intelligent and well-balanced collection of songs (and the odd tune), delivered by a singer whose control, phrasing and ability to communicate are a delight and whose backing musicians provide tasteful and sympathetic arrangements which complement her approach perfectly.
Kennedy evidently has an affection for the material which emanated from the folk revival in England in the 60s and 70s, as four of the tracks on offer attest. Her version of Sandy Denny’s often-covered “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” in our opinion manages to surpass the fragile beauty of the original. Her rendition of “Crazy Man Michael”, another song which will be forever associated with Denny from her performance on Fairport Convention’s “Liege and Lief”, is yet another case in point.
However Denny is not the only troubadour of that era to inspire Kennedy. She manages to knock us for six with a poignant reading of the classic “Canadeeio” (which puts the versions by both Nic Jones and Bob Dylan in the shade). And still she finds time to resurrect, dust down and polish to a high lustre “Lord Franklin” – a song which John Renbourn and Jacqui McShee placed their stamp on many years ago.
Elsewhere you’ll find yourself tapping your foot along to the sparse (but dramatic!) “Factory Girls” – a nod to the song tradition “across the pond”. And you’ll be captivated by the Australian song “Andy’s Gone”.
Her version of “Black Is The Colour” invites comparisons to the recent revival of the song by Cara Dillon. The critics went wild over Dillon’s rendition on its release. However they hadn’t heard Kennedy at that stage and we respectfully suggest that anyone who rates highly Dillon’s reading of the song ought to give Kennedy a listen. Perhaps they’ll agree with us that Kennedy’s version is a much more characterful rendition.
Three songs in Irish complete the set. “Nead na Lachan” is a jaunty jig which serves as a great introduction to the album. “Amhran na Leabhar” and “Ta Me ‘Mo Shui” on the other hand are much more complex and moving numbers which show off Kennedy’s voice to great effect.
A mighty album, then! One which will find its way to your CD player time after time and whose nuances and subtleties will become more revealed on each playing.
Net Rhythms Web Site
I know next to nothing about Éilís, aside from the facts that she hails from Dingle in County Kerry and that Time To Sail is, astonishingly, her début album. It is a very fine collection, mixing traditional and contemporary material in a thoroughly engaging manner and with an equal affinity for either category of song.
Admittedly, the track-list contains some over-familiar titles — Lord Franklin, Black Is The Colour, Canadee-I-O and two associated with Sandy Denny (Who Knows Where The Time Goes?, Crazy Man Michael) — but it’s to Éilís’s credit that her versions of the vast majority of these turn out to be among the finest available (notwithstanding my personal hobby-horse about some spurious words in CMM); and I’d even rate Éilís’s version of Black Is The Colour (which closes the album in fine style) above Cara Dillon’s then-matchless reading of only a year or so ago.
Éilís is an exciting singer, who is clearly inspired by the texts she sings. She has a real flair for communicating expressively but not over-ornately, and possesses an enviable control of phrasing and dynamics. Her degree of accomplishment is uniformly impressive, on slower and faster material alike — her lightness and vocal control on the jig-paced opener Nead Na Lachan and the energetic Factory Girls contrasts well with the emotional impact of the Henry Lawson setting Andy’s GoneA-Droving, forinstance.
All of which makes it all the more surprising that her name was not previously known to me. She manages to be both moving and tasteful in her interpretations, and to this end she is aided considerably by her choice of supporting tone colours and accompanying musicians, which includes Máire Breathnach (fiddle), Virginia McKee (clarinet), William Coulter (guitar), Barry Phillips (cello) and Bruce Abraham (slide guitar).
