Folk column: You're a song

Dervish’s Eurovision appearance raises questions about our attitude towards traditional music.
Irrespective of what you think about the merits of the four songs selected, the fact that two are by composers from outside of Ireland tells its own story.
Can we take it that songwriters don’t see themselves as having a place within the traditional arena? Certainly, while there are great songwriters writing today in a traditional idiom (John Spillane; Damien Dempsey and Shane MacGowan) there is a general sense that they sit outside the trad mainstream.
In this writer’s opinion, if Irish traditional music is not to become a dead dialect, then it needs to evolve.
Currently, some of the most vigorous and energizing folk songwriting is coming from a man who probably wouldn’t thank you for the title. Jinx Lennon mixes punk folk with observational lyrics, performance art, and a stage show that is more baptist hellfire preacher than Dylanesque troubadour. His frame of reference probably owes more to Mark E. Smith of The Fall than Christy Moore. Still, in his soul, Lennon has all the hallmarks of a folk singer.
Taking his themes from the day to day experiences of life in a small Irish town, he documents and proselytizes in equal measure. There is a combination of austerity and humour in his work which is found almost nowhere but in folk song. If Woody Guthrie were alive today and living in Ireland it would be entirely plausible for him to write a song like Jinx’s ‘Stop Complaining About Nigerians’. Famous for his audience bating, his preambles often weave seamlessly into his songs, setting the audience up for a sucker punch to the cerebral cortex.
On the live scene, meanwhile, former Nomos frontman Eoin Coughlan plays Dundalk’s Spirit Store on Thursday March 15 as he launches his solo debut Blood In Vein. Long regarded as a significant performer and one of the country’s great traditional guitar players, it comes as something of a surprise that this release, which features amongst its 11 tracks the single ‘Cutting Down Laws’ (with a guest performance from Damien Dempsey), is his first outing under his own name.
Na Piobaire Uilleann have announced the line up for the next few sessions at the Cobblestone, close to their spiritual home in Dublin’s Henrietta Street. Each session hinges around a piper and some superb musical accompaniment. Tuesday 3 April sees piper Leonard Barry (uilleann pipes) joined by Tony O’Connell (concertina), Andy Morrow (fiddle) and Gerry McNamara (guitar). On Tuesday 1 May, piper Mick Coyne performs with Tony Linnane (fiddle) and Eamonn Cotter (flute).
If there were a Meteor Award for song least likely to make it onto a playlist, surely the latest offering from Maria Doyle Kennedy would be a shoo-in.
Releasing a track called ‘Fuckability’ might mean she has zero chance of radio play, but at least it proves she’s lost none of her sense of humour and rebellious heart.
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While the new, albeit temporary, all-male line up of Flook – with Michael McGoldrick deputising for Sarah Allen – are currently off on the annual traditional musicians’ pilgrimage to the United States, Sarah is resting up after having delivered Maisy Elizabeth, the newest member of the Flook clan, into the world. Apparently both mother and daughter took a bit of a battering during the birth, but both are fine now.