May 2011 - Irish American News

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32 Irish American News “We’ve Always Been Green!” May 2011Be forewarned. At the end of this, nothingmay be clearer. Hopefully, we’ll both be betterinformed, but this is murky stuff.It all began years ago. Fado, fado. While havinglunch with legendary Sligo fiddler, ManusMcGuire, the topic of regionalization in Irishtraditional music reared its head. Manus residesin East Clare. He agreed with music partner, PaulBrock (sitting across the table—the incomparableBrock-McGuire Band was in town), that the daysof regional styles within the music are rapidlyfading. More on why this is happening in just abit. The point is that it used to be very obviouswhen you were listening to a Clare fiddler, and onefrom Wicklow. Roscommon flute players did notplay like Dublin flute players, and Sligo fiddlersdidn’t play like anybody. Back in the day, anyonecould hear the difference and enjoy it. Tougher,now. Why this is, and what is the current state ofregionalization, climbed on top of the memorywagon from that lunch with Manus years ago andled to this article. This is deep and tricky. So, wedecided to go to three of the most knowledgeablepeople regarding these styles. Manus McGuire isalready in the story, and is regarded by many as thebest Irish fiddler in the world. Brendan Hendry isa magnificent fiddler from Derry, and is recentlyout with his second album, Stringtones. Hendryis widely respected as one of the great exponentsof the “northernstyle.” AlanO’Leary lives inLondon and isDublin-born. Inaddition to runningthe iconicCopperplate Distribution,featuringthe best in traditional artists, it can be arguedthat traditional flute player, Alan, and Harry Bradshaw,formerly of the RTE arethe two most knowledgeablemen living when it comes tothe real music. It is unnecessary,but let us quickly add here, thatof course, we are talking aboutreal Irish music played by real,traditional musicians. Talkto Brendan Hendry. Brendanagrees that the differences instyle are disappearing. Why?In the old days of traditionalmusic—whenever that was—it was quite conceivable thata terrific musician may neverhave gone further than 20 or 30miles from his or her home inthe course of a lifetime. Slowlyover time, this resulted in naturalstyles gathering aroundareas. (Here, we step off thecurb into heavy traffic. It is critical to rememberthat all of this refers to an incredibly subjectiveexperience. Music. What the ear hears. How ithears it. With that in mind, we continue.) Thenorthern traits include a strong bowing technique,use of triplets, a lesser use of finger rolls, and alively pace. To the general punter, northern musicis identifiable as being highly rhythmic and precisewith deep emotion coming from the bowingtechnique. Brendan states, “From the northernperspective, I would include the nine counties withthe distinct individual style to the west, includingthe northwest Donegal style. These styles have avery strong and rhythmically aggressive style, asopposed to the rest of the region which has a softerbowing style.” Names of great fiddlers like JimmyComac, Sean McGuire and Jim McKillop, comeHaley Richardson from Pittsgrove, New Jersey, has been playing the fiddle sinceshe was three years old and now sounds like a veteran at seven years of age.up frequently while talking with Brendan. Thisis where the waters start to part. Alan O’Learyagrees with Brendan and Manus McGuire’s feelingsabout the music, but adds a further dimensionbeyond simple geography. “I’ve never thought somuch of geography, as of families. Within all thesegeographic areas, and the entire Island, you havethese famous musical families. I don’t want tostart naming them, because you inevitably leaveout some of the greats. The point is that thesestyles are more reflective of family than a region.I don’t discount the geography, at all. But thesefamily members went and taught others aroundtheir area. For me, the alpha and omega is thefamily in Irish music.”Manus McGuire seconds that. Brendan Hendrywould speak of “controlled aggression” meaning adirect aggressively open style in attacking the melody.Little ornamentation. Clear transitions noteto note. That sort of thing. Manus, on the otherhand, tells you that the secret to the southern styleis the interpretation of ornamentation. The strongbowing technique is the hallmark in the south.“There is more of a bounce to the southern style,more of the lengthening of a transitional note.