This is a superb album, with a well-defined character and a stamp of real lasting quality, and a credit to all concerned. David Kidman
Folk Roots Magazine
Eilis Kennedy from Dingle Co Kerry is a quietly growing presence on Irish singing circles. Her debut album Time To Sail unveils a massively underrated vocal talent with a quiet mastery of her craft. Her voice is a thing of gentle sublime beauty, the like for which mothers would be sold and kings ransoms exchanged.. Her sweet, clear, and flowing tones make short work of demanding songs in both English and Gaelic. The material chosen includes some demanding songs from traditional epics Amhrán Na Leabhair and Ta Mé Mo Shuí, Canadee I O and Lord Franklin both hallowed pages from the Nic Jones and Martin Carthy songbook and Sandy Dennys seminal Who Knows where The Time Goes. While some of these approach standard status , Eilis not only handles these songs with care but also infuses them with a fresh buoyancy and relevance. . Two classic examples are Who Knows Where The Time Goes, a hard choice baring in mind the mighty shots Sandy, Judy Collins and Mary Black have had at this simple yet sublime allegory to Trevor Lucas. With William Coulters steel string guitar and Barry Phillips mournful cello, Eilis supple voice exhibits a steely yet reserved emotional strength. Likewise, Ta Mé Mo Shuí is equally minimalist in approach with her vocal performance shining in the quiet majesty of comfortable songs and arrangement. Its not all heavy weather though as Nead Na Lachain skips merrily along on waves of enthusiasm and a feisty percussive treatment of The Factory Girl mixes afro-American idioms with Irish vocal nous. Exhibiting a sense of restraint and care she brings a freshness to her performances suggesting comparisons with Kate Rusby, Bill Jones or closer to home Mary Black or Cara Dillon. Time To Sail is a work of gentle yet firm vocal majesty and adroit choice of material a sweetly beguiling affair the like of which falling in love with is not only just possible but inevitable.
The Irish Times December 2001
Without a lick of paint or a blast of fanfare, Eilis Kennedy ( one time member of the Melting Pot from Baile na nGall) has released a spectacular solo debut. Kennedy, a singer whose vocals need neither searchlight nor scaffolding to bore holes into the soul, belongs to a select company of singers (alongside Karan Casey and Virginia Rodriguez) possessd of the finesse of a seamstress and the precision of a neurosurgeon. Tá Mé ‘Mo Shuí straddles the folk/trad divide effortlessly, Kennedy’s guileless vocals hammocked by Barry Phillips’ perfectly-judged cello. Her re-working of The Factory Girl , funkily imbued with a new-found hip-swivelling optimism, gels startlingly with a pair of barndances that lift and seperate the sentiment and rhythms as though they were genetically engineered for one another. A magnificent collection. “. Siobhán Long, The Irish Times
Irish Music Magazine
Every once in a while, an album comes along which heralds a potentially, major yet underrated vocal talent. My first exposition to Eilis Kennedy and her debut album Time To Sail was through hearing Nead na Lachan sail through the radio waves, her clear sparkling voice and a clever arrangement made me want to checked out this Dingle based native. Now having listened to Time To Sail several times, my thoughts are unchanged Eilis Kennedy is an untapped major vocal talent waiting for the moment to shine. Why? For starters, she has a soft yet lyrical voice, which clearly sails through the albums ten, tracks and is equally at home with traditional and contemporary material. Some of the latter chosen is quite daunting including Sandy Dennys classic Who Knows where the Time Goes, Fairport Conventions Crazy Man Michael and Nic Jones s Canadee -i-o.
In the case of Who Knows where the Time Goes where lesser hands would have made a histrionic meal, Eilis interprets Sandy Dennys wistful allegory to her then lover Trevor Lucas with a quietly impressive authority and Canadee -i-o emerges as a fresh delightful performance. Where Eilis Kennedy scores is in the subtle arrangements framing her sparkling vocal chords and a tasteful choice in material. Time To Sails success is due to taste on all fronts- a gorgeous record no more no less.
Hot Press
Currently on furlough from a teaching career, this fine singer has taken her time in releasing her debut album. It has been quite a while in the planning, but is well worth the wait. An engaging mix of the traditional and comtemporary, it showcases to strong effect a warm voice and also a talent for picking damn good songs. The opening track Nead Na Lachan sets the tone; bouncy and full of movement, it demonstrates an easy relationship to rhythm. The real test of an album such as this
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Kathleen Loughnane – Harp to Heart
Press Reviews
Hot Press KATHLEEN LOUGHNANE HARP TO HEART
Acclaimed both as a solo player and for her work with the group Dordon, harpist Kathleen Loughnane has already made two fine solo albums. Affairs Of The Harp and Harping On.
