Music Network kicks off the first of two ‘Best Of Irish’ traditional tours this season with the music of Donegal. Joining Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Dermot Byrne of Altan for a nine-venue tour of Ireland will be Mairéad’s nephew and TG4’s Young Musician of the Year 2003, fiddler Ciarán Ó Maonaigh. Under the banner Roots and Relations, the tour gets under way in Listowel on January 13 before moving on to Ballyvourney, Waterford, Tinahely, Clifden,Dublin, Monaghan and Cavan, finishing up in Lanesborough on January 22.
The second tour, scheduled for next May, brings together flute player Desi Wilkinson, bouzouki player Brendan O’Regan and accordion wizard Máirtín O’Connor. For more info, contact Music Network directly on (01) 671 9429 or click on www.musicnetwork.ie.
Watch out for TG4’s new Abair Amhrán series, starting in January, which will be featuring excerpts from a recording session with singer Bríd Ní Mhaoileoin that took place on the Ros Goill peninsula in North West Donegal last July. Bríd was joined for the recording by her mother Caitlín, brother Pádraig and sister Máire as well as Alan Burke, her musical partner and producer of her debut CD Ar Mhuin na Muice (reviewed in this magazine some issues ago). Bríd, who spent the first few years of her life in Kenya, is currently relearning Swahili and planning her second CD, set for release in the spring of 2006 – a “musical safari” featuring a melange of Swahili and Irish songs and rhythms. As part of the project, Bríd will be returning to Kenya for the first time in 30 years. With a camera team, she plans to make a “back to my roots” documentary. For more info about Bríd, see www.brid.at.
Regular readers might recall my advice last autumn to folk and trad acts to audition for the new series of You’re A Star. Donegal band The Henry Girls did just that, and now they’re in the final twelve of the competition. They’ll be performing live on the show on January 16, at which stage it’ll be up to the public whether or not they get to stay the course. Somewhat confusingly, the girls aren’t Henrys at all, but rather McLaughlins – Lorna on vocals, accordion, tin whistle and bodhrán; Karen on vocals, fiddle and piano; and Joleen on vocals, harp and piano. Their 2003 self-produced debut album Between Us earned accolades from this reviewer among others. I’ll be waiting with bated breath to see what happens.
A terrific new book arrived in the post towards the end of last year. I meant to recommend it as a Christmas gift idea, but didn’t get round to it in time, alas. However, if you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to do less telly-watching and more reading, do have a look in your local bookshop for Irish Folk, Trad & Blues – A Secret History by Colin Harper and Trevor Hodgett, published by the Collins Press. Running to well over 400 pages, it’s a comprehensive and fascinating look at the music and the people who’ve been making it, from the 1960s through to the present day, with lots of interviews and first-person reminiscences. Definitely one not to miss.
Melodeon king Johnny Connolly’s third solo album, An Mileoidean Scaoilte, was launched on December 16 at Tigh Hughes in Spiddal. Liam Mac Con Iomaire did the honours, and Johnny also said a few words. I’m told that a great session of singing and music followed, with musicians present including Johnny’s son Johnny Óg and his daughter Mary Ellen, Mary Shannon, Liz Kane, Marcus Hernon, Meaití Jó Shéamuis Ó Fátharta, Charlie Lennon (who accompanied Connolly on the CD), Emmet Gill, Mary McPartlan, Nan Tom Teaimín, Áine Ní Dhroighneáin, dancer Seosamh Ó Neachtain (also featured on the CD) and many more. Look out for a review in the next issue of hotpress.
Paul Doyle of the band Providence and bouzouki player Niall Ó Callanáin have opened up a new music shop in Clondalkin. It’s called Monastery Music, and caters for beginners and professionals alike in all genres from rock and roll to classical. However, says Niall, there will be a big emphasis on traditional instruments, and a full repair service will be provided for most instruments. For more details, ring (01) 464 3389 ir Email [email protected].
Great news from our own Niall Toner. The Nashville Bluegrass Band’s recent release Twenty Year Blues has just been nominated for a Grammy award as Best Bluegrass Album of 2004. The song ‘There’s A Better Way’, written by Niall with Don Poythress and Terri Lynn Weaver, is one of the most-played tracks on this CD, and is currently at No. 17 in Bluegrass Unlimited’s radio chart in the USA. Niall and his band are currently working on their new CD, Climbin’, to be released on Avalon Records towards the end of this month, and will be touring Britian for the first time in 2005 – see www.nialltonerband.ie for dates and details.
I was sorry to learn of the recent passing of Joe Shannon, who died of skin cancer on December 26 at his daughter’s home in Batavia, Illinois. Born in 1919 in the village of Treenabontry, near Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo, Shannon was surrounded by music there but only took up the pipes – on which he was self-taught – after emigrating with his family to Chicago in 1929. “Shannon honed his highly ornamented style of uilleann piping to a fine edge,” writes Earle Hitchner in his Irish Echo obituary of Shannon. This dexterity made him the second Irish musician residing in America (after sean-nós singer Joe Heaney) to earn a National Heritage Fellowship. While his only album, The Noonday Feast, has gone out of print, Shannon’s piping can still be heard on Rounder Records’ 2001 CD reissue of Irish Traditional Instrumental Music From Chicago, Vol. II. He is survived by his daughters Mary, Noreen, Kathleen, Ellen, Barbara, Nancy and Patty, his sons Jim, Terry, Michael and Brian, his 21 grandchildren and his two great-grandchildren.

Musicians and singers with news to share can e-mail Sarah on [email protected]