irishmusicinfo.com
The Guide to Irish Traditional Music by Fintan Vaallely
CD Compilation
1/ Ancient style in voice, harp and reeds - sean nós song, harp and pipes
South Ulster singer Padraig’n N’ Uallach‡in from the Louth/Armagh border area is a meticulous and formidable voice in charting and interpreting the Irish language song of her region. Her opening lullaby H— a Bh‡-in, set of starkly and simply by M‡ire Breathnach's fiddle and synthesiser, and Len Graham's vocal drone, warmly introduces the voice in a lament for the loss of a mother. Learned from a 1940's recording of Carna, Connemara singer Sorcha N’ Ghuairim, it nostalgically notes the soothing aspect of song that is seldom heard today.
Dublin-born ƒamon î Donnchadha's Bean an tSeanduine hair-raisingly displays the immense melodic power of sean-n—s song style typical of Western Connacht, a melismatic delivery dating to the Middle Ages, with resonances in Islamic devotional song.
Minnesota, USA Ann Heymann's Hawk of Ballyshannon presents the sound of the old Irish wire-strung harp, a chilling timbre that she reproduces today on 18 carat gold strings in the manner of her mentors, eleven centuries ago. Here she plays a piece composed - or re-interpreted from an older work - by the 17th century composer Turloch Carolan.
Dubliner NŽillidh Mulligan's Bonny Bunch of Roses is a classic, open-metre slow air played on the uniquely-Irish uilleann pipes, with drama escalated by the use of drones and harmonising regulators. The tune is that of an allegorical song detailing a dialogue between the son of the 18th century French leader and his mother, concerning Bonaparte's failure to conquer Ireland, Scotland and England. From an important music region in Co.
Leitrim, piper Brian McNamara meticulously picks out the jigs My former wife and Sgt. Earley's with great play on his instrument's characteristic self-accompaniment.