Like its predecessors, Harp To Heart was co-produced by Loughnane with De Dannan’s Alee Finn. The arrangements are kept nicely varied, with Loughnane’s deft, precise playing always to the fore, as is only right.
A high point is her adaptation of the Allegro from Corelli’s Sonata XI, originally written for violin and harpsichord. Performed here on flute, whistle and harp, it loses none of its baroque elegance in the translation. EIGHTPOINT FIVE/TEN
Irish Music Magazine Dec 05
Many people will know Kathleen Loughnane from the all-woman group, Dordan, which she co-founded in 1990. Kathleen Loughnane is from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, and began playing the harp at an early age and has been based in Galway since 1982.
She has a particular interest in arranging traditional Irish dance tunes and airs for the harp and researching the music of the Irish harper composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Her arrangements for harp have appeared in several publications.
Her new CD “Harp to Heart” is her third album and features harping tunes from Edward Bunting’s collecting work in 1792 and tunes from the aural tradition. Kathleen says: “In the former case, I have tried to imagine how they might have been played had the tradition remained unbroken.” And isn’t that what we all wonder? How the harp music of the distinctive Irish harping tradition might have sounded two hundred years ago before it died out in the early decades of the 19th century. But however they might have sounded, and they were noted for their skill and dexterity, Kathleen’s playing is wonderfully fluid and full of ‘elegant musicality’, a phrase I once 1 heard an old man use to describe a musician’s performance.
Kathleen is not alone on this CD; with her are friends, Alec Finn (bouzouki, guitar, tenor guitar), Cormac Cannon,(uilleann pipes, whistles), and Martin Hughes (flute). Their ensemble playing is very pleasing and perhaps could be said to be evocative of the ‘big house’ gathering of musicians described by people like the Tyrone harper, Arthur O’Neill(1734-1818) in his memoirs. Paul Mulligan of Mount Scribe Studio, Kinvara, Co. Galway, is to be commended for his sound engineering and mixing skills; there is a delightful and satisfying clarity everywhere, not least in the balance he gets from the solo harp playing.
There are detailed notes accompanying this CD and they are full of useful and fascinating information. Take track 1, for instance, where Kathleen tells us that the tune,”The Two William Davises”, is heard both in Ireland and Scotland. “As an O’Carolan tune,” she says, “this is known as ‘Planxty Davis’, but it would seem that it was composed by his predecessor, Thomas Connellan, from County Sligo, Ireland.” And she adds that in Scotland, where Connellan spent some years, it is known as “The Battle of Killecrankie”. There are several other Carolan pieces,and with a musical nod of deference to the great man, there is even one tune called “Planxty Finn” which Kathleen wrote for what she says was Alec Finn’s “?th birthday”! Aidan O’Hara
“In 1792, Edward Bunting, then a young assistant organist at St. Anne’s Church, Belfast, noted down the music of the harpers attending the Belfast Harp Festival. These musicians represented a distinctive Irish harping tradition dating back at least to the 12th century. When, this tradition of harping died out in the early decades of the 19th century, Bunting’s collection remained as an invaluable record.
Continuity within the instrumental tradition as a whole would have resulted in the sharing of tunes and similarities in the manner of their interpretation. With the demise of the harping tradition, some of the tunes lived on in the repertoire of the uilleann pipes and fiddle, to be ‘minded’, to be developed and re-shaped.
But many lovely harping tunes remained on the page, the details of their nuancing and interpretation fading from memory.
On this CD I have included harping tunes both from Bunting’s collection and from the aural tradition. In the former case, I have tried to imagine how they might have been played had the tradition remained unbroken”. Kathleen Loughnane.
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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
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