tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29975492024-09-02T09:55:42.694+01:00Ita Kelly's Irish Traditional and Folk Music on the WebUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2997549.post-78153961657939470502009-04-20T10:31:00.001+01:002009-05-20T14:34:12.811+01:00

All text (c) Ita Kelly 2009It is inevitable that when two fine musicians tour and play together, they would happen on a common musical ground that would be worthwhile to commit to tape, or file or whatever it is called these digital days. ‘On Common Ground’ is a new release from the instrumentalists Kevin Crawford and Cillian Vallely both members of the highly successful band Lúnasa. It’s not

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All text (c) Ita Kelly 2009Although they have been performing together since 2001, Máirtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden and Seamie O’Dowd are coming together at a CROSSROADS to release their first recording. Individually, they are recognised masters and virtuoso performers, as a trio they make powerful music together. Their new album ‘Crossroads’ is a fine showcase of their various tastes and styles

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All text (c) Ita Kelly 2009It’s not easy to sum up the thirty nine years of music making and entertainment that Shaskeen have been at the forefront of Irish Traditional Music. Listening to their new CD ‘Walking Up Town’ it is clear they are going to be leading the way for quite a while yet.Having been caught up like many musical groups in the whirlwind of the set-dancing era, Shaskeen’s last four

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All text (c) Ita Kelly 2008Matt Keane is a curious mixture of devilment and determination, quick witted and humorous both on and off stage but also earnest about his work and music. “I’m desperately serious at the back of the whole lot” he says, “It’s determination rather than intent, when I put something into my head, nothing really moves it.”‘Every picture tells a story’ he says in the sleeve

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All text (c) Ita Kelly 2008‘The Irish Scattering’ is a remarkable new DVD and CD from singer and multi-instrumentalist Seán Keane. It’s fifteen years since Seán embarked on his solo career and for his eighth album release he has turned his attention to the theme of emigration tracking the progress of the Irish nation on its travels around the world. ‘The Irish Scattering’ was recorded live over

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2008Fergal Scahill is well known as a bodhrán and guitar player but on his new album ‘The Dusty Bridge’ he focuses on his first instrumental love, the fiddle. Often described as the most expressive instrument, it is also often referred to as the most difficult. “It certainly is the most difficult” Fergal says. “With every other instrument, piano, accordion, banjo,

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2008‘The Story So Far’ is a collection from the vast repertoire of the prolific band Lúnasa. Re-visited and re-mixed, it comes as a timely milestone, marking the whirlwind journey the band has travelled over the last eleven years recording and performing the most innovative, energetic and driving instrumental traditional music. This album, the band’s seventh, is a

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2008‘Petticoat Loose’ the eagerly awaited second album from Mary McPartlan has just been released, every bit as interesting as her first recording ‘The Holland Handkerchief’. Mary McPartlan emerged three years ago as a lady of incomparable ability and talent leaving critics and audiences wondering where she had been all along. Settling into her own voice and

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‘Are We There Yet’ the new album from Cora Smyth and her husband Sean Horsman is a true marriage of styles. Cora composed the melodies which have evolved through Sean’s arrangements and production into beautiful landscapes of sound. Like all truly original work it is hard to describe, and impossible to compare. The musical arrangements and instrumentation surrounding the tunes are an integral

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2008Tommy Fleming is assured and confident. Why wouldn’t he be when his last live album and DVD ‘Voice of Hope’ sold a quarter of a million copies in Ireland alone! He works a phenomenal 190 nights a year and still manages to be enthusiastic and relaxed. ‘A Journey Home’ is his latest project. I call it a project because it’s not just an album, and it’s not just a

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2007Dolores Keane, the great diva of Irish music is never far from music lovers’ hearts and minds. A new collection of her work ‘The Essential Dolores Keane’ captures the wonderful breadth of her artistry selected from the vast body of songs she has interpreted and recorded. Dolores like most of her family lives quite near their family home in Caherlistrane, Co.