[Instead of bounce, your correspondent likes theterm, “swing,” but Brendan Hendry disagrees—and who am I to disagree with him?] The northernstyle shows great lift and direct rhythm, while thesouthern style bounces a bit more.”Again, Alan O’Leary checks in with anotherinterpretation. “A lot of the music is losing itsregionalization and its identifiable character becauseof fleadhs, or musical competitions. Overthe years, and I don’t think anybody would disagreewith this, certain styles have become morefavored by the adjudicators. This has resulted inevery medal hunter naturally gravitating towardsthat style.”Let’s take a breath. Where are we? Well, weseem to have a general agreement among thesethree experts that regionalization is lessening andthat the northern style is more direct, aggressive,and rhythmically precise to the exact measure. Thesouthern style is all about ornamentation, bounce,and bowing technique. Brendan and Manus aregoing to disagree with even that statement. Thatis the fun of the music. There can be an endlessdissection of it. Experts such as Brendan evenattribute styles to the way that people speak indifferent regions. “These styles can all be influencedby the way people speak. Some people havea voice that is soft and roundedand others are very direct. Thespeed at which they talk and theirinflection, does their voice goup and down, or is it direct andfairly monotone? It all matters inthe music.”It is right about here thatI stopped, leaned back in theoffice chair, and dreamed of ashot of Jameson’s. Bravely onward.NOW where are we? Wait.There’s more. The punch line tothis whole complicated story isthat when talking to great musicianslike these three, they willtell you at the end of it all—braceyourself—that regionalization isactually not disappearing! This iscounterintuitive. Vastly improvedtransportation in Ireland andAmerica, mass communications, fleadhs, computers,records tapes, CDs. All of these and morehave combined over the decades and centuries toprovide a more unified approach. Seems natural,unavoidable.But, wrong. Why? Because, the really greatones, like Hendry, McGuire, and O’Leary will tellyou without hesitation that they can instantly stillhear the differences in players and tell you wherethey are from. The first reaction at this point in thearticle should be to say, “Well, then, why have youwritten this in the first place?” Here’s the reason.All of the regional flavor is, in fact, lessening. But,it has not disappeared. All three of our panel ofexperts agree that the day is coming when thesedifferences may be virtually non-existent. Butnot, thank God, for a while. “There is a nine yearold girl residing in New Jersey who I heard playrecently, Haley Richardson. She is a prodigy. Sheis already a brilliant fiddle player, and a studentof Brian Conway in New York. Maybe this makesAlan O’Leary’s point. Brian Conway is a wonderfulfiddler, greatly influenced by Andy McGann,whose parents were from Tyrone and Sligo. Youcan hear it in his Haley’s playing. It has alwaysbeen like that, and still is.”On it goes. As you investigate these matters intraditional music, you almost always find that whatis assumed to be true is nonsense. “The great seannós singers all sang without vibrato.” Nonsense.“Regionalization is disappearing and television iskilling style.” Nonsense. However, Alan O’Learymay sum it all up best. “Because of mass communications,traditional musicians’ individualstyles are in decline. But, there have never beenmore people playing Irish music.”This much is true. The future does not hold thesame amount of highly idiosyncratic styles thatwere a part of the past. Yet, the future is still verybright indeed. Just ask Haley Richardson!
May 2011 Irish American News “We’ve Always Been Green!” 33Daniel O’DonnellHere in MayIrish singing sensation DanielO’Donnell brings his trademark combinationof country music, inspirationalballads, ‘60s pop and Irish standardsto Chicagoland. He will appear atWaukegan’s Genesee Theater, Saturday,May 21 at 7pm and Peoria’sCivic Center Theater, Sunday, May 22at 3pm. Tickets are now on sale at thebox offices: Waukegan Genesee Theater-847-263-6300OR 1-800-982-2787,Peoria’s Civic Center-1-800-745-3000or online at www.ticketmaster.com.O’Donnell’s easy-going, entertainingon-stage personality make each liveshow an exciting event! O’Donnell willbe joined in concert by his long-timemusical companion, Irish vocalist MaryDuff, and The Daniel O’Donnell Band.The multi-talented, Irish-born performerhas starred in 10 national PBStelevision specials and has sold over 12million CDs and DVDs worldwide. Heis currently in production with his 11thPBS TV special taped at Nashville’sRyman Auditorium. The country-musicthemed special will premiere on PBSin August, 2011.O’Donnell’s worldwide successis a far cry from the day Daniel usedhis own savings to record and releasehis first song, over 25 years ago. Thesinger’s life is a fascinating tale ofhumble beginnings and a journey tomusical success.IAN talked to Daniel recently abouthis career.IAN: We hear you are embarking ona tour of America.D: Yes, in about a month.IAN: How many places are youvisiting?D: I would imagine about 14 or15, I think. We start out in Edmonton,Calgary, and we visit Chicago, Minneapolis,Des Moines, Iowa, Waukeganand Peoria in Illinois, and Toledo, Ohiofor two nights.IAN: Well, I tell you, we had a greattime in Nashville and we love seeingyou live.D: Thank you!IAN: It’s nice to see musicians whohave respect for people.D: Well that’s good, that you enjoyedit.IAN: I see you are releasing yourfortieth CD?D: Yes. We hope our fans enjoy it.IAN: What’s next on your plans?D: Well, as far as recording, Ihaven’t made a decision when I am goingto release another album. We mightget one done by October. You knowwith recording. The record companywants to put another one out, but a goodalbum takes time!IAN: I hear that you used your ownsavings to record your first song.D: Thats right, yeah, back in 1983.IAN: You had to step out on your ownto