Juli-releases van Claddagh Records
De platenmaatschappij Claddagh Records, brengt in deze maand juli de volgende cd's uit:
SEÁN POTTS. Seán Potts. HARESEAR 001. Seán the younger is the latest generation of the Potts family to prove his talent. Already a mature, established journalist, he has waited until now to make a solo album. Played on whistles and on B and concert pitch pipes, this is a display of what makes Irish music worthwhile. I've sat at the feet of some of the greatest pipers who were ever recorded (Ennis, Clancy, Mitchell, Keenan) and I'm quite confident that none of them have excelled the set of three reels that Seán plays on this album. For pace, accuracy, ornamentation and sheer good taste, this is a marvellous record.
THE BLUE IDOL. Altan are among the most famous and popular Irish musicians in the world. This is the latest of their many albums and the band still consists of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Ciarán Tourish on fiddles, Dermot Byrne on accordion, Ciarán Curran on cittern, and Daithí Sproule and Mark Kelly on guitars. Among the famous singers and musicians who lend a hand are Dolly Parton, Paul Brady, Harry Bradley, Liam O'Flynn and Donal Lunny. There's lots of Donegal music and song.
CAIRDE. Various artists. Cairde is the Irish word for friends, and while the star musicians who feature on it are indeed friends, it is a friendly album in another sense - all the proceeds will go to St. Luke's Cancer Hospital in Dublin. Some of the musicians who feature on it are Joe Burke, Anne Conroy-Burke, Frankie Gavin, Matt Molloy, Jimmy McGreevy, John Regan, Tommy Peoples, Mary Staunton, Mary Bergin, Noel Hill & Tony Linnane, and many, many more. Some of the tracks have been taken from existing albums, but others, like the Hill/Linnane track, are completely new. Great music, great cause.
COME BACK PADDY REILLY. Margaret Barry. EMCD 8004. On the cover Margaret is described as 'Queen of the Gypsies', and inside as 'Queen of the Tinkers'. Strange, as she was neither a gypsy nor a tinker. On this album she sings 11 songs, most of them available on other releases.
THE SLOPES OF BENBULBEN. John Regan. SUNCD 43. John Regan, a Sligo man and a box player, has been a stalwart of the Dublin music scene for well over thirty years. He has made several albums and has played in many combinations; he is particularly well suited to playing for dancers and does so several nights a week. He has made other records and this is as good as any of them. It's top-class, old style Irish music, played respectfully by a man who has known it since he was a child, and you can't ask better than that. He's accompanied on piano by Mary Corcoran.
BOSCA CEOIL. Deirdre Collis. SUNCD 46. Yet more fine music from Sligo. Deirdre is from Collooney and has won the All-Ireland final on three different instruments, flute, tin whistle and accordion. It's the kind of music you'd hear at a Sligo or Roscommon Fleadh - light hearted but disciplined and elegant and taking no prisoners.
AROUND ST. JAMES' WELL. Carmel Gunning. SUNCD 44. No need to introduce Carmel, one of the finest musicians in the Northwest; she has played whistle and flute solo, in groups and in Céilí bands for a long time, and has taught music to hundreds of young musicians. This is the second album she's made recently, and is a lovely example of sweet traditional music and strong, natural traditional singing. She's joined on some tracks by Neil Mulligan on pipes and the great Leitrim fiddler Vincent Harrison.
MIND THE PIPES. Leonard Barry. Leonard is another of the new generation of pipers, but he's not a new kid on the block; he's obviously been around long enough to have mastered this difficult instrument, and play it with an unshowy maturity, but still with enough flash to absorb us. He presents us here with 11 selections of well chosen pieces - jigs, reels, hornpipes, set dances, a slow air - and plays them impeccably. 'Colonel Fraser' has long been a test piece for pipers, and Johnny Doran's is its benchmark performance. Leonard's is as good as any ever heard for fluidity, variation, inventiveness and inside knowledge of the tune. It's a lovely debut.
BRIGHT SILVER, DARK WOOD. Martin Nolan. MSNCD 002. Martin has been playing for many years and was for a long time the piper with the group Fionnuisce. This is his second album, and as before, it is a mixture of old and new pieces. One of its interesting aspects is the extensive use of the Goodman collection, an assembly of Munster music of the nineteenth century. The tunes therein are sometimes quite common ones, but with strange little settings, and it's a great idea to ventilate them. This is first class piping by a very experienced player.
A COUPLE MORE YEARS. Ronnie Drew & Eleanor Shanley. This is the video version of their recent album.
CLADDAGH RECORDS, Dame House, Dame Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel: 353 1 6778943 Fax: 353 1 6793664
site: www.claddaghrecords.com