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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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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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Lorcan MacMathuna – Rogaire Dubh
Personal Details of Lorcán Mac Mathúna
I have been singing sean-nós songs for the past ten years over which time I have regularly competed in and attended festivals throughout the country. I am on the organising committee of sean-nós cois life, an annual festival in Dublin which promotes this type of singing.
I have collected a repertoire of sean-nós songs through listening to the exponents (past and Present) of Gaeltacht areas from around the country. I am not biased toward any particular style or local repertoire of singing or songs. My repertoire comes from Connemara, and the three Gaeltachts of Munster. I like to think that I have my own approach to all of the songs I have collected and my rendition of sean-nós is customised to my interpretation of the empathy between the lyrics and mood of the music.
Like all sean-nós exponents I have built a relationship with the songs I sing my style of presentation reflects the story in the cadence of the music and phraseology. Songs which exhibit the potential for this include: Cath Chéim an Fhia, Tuireamh Mhic Fhinghin Duibh, An Clár Bog Déal, An Scailpín Draighean, Johnny Seoighe, Na Táilliúirí. The list could include many more.
Collaborating musicians
Caoimhín Ó Raghaille
Caoimhín has been described as an eclectic musician. He has a love of and very intuitive appreciation of sean-nós and identifies the patterns of the music with great sensitivity. He has already recorded a solo album and another in conjunction with Mick O’Brien entitled Kitty Lie Over.
Mick O Brien
Mick O’Brien is a name recognised in Irish music circles as one of the finest pipers of his generation. His albums include “Kitty Lie Over”, and ” May Morning Dew
Jane Hughes: Jane is a professional musician who works with the RTE symphony orchestra. She has been playing professionally for over ten years.
Helen Lyons: Helen is a young harper with a background in classical and traditional music. A fine exponent of the instrument.
Conor Lyons: Conor plays the bodhrán. He has played on tours with Comhaltas and with various bands as far a field as Lorient.
The CD: Introduction
The concept of the CD “Rógaire Dubh” has been in my head for many years but I never had the opportunity to explore its potential. However, an opportunity arose recently for me to work with two very good musicians (Caoimhín O Raghaille -traditional, on fiddle and whistle, and Jane Hughes -classical, on cello) who were flexible enough to try something completely new.
The opportunity arose because of a recital we did in Bantry this St. Patrick’s Day which was a sort of cross pollination of sean-nós singing and traditional and classical music.
It was my intention to work with musicians with both classical and traditional styles to present some, or, most of these songs with a backing that is compatible with the songs. Songs such as:
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Louise Killeen – Brilliant Tease
www.louisekilleen. com
Find me on: facebook (Official Fan Page)
www. reverbnation.com/louisekilleen
Produced by Ciaran Byrne & Bill Shanley, in the Cauldron Studio, Dublin. Engineered and mastered by Ciaran Byrne.
Guitars: Bill Shanley & Louise Killeen
Drums & Percussion: Danny Byrt
Piano, Hammond organ, Rhodes, Wurlitzer: Justin Carroll
Electric & Double Bass: James Blennerhassett
Brass & Strings: Gavin Murphy
Right hand man: Michael Manning
Thanks for all the hard work guys.
All tracks written by Louise Killeen
Press Reviews
Irish Music Magazine Sept 2012
So those reality song competitions can produce the goods. Louise Killeen apparently contested You’re A Star back in 2005 and based on this new CD of eleven self penned tracks it almost makes me sorry I did not view.
Louise from Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly defies categorisation based on this collection. One minute I am thinking Lobo, next I compare her to Clifford T Ward or even Fivepenny Piece (showing my age) and then I settle for just thinking this is her and she has a broad field of influences that are either conscious or unconscious.
She hops from the soulful to a lovely bouncy Charming Hands that lifts the spirits immediately. I love her use of that phrase “risk it for a biscuit”. In fact her lyrics have that excellent “true to life” feel rather than the usual “high faluting” phrasing so often used especially by new writers.
All the tracks without exception show a confident and very talented writer. But her voice makes her an even greater phenomenon. She is one of the easiest to listen to artistes I have heard in a long while and I would like to hear her sing a full concert.
Everywhere Out There is a lovely slow song filled with emotions and again using wonderful phrasing betraying a widely read artiste who has listened closely to the greatest singers and writers.
The title track is more upbeat again and sounds so realistic in its observations the listener feels as if they know the subject – Katie. Sadly Killeen provides us with the words on the insert but not the background to the songs.
The KVT Song is a documentary song about what one surmises is her home tavern and if so would be a great soundtrack if the pub takes on television advertising.
She ends the album with Starstruck and I am sure many of her listeners will feel just that after this CD. Let’s look forward to many more. Nicky Rossiter
R2 Magazine ***
Most promotional albums are fairly minimal affairs. If you’re lucky you’ll get a decent press release; if not there’s always the Internet. Louise Killeen’s album comes in a paperback-sized cover with a similarly shaped booklet and all the information you might need. Whatever the purchaser gets, I’m not going to swap.
Louise has been big in her native Ireland for about six years. She is open about her identity as a gay woman and that’s obvious from her lyrics-this is who she is and this is what she sings about. She’s backed by a small band that includes producer Bill Shanley, on guitar, and bassist James Blennerhassett.
The songs are fresh and generally upbeat even when they are confessional. ‘Ease Up On Me Dear’ is autobiographical and defiantly explicit while ‘Coalmines’ deals with pain and loss in a way that tries to put mistakes behind her while accepting the inevitability of repeating them. All that in two verses and a chorus!
I can’t tell if Louise is setting herself up as a role model but Brilliant Tease will certainly be seen that way. And if you’re not part of that demographic, don’t worry-it’s still a fine album. Dai Jeffries
Net Rhythms.com
The well-appointed press release and fulsome, glossy accompanying booklet augurs well for this record, which would seem to mark the debut on disc for this accomplished young singer-songwriter from Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly. But it’s kindof touted as her “coming-of-age album” so it’s hard to believe it’s a debut, since to a large extent Louise’s reputation precedes her, at least in Ireland, for she first caught the public’s eye with weekly appearances on RTF’s You’re A Star show as long ago as 2005, since when she has chalked up two prestigious songwriting contest victories.