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2007It was refreshing to meet Mark Donnellan on a summer’s evening in Gort to mull over the Tulla Céilí Band and their sixty years. Mark of course doesn’t remember all those years only being on earth for about half of them, but his life, like that of Martin Hayes’ had been entwined with the band. Since he was able to play to the standard required and when there

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2007Old Boots and Flying Sandals marks yet another creative chapter in the life of traditional singer and songwriter Tim Dennehy. This is his sixth album of songs and is the first collection entirely of his own material. Tim has been writing songs and setting poems to music for many years and with each album we are treated to some new material from his own pen. ‘

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2007Ita Kelly talks to Mick Crehan about the Galway Sessions which five years on, is still going strong.The festival is centred around the thriving musical heart of the city. “You can come to Galway at anytime of the year and there’s great music to be seen and heard in the local pubs” says Mick Crehan the festival director and indeed one of those who came up with

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2007 Breda Keville’s debut recording is a solo album of enormous depth and personal expression. Although she hails from north County Galway, Breda’s musical spirit is drawn towards the eastern side of the county and southwards to Clare. Her style echoes the pace and rhythm of the music and of the older musicians from these regions, Paddy Fahey, Peadar O’Loughlin,

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2007‘Ma Bhíonn Tú Liom Bí Liom’ is the new album, from sean nós singer Róisín Elsafty. It’s her first solo album and is an enchanting collection of traditional songs. Produced by Donal Lunny, this recording breathes new and vigorous life into many old songs as well as introducing us to some new ones. Róisín is a very versatile singer, for whom the joy of singing

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2006Could this be love? On first listen it certainly could. Produced by Frankie Gavin and Eugene Kelly, Michelle Lally’s first album is a work of beauty. It’s a timeless, melodic recording of songs, some very well known that have been recorded before, while others are new. The mood is one of reflection, a quiet happiness and a gentleness that fully complements

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2006It’s hard to believe that “Live at Dolan’s” is Sharon Shannon’s first DVD production. All those years on the road and all those great albums and collaborations and yet this must be the collaboration to beat them all. Recorded in Dolan’s in Limerick last July before a live audience over two nights, the DVD captures Sharon’s big band in top form. It’s a line up

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2006Humdinger! Now there’s an unusual word. A word used to describe something amazing, somebody or something exceptional or outstanding. That’s what we have in the new album from Paul Brock and Enda Scahill. Oh, it’s a humdinger all right. Could it really be the first full album of traditional music on melodeon and banjo? Isn’t it amazing that until now nobody

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2006One of the highlights of this years Fleadh na gCuach in Kinvara was the launch of fiddler Manus McGuire’s second solo album ‘Fiddlewings’. A beautiful play on the notion of musical flight, ‘Fiddlewings’ takes the listener on a journey to the hallowed musical grounds that are dear to Manus McGuire’s’ heart; from Ireland to Shetland to Cape Breton. It was a

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2006 It’s hard to believe that Chris Droney is 81 years old when you hear the energetic and youthful music on his latest recording ‘Down from Bell Harbour’. You do the sums again just to be sure looking at the sleeve notes where we are told he’s been playing for 73 years and started when he was eight years old. But then Chris is one of those true greats of

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2006‘And I got some gold inside me too’ sings Seán Keane truthfully and appropriately on the single and title track of his new album. It’s a line from ‘You Got Gold’, a song penned by John Prine, a regular visitor and part time inhabitant of Co. Galway and one of those great artists we have the privilege of being exposed to in a relaxed way here in the west of

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2005 Songwriter Johnny Duhan continues to chart his course, navigating his way even further into our hearts, with his latest album, ‘The Voyage’. A familiar title from a familiar and much loved song, this, his seventh album is a collection of old and new songs, that travels to the heart of marriage and family life, encompassing the aspirations and struggles of

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2005 ‘If it's for you it won’t pass you’ says singer Andrew Murray philosophically, about his musical talent and the opportunities that lie ahead for him following the release of his first album. Having recorded previously with the well known traditional band DeDannan, singer Mary Staunton and box player Dave Munnelly, Andrew has at last succumbed to the wishes

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All text copyright Ita Kelly (c) 2005In north Co. Leitrim there is a small village of some 150 people. Like many of the small townlands and places in Ireland, it has derived fame from its famous musical sons and daughters. But Kiltyclogher boasts something more than one or two distinguished musicians. It happens to have produced in the small area around it over the last eighty years a group of

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