Ireland's music: Dervish

Sligo, in the west of Ireland, is a place of poets, artists, musicians, a land poet William Butler Yeats, fiddle player and composer Michael Coleman, and painter Jack Yeats turned to for inspiration, a place of history and lively twenty first century Ireland as well. Sligo is also home base for the band Dervish.

From the first notes of The Man in the Bog, a jig which opens The Green Gowned lass set, the tunes and songs on The Thrush in the Storm invite listeners to the misty glens, windswept mountains, and wild Atlantic shore of Sligo, and to the lives and stories of its people. There’s as much of story in the music of the tunes as there is in the words of the songs. The choices of music and structure of the album seems much like a fine session shared at the fireside or in the kitchen of an irish evening.

Cathy Jordan is the lead singer of the group, with her main instruments otherwise being bodhran and bones. Brian McDonagh plays mandolin, mandola, and guitar and adds in backing vocals. Michael Holmes is on bouzouki and guitar, Shane Mitchell adds accordion, Liam Kelly brings his flutes and whistles and sings backup as well, and Tom Morrow plays fiddle and viola. The six well know how to work together in service of the stories told in their music. Within the frame of Irish tradition they have created a distinct presence and sound, one that is well loved in Ireland and also in places as distant as Israel and Japan, both places where Dervish cover bands may be found.

Through the twelve tracks on The Thrush in the Storm there are songs for dance, songs of sorrow, songs of love and tales of history, and quiet songs of reflection. Every track is well worth your attention. It is an album which will well repay you to listen to in sequence as the artists have structured it, as the songs and tunes resonate with each other.

In Shanagolden, Jordan paints a haunting story of love and loss framed in melody which has traveled across many years and many waters -- you may hear echoes of Appalachian folk melody along with a hint of a more recent pop song as you listen, though the song and its story stand all on their own. There’s the familiar lost lover’s return in The Lover’s Token, and with words in irish the sad tale of Baba Chonraoi plays out. The Rolling Wave set gracefully pairs two tunes having to do with travels on the waters. All the tracks and just as interesting and inviting, filled with playing and singing at once thoughtful lively, and inviting.

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Irish music live: Dervish invites you to a session

A crisp October evening, the warmth of fire and friends, and a top notch band playing music in west of Ireland. What could be better? This time, you can sit in, wherever you happen to be.

The session is part of the heartbeat of Irish music, in many ways an extension of friends and neighbors sharing tunes and songs in the kitchen after the day’s work is done. Pub sessions connect listeners and players of Irish music across the world from the smallest towns to the largest cities. Coming up on 8th October, the members of one of Ireland's top traditional bands, Dervish, will be offering you the chance to share in the fellowship and the music across the internet, as they broadcast a session live from their home base of Sligo, in the west of Ireland.

Dervish, who have had hits with traditional jigs and reels as well as covers of songs including Gypsies Tramps and Thieves, first made famous by Cher, and Bob Dylan's Boots of Spanish Leather, bring together the best of contemporary Irish music. They’ve played in Asia and in the through Europe, in the United States and in Canada in all sorts of situations. Nowhere, though, does the spirit and connection of their music come out better than on their home ground, where their sound was first nurtured and developed.

A full crowd from across the globe is expected to gather as the band plays music from across their back catalogue -- they mark their twenty first anniversary this year. As is the case with most sessions, you never quite know who will turn up to sit in with the band, although several special guests are likely to drop in. Taking advantage of the capabilities of the internet, you will be able to send the band messages during the evening as well, and they are planning to read out some of these.

This live web cast will come direct from Sligo, Ireland on Friday 8th October beginning at 11 pm Irish time/6 pm US Eastern/3 pm US Pacific. There is a small subscription fee of 4.99 euro, and subscriptions and further details may be had at the Dervish web site. Early subscription is advised.



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Manus McGuire: Fiddlewings

Manus McGuire
Fiddlewings



Fiddler Manus McGuire has a lovely sense of melody and a musical imagination which includes the sounds of Clare, Sligo, Donegal,Scotland, and Cape Breton. His work is most often heard in band settings -- Moving Cloud, Buttons & Bows, and the Brock McGuire band for example -- so his rare solo recordings are welcome ways to find added dimension to his work.

This collection opens with Shelly’s Waltz, a title which references McGuire’s home town of Sligo in Ireland's northwest, and readily evokes couples swirling across the dance floor as well, and is a fine conversation between McGuire’s fiddle and the piano of Dennis Morrison. Cape Breton and Scotland and maybe a touch of Donegal come in to play on the set Over the Hills and Among the Heather, which opens with the Scottish air of that name and includes Laddie with the Pladdie, a strathspey McGuire heard from Cape Breton fiddle legend Buddy MacMaster, and Sailor’s Bonnet, a reel he learned as a young man. Spencie's Trip to Edinburgh is a lively high stepping Shetland tune, paired with the well known hornpipe City of Savannah, while Fort Dunree is an air McGuire wrote for his brother Seamus, who joins him on fiddle and viola for the piece. The other tunes and sets are equally fine. This is one of those recordings which only gets better with time.