Trad quartet Lunasa, named to honour the Irish harvest god Lugh, who also gave his name to the month of August, have become something of gods themselves within the Irish trad scene. Jackie Hayden talks to them in the wake of the release of their new album Se.
The Irish language is currently enjoying its most significant renaissance in many a year. in a special report, Seán O Héadeáin investigates the rebirth of the most unfairly maligned element of traditional culture
It would seem that inside every successful singer songwriter there’s a covers album struggling to get out. Following George Michael, Annie Lennox et al, the fad now appears to be passing into Irish trad circles, with De Dannan’s ill-advised Hotel Hollywood effort and now Luka Bloom’s first release for two years.
Journey is not merely a trawl through the ubiquitous Donal Lunny's back pages but a compulsory purchase potted summary of three decades of Irish trad and the company it's been keeping.
Clann Zu have taken their blend of rock, trad and classical strings halfway around the world from their native Australia to settle in Dublin. Why? Because "Ireland is very open to different styles" insists token mick, Declan de Barra
Violinist Zöe Conway has moved from classical violin toward a more traditional style, impressing such trad legends as Bill Whelan and Steve Cooney in the process
With their Harmony Hill album establishing them as one of the Trad world’s brightest hopes, Dervish are now busy taking their music to anyone who wants to listen. Colm O’Hare meets the Sligo six-piece who are being favourably compared to and discovers a band determined to breathe new life into old traditions.
Rossa O Snodaigh is a founder member of the hugely popular and widely acclaimed Irish trad/folk/rock outfit Kila, which he formed with two of his brothers in 1987. The band have released six albums to date, the latest being 2003’s superb Luna Park. They are just about to tour Australia and Japan. Rossa grew up speaking Irish in the family home in Sandymount in Dublin.
With their Eurovision adventure as a focal point, it may have been a strange and unusual year for Dervish – but they've bounced back with a superb new album.
Danu may just be the hardest working band in trad. With their fourth album The Road Less Travelled only recently released and another promised for the spring, When Jackie Hayden put a number of key issues to the band’s accordionist Benny McCarthy and bodhran player and uilleann piper Donnchadh Hough he found that they don’t just work hard, they talk hard too.
David bickley, aka Mobius of hyper[borea], tells Olaf Tyaransen about dance music as gaeilge, Bronze Age atmospheres and how he came to throw his Hot Press Award off a cliff.
Well, skip a light fandango if it isn’t The Pale, back with a new EP after the long absence that followed their massive contribution to the Irish rock scene of the early nineties. The Final Garden sees them re-emerge as a sturdier yet looser musical unit than of yore.
The famed KODO drummers from Japan offer one of the most remarkable musical
experiences on planet earth right now. ADRIENNE MURPHY caught them in action in Zürich.
John Spillane has remained a stalwart of the traditional scene for close to two decades. With his excellent new album Hey Dreamer having just hit the shops, Spillane sounds off to hotpress about his long and eventful career, his enthusiasm for younger artists such as Damien Dempsey and Juliet Turner, and why the organisers of the European Capital of Culture events in his native Cork have gotten things spectacularly wrong. words Colm O’Hare photos Mick Quinn
One of Ireland’s premier singer/songwriters whose work has been covered by Christy Moore and the Corrs, Jimmy MacCarthy’s latest album The Moment illustrates a lighter side to his character. Below Jimmy gives us the inside track on the songs, the singers and the craft of writing
With an Irish tour approaching and a new album in the shops, Luka Bloom looks back on three decades that have taken him from busking in a pub in Newbridge to the big stages of Europe and America. In this candid interview with Jackie Hayden the man also known as Barry Moore talks about brother Christy, overcoming stage fright, finding an original voice, dealings with the music business, the need to combat racism - and why he remains a wannabe bogman
From studying at the Brit School of Performing Arts and providing backing vocals for Westlife, to her Terry Wogan-facilitated assault on the charts and subsequent elevation to bona-fide star status, former Belfast resident Katie Melua has packed an enormous amount into her 19 years.
He may have gone from The Clash to the BBC World Service but, happily, Joe Strummer is still a self-proclaimed "loony and rebel" after all these years. Interview: Olaf Tyaransen
When it was announced in Hot Press that a new incarnation of De Dannan was about to hit the road, it came as a surprise to one of the group's founders, Alec Finn. Here, he talks about why he objects to the use of the name by his former musical partner, Frankie Gavin.
Prince may be content just to party but in a four-page special the Hot Press journalistic elite takes a look at everything 1999 has to offer. And then some.
Heart's Quest is the brainchild of David Downes (oboe, cor anglais) and David Agnew (whistles, keyboards) augmented by whatever musical battalions they need from track to track.
