Len Graham/Garry O Briain/Padraigin Ni Ualachain: "When I Was Young"
FONN CD001 (70 mins)
Dial-a-track: 1201
Two years after the outstanding A Stor's a Stoirin - Songs For All Ages, here is its English language counterpart. When I Was Young reveals a rich, imaginative landscape, the birthright of all children, something frequently denied them by an industry.
Almost forgotten songs such as Weelia Weelia Wallia, Fair Rosa, and I Know Where I'm Going restore that old other world to adults of a certain age, and enrapture children of all ages.
The range of material covered by these songs, from the bloody subject matter of Weelia Weelia Wallia to the compelling strangeness of False Knight On The Road, reminds the listener that the function of children's songs, like fairy tales, is to mediate the dark and uncontrollable, mention the unmentionable (e.g. infanticide by mother), suggest the contradictory and inspire wonder.
This world is beautifully evoked in song after song. New compositions such as Ni Uallachain's The Magical Band, The Willow Tree, I Once Had A Granny and Garry O Briain's instrumentals fit into the older repertoire comfortably, while Henry My Son, Soldier, Soldier and The Frog's Wedding are newly rendered for the zillionth time in contemporary harmonic colours. Mairtin O Connor's box playing on The Wheel Of Fortune echoes with some glee the counting refrain she's got sweethearts 20, 18, and 16 and 14."
The bases for many of these songs, of course, are dance tunes, so Jigs, reels, polkas, waltzes and so on make themselves known to the listening child. There is no false sincerity, no condescension, and no attempt to tart up the material. Len Graham, Padraigin Ni Uallachain and Garry O Briain present their songs with the finesse of accomplished performers and the tenderness of parents. Song sources and text are in the accompanying booklet, beautifully illustrated by Frances Lambe.
Dordan: "Christmas Capers/Oiche Nollag"
Dordan, dm cd 01 (37 mins)
Dial-a-track: 1311
The dreaded Christmas market is upon us, bristling with awful releases redolent of the Yuletide shopping mall. This is one exception.
Christmas Capers locates Christmas largely in the Gaeltacht and the Irish speaking world in general. This is a lived in Christmas expressed through a living repertoire of Christmas material augmented by new compositions.
Mary Bergin, Kathleen Loughnane, and Derbhaill Standun are now joined by singer Martina Goggin, who also plays percussion. Musical polymath Steve Cooney produces and play on the album and collaborates on arrangements. Sounds very promising, and it is . . .
Beginning with a dreamy instrumental version of the old Enniscorthy Carol, the album moves through a Christmas wrought, with two exceptions out of the indigenous tradition. The second track, A Leanbh Ghil Mhilis, features the fine voice of Martina Goggin, whose addition to the group greatly strengthens its vocal base. On then to a brisk version of the splendid Christmas Reel, thence to a composition of Kathleen Loughnane's - the Mistletoe Waltz, for harp, fiddle and whistle, a showpiece of the Hiberno baroque style.
Anuna: "Deep Dead Blue"
Anuna, (45 mins)
Dial-a-track:1421
Moving ever further away from terra firma and into their own angular, if not angelic, stratospheres, the bias on Deep Dead Blue is for newly composed material, although there are four medieval tracks.
Of the two traditional tracks, the Deise song Sliabh Geal gCua has a solo melody line sung by Roisin Dempsey soaring high above delicately textured harmonies, hovering on the edge of dissonance. The other is the English language folk song The Green Laurel, which again occupies a markedly modern tonal landscape. Ther is no Ros, assigned as a 15th century carol, is simply and beautifully rendered, sung by two voices - Maire Lang and Michael McGlynn - true in spirit and letter to its medieval inspiration. Paul Ashe Brown's live and Brian Masterson's studio acoustic is to sound what wings are to angels.