Well yes, on the evidence of this 32-minute offering, Louise definitely has a talent for songwriting – and it’s songwriting of the upfront, refreshingly candid and laid-bare and often daringly no-holds-barred variety, which can be notoriously difficult to bring off but which Louise by and large manages with a generous helping of quirky wit.
But the problem with Brilliant Tease is that I can’t in all honesty endorse the extravagant claims made for Louise – the music doesn’t exactly “make you sit up and listen”, and her performing style, while suitably melodic and pleasingly sung, rather skates over the power of the lyrics, underplaying their import to an often infuriating degree. It’s all too bright and breezy, even on the heart-rending Not Yours and the would-be-touching power ballad Everywhere Out There.
The basic demeanour and character of Louise’s music, as a kind of love-child of folk and pop, harks back to the late-60s Denny & Strawbs (Ease Up On Me Dear), Judy Dyble (Coalmines) or the deceptively easygoing early-70s s/s like James Taylor (This Love). It’s all seriously radio-friendly, entirely likeable and listenable, but the companionable arrangements (modest gentle electric and acoustic guitars, organ, piano, soft rhythm section), though impossible to fault, seem altogether too tasteful (even polite) for the intended cutting-edge of Louise’s lyrics. David Kidman March 2012
The Irish World Newspaper
A UNQUE KIND OF ARTST: LOUISE KILLEEN’S BRILLIANT TEASE PROVES AN UNEXPECTED DELIGHT
Louise Killeen, a singer-songwriter from Shannonbridge, Co Offaly, first caught the public’s attention back in 2005, with weekly appearances in RTE series You’re a Star, when it became obvious she was a unique performer offering something a little different to the norm.
Her new album Brilliant Tease, produced by Ciaran Byrne & Bill Shanley in Dublin’s Cauldron Studio, confirms that talent with its fresh, adventurous, quirky spirit and honest, punchy lyrics – songs as full of intimacy as they are fun. Joining Louise (guitar) on ‘Brilliant Tease’ are Bill Shanley (guitar) Danny Byrt (drums, percussion) Justin Carroll (piano, Hammond organ, Rhodes, Wurlitzer) James Blennerhasset (electric and double bass) and Gavin Murphy (brass, strings).
Killeen grew up as a gay woman in a small town in Ireland, and is wonderfully open about her sexuality. Unflinching in how much her songs have her heart on their sleeve, this lady is one of those who it’s not an exaggeration to call an ‘artist’s artist’. Her Midlands roots can be heard all over her work, yet this album is not at all colloquial in reach. It’s brutally honest, and it’s utterly enthralling.
An intoxicating and confident blend of folk and pop, it’s not a surprise to hear her influences are strong, seasoned icons such as James Taylor and Simon & Garfunkel – though Brilliant Tease is very much forging its own path.
Luka Bloom said of her, “Louise Killeen is a unique Irish woman. She has a unique story to tell. On Brilliant Tease she tells her story with great honesty, great songs and a sweet production. It is more brilliant than tease, because it delivers.”
With two prestigious song-writing contest victories to her credit, Louise Killeen has already proven that her cutting-edge sound strikes a chord with people – and this brilliantly unique, coming-of-age album from one lady’s distinctive world-view should prove a refreshing addition to the music-lover’s collection.
You owe it to yourself to check this woman’s music out – in a year or two you can lay claim to discovering Killeen before the rest of the world did! Shelley Marsden.
Folk Words Web Site (February 13, 2012)
‘Brilliant Tease’ – accomplished song writing from Louise Killeen
Absorb these songs as they wash over you. Relax while they pull you into the warm velvet Louise Killeenembrace of pure, ecstatic, accomplished song writing. That’s what’s the tempting embrace of ‘Brilliant Tease’ from Louise Killeen offers the listener. There’s deep emotion, brutal honesty, eternal sanguinity and enthralling narrative encased in these alluring songs. Each one will haul you into Louise’s worldview of life and you’re hooked.
From the instinctive, primeval emotion of ‘Ease up on me dear’ to the inspired, penetrating lyrics of ‘Coalmines’ — ‘And we’ve been down, down together in the coal mines, Black from the lies that we let in’ — Louise demonstrates her lyrical skill. There’s a bouncy, energetic feel to ‘Easy Talk’, which again cuts a clear path with its incisive lyric, while ‘Everywhere out there’ displays a more wide ranging and sweeping style, the words still remain as sharp as ever. The eponymous ‘Brilliant Tease’ is another outing for Louise’s expressive wordsmith quality (it prompted multiple hits on the ‘replay’ button) well worth listening to again and again. The killer track, exceptional for its ability to reflect poignant distress ‘This Love’ exposes a palpable sadness — beware this song is melancholy in physical form.
Joining Louise (guitar) on ‘Brilliant Tease’ are Bill Shanley (guitar) Danny Byrt (drums, percussion) Justin Carroll (piano, Hammond organ, Rhodes, Wurlitzer) James Blennerhasset (electric and double bass) and Gavin Murphy (brass, strings).
There’s sadness, love, optimism, reflection and resilience wrapped around Louise’s songs. Nothing added that’s not required and nothing removed to reduce the passion. This album has the wings to fly — just watch it soar. You will find ‘Brilliant Tease’ on Louise’s web site or Reverbnation. Tim Carroll
The Irish Post 18.02.12
LOUISE KILLEEN is a singer/songwriter from the small town of Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly and Brilliant Tease is her terrific debut album. It is easy to see why she has won two prestigious
song-writing contests.
And in a business that can appear sometimes to be awash with mediocre singer/songwriters Louise’s
wonderful refreshing lyrics and catchy melodies stand out like a beacon.
Her influences are cited as artists such as James Taylor and Simon and Garfunkel and she has developed that classy easy but powerful vocal delivery that makes you listen to the words.