make things happen for you?D: Yes, I suppose. It is a very difficultbusiness to get into. I had spenta couple of years touring and I reallyenjoyed it. I just wanted to see how Iwould do on my own. So, you know Idon’t expect people to actually dispatchtheir own private savings, but I used myIMF backup money and I borrowedsome money. It produced about athousand records or something aroundthere. The money was being dispersedin many different ways. I got to recordfour songs, and the first single and allthat. I used two of the songs, one was“Scottish Piping” and the other was “MyDonegal Shores”—that was the songthat got people’s attention.IAN: Now was that Ritz Records?D: Actually that was on my ownlabel. That first one was all me. EventuallyI got with Ritz Records. Theywanted me to do a two-sider, one thingin Cockney and one thing in Irish.IAN: So those first thousand records,how did you distribute them?D: Oh, just on my own. I would givethem to shops in our local town. I soldthem myself, I went around to places. Iended up ordering another five hundredrecords.“My Donegal Shores” is really whatmade me a hit with the people and onpirate radio. Local radio was reallypopular then, but they would only wantIrish stations to record them.IAN: Pirate radio stations?D: Yes. There was loads and loadsof pirate radio stations then. So yourrecords got played at those stations.They played the music that Irish peopleliked. You know that national radiowasn’t playing the Irish music at thatpoint, you know it was maybe a bitof an upgrade. The Irish radio was reallythe greatest media source here. Ibelieve that starting out in local radiowas for the best.IAN: Sounds like you were in theright place at the right time. And youwere making it happen, you didn’t waitaround for it to happen.D: It could have been the time youknow. I made the record in 1983, then Irecorded after I got signed and did “MyDonegal Shores” again. But it wasn’tuntil 1986 that things began to takeshape. I wasn’t overnight.IAN: No, it took about three years.D: How about that! It was over threeyears, and it was like someone switchedon a light, and it was amazing!IAN: If you haven’t been a singer,what would you have been?D: I think I would have been ateacher.IAN: What do you think you wouldhave taught?D: I don’t know. I practiced economicsand math. I like the currency stuff.IAN: Well thats quite a backgroundfor a guy in his own business. That musthelp you a lot.D: Well, I don’t know if it has ornot cause I don’t… I sort of left it allbehind me.IAN: Not really, I noticed your verywell organized. Your people are on topof things.D: Well I have a lot of good peoplearound me and that helps. I thinkthe secret is you can’t do everythingyourself.IAN: You have to delegate. So whatwas your first gig?D: Well first, when I was advertisingmy own name, it was in Glasgow inScotland. At the Irish Chapter in Glasgow.That was 1983. I went there for aweekend and I played at three differentplaces, The Irish Chapter, behind thereis a bar called the Squirrel Bar, it’s asmall place with a sitting room, it wasnice. In July that year I started my ownband in 1983.IAN: And that was after you’ve beenout on the road with your sister?D: Yes, I was out with Margaret, Icall her Margaret, but its Margo in themusic business. That was in 81.IAN: And your both still goingstrong. So what was it like growing upin a musical family?D: I suppose you don’t think aboutit really except that music was alwaysthere because Margaret was alwayssinging. We were very aware of ourmusic and our Irish background andballads as well as American countryrecords. Thats were the love of countrymusic came from. We were alwaysaware of music, and as a child I wouldgo up and sing with her. As a 10, or 11year old I would get up and sing a songwith her in her shows. So I was alwayssinging, you know.IAN: What part of Ireland do youlive in?D: I live in a little village outside ofDonegal—Kincasslagh, Co Donegal,Ireland. Right on the West coast. Kincasslngh.It’s a very small place. It’s justgot a shop and a pub. When we weregrowing up it had two shops a pub and apost office. But one of the shops closeddown. Its very small, but lovely.IAN: So you’re really not too farfrom the border are you?D: Well from Derry we would beabout 60 miles.IAN: What are your favorite thingsto do when you’re not working?D: Well, I do like it when we go out,and I do like dancing as well. I loveto play cards. I just love card games. Igrew up in an area where playing cardswere always around. I’d get home andthere is this place for forty years we’vebeen going every Tuesday night andevery time I go home we go there. Ijust love playing cards. We were actuallyon holiday in Tennessee and theywere playing gin rummy and I got toplay it for the first time in that show. Ijust love playing cards. You know mylife is very structured. Its nice to justsit back and not have anything doingand just let it roll.IAN: So, when your in Ireland, whereare your favorite places to visit?D: I love when I’m at home, forme there is no other place, it’s the bestplace of all. But there is so many dif-Continued on Page 35
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May 2011 - Irish American News

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