It’s the guide Ladbrokes, the Central Bank, Mystic Meg and Mark Lawrenson turn to at the start of each year – Jackie Hayden’s cultural, sporting and political forecasts for the forthcoming twelve months.
U2, Elvis Costello, The Pogues, The Waterboys, Emmylou Harris, Hothouse Flowers, The Everly Brothers, Christy Moore just some of the dozens of artists who contribute to an adventurous new five part TV series which traces the extraordinary return journey that Irish traditional music has made to America and beyond. Here, Liam Fay previews the programmes, talks to Philip King who originated and nurtured the project and hears many of the participants explain how they discovered the importance and influence of Irish music.
Meet Larry Harvey, the man behind burning man, the world’s most extraordinary festival, in which a whole city, run as a gift economy, springs up in the arid nevada desert to celebrate creativity, non-conformism and the healing power of fire.
Here is an album conceived in Winkle's Bar, Kinvara, the juices got flowing over a weekend rave-up, with Liam O'Maonlai, Adam Clayton and Mike Scott just dropping around for a blast.
This double-album from Ireland’s premier bluesman features eleven new tracks, a sprinkling of previous faves, and a CD of mostly harmonica-led instrumentals.
Since most trad acts are essentially covers bands regurgitating note-for-note copies of tunes they’ve been spoonfed by somebody else, we must be thankful for outfits like Kila, Danu, Altan and Solas who invest new zest into an often clichéd genre. Thus, Waiting For An Echo is a challenging mix of old tunes and new, instrumentals and songs, fast and slow, happy and sad, tight and easeful, with a pot-pourri of influences.
Like their English counterparts Flook, Lunasa continue to plough their no-vocal take on the Irish tradition with considerable success, and those who enjoyed the zest and brio of their live Kinnity Sessions will luxuriate in this fresh studio-bound set.
Now that American rock ’n’ roll has succumbed to its self-destructive urges and with its British counterpart reduced to self-indulgent navel exercises, the stage is now set for the radical rejuvenation of Irish music both as an international commercial viability and as a cultural touchstone for the new generation at home. Bill Graham meets philip king, the captain of the flagship of the latest revival river of sound, and finds that in the wake of the Riverdance phenomenon, it’s full steam ahead for Irish trad. Pix: NUTAN.
Dara is a noisy bastard. Think ELO with Baby Bird Jones vocals, a solid if conventional rocking band, a Bangle or two to leaven the mix of sumptuous strings and a blustering stadium rock ethos, and you’ve got half an idea as to what your ears can expect from The Eye Of The Clock .
With Candyfloss Girl, Cork singer-songwriter John Leo Carter and friends have done a rare thing. They’ve created a touching, soothing, seamlessly flowing album that can be played again and again, providing a fresh experience every time.
Sinéad O'Connor's records don't necessarily reveal themselves speedily. I know that, on the first hearing, 'The Lion and the Cobra' seemed to me an ill-fitting match of various discordant styles. I didn't really crack it 'till its sixth time round my turntable.
Damien Dempsey takes two Meteors and then represents Ireland at the London St. Patrick’s day parade..and much more in Folk Centre: the latest folk news, with Sarah McQuaid
There’s more to Glasgow than Rab C. Nesbitt, Rangers/Celtic turf wars and Taggart. Adele Bethel, vocalist with Sons And Daughters, sings the praises of her native city.
Set to support the Levellers at their December Academy date, Irish trad punk outfit Blood Or Whiskey are already plotting their return to the venue next year.
Folk centre with Sarah McQuaid: the forthcoming debut solo album from Nollaig Casey features contributions from such luminaries as Sharon Shannon, Rod Mcvey and Liam Bradley.
He may have gone from The Clash to the BBC World Service, but, happily, Joe Strummer is still a self-proclaimed "Loony and Rebel" after all these years
He may have gone from The Clash to the BBC World Service, but, happily, Joe Strummer is still a self-proclaimed "Loony and Rebel" after all these years.
That’s the philosophy behind Cross Border Media, a label which has had a remarkable impact on Irish music since its foundation just three years ago. A special report by Colm O’Hare and Jackie Hayden
Ten years together now and, while they never really tried to invent the traditional wheel, Sligo's Dervish have been nothing but exemplary ambassadors for Irish music.
SEPIA-TONED and timeless, Sonny Condell's velvet-tinged voice and mystically-inspired songwriting have long been such an integral part of the Irish musical landscape that he's lately been overlooked in favour of some of his more commercially-inclined peers such as Kieran Goss and Brian Kennedy.