Growing up as a gay woman in a small Irish town, Louise is totally honest about her sexuality and her album is full of laid-bare lyrics that can alternate between fun and intimacy but always set to strong melody tastefully played by an excellent bunch of musicians. Recorded in Dublin and produced by Ciaran Byrne and Bill Shanley this is an album that will delight her existing fans but should also, if there is any justice, help establish her as a major artist.
Some tracks are already becoming radio favourites but my own personal choice would be Coalmines. This track has a gorgeous feel and is just a beautiful song of any genre. . Joe Giltrap
Fatea Web Site
“Brilliant Tease” is the new album by Irish singer/songwriter Louise Killeen. Louise is well-known in Ireland, having appeared regularly on RTE’s “You’re A Star ” programme. She has also won two national songwriting competitions and her talent is obvious from the songs on this album.
She pulls no punches in her lyrics. In the opening song “Ease Up On Me” she deals candidly with her sexuality which “Created such a scandal that my parents couldn’t handle ” in her “One track town ” where “Johnny’s out of luck, I’ve started checking out his sister”.
The majority of the songs are catchy, radio-friendly numbers. The lyrics are witty and interesting. “Charming Hands” for example, contains the immortal line ” If you’ll risk it for a biscuit, so will I “. “Easy Talk” has a reggae-ish backbeat and a catchy infectious chorus . The backing band play tastefully and understatedly, with some nice organ ,acoustic and electric guitar work.
Not all the songs are up-tempo. “Everywhere Out There” is a slow ballad which builds slowly to a string -enhanced ending and “Not Yours” is an emotional break-up song, with obviously heartfelt lyrics. The album closes with a humorous vignette about life at the local pub “KVT Song (Killeen’s Village Tavern)”.
It is clear that Louise Killeen is a talented songwriter who is not afraid to take risks with her lyrics. This is an extremely listenable album. If I had to make one minor criticism, I would say that the musical setting for her songs is, perhaps, a little too polite and restrained. Peter Cowley
RADIO WDCB Chicago
Louise Killeen has a wonderful voice. It is warm and immediately accessible. Open. Honest. What a wonderful talent! This is a major star in the making and we want to follow this young lady closely. Wow!
Frankobserver
LOUISE KILLEEN AND SUCH A BRILLIANT TEASE
Louise Killen hits the right note! Rarely but from time to time, a CD lands on my desk that isn’t resigned to the ‘coffee mat’ or coaster application.
I received such a CD from Louise Killeen. She was new to me but as always, I played it, expecting the usual mix of mediocrity which seems to be acceptable nowadays and sadly has become the norm. It dominates much of our viewing and listening.
However, the first track ‘Ease Up On Me Dear’ went by and I thought ‘not bad at all. I’m going to listen to more.’ By the time I reached track 3 — which I thought was called ‘risk it for a biscuit’ but that turned out to have the improved title of ‘Charming Hands’, I was beginning to get hooked. I played it twice more before I continued with the rest of the tracks.
Louise is from County Offaly in Southern Ireland and she is awfully good! Most of the tracks are outrageously catchy and everyone will have a particular favorite. ‘Our Katie’, ‘This Love’, ‘Everywhere Out There’, ‘Easy Talk’ — they grew on me like a beard on Santa Claus.
Brilliant Tease is not perhaps the best produced album ever but most of the arrangements are very good and classy. The lyrics are exceptional and it has the ‘feel good factor’. Although there is some melancholy sadness in some of the words, the mood is always optimistic and the album left me feeling a bit better with the world. And anything that can do that in these miserable times has to be a positive.
I understand Louise Killeen has won a couple of songwriting competitions and I’m not surprised. She is a wonderful talent. I have not had the privilege of seeing Louise play live but that day hopefully won’t be far away. Every radio station should be playing her material, especially the incredibly radio friendly ‘Charming Hands’ which stands up against anything else out there.
If you get a chance, listen to the ‘BRILLIANT TEASE’ and sit back and bathe in the talent of Louise Killeen.
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Luke Daniels – The Mighty Box
Since releasing my first solo album Tarantella in 1994 I have made many different recordings but began to feel the need to make another record of my accordion playing after starting to explore the interesting possibilities of an A and B flat tuned keyboard. I have not changed any of the keys of the tunes on this record but instead, have enjoyed using a range of new fingering patterns thrown up by thinking a tone higher than normal to produce the old notes.
I recorded the tunes with Junior Davey over two days at Doolittle recording studios Co Sligo in a playing marathon I am unlikely to repeat. As a result the playing is raw, spontaneous and full of life. I’m especially grateful to the contributions of Seamie O’Dowd and Dennis Cahill whose accompaniment and musicianship helped turn this feast of Irish accordion playing into a wonderful listening experience.
Press Reviews
www.liveIreland.com
Luke Daniels is one of our favorite button box players in the world, and has been for some time. He is out with a fabulous double album, entitled The Mighty Box. We first heard him years ago with the iconic, Reeltime. He stayed with us here in Chicago, and we also met him in Ireland for a couple nights at Reeltime founder, Chris Kelly’s home. Magic memories, now lost in the veil of history. At that time, he had been selected by the BBC as Young Musician of the Year. That was many years ago (enough that it would be indelicate of you to ask what specific year) again, all lost in the veil. However, he has gone on to wonderful things since then. He is a master of the traditional form and is also extraordinarily creative at the same time. An extremely gifted musician. If you love Irish button box, this album is a must. Be aware that there are stretches of trad perfection, accompanied by brilliant modern touches. This is magic. This is Luke Daniels. This is the best. Wow! Let us repeat, Wow! Bill Margeson
The Living Tradition Jan/Feb 2012
The title is a suitable description for the elegantly constructed white box housing the two CDs constituting this amazing magnum opus from accordionist Luke Daniels. The statistics themselves are astonishing to anyone familiar with recording work. 71 tracks (compiled from traditional Irish music manuscript collections, other contemporary musicians’ sessions and recorded output, and eight of Luke’s own compositions) amounting to almost 110 minutes of music recorded over two days at a studio in County Sligo in, as Luke self-confessedly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, puts it, “a playing marathon I am unlikely to repeat!”
