Irish Music Magazine - September 2000

Ireland

Songs on a Diamond Mountain

At home in Galway during one of her breaks from a busy summer of touring, Sharon discusses her new CD with Ita Kelly. Surprise, surprise there are songs on the new opus and word on the street is that it's the best thing she's done in years.

Back on Singing Terms

There comes a time in any established career when we have to take stock, look at the back catalogue of work and assemble it into something of a statement. Jim Kelly hears of the past triumphs and the latest plans as he spends an August afternoon with Frances Black.

Success in a Black Suit

John O'Regan talks music business with one of the freshest voices writing in Irish contemporary music, Juliet Turner.

A Cradle of Songs

Here's a lady who isn't sleeping on the job. Pádraigín Ní hUallacháin has a lot of news. She's just released her first CD with Shanachie and she has given up her teaching job to concentrate full-time on singing. Report by John Brophy.

United Kingdom

Doing What Comes Naturally

It's Capercaillie's first new studio album for three years and Alan McIntosh Brown finds a return to their roots is order of the day.

Made in Manchester

Frances O'Rourke says Manchester is a city of contrasts, it has a huge session scene, there are hundreds of young players and there's a long history of traditional musical excellence.

Europe

Welcoming Paddy Home

Mick Walsh catches up with Paddy Keenan at the Festival of St Chartier and finds him in reflective mood, twenty years on.

Attracted to the West

Magnetic Records boss, Czechoslovakian Petr Pandula has had a long love affair with Irish music and with Doolin. His recent move to West Clare is the culmination of a relationship he started as a hitch hiker in the 80's. Phil Gaston discovers the attraction.

North America

The Colours of Fall

Seamus Bellamy looks ahead to the forthcoming Celtic Colours Festival in Canada now entering its 3rd year.

Regulars

Regional Report (Na Piobraí Uilleann)

Dear old Dublin's Henrietta Street a Mecca for pipers of the uilleann persuasion, Jim Kelly blows up the bag and rolls out the news.

Up and Coming - Nothing Lost Here

Garry Shannon has taken over ten years to get his second album out. Garry's new album charts the changes in his music over the years and is itself an archive of his own musical growth. Ita Kelly reports

Tuition Tips from Waltons

Another fiddle workout from Waltons Music.

Story Behind the Tune

John Brophy finds a song that praises the virtues of the juice of the barley.

Making the Music

Phil Hardy is in the process of relocating his whistle manufacturing business from London to Kerry. Richard O'Rourke finds that Phil is first and foremost a player with an unbounded enthusiasm for his instruments.

Thunderbolts & Lightning

Playing music in a kitchen with a mentor is one of the ways in which the tradition comes down to us. Conor McCarthy describes an evening of tune sharing with Michael Kelleher in County Clare and brings us a new setting of the International Reel.

Live Reviews

• Liz Carroll & Moher
• Galway Arts Festival

CD Reviews

Another 4 page selection of CD Offerings brought to you in association with HMV.

Raidió Na Gaeltachta Special

Ita Kelly reports from Raidió Na Gaeltachta on Réalta, a song competition that has contributed significantly to Irish Language Songwriting.