LIFE OF BRIAN

Music, like fashion, eventually comes full circle. In recent times Leitrim might have been the poor relation in terms of population, profile and downright sex appeal, (remember the late Kevin Marron s jibe that he phoned Leitrim and they were all out?), but her pedigree as a county of superb traditional music was never in doubt. Leitrim s fiddling style has been copied and kidnapped by so many musicians that it s a wonder it s managed to retain anything of its geographical identity. But it has, and now it s re-entering centre-stage, courtesy of a batallion of consummate local musicians, hell bent on playing their music well beyond the bounds of the county.

Brian McNamara is Leitrim s finest export. A native of Aughavas, and the eldest of a family of traditional musicians who ve already garnered accolades for their debut album, Leitrim s Hidden Treasure, he s hurtled right past the opposition with a very fine solo debut, The Piper s Dream. A gathering of well-known and obscure tunes from South Leitrim and beyond, The Piper s Dream delivers a long-overdue tribute to the many musicians who came before and left a legacy of remarkable tunes in their wake.
Self-produced with encyclopaedic sleevenotes, the likes of which you won t find on any other release these days, Brian McNamara means business with this debut.
There s been a huge piping tradition at home for generations, and I just see myself as a link in the chain, he offers. I d like to draw attention to the music, because I think a lot of people are unaware of it.
Although the tradition of piping had virtually died out by the time McNamara reached playing age, he lost no time in tapping into a repertoire and style of playing that can readily take its place among the finest of schleppers and stylists in the business.
The Piper s Dream is really a continuation of a theme started by our family album a couple of years ago, McNamara explains, whereby most of the tunes on that album were never ever recorded before. There s a huge share of my own album which was never recorded before either.
With access to a long lost archive of material, much of it gathered together by Stephen Grier, a 19th century piper who penned almost 1,000 tunes, as well as a swathe of music from his own father, McNamara had a plethora of tunes to draw from. It s a staccato style of playing that was much revered throughout Connaught, though more recently, as with every other instrument, the distinctive sound has melded with other regional styles. With so many tunes at his disposal, was it a trawl to limit his selection to an album s worth of tunes?
Yes, though once you play a few bars of a tune, you immediately get a feel for whether it s going to fit with your plans for the album or not, he says. That is, fit mentally, and also, fit the instrument. Does it play well on the instrument? It s only a sample, and some of the tunes were in my head since our first album which we just didn t have room for. And I guess as well as considering the tradition and the repertoire, there are a number of piping classics which you re going to be judged on as a piper. So there are tunes which I ve been playing for some years that I really wanted to include.
The Goodman collection was also welcome fodder for McNamara, a man not given to tunnel vision in his musical appetite or his playing. Paying homage to the tradition is something that must gel with his need for self-expression, if the music is to breathe anew, he maintains.
I try to be as sensitive to the tradition as possible, and to me it s all about expression. Every tune must have a distinct character, because playing a tune is like telling a story, really. So much of what I hear nowadays has a sameness about it. You have to try to be true to the tune if you ve learnt it from another musician. However, if you ve got it from a manuscript, that s just a skeletal form, and it s very much thereafter what you make of the tune. Often, I feel that less is better. There are so many people now playing and putting more and more notes into the tunes. Yes, it s a technical exercise, it s virtuoso playing, but is there a story or a character in it at the end of the day? Really, subtlety, sensitivity and character are what count.
The Piper s Dream is available on Drumlin records, Cat. No. BMNCD1 through all major record outlets