The majority of the tracks are tunes written by Fiona, all of which go to demonstrate her innate feel for the traditional idiom, a feeling which is justly matched by the duo’s ability to get to the heart of the material and present it with a complete understanding, not only of the style, but also of the arrangements and interplay of the instrumentation.
If there’s one thing about the playing which can be picked out from all that’s going on here, it’s the clarity – every note of every instrument is as fresh and precise as you could ask for, thanks to the spot-on production (also by Fiona and Stevie). This means that it’s not just the overall sound that impresses, but the component parts as well, which can’t always be said of some recordings.
Those who know Fiona and Stevie will want to buy this anyway, but to everyone else – make a point of joining them, as this must be one of the finest releases of the year.
Gordon Potter BEOGA
How To Tune A Fish Compass Records COMPASS4561
This fourth release from Beoga, an Irish Gaelic word synonymous with ‘vivid’, again demonstrates the essential characteristics behind that word – vigour, intensity, brightness and, above all, now effectively their usual eponym, ‘liveliness’.
So, the quintet from County Antrim offer another musical bouillabaisse drawing on Irish and other European influences yoked in with some music hall, jazz rock, chunky funk, syncopation and improvisation, often in unexpected flurries in the same tune set! Track 11, Back In The Lab is, perhaps, an appropriate way of hinting at some of the more eccentric experimentation.
Powerfully rhythmic, sometimes using shifting time signatures and frenetic in feel, there’s some typically wild journeying and ebullient excitement. However, the marmite usually yields something interesting and diverting in the course of taking traditional root elements for some progressive, often spicy, adventure. As before with Beoga, instrumental precision and prowess, and headiness in the wilfully dynamic and playful arrangements, are guaranteed.
The recipes are mainly the work of the two front protagonists, button accordionists Séan Óg Graham and Damian McKee, whose musical interplay is interlocked with Niamh Dunne’s fiddle or layered with her gentle, rather fragile, voice on four tracks. Underpinning the soundscape are Liam Bradley’s keyboards, Eamon Murray’s bodhran and percussion, and Sean’s contributions on guitar and stringed instruments. An array of guests contribute whistles (Brian Finnegan), banjo, cello (Alana Henderson), dobro, clarinet, electric guitar and bass. Some of the many stand out moments are the cleverly catchy caprice of Sticky Bun Slides, Niamh’s fiddle playing on the energetic and invigoratingly rhythmic Dolan’s 6am and
The Living Tradition - Page 54
Listeners with long memories will recall Barbara as a key member (lead singer) of the first two incarnations of Ceolbeg, prior to which she’d served her apprenticeship in a cappella outfit Fair Game. She disappeared from the folk scene in the 90s, working for 30 years as a medical specialist, before (upon taking early retirement) the call of music became too much to resist and eventually she teamed up again with Christine Kydd to form the duo Sinsheen, whose well-received CD Lift appeared a year or so back.
Bobby Robb A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day
Tommy McCarthy, born of an Irish travelling family from County Offaly some 40 or so years ago and now resident in London, is a wonderful singer. A light tenor voice, with a slight tremor, beautiful pitching and control, an instinctive feel for sean nós ornamentation and an interesting repertoire – what more could you ask for? This recording shows an interesting contrast between a field recording and a rather more considered studio offering (although Felix and Johnny Doran could have done with a few more run-throughs).
The unaccompanied material is gently performed, with the introspection of someone performing for a small group of people, rather than to a concert hall. This is tempered with tracks featuring a rather well-behaved chorus, the lovely whistle and pipes playing of fellow- traveller Mickey Dunne and the classy guitar, bouzouki, mandola, banjo and bodhran (as well as arrangements) from Ron Kavana. As well as featuring traditional songs, learned in the tradition, there are newly composed items from Tommy (and Ron) as well as the whimsical Gum Shellac written by Johnny “Pops” O’Connor.
So in all, this is a fairly considered issue and is therefore likely to appeal to a wider circle than a purely unaccompanied recording might have done. When I saw Tommy at Sidmouth this summer, he was still busily learning songs, both from his own family tradition as well as other items which had caught his fancy – just as great traditional singers have always done. A magnificent issue, with the promise of much more to come.
Paul Burgess
Hilbert’s Hotel – named after the hypothetical paradox of a hotel with an infinite number of occupied rooms (don’t ask!) – is therefore, I guess, Barbara’s ostensibly-solo debut CD, on which she’s backed mostly by Carol Anderson (fiddle), Martin MacDonald (guitars) and Kenny Hadden (whistle and flute), and the album’s producer Michael Marra on occasional moothie, with Michael’s son Chris playing guitar on one track (an affecting cover of Kim Richey’s A Place Called Home). Accompaniments are abundantly stylish, both modestly conceived and imaginatively accomplished, and add to the already considerable appeal of Barbara’s singing voice and interpretive abilities.
The material’s a fairly eclectic mix, although inevitably concentrating mostly on the more traditional side of things. Contrasted high points come with fine renditions of two Child Ballads (Edward, done to the Appalachian tune based on one of the variants collected by Sharp, and The Unquiet Grave, using Hedy West’s tune), a spirited portrayal of Michael Marra’s seedy character Muggie Sha’, and a pairing of two Burns songs, The Gallant Weaver and Blythe Was She (the latter three coincidentally among the handful of items Barbara sings a cappella on this disc). Barbara also treats us to a pair of selections from Ord’s Bothy Songs And Ballads (Billy Taylor and Geordie Downie), and an attractive Burns night visiting song (Let Me In This Ae Nicht).
None of the CD’s renditions are anything less than reliable and genuinely entertaining, and I quickly got used to Barbara’s own setting of Mary Brooksbank’s When Fortune Turns The Wheel after clocking its more-than-passing
Sponsored by BIrnam CD
The Green Chairs, the gentle air Hay Days, and a moving tribute song to travelling musician Margaret Barry - Woman Of No Place - written by Barry Kerr.
Oh yes, the piscatorial conundrum….”Ask it to practice it’s scales”, apparently. Doubly, Oh dear! “How to fish tuna” might perhaps better capture some of the general spirit of wild adventure!
Kevin T. Ward TOMMY MCCARTHY
Round Top Wagon Tin Folk ITCD001
BARBARA DYMOCK
Hilbert’s Hotel Private Label SCG570
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