The wide assemblage of tunes embraces strathspeys, reels, jigs, slip jigs, hornpipes, slides and other Irish tunes spanning over three centuries and resonant with wider Celtic echoes, Cape Breton in particular. The pieces, each of which is described in detailed tune notes based on research at the Traditional Music Archive in Dublin, are organised in an array of 24 tune sets that must assure Luke’s perpetual place in the pantheon of great box players.
Consistent agility, fluidity and dynamic sense characterise his playing of a button accordion with the keyboard tuned to A/Bb allowing him to present the traditional tunes in conventional keys but using intricate fingering patterns that provide a refreshing originality. His playing forms the foreground of a beautifully balanced soundscape with, equally consistently, excellent and empathetic accompaniment from, in the main, Seamie O’Dowd (guitars – steel strung, 12 string and resonator; harmonica and fiddle), Junior Davey (bodhran) Dennis Cahill (guitar and cittern) and Rick Foot (double bass). The recording has a very live feel and is of such a clear quality as to suggest the musicians are in the room playing for you!
This album is a truly great achievement by this ever imaginative, interesting and versatile player imbued with an innate sense of Irish traditional music and the wider Gaelic tradition but open to contemporary ways of reinterpretation and arrangement. Personally, I’ve a modest interest in the button accordion as an instrument but found myself in no way tired or distracted at relentless exposure to so much instrumental tune music. The intricate melodic detail and rhythmic intensity of the music is both magnetic and compelling; indeed I challenge anyone to listen to it and sit still! Kevin T Ward
Irish Music Magazine
There’s so much to absorb in the latest release from the highly accomplished box player Luke Daniels. The Mighty Box encompasses a staggering seventy one tunes in its double CD format that are an amalgamation of his own compositions, session derivatives and tunes sourced from traditional music archives. His Doug Briggs crafted accordion tuned to A/Bb explores intricate fingering structures that toy with the traditional in a fresh and invigorating manner.
This successful experimentation is strengthened by the able accompaniment of guitar stalwarts, Seamie O’Dowd and Dennis Cahill, Junior Davey on bodhran, bass player Rick Foot, percussionist, Gigi Bioclati and Victor Nicholls on tuba.
Each a master in their field, the album illustrates their ability to enunciate with precision whilst ensuring each tune flows to its own pace. A great example of this being the Australian Waters set where strings, percussion and box merge together with rhythmic clarity. Style and range are a standout in the Doodley Dank set where slip jigs surge into a slide taken from the playing of Sliabh Luachra box player Johnny O’Leary. I’m drawn to the variation in tracks ranging from the use of harmonica which, along with all the instruments, provides a funky introduction to the Rainy Day set contrasted with the subtleness of instrumentals partnering Daniels expertise on a lovely set entitled Patsy Geary’s Doberman’s Wallet.
The standout of this double CD is the fact that with so many tunes to immerse yourself in, with one instrument as the common thread, your attention could dissipate yet Daniels engages with a variety of style, ornamentation and contrasting instrumental accompaniment whilst showcasing his obvious expertise on the box throughout.
The Mighty Box is the work of a mighty box player. Enough said! Eileen McCabe
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Maranna McCloskey – At Last
Like so many, Maranna left her Dungiven home in 2001 to spend a year in Australia. On a visit to Fraser Island, she was moved to compose a song based on the aboriginal history of the island. Realising she missed writing and performing, she was prompted to record a 4-track EP and won two Irish American News ‘Top Tir’ awards: Best Female Newcomer 2002 and her own composition, ‘Fraser Island’ was named Vocal Cut of the Year 2003.
When she returned home, Maranna bought a house and joined the University of Ulster as a clinical trials technician. Even though domesticity beckoned, Maranna still harboured a desire to record a solo album. As luck would have it, she was invited to sing at a St. Patrick’s Day concert in San Diego with The Brian Baynes Band, Eric Rigler and The San Diego Symphony Orchestra – one of the leading orchestras in the US. Experiencing the buzz of the music industry again and feeling too young to ‘settle down’, she decided to sell her house to finance the recording of a full length solo album with producer Brian Baynes.
While Maranna herself admits that selling her house is a bit of a gamble, it is not a complete leap in the dark – “Having performed in front of receptive audiences all over the world, I knew that I had to take this risk. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to record the album, I wouldn’t have had the finance or the confidence – but now I know that I don’t want to waste my talents and I want to express sentiments that resonate with my audiences.”
This album demonstrates that as an artist, Maranna has matured into a songwriter of considerable depth and as a vocalist she has grown into her gift with new found confidence.
She says “It has been wonderful to have the opportunity to record some of my favourite folk songs as well as my own material and I hope I have created music that is universal in its appeal. I look forward to performing these songs to live audiences as it is truly exhilarating to see how an audience responds to my lyrics and voice.”
This album is the fruit of a lot of labour and represents Maranna’s growth and maturity. Touching, melodic, memorable, emotive – all words that describe, but don’t fully capture the sound of ‘At Last’.
Maranna will launch her debut album at two local venues in February 2008.
Friday 20th February 2008 at The Benedy Community Centre, Dungiven Tel: 02877742423
Thursday 26th February 08 in the Senior Common Room, University of Ulster, Coleraine
Her website is: www.marannamccloskey.com
Her myspace is: www.myspace.com/marannamccloskey
Press Reviews
Froots Aug/Sept 09
Maranna McCloskey stepped into precarious shoes when she replaced Cara Dillon in Northern Irish youth supergroup Oige in the mid-905. Since then Ms McCloskey has returned to academia,
working as a laboratory technician, but the occasional flutter of vocal activity has surfaced at times, including an impressive 4-track EP Fraser Island in 2003.
