Green about the gills

It may interest you to know that I am typing this column while tucked up in bed in Wexford General Hospital, having given birth the day before yesterday (Tuesday July 8) to a 7 lb 9 oz baby boy. He has a thatch of sandy-blond hair and a voracious appetite, his name is Eli, and his daddy is waiting to take my laptop home and e-mail hotpress with the copy, so I’d better get on with it.

The big story in the trad world at the moment is the statement just circulated to the press by Lúnasa manager Stuart Ongley regarding what Ongley describes as a “bootleg” version of the band’s new album Redwood that has apparently been released by Green Linnet Records.

The album, as Ongley explains, was inspired by a week-long stay in October of 2001 at the home of their US agent, Matt Greenhill, in the wilds of Northern California. “The band followed the original inspiration with extensive pre-production work at every opportunity,” Ongley continues. “This is the first time Lúnasa have prepared for recording like this – usually the album is pretty much created in the studio. The album was recorded at Prairie Sun in California and mixed at Marguerite Studios in Dublin.

“The band then wanted to get the best possible mastering done of the album and, after some research, felt that Final Stage Mastering in Nashville would be the choice. Trevor Hutchinson from the band delayed his return to Ireland at the end of Lúnasa’s fall 2002 US tour and flew to Nashville to master the album…

“Whilst at Prairie Sun the band often ate at The Redwood Café, named after the famous redwoods of those parts. The café wasn’t the inspiration for the title, but the redwoods were. It also so happened that one of the band had a photographer friend who lives in California, Beth Moon, and she had some wonderful shots of redwoods. Two of these became Redwood’s front and back cover.

“Our regular sleeve designer Naoimh Imgram then began work on the sleeve. As with the other areas, great care was taken, loads of to-ing and fro-ing before the band finally had what they wanted… No effort or expense was spared.

“When it came to deliver the new album to Green Linnet in 2002, we discovered that the company was unable to pay for it.” Ongley goes on to describe the company’s finances as being in a “parlous state” and states that various artists including Eileen Ivers, Altan, Joanie Madden, Cherish The Ladies and Mick Moloney are pursuing Green Linnet via the courts for royalties owed.

“To further compound our concerns,” he writes, “we received a royalty statement from Green Linnet – one of two or three we’d ever received from them. This statement reinterpreted the deal and the other statements (significantly) in Green Linnet’s favour…”

According to Ongley, while negotiations regarding this and other matters were still in progress, Green Linnet used a faulty “copy-of-a-copy” to manufacture the album and produced artwork for it from royalty-free images downloaded from the Internet. He alleges that they did this in order to “harm the good reputation of Lúnasa and Lúnasa’s music”.

When I contacted Green Linnet to ask for their reaction to Ongley’s statement, I received a reply from Chris Teskey, Chief Operating Officer of the company, saying “We feel that it is inappropriate for us to comment on the Green Linnet/Lunasa matter at this time because Green Linnet Records has commenced legal action with regard to this matter.” And there things stand at present. I’ll keep you posted as further events unfold.

If you haven’t already been listening to Radio na Gaeltachta’s Turas Ceoil, make sure to tune in over the coming weeks on Mondays at 7 pm. Presented by Marcas Ó Murchú, the programme on July 21 will feature Irish musicians and tunes recorded mostly in England from the 1930s to the present day, including some rare tracks. On July 28, the emphasis will be on US-based Irish musicians from the 1920s onward.

Following on the release of their excellent fourth album Seed, the Afro Celts (formerly known as the Afro Celt Sound System) have a busy summer schedule ahead of them, and they’re looking forward to taking the new material on the road: “We mixed and arranged the record as we would play it live,” explains guitarist and co-producer Simon Emmerson. Their appearance on the main stage at Glastonbury will have already taken place by the time this magazine comes out, but you can still catch them at the Cambridge Folk Festival on August 2, the Eden Project in Cornwall on August 22, or the Royal Festival Hall in London on September 27.

The Sessions, a new exhibition of uilleann pipes and pipers at Monaghan County Museum, opened a couple of weeks ago with… go on, have a guess… a session. RTÉ producer Harry Bradshaw did the honours for the official launch, following which Rev. R.W.W. Clarke, son of the famous Ballybay piper Willie Clarke, spoke of how his mother would give out about Willie’s magnanimity toward the local beggars, whispering “your father’s a quare unusual fella”. And then pipers Patrick Meehan, Conor Lavelle, Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn, Thomas Johnston, Conall Curran, Martin McCormick and Eamon Curran took over the proceedings, creating a splendid racket the likes of which probably isn’t often heard in such rarefied surrounds. The exhibition, which continues at the museum through the end of August, charts the growth, zenith, near-extinction and subsequent revival of the piping tradition. Two of the country’s most celebrated pipers and painters, Dara and Brian Vallely, are also featured, as are sets of pipes dating from the 18th century, on loan from both the National Museum and the Ulster Museum.

From now through August 10, Belfast-based fiddler Dónal O’Connor will be sitting in for Robbie Hannan on BBC Radio Ulster’s trad music show Cúlán. This is the first time Dónal has presented a radio programme, and he says he intends to bring “a very eclectic mix” to the slot. Each week, he’ll feature a record from his vast collection and play some of his favourites, old and new, in between. To hear him, tune in to BBC Radio Ulster (92 -94.5 FM / 1341 MW) on Sunday evenings from 6.15 to 7 pm. Dónal is the son of celebrated fiddler Gerry O’Connor (Skylark, Kinvara, Lá Lugh) and the late Eithne Ní Uallacháin, a beautiful traditional singer who’s much missed by this writer among the many others who had the good fortune to meet and hear her. The heir to at least five generations of fiddle playing and countless generations of traditional singing, Dónal has toured extensively from a young age with a number of bands including Lá Lugh. Recent collaborations have included a short tour of Ireland with Michael McGoldrick (Capercaillie, Flook, Lúnasa), a festival performance with Karan Casey, television performances with legendary Sligo flute player Seamus Tansey and recording work with Máire Brennan of Clannad. He’s also found some time to prepare material for a duet album with Belfast piper John McSherry which should be released in early 2003.

And now the young fella is roaring for yet another feed. Til next time, then…

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