Ian sings versions of The Lea-Rig and Ae Fond Kiss, and the CD ends with Will Ye Gang Love, learned from Archie Fisher many years ago. A fitting end to a great CD.


Any singer looking for some well-written, thoughtful, original material could do worse than look into some of Ian’s songs. And do it quick before everyone else is singing them! www.iansmithmusic.net


Fiona Heywood


GRÁINNE HOLLAND Teanga Na nGael (The Language


Of The Gael) Private Label GHM2011001


Gráinne Holland is from the Gaeltacht Quarter of West Belfast, and was raised in both Gaelic and English; her love of traditional Gaelic song, which was fostered by her attending the first Irish-medium primary school in Belfast (Bunscoil Phobail Feirste), shines through clearly on this her debut CD. She chooses songs from a wide range of sources (Co. Donegal, Barra, the Isle Of Man, the singing of Liam Clancy), all of which are duly credited in the liner notes on the digipack. The tender lyrical beauty of Gráinne’s voice is well suited to this choice of songs, whether they take the form of lively ballads or slow airs, but there’s also an understated passion in her fresh ownership of these songs, and the title track – a translation of a Scottish Gaelic song by Murchadh MacPhárlain of Lewis – is a good example of this.


Gráinne’s authentic yet contemporary-sounding takes on the songs come with haunting, high-quality backdrops masterminded by the album’s producer, fiddle/viola/bouzouki player Dónal O’Connor and featuring the key talents of John McSherry (uilleann pipes, low whistles), with a smattering of other musicians here and there including Tony Byrne (guitar), Neil Martin (cello), Lewis Smith (sax, clarinet) and Rohan Young (bodhrán). The latter-named is the sole accompanist for Gráinne on her breathlessly virtuoso rendition of Dónal Na Gréine (a song she particularly relishes singing, as we can hear!) that ends the CD.


A soft-edged acoustic folk treatment is the order of the day for the majority of the songs, although the saxophone imparts a frisky, playfully jazzy dimension to the tracks on which it appears (especially A Mhuire’s A Rí and Slóite Na bhFiann). The disc’s penultimate track provides a pleasing instrumental interlude, on which flautist Gary Duffy plays his own delicate composition Harry Holland’s Tune, which was written in tribute to Gráinne’s father, a great music lover and inspiration.


The only letdown about this attractive-sounding disc is its presentation, for although lyrics to some of the songs are available as pdf files from Gráinne’s website, they have no translations appended, which is a pity when the songs themselves will not be at all familiar to non-Gaelic specialists.


David Kidman The Living Tradition - Page 46


DEREK MCGINLEY &


TARA CONNAGHAN The Far Side Of The Glen Private Label DMTC001CD


JOHN WRIGHT


Empty Chairs Twirtle Music Recordings TWCD110


As I sat down to write this review, I said to myself that I was going to studiously avoid stating the obvious. There was going to be none of the “achingly pure voice/gloriously intense awareness/absolutely sincere delivery/ great diction” stuff from me. Not because it is not true. Au contraire. But it has all already been said about this remarkable former member of the Household Cavalry/turned Border shepherd/turned successful troubadour, who died far-too-early aged 60 in 2008. And no reviewer wants to re-hash other reviewers’ thoughts.


This CD arrived in the post the day after I heard of the death of John “TheTae” Gallagher, one of South West Donegal’s truly legendary fiddlers, so it was in reflective mood that I first listened to this recording. The easy pace of the playing, combined with a fidelity to the local tradition, seemed appropriate to the mood. Derek (a grand-nephew of John The Tae) and Tara are both steeped in the South West Donegal style, both acknowledge immense debts to the Dohertys, Campbells, and above all, James Byrne, and judging by this recording, they are worthy inheritors of their tradition.


Recorded in a cottage kitchen, the CD features nothing more than the two fiddles. The sound quality is good and there is no “electrickery”. The material chosen among the 14 tracks reflects the local repertoire, with a number of old favourites and a couple of less common items, plus one hornpipe composed by Derek. So there are plenty of highlands, mazurkas, barndances, waltzes and reels. They’ve chosen to leave out some of the usual staples of the local repertoire – things like the Moneymusk and the Gravel Walks, and this is no bad thing - it gives other pieces a chance to shine.


It’s easy to hear in the playing the respect they have for the music, and this impression is confirmed by the comprehensive sleeve notes. This is not the “flashy” playing so often heard today; each note is given its chance to express itself properly – the music talks to you, as it should. No excessive speed, no attempts at fusion with other styles, just good, honest Donegal fiddling as we used to hear it years ago, played by two musicians whose musical partnership has lasted long enough to give them that instinctive interaction that’s so vital in making good music. If I have a criticism, it’s that on most of the tracks they could have afforded to play each piece through one less time, which might well have allowed space for a couple more sets.


Derek and Tara have produced something which is not going to thrill you if you want fast, furious music. But if you want something to listen to rather than just hear, then this will remind you where it all came from and why it’s worth savouring, just as it is.


John Waltham


But I got to thinking, that no review of this truly great artiste would be complete without the reviewer at least trying to figure out what it was that provided the USP of this performer. The qualities mentioned in my opening paragraph, are all very well, and it is quite a feat to bag all four qualities listed, but hey, many folk artistes can claim at least a trio, and a few can clinch all four.


So it has to be something else. But what exactly? And more importantly, is this a CD that can help me illustrate it?


Fair question. And guess what? At first, I wasn’t sure that this album was going to yield up an affirmative answer. For, it has to be said, that for newcomers to his work, this CD is perhaps not the place to start.


At just 43 minutes playing time, one would have liked it to have given us more of a lengthy feast. (But then, in fairness, the whole raison d’être for this album is that it is the release of previously unreleased – often lost or undiscovered - material, and presumably there was no more to add.) And with posthumous releases, one always wonders, if a track is that good, then why wasn’t it released in its day?


For instance, here there is a 1997 Fellside recording of Matty Groves which is a decent enough version, but golly, John Wright was way-too-good for the “passing muster”. I note from his discography that the track was never released: and I suspect I know why. He had the savvy to figure that this was not the song for him: his uptempo delivery had been done before – definitively - by Fairport, and had he instead chosen a slower pace, he’d have come up slap bang against a definitive version there too – albeit, of the ballad’s first cousin! – by Nic Jones (The Little Musgrave).


There are versions of Donovan’s Catch The Wind and Don McLean’s Empty Chairs, which again are perfectly respectable, but don’t seem to be his songs: songs that he can stamp his DNA all over.


A song that of course he made unforgettably his, is the traditional Dumbarton’s Drums. (Eh? Didn’t I just say that these were songs previously never released? No, I said they were material - i.e. tracks - not songs.) And this previously recorded number of his has the


Sponsored by BIrnam CD


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