Folk Column: Rising from the ashes

A couple of years back I spent an idyllic few months living in the village of Naul in North County Dublin. Aside from the rural tranquility just miles from the bustle of the city (don’t worry – I’m not going to try and sell you a house there) one of my principal reasons for loving the place was the fact that at least one or two nights a week, three if you hit a good stretch, you could take yourself off down to the Seamus Ennis Centre and catch some of the finest homegrown musicians, as well as some great touring acts from the US as well as Europe.

Some of the acts I first saw there went on to feature among my favourite performers – Jeffrey Foucault and in particular Will Kimbrough still stand out as killer performances. One of the reasons why this was such a great place to go see someone live was the sheer informality of the experience. With no real stage, there was no notion of an audience/performer divide, and while some performers did definitely put on a show, others created a front room ambience where you felt they were playing just for you.
The place looked like a school hall and the sound system looked like it belonged at a village fete, but because the staff actually gave a damn about music, the gigs always sounded great and the audience always enjoyed the experience. On occasion too, they packed us in like sardines, and you would make some new friends because you really didn’t have a whole heap of choice.
Then one day it all ended. I got a phone call to tell me that the Centre had burnt down. I went down to see the place and although things could have been a lot worse, the place did look pretty dismal.
A great deal of effort had been taken to keep the place looking as much like it had when Seamus Ennis had lived there as possible, but the fire had pretty much destroyed the parlour and what had been the administrative office. There was a general rolling up of sleeves and gritting of teeth amongst the staff and an Arnie-like committment that they would be back.
And back they are! With the venue fully back in operation, the gang have launched a new year programme fully the equal of anything they’ve put on before. Although the venue has had a bit of gloss applied as well as a new sound system and lighting rig, the old intimacy has been retained and the programme is the same mix of acoustically leaning music that straddles traditional, folk and contemporary while hanging together beautifully as a great bunch of gigs to see.
In February alone, the venue plays host to trad doyennes Dordan on Friday February 1, and guitar wunderkind Albert Niland the evening after. Californian singer/songwriter Lisa Hake, who has cut her live teeth at Dundalk’s Spirit Store where she recently headlined the venue’s Tall Poppy Club singer-songwriter showcase night, takes the stage on Thursday February 7.
On Saturday February 9, John Spillane makes his return to the revamped venue, while uileann piper Paddy Keenan plays the following Friday February 15 along with guitarist Tommy O’Sullivan. The following evening, Saturday February 16, Joe and Steve Wall of The Walls and The Stunning fame play an unplugged two-handed set, as part of a mini tour bringing an entirely different perspective to their songs.
The following weekend Mairtin O’Connor, Cathal Hayden and Seamie O’Dowd bring their vigorous and earthy brand of traditional Irish music to the venue with a show on Friday February 22. The month is rounded out on the following Friday February 29 with a visit from all-female ensemble Liadan.
Encouraging to see Kila getting a nomination for the Choice Music Prize. They’ve been slugging away for quite some time now, showing a flair for mutation and evolution that puts them up there with some of the finest survivors in the music business internationally. With a burgeoning creativity that has been spilling out sideways into solo projects a-go-go over the last few years, they really have moved from being simply a band to being one of the phenomena of the Irish music scene.
It’s evidence too that they have managed to edge themselves out of the ghettoisation that dogs traditional music in Ireland in a way that groups like Dervish and Lunasa haven’t. Tellingly perhaps, they have never tried to commercialise their music, and while both Dervish and Lunasa have looked to the USA and to the Irish diaspora for an audience, Kila have carved out their own idiosyncratic path with the Far East and Europe re-invigorating their music when the batteries have needed recharging. It would be nice to see them pick up the prize before they get so long in the tooth that the Meteor Lifetime Achievement is all they can aspire too.
Astonishingly, it’s now over a decade since Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill last released a studio album (1997’s The Lonesome Touch) although they have managed a live album. Even that was released as far back as 1999. For quite possibly the most popular duo in traditional music, this throws into sharp relief the truly relentless nature of their touring. This new record Welcome Here Again must rank as one of the most eagerly anticipated records of the decade. It was recorded one track at a time and features eighteen new tracks, all clocking in at under seven minutes.
The release marks a comeback to the recorded world, not just for Hayes and Cahill, but also to the once troubled Green Linnet label. Having been acquired by Compass Records back in 2006, this is the first release on the imprint since the takeover. Like a waking giant, Green Linnet plans a fairly intensive year of fresh releases, with the floodgates apparently set to open on March 1.
The duo continue to tour heavily, but there are currently no plans for a visit to these shores, with the immediate future taken up with a tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Not leaving it quite so long as Hayes and Cahill, Zoe Conway has followed on from 2006’s CD release The Horse’s Tail with a live DVD release of material from it, her debut album and some tracks which haven’t been released anywhere else. Recorded in the Holy Trinity Church in Carlingford, the set features Zoe accompanied by husband John McIntyre and percussionist Robbie Harris.