Kevin Burke & Cal
Scott
Across
the Black River
Loftus Music LM001; 44 minutes; 2007
Zoë Conway
The
Horse’s Tail
Tara CD4018; 57 minutes; 2006
Niamh Ní Charra
From
Both Sides
Imeartas Records IMCD001; 53 minutes; 2007
If
any one fiddler’s music has encapsulated both the endurance of the Irish
tradition and its possibilities for rejuvenation, then Kevin Burke must be at
the head of the pack. Kevin’s recordings over the last more than thirty years
(via solo work, The Bothy Band, collaborations with the late Mícheál Ó
Domhnaill, Patrick Street, Open House, the Celtic Fiddle Festival and very much
more) have revealed his ability to run the gamut from the sheer delights of
delicacy to a passionate embracing of the more driving elements of his mother’s
native Sligo style, while his ears have always remained open to the
possibilities of experimentation.
His latest album, the entrancing Across the Black River, is no exception to the above rules of thumb, though does perhaps reveal a more reflective side of Burke’s musical persona. Accompanied by guitarist Cal Scott (an Oregonian with his own musically exploratory history, who also provides three of his own noteworthy compositions), Kevin’s fiddle twists and turns through a sparkling array of predominantly traditional tunes, plus a whirlwind rendition of Bill Monroe’s Evening Prayer Blues, before culminating in Phil Cunningham’s elegiac For Johnny, penned for Kevin’s late partner in the Celtic Fiddle Festival.
Of
course, there’s many a young Irish fiddler hot on the heels of standard-bearers
such as Burke and one of the foremost in their number is County Louth’s
classically-trained Zoë Conway, who made her name as a soloist in that
mid-1990s phenomenon Riverdance, subsequently played with acts such as
Nick Cave and Lou Reed, while also winning the All-Ireland Senior Fiddle title
in 2001. Her second solo album, The Horse’s Tail, on which she’s backed
by guitarist Steve Cooney (of Séamus Begley duo renown) and bodhránista Robbie
Harris is very much a curate’s egg of an affair. True, there’s some gorgeous
driving fiddle work (very reminiscent of Louth neighbour Gerry O’Connor) on
several sets of tunes, but there’s always the lingering feeling that a devotion
to technique takes precedence over an understanding of the music’s soul,
especially on a pizzicato workout such as the self-composed title track.
Far
more inspiring is the debut album by another Riverdance-featured
fiddler, Kerry’s Niamh Ní Charra, and it’s certainly bolstered by her
exceptional concertina playing (no better revealed than on the opening set’s
audacious trio of slip jigs). The aptly named From Both Sides reveals a
wonderfully sensitive player of airs (on both instruments), a sprightly
interpreter of itinerant harper Carolan’s music, someone innately capable of
rendering the jauntiness of hornpipes (check Wade Hampton’s for
evidence) and a marvellously dextrous player of her county’s pet tunes, such as
a set of slides kicked off by Johnny O’Leary’s. If there’s a drawback,
and it’s only a minor one, is there any need to acknowledge your hairstylist,
make-up artist and groomer in the credits (surely a first for an Irish
traditional CD, unless Paddy Moloney’s beaten her to it)?
This review by Geoff Wallis was written for fRoots magazine – www.frootsmag.com.
Contact details: Kevin Burke – www.kevinburke.com; Cal Scott – www.calscottmusic.com; Zoë Conway – www.zoeconway.com; Tara - www.taramusic.com; and, Niamh Ní Charra – www.niamhnicharra.com.