Irish Trad Music Blog

"As emcee and frequent backstage manager, I missed most of the concert tribute to Joe Derrane inside Stage One of the Fairfield Theatre Company in Fairfield, Conn. Despite massive traffic congestion on I-95 that caused a few patrons to arrive late, it was a wall-to-wall, cheek-by-jowl, overcapacity crowd in that theatre, and the e-mail and phone pleas for tickets to the sold-out event were especially intense during the last few days leading up to Nov. 13, the concert date. The purpose of this “concert for the ages” was fourfold: (1) to pay homage to the life and music of 80-year-old button accordionist and composer Joe Derrane; (2) to celebrate his new recording, “Grove Lane” (Compass), which is his seventh overall since his fabled comeback in 1994 at Wolf Trap; (3) to raise money and recognition for the concert’s sponsor, the Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society, a not-for-profit organization that has done yeoman work in promoting and presenting the best in Irish tradition...

When Oisin Mac Diarmada leaves for the U.S. this week for his annual "Irish Christmas in America" tour (including a stop at AMSDconcerts on Dec. 1), one thing he'll leave behind on the Emerald Isle is his love of tea. "I'm not thinking about tea, I'm thinking about coffee!" he said by phone last week from his home in County Sligo. When you've been spoiled by Barry's and Lyons one's whole life, Lipton's is kind of hard to accept. And if most Americans would readily admit that we can't brew a decent pot of tea to save our lives, he pointed out that we Yanks do know how to make a nice pot of coffee. Mac Diarmada should know; his full-time band, Teada, tours most of the year, and is a regular on the folk circuit in the States. He said he started the annual "Irish Christmas in America" tour six years ago as an opportunity to share Irish holiday traditions with Americans. "It's a more broad show; people come to it wh...

As I sit down in Radio City Music Hall, I think I know exactly what I’m getting myself into. I’m here on a Friday night to see Celtic Thunder, yet another Irish musical export that has exploded in popularity across the United States. Since their formation in 2006 by creator-producer Sharon Browne and composer Phil Coulter, Celtic Thunder has released four extremely successful albums and appeared on numerous PBS specials. Like their female counterparts Celtic Woman, they seem to have particularly captivated the Irish-American audience, with their careful balance of Irish traditional songs and updated classics." Celtic Thunder's Global Appeal | Irish America | IrishCentral : "

"Catch some of the joy of the Irish at the Lindsays' CD release concert for “From the Green to the Blue” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Navigator Coffeehouse, 55 Ashumet Road, Falmouth. The husband-and-wife Celtic duo has been making music together for 10 years and performs an eclectic fusion of Irish ballads and traditional jigs and reels with contemporary rock and folk. Susan Gedutis Lindsay plays saxophone, Irish flute and whistle, and Dublin native Stephen Lindsay plays guitar and sings. Their music is inspired by the Dublin ballad tradition, but is blended with world percussion instruments, from Middle Eastern frame drums to African water drums." Sound Choice: Lindsays release colorful CD | CapeCodOnline.com

By Ilkka Malmberg Finns like the Irish (in much the same way that they like the Greeks, as it happens). You know, those jolly fellows of the Emerald Isle with their red hair and freckles, and their moustaches white with Guinness foam - people with whom you can sing in a pub, nursing some inexplicable yearning for something. Who would have anything bad to say about the Irish? Who could be so heartless, listening to a tin whistle over a dewy heath, while watching a flock of sheep, with the aftertaste of whiskey lingering in the mouth? But what happens after these half-dozen or so clichés of Ireland run out? What comes after St. Patrick, the shamrocks, and the sacred potato? Familiar Irish brands include Guinness, Jameson, Bushmills and Baileys, but if we leave out the booze, no Irish products come to mind immediately, unless we throw in U2 and Bono. Yes, and then there is the cut-rate airline Ryanair, which caused an upheaval in air transport through...

Image via Wikipedia "YOUNGSTERS were hitting all the right notes at musical workshops held to celebrate an international sporting competition in Inverness . More than 20 children from primary five to seven, attended the free sessions at Inverness Ice Rink on Saturday before Scotland and Ireland faced off in the shinty and hurling match at Bught Park. The children were given the chance to learn traditional songs on the accordion and tin whistle and play a game of shinty. The events were organised by Feis Ros in partnership with the Camanachd Association. David Nisbet, a science teacher at Kingussie High School, took the accordion workshops." Give a little whistle at traditional music workshops - Press & Journal

Image via Wikipedia "t's been an Irish autumn on Seattle stages. Both Seattle Repertory Theatre and ACT Theatre have mounted plays from the heart of the Emerald Isle by lauded Irish dramatists. But the gentle, rural Mundy sisters in Brian Friel's award-winning ' Dancing at Lughnasa ' at the Rep are from a different planet, let alone another era, than the thick-as-planks, trigger-happy desperadoes in Martin McDonagh 's ' The Lieutenant of Inishmore ' (which just closed at ACT). The Friel play (previously seen at the Rep in 1995) is a far more sentimental portrait of humble Irish country folk, yet a more intentionally realistic one, too. Director Sheila Daniels and her fine ensemble have given it a fond, wistful patina, with stabs of sharp anguish and fleeting exhilaration." The Arts | Review: 'Dancing at Lughnasa' captures the music of memory | Seattle Times Newspaper

