Harping On

She s played midwife to the harp in recent years, brought it in from the cold, shook off its undoubted ochzn factor and let it rip right in the belly of the session. Laoise Kelly may only be 26 but she s already made her presence felt in trad circles to the point where her dance card s been filled by everyone from Donal Lunny and Sharon Shannon to Steve Cooney, the Nm Domhnaills and Siniad O Connor.

With a solo album, Just Harp, already on the racks as well as two with The Bumblebees, Kelly s on the brink of embarking on a nationwide Music Network Tour in the company of three fine musicians: John Joe Kelly on bodhran, Mirella Murray on piano accordion and Jarlath McTiernan on uileann pipes. It s a refreshingly unconventional line-up, and one that promises to schlep it out once it hits the road.
Mirella s probably one of the biggest influences on my music , Kelly says. She s a really solid rhythm, really bouncy and un-piano accordion-like playing! She s brilliant at bass work too, and we play very tight together.
John Joe Kelly is a Mancunian, fellow traveller with Michael McGoldrick s band and a renaissance percussionist whose influences stretch from Keith Moon to tabla meister, Zakir Hussein. McTiernan is equally eclectic in range, finding temporary lodging for his pipes with everyone from Tommy Fleming to Dervish and even on the Flatley caravanserai betimes.
John Joe s an incredible bodhran player , Kelly avers. He just sweeps the board, and when you see him playing you ll see what I mean. He can get so many sounds out of the bodhran that he s like a drumkit as well. He really understands the tunes. He s a great lilter too, but he s very shy about doing it. He s just a bould pup really but we ll have to make him do it!
Kelly s played with all three musicians before but this is their first chance to settle into the comfort zone of a quartet for a couple of weeks. The set list is likely to be as eclectic as a Moroccan bazaar, with Galician, Irish and Scottish tunes jostling for space between French Canadian and Breton pieces.
We re really working on this tour , she insists, because it s certainly not going to be just plain ol boring trad: three reels, three jigs and a slow air. It ll be very well arranged, and hopefully will work well. As I speak there s a Galician CD playing here, which we ve been told to learn by Jarlath!
This tour will take Kelly & Co. to all manner of unlikely venues from Mohill to Buncrana, and from Virginia to Tinahely. How does she feel about playing in locations and venues which might not often be included on her own or others touring schedules?
When you go to places that aren t used to getting music, people can be a lot more open-minded , she notes. And we d know musicians in nearly every town we re visiting, so we re really looking forward to that too.
What of the future of the harp in traditional music (and points beyond)? Kelly has few worries:
There are loads and loads of great young players out there , she says. I think a lot of them will really come into their own in about 10 years time.
As to her own role in this revival, she s more sanguine.
I suppose I ve played a part in a small way , she concedes, and I think TV work helps a lot. People are most influenced by television really, and if they can see that it s less about having to look pretty and wear lovely dresses, than playing the music, then it s great. I ve never really been in to all the other stuff anyway.

The Music Network Tour kicks off on Thursday, September 14th in the Wexford Arts Centre, and wends its way to Dublin, Cobh, Monaghan, Manorhamilton and points west. See local press for details.