Whirling Dervish

Sligo Borough Council have honoured Dervish by granting them the Freedom of Sligo – a distinction previously bestowed on W.B. Yeats, Tommie Gorman, Ray McSharry and Westlife – at a ceremony in the Borough Council offices on May 11. It’s a fitting reward for a group that formed as The Boys Of Sligo in 1989 before morphing into Dervish with the addition of singer Cathy Jordan two years later. They’ve spent much of the year so far touring in Canada and the United States, bolstered by the extensive airplay received by their re-working of the Bob Dylan classic ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’. Return trips to both Canada and the USA are scheduled for later in the year, as well as trips to Greece, Japan, France and Germany. Word has it that a fictionalised account of the band’s early years is soon to be made into a film – more details on that to come in due course!
The Lúnasa entourage is now travelling somewhat lighter, although not by choice. While the band was playing onstage at the Memorial Concert Hall in Wellington, New Zealand, their dressing rooms were broken into. Among the items stolen were irreplaceable unique instruments, passports with visas, credit cards, driving licences, money, cameras, phones and more. “On the bright side, though,” writes the band’s Sean Smyth, “nobody has been hurt (yet!). We have our health and our music and to say that the people in Wellington and Christchurch have been absolutely fantastic would indeed be an understatement! All papers, radios and TV news programs have been carrying the story and hopefully we will at least be able to recover Kevin Crawford’s one-off unique Grinter flute.” Fingers crossed, indeed.
Uilleann piper and low whistle player Eoin Duignan is launching his third album with concerts in Kerry and Dublin. Entitled Lumina, the album consists of a six-part suite written for low whistles, tracing the journey of the spirit from birth to death and rebirth. The music was inspired by the six magnificent Harry Clarke stained glass windows in Díseart Chapel, Dingle, County Kerry. Commissioned in 1922 by the Presentation Sisters for their convent chapel in Dingle, the six twin-light windows have been described as “breathtaking” and “intensely moving”, with lively animated faces, a profusion of rich vibrant colours and generous ornamentation. The National Gallery of Ireland recently took possession of Harry Clarke’s notebooks and drawings, which will go on display to the general public next year. Duignan’s debut recording, Coumineol, was released in 1994 and was described by this magazine as “a highly listenable collection... that should appeal to everyone who appreciates high quality, refined and delicate music.” He followed it up in 1999 with Ancient Rite, a collection of original compositions. On Lumina, he’s joined by some of Ireland’s finest musicians, including Máire Breathnach, Liam Ó Maonlaoí and producer Gerry O’Beirne. The first launch will take place at 10.30pm on June 22 in Díseart Chapel, Dingle, followed by an 8.30pm concert on June 24 in Dublin’s Peppercannister Church. Tickets can be purchased from Claddagh Records, Dublin, Tel. (01) 677 0262.
Kíla are heading into a busy summer schedule of European festivals and tours. WOMAD (www.womad.org) have included the band in the Australian ‘WOMADelaide’ as well as at WOMAD festivals in Spain, Sicily and the UK this summer – a great honour for Kíla, who’ll be sharing the bill with such greats as Talvin Singh, Zakir Hussain (with whom they jammed in Sydney) and the legendary David Byrne. On July 19 and 20, they’ll be the only Irish act to appear at The Forum in Barcelona (www.barcelona2004.org), an event described as a “new and creative space for reflection and experimentation in relation to the main cultural and social conflicts that humanity is faced with at the outset of the 21st century.” Wow. Other European dates include the Genk Live Festival in Belgium, Festival Bergamo in Italy, Lent Festival Slovenia, Festival Ortigueria in Spain, the Folk y Raices Festival in Tenerife, the Hebridean Festival in Scotland, the Guinness Festival in Switzerland and the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary.
They’ll be back on home turf to appear alongside Christy Moore, Mary Black, Katell Keineg and others in the big anti-war gig at The Point Depot on June 19 (organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement, one of the prime movers behind the recently-established Stop Bush Campaign – for more info see www.irishantiwar.org), as well as at the Ballymahon Festival on July 4 and the Kilkenny Arts Festival on August 15. Then they’re off to Japan and America from August 26 to September 27. Busy, busy, busy!
The latest new band to hit the trad scene is Coisir (Irish for ‘party’), consisting of brother and sister Jim Woods (accordion, bodhrán) and Damaris Woods (banjo, mandolin) plus singer/songwriter Gerry Tully (guitar, vocals). With their debut album in the offing, the group has just returned from a very successful tour of Germany, playing a 17-night stint with the Irish Spring Tour, which reportedly generated excellent reviews in the unfortunately-titled Folker Magazine.
You may recall reading in this column a few months ago about a report in the Belfast Telegraph to the effect that it was “almost certain” that Outlet Records would “go into voluntary liquidation” as the result of a dispute with the Dubliners over master tapes and royalties that led to an out-of-court settlement in favour of the band in the region of £900,000. Managing director Canice McGarry has now confirmed that Outlet Recording Company Ltd has restructured, retaining only the intellectual property associated with the master recordings held, and will continue in the business of licensing and royalty collection based on those masters. The distribution business previously handled by Outlet has been sold to MVD Ltd, a new company based in Newry and made up from a significant portion of ex-Outlet staff. “The separation of the business activities has allowed both companies to focus on the specific operations and avoids any conflict over the selection of priority tasks,” explains McGarry, a former oil industry executive who two years ago took over the management of the family-run company from his father-in-law, Billy McBurney – the source quoted by the Telegraph writer. Clarifying Outlet’s position, McGarry reiterated that the article was “not a true reflection of the status of the company” and “reflected only the position of Mr. McBurney, who at that time was a shareholder only.” At the last count, Outlet had over 3,000 original recordings in its back catalogue, including one of the Pope – whose visit to Ireland was recorded by a team of soundmen who followed him everywhere. The LP was masterminded by the late studio engineer Cel Fay, who moved to Outlet after playing with Phil Coulter & His Gleemen. Following the visit, His Holiness was presented with a gold disc.
The Irish World Music Centre this year hosts its eighth annual Blas Summer School of Irish Traditional Music & Dance at the University of Limerick from June 21 through July 2. As in previous years, the lineup of tutors is superb, with the likes of fiddler John Carty, dancer Colin Dunne, singers Seán Keane and Sandra Joyce, flute players Harry Bradley, Johnny McCarthy and Niall Keegan, percussionists Tommy Hayes and Brian Morrissey, pianist Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and many others teaching and performing at sessions and concerts during the intensive two-week course. The centre has announced that several tuition scholarships have recently become available, each to the tune of €450. They’re funded by several sources, including two scholarships from RTÉ Lyric FM, one each from the Arts Offices at Limerick City Council and Tipperary NR County Council, and one scholarship from Aonad na Gaeilge, the Irish language promotion unit at UL. For further info, contact Michael McCabe, Director, Blas Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance, Irish World Music Centre, University of Limerick, Tel. (061) 213121, Email .
Condolences to harp player Michael Rooney (see review of his excellent new album with June McCormack in the last issue of hotpress) on the terribly sad and untimely death of his sister Deirdre, a lovely fiddler and singer, on Saturday, May 29
Musicians and singers with news to share can e-mail Sarah on [email protected]