"t's one of the finest assemblages of world class Scottish performing artists ever, and Benaroya Hall may never be the same. Spines shiver at this annual event as the sound of pipes drums and fiddles fill the breathtaking 2,500-seat hall in unimaginable ways. Watching piping virtuoso Fred Morrison RAWK OUT Meatloaf-style on his Scottish smallpipes with a basic nine note range is truly a thing of wonder. His free-flowing expressive pomp on the Scottish Borderpipes shatters all perception of what a bagpiper can do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fRWNxqNyNk By 30 seconds into the piece, he is generally physically incapable of sitting still. And 2 minutes later his passionate delivery reaches a level that, many times, results in the accidental and uncontrollable pipe spit! In contrast, Dr. Gary West, award-winning piper and host of BBC Radio Scotland's show Pipeline, brings a very different version of the Scottish smallpipes to the hall along with his impressive knowledge of ...

After more than 40 years of music-making, Battlefield Band has become one of the most respected, influential units in Scotland's folk establishment. The band has reinvented itself more than once, and fans get a chance to catch them in the midst of another personnel change this weekend. When Battlefield Band plays Festival Place today, it will have five instead of the usual four musicians, reflecting an impending switch of musical chairs. The group's only remaining original member, Alan Reid, 60, is leaving at the end of this year, but the veteran keyboard, accordion and synth player, singer and chief songwriter is still on board for one last tour, along with new member Ewen Henderson, 23, who sings and plays fiddle, bagpipes, whistles and piano. They've made one final album as a quintet, and you'll hear tunes from that new disc, Zama Zama ... Try Your Luck (Temple Records). "Having a few generations involved in the band has always enriched what we do," observe...

It was another very successful musician who decreed that “the times they are a changing” over four decades ago, and when it comes to Irish music today that is certainly the case. One of the biggest catalysts in changing the landscape and the prism in which Irish music is seen and heard is composer Bill Whelan of Riverdance fame. While the success of the popular dance show scored by his musical genius has been unparalleled, this Limerick man prefers to work in solitude and not directly under the spotlight of center stage. So it will certainly be intriguing to see him come out of the shadows in his first performing role in a few years as he engages fiddler Athena Tergis in the fourth edition of the Irish Arts Center’s Masters in Collaboration from November 17-21. As in the previous series initiated by the IAC in 2008, a veteran artist with a long string of achievements is matched up with a promising artist whose resume may run a bit shorter. Whelan, best known for his Riverdance musi...

"It remains one of the most compelling and fascinating stories in traditional Irish music that rises to the surface every time there is the occasion to trumpet the achievements of Joe Derrane, one of the finest accordion players to ever play Irish music. And since his stunning return to prominence in Irish traditional music circles in 1994 at the Washington D.C. Irish Folk Festival at Wolf Trap, those occasions have been numerous thanks to the prolific and technical brilliance of the native Boston musician." Joe Derrane plays at his own pace | IrishCentral :

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh has earned acclaim for his eclectic musical collaborations, but the fiddler and composer says his goal is to let the music do its own talking BOUNDARIES CAN serve a raft of purposes. For some, they give licence to conform to the limits they pose. For others, they’re the fodder that lure individuals to taste of what life can offer on both sides of the divide. Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh is a fiddler, a composer, a multimedia artist – and if he had the time or inclination, a theoretical physicist, who’s most at home when crossing, straddling and often simply ignoring boundaries. On the face of it, Ó Raghallaigh is a fiddler whose roots can be traced to the world of traditional music. He’s worked as an uilleann pipe maker and as a traditional music archivist; he’s in his element when sharing a tune with former TG4 Traditional Musician of the Year Paddy Cronin or Breanndán Begley, but he’s equally comfortable collaborating with saxophonist Seán Óg, US dancer Nic Gareiss a...

"WinterSolas features free concerts and other shows by some Ireland’s best known traditional performance artists, including choral group Anuna, poet Eileen Sheehan, uilleann piper Maire NiGhrada and singer Noirin NiRiain. Arts Officer Joan MacKernan explained: “WinterSolas is a programme of concerts and heart warming events which are organised and funded by Limerick County Council Arts Office. These Sunday afternoon events are free to the general public and feature musicians, singers, poets and actors, all who have forged a national and sometimes an international reputation.” The WinterSolas series commences on Sunday 7 November with an event entitled “The Poet, The Piper and The Singer”, which will be held in All Saints Church Castleconnell. The event will feature performances from poet Jo Slade, uilleann piper Maire NiGhrada and singer Roisin Elsafty. On Sunday 14 November the series continues with a performance by Fidil 3 in the Desmond Complex, Newcastle West. This group of th...

"WonderWaltz, the new offering from de Dannan is being launched this week. This is the de Dannan that boasts two founders of the original group, Alec Finn on bouzouki and Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh on bodhr�n, as well as Derek Hickey on accordion, Brian McGrath on banjo and piano, and Eleanor Shanley on vocals – all three were members of the band at different stages. The fiddle player is Mick Conneely, who frequently served as the group’s replacement fiddle player in years past and “knows more about the band than any of us”, according to Alec Finn. The third co-founder of the original band, Frankie Gavin is not part of this line up, having set up his own group, Frankie Gavin and de Dannan last year." De Dannan launch WonderWaltz with no looking back in anger | Galway City Tribune | galwaynews.ie :