New Irish and Related Music Releases September 2000

RI NA bPIOBAIRI. (THE KING OF THE PIPERS). Leo Rowsome. This month sees a re-launch on CD of the first long-playing record of traditional music ever made. Leo spent his life playing and manufacturing uilleann pipes at a time when there were very few pipers left in the world. As such, he is one of the few who saved the art. But he was also a great piper and this album is full of beautiful music.

THE CHIEFTAINS’ COLLECTION, VOLUME TWO. The Chieftains.. This is a further compilation from The Chieftains’ first five albums, the best they’ve done.

WELCOME TO THE HOTEL CONNEMARA. De Dannan. On this album the group takes pop classics such as ‘You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling’, ‘Hey Jude’, ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ and more and plays them in the De Dannan style.

THE MULCAHY FAMILY. Mick Mulcahy is an accordion player from near Brosna in County Kerry. Over the years he has played all through Ireland and is well known to musicians in every county. In the meantime he was also rearing his two daughters Louise and Michelle, who have become fine musicians in their own right. Michelle plays accordion, concertina and harp, while Louise plays flute and uilleann pipes. They have produced a lovely album of robust Munster music, and are joined for the recording by guest musicians Cyril O’Donoghue, Mick Moloney and Zan McLeod.

HOPE IS IN THE MORNING. The Sands Family. The Sands family has been touring in Germany since the late 1960s, and this is a recording of a live concert they gave in 1999. It’s good-humoured folk music of a singalong variety, with the emphasis on material they’ve written themselves.

STRING COMPANY. String Company is a group that’s based in Galway. They are a string quartet consisting of violin, viola, cello and guitar. And they play a very eclectic selection of music, consisting of tunes from all over the world. The playing is impeccable, the arrangements beautiful and the selection ranges from klezmer to Scandinavian via Fermanagh and Shetland. It’s quite a bit removed from ‘pure drop’ traditional music, but is well worth a listen.

IF ANYONE CAN! Leo McCann. A collection of mostly self-composed tunes from a County Tyrone accordion player.

AS GAEILGE. The Wolfe Tones. Songs sung in Irish by the Dublin ballad group – a re-release.

DANCE MUSIC OF IRELAND. Matt Cunningham. Volumes 1 – 8. Some of these albums have hitherto only been available on cassette. They include music for The Kerry Set, The Galway Set, The Caledonian Set (Vol. 1), The Mazurka Set, An Staicin Eornan, The Cashel Set (Vol. 2), The Plain Set, The Cavan Set, The Donegal Set, The Sliabh Luachra (Vol. 3), The Paris Set, The Connemara Set, The Labasheeda Set, The South Kerry Set (Vol. 4), The Aran Set, The Auban Set, The Clare Lancers, The Derrada set (Vol. 5), The Corofin Plain Set, The Military Two Step, The Gay Gordons, The Monaghan Set, The Black Valley Square Jig Set (Vol. 6), The Jenny Ling Jig Set, The Waltz Collection, The Orange and Green, The Sliabh gCua Set, The Mazurka Set (beginners’ pace) (Vol 7), and The Newport Set, The Melleray Lancers, The Skibbereen Set, The Newport Set (Vol. 8).

CELTIC HEART. Various. This compilation volume of ‘New Songs from the Heart of Ireland’ starts off with an instrumental composed by an Englishman and seems to be a compilation licensed from the Green Linnet label.