accordions and fiddles, all in the hands of master musicians. Padraig McGovern and Jarlath McTernan deliver impressive piping on The Shores Of Lough Bran and the obligatory Lovely Leitrim. The inclusion of an archive track is an interesting choice: few details are provided, but a previous generation of players provides a toe-tapping canter through Dick Gossip’s and Last Night’s Fun, two of my favourite reels. Information on this release is scarce enough, so I suggest you google it - or visit Leitrim. Maybe that’s the intention.
Alex Monaghan
SEUDAN Seudan Greentrax CDTRAX362
particular as only a master piper can. Kathleen MacInnes sings Gaelic mouth music and waulking songs in a more lyrical style, but the link with the pipes is still apparent. On some of the instrumentals, Donald Hay and Ross Martin provide solid Scottish backing while Mac Morin does his Nova Scotian thing on the piano.
There’s plenty of pure piping to enjoy: Caber Feidh, Hot Punch, The Braes of Mar, a little- known trio of quicksteps from Willie Ross’s 1869 collection, and a final set of strathspeys and reels fit for Cape Breton dancers. The unison playing is tighter than a highlander’s sporran, and the lads throw in some tasty harmonies. This is accessible music, world class piping, and a fabulous sound which owes absolutely nothing to the 21st century. A historic recording in many ways.
Alex Monaghan MARTIN SIMPSON
Purpose & Grace Topic Records TSCD584
and mood. Spirited support from other highly gifted folk is critical to the realisation of this vision through very carefully crafted arrangements. There are powerful vocal contributions from Dick Gaughan, June Tabor and Fay Hield, and instrumental support from Richard Thompson, B. J. Cole, Andy Cutting, Keith Angel, Will Pound, and Martin’s co- producer Andy Seward.
The arrangements cover several traditional pieces and songs by Ewan MacColl (Jamie Foyers), Yip Harburg (Brother Can You Spare A Dime), Richard Thompson (Strange Affair) and Bruce Springsteen (Brothers Under The Bridge). So, there are songs of love, war, poverty, age and the general human condition, with the many opportunities for woe, all guided, however, by Harburg’s sympathetic view that “life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace well worth singing about”.
Kevin T. Ward DANNY O’MAHONY
In Retrospect Private Label DOMCD001
Four pipers, four matching sets of pipes, and forty-eight minutes of great mini-band music: Seudan is a powerful all-star quartet, augmented by producer Allan MacDonald who pipes, sings and plucks the jaw harp here. The stars are Fin Moore from Dunkeld, Angus MacKenzie from Cape Breton, Calum MacCrimmon from Alberta, and Skyeman Angus Nicolson.
Let’s start at the beginning. Around 1785 a fine set of highland pipes known as The Black Set of Kintail was made for Sir John MacRae. It eventually found its way to a museum in Inverness, where it lay until Hamish Moore decided to make a copy. The meticulous reproduction sounded in the key of A, perfect for playing with other instruments, so Hamish used it to record his 1994 album Dannsa air an Drochaid with Cape Breton fiddlers and pianists. Hamish and his son Fin then made four sets of these pipes for a quartet of young pipers: the quartet took the name Seudan, meaning treasures, from another of Hamish’s previous projects.
Seudan play music from at least three centuries, starting with the great strathspey and reel Tullochgorum which was first published in a 1737 collection. Several eighteenth and nineteenth century tunes follow, and perhaps some more recent compositions. The Pibroch Of Donald Dubh dates from the seventeenth century or earlier, and is one of five vocal tracks, all featuring highland pipes or small pipes. Allan MacDonald makes a great job of illustrating the link between piping and Gaelic song, rendering MacFarlane’s Gathering in
The Living Tradition - Page 46
Recognisably settled now within the current folk pantheon, the range and sophistication of this latest album simply serves to reinforce Martin Simpson’s established presence and majestic authority. The wide spectrum of English and American influences that so evidently move and affect him – witness his writings on the song provenance - are increasingly intertwined.
Deeply inspired by and respectful to the essence and meaning of folk-craft traditions and balladry, the songs and music are derived from a wide array of characters, players, places, stories and events. Musically, they are arranged, often with elongated interpretation, with his now distinctive and unique, rather open folk-weave. This is characterised by those features so engaging in his live performances – the intensely centred and entrancing exactitude, relaxed aplomb and secure ease, his own very honest pursuit of ‘purpose and grace’.
The guitar and banjo tunings, timing and technique (acoustic, electric, lap slide and resonator guitars, and five string banjo) are expectedly intricate and complex but it is the transmission of emotion through his playing and voice that is so special. It’s that assured ability to animate and dramatise a story, to invest it with emotional charge, atmosphere
Despite its title, this is not a backward-looking album. Danny O’Mahony certainly respects the tradition, but this young Kerry box-player plays in a sparkling contemporary style and has a bright future in view. He’s accompanied here by some of the best in the business - Johnny Ringo on drums and bones, Cyril O’Donoghue on bouzouki, and Patsy Broderick on piano. Danny also has great swing and excellent tempo, which may have helped in his revival of the Shannon Vale Ceili Band. It’s solo accordion all the way here, though: fourteen tracks of reels, jigs and hornpipes, plus one slow air, in a little under an hour.
Danny knows his music, and has chosen tunes by Paddy O’Brien and Sean Ryan from Tipperary, Vincent Broderick from Galway, Liz Carroll from Chicago and Scott Skinner from Speyside among others. A surprising amount of Danny’s material is attributed to its rightful owner in the authoritative notes, but there are also many unclaimed treasures: Maids Of Mount Cisco, Jenny Picking Cockles, Lady Gordon, all charming girls, and a delightful version of The Heathery Breeze.
The air Shanagolden is smoothly played, almost in a piping style, without any jarring
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