Now comes the Northern singer’s first solo album. Vocally, she resembles Triona Ni Domhnaill at times, her throaty strains emitting a raw sexuality on Going To Mass Last Sunday-the uptempo arrangement adding a forceful side to a song more usually suited to funeral paces. The Gaelic Ca Raibh Tu Ar Feadh An Lae Uaim, a version of Lord Randall, is seated in a genteel almost elevator
folk arrangement contrasting a bloody tale of patricide.
Materially, the mix of traditional ballads and contemporary self-penned songs, like the superb Fraser Island, largely cohabit peacefully but the overt pop of Our Last Embrace provides the sole
stylistic false move. Here the balance between Karan Casey balladic stylings and Andrea Corresque poppisms sits too close for comfort. However the local classics like Lonely Irish Maid and Verdant Braes Of Screen are given crystal-clear readings with subtle backings befitting her refined tones.
Obviously Maranna McCloskey will be compared to Cara Dillon vocally and stylistically, and ideologically the musical approaches aren’t too dissimilar. However Maranna’s clear vocals and command
of her material prove compelling enough to hold interest and her songwriting promises much.
For the moment. At Last should be filed under one to watch, but I feel her best work is yet to come. John O’Regan
Rock’n’Reel
Former vocalist of Oige (she replaced Cara Dillon), Maranna McCloskey offers telling evidence on At last to show why she was chosen to fill their former singer’s shoes. Opening with the euphoric
drive of traditional cut “Going To Mass Last Sunday’ also provides an indication of why she is the recipient of so many Irish music awards.
The gentle melodic sweep of Gaelic song ‘Ca Raibh Tu Ar Feadh An Lae Uaim” displays the beauty of both the language and McCloskey’s voice, while the joyful, heady acoustic rush of “Lonely Irish Maid” simply reaffirms what a class act she is. The stately maturity of “Fraser Island’ is perhaps the finest example of the album’s self-penned material, though the less than effective use of
keyboards on ‘The Cashel Air” slightly mars what is an otherwise fine collection of Irish folk music. Danny Moore
The Irish Post 12.6.09
Brave Maranna is on a winner with new album
MARANNA McCLOSKEY is a name to watch out for. Her album At Last was judged Vocal Album of the Year by www.liveireland.com which just happens to be the world’s biggest Irish music internet site.
The Derry-based lass has a beautiful voice and she certainty knows how to use it to full effect. A former member of traditional band Oige, with whom she played lots of festivals in Europe, this is her second solo album.
It is an album where traditional sonqs rest easily beside contemporary original material and that really is down to the combination of voice and production.It kicks off with a driving version of Going To Mass Last Sunday featuring some lovely uilleann pipe playing by Eric Rigler. Strangely enough my favourite track is Our Last Embrace which is one of four tracks written by Maranna herself and which features nice saxophone. That is what I mean about traditional and contemporary being comfortable side by side.
I am sure many musicians would say that self-belief can be both a blessing and a curse and given that Maranna McCloskey sold her house to finance this album I would say it is certainly a blessing in this instance.
I hope she manages to sort out some gigs in Britain in the near future. She is booked to appear at the prestigious Milwaukee Irish Festival in August and somehow I suspect that in the long-term her brave decision to fund her own recording will prove to be a good one. It certainly deserves to be. Joe Giltrap.
The Living Tradition May/June.09
McCloskey’s a young woman from Co. Derry with a good grounding in traditional singing, having won at various fleadheanna ceoil. Like many with this background she broadened her scope, joining the group Oige as replacement for her schoolmate Cara Dillon, before going solo.
The CD’s ten tracks include four of her own compositions. Her choice of songs is well made for her soft but firm voice, well ornamented without being florid. Tradition plays a large part here.
Her one song in Irish is new to me and I wish I’d heard it before this; it’s pure beauty. Her version of The Verdant Braes of Screen is much softer in tone than I’d sing it but better suited to a woman’s voice. I resisted the temptation to sing along with it; it wouldn’t have done the song or McCloskey any favours. I’ve not heard Magherafelt May Fair for many years and I’m pleased she included it; it brings back memories of happy times at home.
I’m not too happy about the tempo of Going to Mass Last Sunday; unrequited love needs a less jaunty treatment. And I’m sorry but I just didn’t understand her own song, Fraser Island. It’s about something bad happening in Australia but there’s no real narrative to it so I was left puzzled. Her slow air, The Cashel, named for her home townland near Dungiven is superb but I wish it had been longer; I was mortal sorry when it ended. Another one I’ll need to learn.
In the tradition of leaving the best till the last (track), her own At Last is a movingly simple affirmation of her religious belief. It’s short but says enough to make this born-again atheist think that the Devil definitely doesn’t have all the best tunes. I can easily hear it sung quietly and reflectively during Communion. All in all, this is a really good CD from a fine singer. Mick Furey
The Irish Democrat
THERE’S NO doubt that Ireland is blessed with a deep and rich well of musical tradition, one which continues to nurture a seemingly endless reservoir of young creative talent.
Derry-based vocalist and songwriter Maranna McCloskey , whose debut solo album At Last was released in February, is an example of such talent. The album features a mixture of traditional and original self-penned ballads, the latter given a more contemporary treatment by McCloskey and producer Brian Baynes. It also includes a single instrumental tune,
Cashel Air, composed in honour of her home townland.
Her sweet, crystal-clear vocals befit one whose ‘apprenticeship’ led her to capture three Derry Fleadh singing championships and a couple Ulster titles for good measure. Whilst still a student, she replaced her school friend and neighbour Cara Dillon in the popular Irish traditional group Oige, with whom she won many admirers. In 2001, she left her Dungiven home to spend a year in Australia – a trip which inspired her award-winning song Fraser Island, based on the isle’s aboriginal history. The song is one of three well-crafted McCloskey ballads on the album, the others being the parting song Our Last Embrace and the title song At Last, which quietly reveals McCloskey’s religious belief.
On her return to Ireland, McCloskey bought a house in Dungiven and got a job as a clinical trials technician at the University of Ulster. She looked set for a spell of steady domesticity. However, an invitation to sing at a St Patrick’s Day concert in San Diego with The Brian Baynes Band, Eric Rigler and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra put paid to that plan. In the end, the house was sold to finance the album. A bit of a gamble, but given At Last’s critical reception, it looks like one that she’s unlikely regret.
