Irish Music Magazine - April 2000

Ireland

The Contender Returns

Tommy Fleming is back from a near fatal accident, ready to tour Ireland and the USA, with a new album, The Contender, to be released this month, you can say he has bounced back big time. Jim Kelly reports.

No Drought in the Well

The Chieftain's Return to their Roots. George Houde of the Mountjoy Writers Group catches up with the Chieftains on the release of their new album.

A Whisper from the Wild

Christopher Evans looks for the Celtic soul in Maire Brennan's latest solo recording.

The Whirlwind from Cork

Jim Kelly catches the breeze with Philip King, this man is a maelstrom of musical plans and projects, find out what he's up to now.

Hidden no More!

Ita Kelly meets Galway based concertina player, Jacqui McCarthy, her new album the Hidden Note has been a long time in gestation and it's now ready to join it's older siblings on Galway's small but beautiful independent label - Maree Music. 

Scotland

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
With a special two page listing of Scottish Traditional and Celtic Festivals, interviews with Gibb Todd and Simon Thoumire, reports on the Gaelic Women project and the background to a major new TV series Eirinn is Alba.

Europe

FADO FADO
Sean Laffey reminisces with Kay McCarthy, a lady who has long since left Mullingar for the delights of the cosmopolitan Mediterranean.

North America

Standing Firm on Dangerous Ground

For Seamus Egan, the past year has perhaps tested him as never before. Earle Hitchner speaks with the gifted instrumentalist and composer about the honours he received and the challenges he faced, including a six-month commitment to write and perform the music for a major new Irish dance show.

The Chicago Irish

The real spirit of the holiday, or anything to do with Ireland in America really can be found Wednesday nights in a converted school on Chicago's Northwest side. Mike Danahey reports

Regulars

Up and Coming

Alan Brown meets Leo McCann, a bright box talent with his finger on the button

Tin Whistle Tips with Darragh Patwell

This month we look at a reel to see where you can add some sparkling variations, along the way you'll come across the strangest fingering pattern.

The Story Behind the Tune

It might be the Dawning of the Day to most people; it might even be Raglan Road, but as John Brophy explains it started life in the mountainous lake studded country around Killarney.

CD Reviews

A four page selection of CD Offerings brought to you in association with HMV.

Subscriber Offer

Subscribe to Irish Music Magazine and get your copy posted each month, the first new fifty subscribers will receive a copy of the highly regarded Sliabh Notes Album.

Coming Soon

Look out for forthcoming issues of Irish Music Magazine which will include Lia Luachra, Paul Brady, International Festivals Special plus the long awaited Readers Poll for the forthcoming Irish Music Magazine Awards.

Editorial

A few weeks ago I took myself off to the pub for a quite night out. Just a pint of plain and a bit of conversatior, no kids (bless 'em) nor telly, not even the rasp of horsehair across catgut. So there I was, sipping the black through the cream and casually listening to the conversations happening around me. Three older lads were discussing the merits of open tuned banjos (ah well we are Ireland and music will always be on somebody's mind). At another table, I caught a wine buff enthusing about his last trip to France. It seems his great thrill was to discover the villages and vineyards that for most of us are just names on a bottle. That got me thinking about Irish tunes and songs, how they too are actually rooted in real living landscapes and the work involved in keeping them fresh and vibrant.

I wondered if the tourists take the names of tunes as gospel? "Is there any humour in Ennistymon and is it still Hartigan's Fancy?" Sifting the memory for tune names is a great game to play, but there is more to it. How relevant are those tune titles today, if I went to East Limerick and ended up in Kilfinane would I be invited to take part in a jig? The jury's out on that, but I know if I went to Chateau Neuf Du Pape I'd be obliged to swallow a drop of the local plonk (in fact I'd be first in line at the tasting). For many folks the only contact they will ever have with Ireland is through the music. As bands pack their bags and play around the world they are bringing the names of towns and villages to an information hungry public, and if that public is made up of immigrants and descendants those care worn names and old tunes can be as refreshing as the finest Champagne.

It would be wrong of us to think of the music solely in terms of an export commodity, it still has relevance at home, and it is beginning again to flourish, new sessions are opening and there are now many more venues where we can listen to the tunes and songs. That has to be a good thing. We can take heart from the Scottish experience, which we feature in this month's supplement. Scotland now has a thriving club and festival scene and a renewed determination not to let the music die. The killer blow will come from within, like blight in a vineyard it only takes hold when we no longer tend for the harvest.

This month's issue features two of Ireland's leading contemporary folk singers, Tommy Fleming and Maire Brennan, each in their own ways is a custodian of the seedbank of tradition. Not every song they sing of course is distinctly Irish, but one or two may become established in the soil of the culture. Looking after the musical tradition is like tending a row of vines, you don't get the best wine from neglect, and neither do you make it by ignoring the rules of good husbandry. Traditional tunes are still made today, the best are like new wine in old bottles, they seem to have always fitted the space. Just like wine the ultimate approval depends on respect for the masters skill and of course good taste.

Lets raise a glass to quiet corners and the traditional ways of doing things.