The traditional ballads featured include the delightful Cá Raibh Tú Ar Fleadh An Lae Uaim?, sung in Irish, To Mass Last Sunday, Lonely Irish Maid, The Home I Left Behind and Magherafelt May Fair. But, whether performing traditional or contemporary material, her voice is never anything less than honey-sweet and resonant.
For this reviewer, the juxtaposition of traditional with contemporary material gives the album a distinctly refreshing air, although I accept that the addition of saxophoneit and cello on
some numbers may not be to everyone’s taste. Whatever the style, praise is due for Brian Baynes subtle and masterful production, which provides the perfect setting for McCloskey’s beautiful vocal sound. Baynes also contributes guitar, piano, bass, keyboard, mandolin and percussion.
Other fine musicians featured on the album include Eric Rigler (Uilleann pipes and flute), Jon Szanto (drums), Mary Szanto (cello) and Gerard Nolan (saxophone). Some will recognise Rigler for his piping on the film Titanic.
After several plays I’m confident that we’re going to hear a lot more of Maranna McCloskey in the future. In fact, if I were a gambling man, I’d put my house on it. After all, she did. David Granville
www.folking.com
There are any number of female singers who peddle a blend of traditional and contemporary song, but few seem to strike the balance quite so well as Maranna McCloskey. Bland and clichéd traditional pastiche is firmly avoided on At Last, yet a subtle contemporary treatment is applied that doesn’t detract at all from the traditional roots that feature so proudly. What’s more, Maranna can actually sing. This may sound a little obvious, but what I mean is that she doesn’t allow her voice to wither in the background in a faux Celtic mysticism. When Maranna sings you enjoy the full palette of her soulful voice, subtly morphing to complement the nature of the song. In many respects Maranna could draw comparisons to the likes of Dolores Keane, in as much as she has something worthy to give to any song, regardless of its origin, though it is the sensibilities of the tradition that undoubtedly flavour her work. At Last was recorded in San Diego with a collection of American and Irish ex-pat musicians, and it’s this distance from home that takes the music in an interesting direction.
It’s to the tradition that Maranna turns to open the album, with a vibrant reading of “Going To Mass Last Sunday,” where the cadence of Maranna’s voice contributes as much to the playful pace as Jon Szanto’s imaginative percussion, or the racing uilleann pipes of Eric Rigler. This is followed with the complete contrast of “Cá Raibh Tú Ar Feadh An Lae Uaim?” (Where Have You Been All Day?), where Maranna turns in a sublime vocal, with a captivating clarity of enunciation. Mary Szanto’s cello and an elegant guitar arrangement from producer, Brian Baynes, bring added class, though the sheer beauty of Maranna’s voice is truly in a class of its own.
Maranna’s own songs certainly warrant further attention, aimed firmly at the discerning, contemporary adult music market. “Our Last Embrace” provides the first opportunity, with a committed vocal played alongside a sultry saxophone. “Hold me / Won’t you kiss me tenderly?” — I certainly wouldn’t have to be asked twice! “Fraser Island,” Maranna’s paean to the Aboriginal history of the island, is already the recipient of an Irish American News award following its inclusion on an earlier EP, and it’s not difficult to understand why this expansive lyric would attract such an accolade.
The crowning glory of the album for me is Maranna’s extraordinarily beautiful rendition of “The Verdant Braes Of Screen.” It’s not that there’s anything at all wrong with the sensitive instrumental accompaniment, but I’d love to hear the vocal track alone, just to be assured that it really is that beautiful! Maranna’s voice never sounds forced, never stretched, never false — she genuinely has a naturally effortless approach to traditional material, to which few singers could lay claim.
I genuinely hope that Maranna sets about spreading her magic further through the traditional repertoire. Mike Wilson
Irish Music Magazine, April 09
At Last it’s Maranna McCloskey
Bill Margeson brings us a story about another singing sensation from Dungiven, Co Derry
Derry”s Maranna McCloskey is just out with a brand new album entitled, At Last. For the people familiar with the talented alto’s singing, this will come as welcome news fully justifying the title of the album. It has been a long time coming, and it is already receiving solid reviews and airplay, as witnessed by the Dublin-based LiveIreland award for Vocal Album of the Year, 2009.
Maranna was born in the mid 70’s in Dungiven, Co. Derry. There is a musical pattern to her talent that begins in her childhood, and it is common in the Irish music scene. Musical backgrounds tend to produce musical talent. This is not as self-evident as it may seem, at least not in regard to Irish music. A musical family is the alpha hallmark in traditional music for
the overwhelming number of stars now on the scene in the music, and so it is with Maranna.
She began singing Irish traditional music at the age of seven, under the tutelage of her father, Tommy Gerard. There was also a musical mom, Lucy, the Kelly cousins and a host of friends guaranteeing that these songs, literally learned around the family fireplace, would be carried on and sung in the future. Derry is known for terrific singers. These family backgrounds are essential to understanding the continued membership in the traditional circle. Also common in these artists is early and frequent participation in the musical competitions known as fleadhs. Again, Maranna is no exception here, beginning her competitive efforts at the age of nine. Her list of championships is impressive, including three championships in the Derry Fleadh for English traditional singing and two champion trophies as winner of the Ulster Fleadh in the same category. Off to secondary school, Maghera College, where she was further encouraged musically and took up the silver flute, as part of a classical music education. “The theory and knowledge I gained there is so important to me today as I write music. It is really practical, ” she states.
Now, the pattern gets a little less clear, but not to worry-it all comes right in the end. Off to university to get a degree in-are you ready?—Biological Sciences. University of Ulster at Coleraine. But, as we said, not to worry. For it is at this time that Cara Dillon, she of last month’s cover story here in IMM, left the popular trad group, Oige. Maranna was immediately
asked to replace her, and Maranna’s warm alto provided a startling counterpoint to Cara’s soprano, as the group launched into a busy concert and festival period all over Europe.
The group’s only album, Bang On, featuring Maranna is still eagerly hunted by trad aficionados, as an example of her early work.
Pattern continues. After leaving the group following several years, Maranna decided it was time to take a career break from her scientific laboratory profession, and off she went for a year to Australia. Of course, it goes without saying that she continued singing in pub sessions and for friends. But, Australia, and a very close encounter with a crocodile beckoned, and the adventure began. While there, she wrote one of the tunes included in At Last, describing the magic of a place called Fraser Island. She returned home, and went to work for the University of Ulster as a laboratory clinical trials technician, whatever that is, please God—and earned a Master’s degree in Biotechnology. Another pattern emerges—the music never leaves her ears, heart or soul. Her voice, an incredibly warm and expressive alto, had drawn a lot of attention in the Oige days, and won her New Artist of the Year Awards for an EP she released in 2003, containing four songs, among them, Fraser Island -which also won her Composition of the Year from Dublin-based, LiveIreland. A St. Patrick’s Day invitation from San Diego, California of all places, arrived from Brian Baynes and his band to join them and piper, Eric Rigler with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in performance. Music fans may well remember Rigler as the piper for the film, Titanic. “It was such a thrill to be asked, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t wait, and counted the hours until I got on the plane—and the whole experience was even more wonderful than I could have imagined. It is such a treasured memory to me,” exclaims Maranna. In the performance, Brian was again captivated by her voice and knowledge of the tradition. Many cups of tea, lots of scones and hours later, At Last was planned and agreed to, including Eric Rigler’s eager participation. The album was worked on for the following year in Baynes’ Avoca Studio in San Diego, which saw Maranna flying back and forth to record the project. Along with a bumper crop of frequent flyer miles, the flights allowed the quiet time necessary to set everything in its proper place. “I came to love those flights. Lots of time and space, working on a dream,” she concludes.
Released at a packed debut event in Derry, the album is already making a mark. Also included is a beautiful air, written by Maranna entitled, The Cashel Air for the townland in which Maranna was raised in Derry. There are 10 selections on the album, including four penned by Maranna—including a redone version of Fraser Island. “Eric Rigler and Brian Baynes are geniuses. I am so thrilled to have this album onboard now, and can’t wait to start performing selections live for audiences. Now that it is done, it is all like a dream. All the costs and work and efforts have all come together. I am blessed, that is for certain.”
The album is deeply traditional in feel and ambience with classics such as The Home I Left Behind joining trad favorites such as Lonely Irish Maid and Going to Mass Last Sunday. Both of
the latter songs were learned from a favorite of Maranna’s, Rita Gallagher of The Frosses in Co. Donegal. Drawing a lot of attention also is the song, The Verdant Braes of Screen. Maranna learned this at the age of 10. It is a local song in Derry and refers to the town of Ballinascreen. A lovely tune, it tells of a man trying to seduce a woman of the town who knows the man not being exactly honest in his advances, as she believes him in love with another. “A Derry woman’s virtue is not captured so cheaply!” laughs Maranna. Many of the songs center on the
is geographic area, as they are of the area, as is Maranna herself. Magherfelt May Fair is named for a fair that still takes place in that town every May 1. The hymn-like At Last concludes the album—and is spiritual in tone, though the casual listener may think it simply a romantic song.
So, At Last. All of these influences, all of these experiences, ranging from a youth spent in the music, through influences like the revered Rita Gallagher, Dolores Keane, Cathie Ryan and Eddi Reader, world travel, Oige and even that incident, perhaps best saved for another time, with that Australian crocodile all result in this creation. American Public Radio calls her The
New Queen on the Scene. Surely those who love the rich alto tones featuring her warmth-and that is the only word for it, will agree. At Last, at last. Indeed. Bill Margeson
www.netrhythms.com
The golden-voiced Maranna, who lives in Co. Derry (Dungiven), is already a veteran fleadh singing champion and recipient of the www.LiveIreland.com Vocal Album Of The Year Award: some credentials, and well deserved by all accounts. Her latest album, At Last, marks an exciting new development in her career by showcasing four of her own compositions: these are mostly inspired by her personal observations of life, ancient legends and her own spiritual beliefs, yet they’re expressed in an accessible and non-exclusive language and as a bonus couched in a musically eminently radio-friendly language; Fraser Island is particularly beguiling, I find. The originals sit well alongside Maranna’s lithe, appealingly contoured treatments of traditional songs, which not only fully reflect the singer’s effervescent personality but also accord ideally with the musical settings. These are formed out of genial acoustic-based arrangements and centred around Brian Baynes’ crisp yet full-toned production, with his own guitar and mandolin and Eric Rigler’s uilleann pipes and whistles well to the fore, and set the seal on a decidedly attractive set. I do however find that due to the slightly over-poppy nature of a few of the settings (where Gerard Nolan’s saxophone is to the fore and a more insistent backbeat is employed), much of the record leaves a niggling impression of insubstantiality. It’s only 36 minutes long in total, and its ten tracks breeze by and leave little permanent mark beyond a feeling of a wholly pleasing half-hour spent in convivial company. Nothing wrong with that at all, but I still feel there should have been more to it somehow. David Kidman April 2009
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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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Mary McPartlan – Petticoat Loose
Mary McPartlan follows her multi award winning release of 2004, The Holland Handkerchief (Mojo Folk Album of 2004, Meteor nominated) with another blockbuster release, Petticoat Loose.
Mary McPartlan’s second CD, entitled Petticoat Loose, will be officially launched on February 21, 2008 at 8.30pm in the Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin. Mary will announce details of her upcoming Petticoat Loose tour shortly.
The new album from Mary Mc Partlan entitled ‘Petticoat Loose’ represents her association with many high profile artists in the traditional music world and her lifelong friendship with the poet and playwright Vincent Woods. With the assistance of an Arts Council Deis award, Mary pursued the project which culminated in a new body of work which includes six new pieces of music. Three songs were written by Vincent Woods and set to music by Mairtín O’Connor including the title track ‘Petticoat Loose’. Two old Irish pieces originating from her native Drumkeerin were set to music by Brendan O’Regan and a new song in the Irish language from Connemara, music and lyrics by Padraig Ó hAoláin, translated by Tim Dennehy.
The CD represents her close association with the NUI Galway ‘Orbsen’ choir and the Romanian string quartet in residence in NUI Galway, ConTempo. The crafting, development and recording of all the material comes from her long association with the multi-instrumentalist and producer Seamie O’Dowd. Many of the tracks on the CD are deeply personal in their lyrics and are autobiographical, representing her life to the present day in their poetic and political expression.
Artists appearing on Mary’s CD include Mairtín O’Connor, Brendan O’Regan, Gary O’Briain, Frankie Gavin, Cathal Hayden, Rick Epping, Eddie Lynch, Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh to name but a few. The impeccable backing vocals came from Ruth Dillon, Bernie O’Mahony, Mary Staunton, Gemma and Laura McPartlan and her daughters Mairéad and Meabh Noonan.
The album was recorded and engineered in Kenny Ralph’s Sunstreet studios in Tuam and is due for official release mid February 2008. There are thirteen tracks on the CD.
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.
Also available from Copperplate by Mary McPartlan: The Holland Handkerchief
Press Reviews
The Living Tradition Aug/Sept 08
Managing the transition from a successful first album to a second one isn’t easy. Performers, seasoned ones included, sometimes don’t get it right, some even falling by the wayside. Fortunately, this hasn’t happened to Mary McPartlan, for her new CD Petticoat Loose is simply splendid, and a step-up from its predecessor The Holland Handkerchief – which was impressive enough…
So why is this CD so good? Well, just mentioning here some highs from the thirteen tracks should give an answer. Mary’s voice is so versatile for a start. It’s very personal, opening with Vincent Woods’ song Sanctuary, celebrating her home place with its good and bad sides. Her voice echoes the old and the newer Ireland too, as in Cumha, (a Parting Sorrow) where lyricist Padraig Ó hAolain and translator Tim Dennehy have cleverly woven various Irish cultural signifiers into the text such as ‘the murder machines’.
There are other impressive tracks like the delightful Kiss The Moon, all about life and hope, and the similarly jaunty Sios Faoi Braoch Loch Aileann (Down By Loch Aileann Side); sticking with the Irish language, there’s likewise the splendid Caoine Sheain Mhic Searraigh (Lament for John McSherry). There’s Generous Lover’ magisterial and perfect for Mary’s voice, and there’s a beautifully produced Victor Jara; within this one, there are unspoken echoes of Mary’s own one-time beleaguered community. The title track, Petticoat Loose is yet another perfect vehicle for her with its complex arrangements and strange menacing lyrics. The CD has only one weak track, Lume Lume, a lugubrious Romanian drinking song. The sleeve notes talk of how the ‘exuberant strings’ of the musicians ‘let themselves go’ in this: sadly, exuberance and people letting themselves go is the last thing that’s manifested.
This issue leads to my one concern – the CD’s sometimes erratic sleeve notes, including poor proofing, eg Proinn Duignan and Prionn Duignan. Also, only some of the lyrics are printed, but not all. Why? The two Gaelic songs aren’t translated (and their local Irish is already difficult…) whilst Lume Lume’s words simply aren’t there, still less explained. Similarly, the notes veer from the insightful (“Mary can
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Micheal Hynes, Charlie Lennon, & Steve Cooney – Ceol Sidhe (Shee Music)
Press Reviews
Irish Music Magazine
A well-known Galway musician, piano accordionist in his youth and later switching to the concertina to save his back, Micheal O’Hynes has a sureness of touch and a fondness for the nuances of slower tunes which comes with a certain maturity. He also acquired a strong interest in more unusual traditional dance forms – clogs, strathspeys, flings, clan marches and the like – from his Clare and Galway parents. Many of these are to be heard on Ceol Sidhe along with more familiar reels and jigs such as Bunker Hill, Brennan’s, Rakish Paddy and Munster Bacon.
Micheal is joined on this impressive recording debut by adopted Galwayman, Charlie Lennon on fiddle and the well-travelled Steve Cooney on guitar. There are two of Charlie’s compositions here, and four of Micheal’s own: the rest are broadly traditional. The pace is restrained, but that only enhances the quality of this music. Like a fine malt whiskey, this album reveals more with time. And after all, as the title of Micheal’s delightful jig says, What’s the Hurry?
Ceol Sidhe, music of the magical and mischievous Irish faery folk, doesn’t actually include any of the numerous tunes attributed to fairy musicians – with one possible exception. The slow air The Enchanted Valley may be such a tune, ancient, modal, haunting on .solo concertina. Much of Micheal’s music is similarly magical, particularly his slow airs: faster Snow, The Wild Geese, Da Auld Resting Chair by the late Tom Anderson from Shetland, and a spellbinding version of Limerick’s Lamentation which progresses from march to jig to air. Green Grow the Rushes and Jimmy Lyons’ Highland are familiar as flings in Donegal, and continue the Scottish strand here, which culminates in as fine a pair of strathspeys as I’ve heard from Irish players. There’s also a great selection of hornpipes and clogs: The Tailor’s Twist, City of Savannah, The Locomotive and Charlie Lennon’s Salthill. Charlie features prominently on a superb pair of reels, Micheal’s Welcome to Charlie and his own composition The Twelve Pins – named after the pub in Finsbury Park, no doubt.
Grace and charm, musicality, and plenty of expression: that’s the music of Micheal O’Hynes. Alex Monaghan
www.liveIreland.com
Ceol Sidhe features Steve Cooney, Charlie Lennon, and Michael Hynes on guitar, fiddle and concertina, respectively. There are 19 cuts on the album, each more brilliant than the other. Believe it or not, there are only two sets of reels! This album is adults playing Irish music. Perfectly. Not 305mph, like so many of today’s children. If you love Irish traditional music, this is the perfect instrumental album. We know Copperplate in London has it. Bill Margeson
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