Bigbro's foray into the scary world of blogging
It being almost Paddy's Day, RTE felt they should put some traditional music on the telly, and came up with a performance by The High Kings in Dublin. Their repertoire is eclectic, mixing some of the best known pieces previously recorded by the Dubliners, the Cheiftans, Makem and Clancy, the Furey Brothers and Davey Arthur, and Riverdance - though this is no real surprise given the musicians involved. The vocalists include Martin Furey and Martin Clancy - with Darren Holden and Brian Dunphy (both having contributed to Riverdance in the past) and the backing band includes Nollaig Casey, who has long been a favourite traditional fiddle player of mine, with Martin O'Connor (accordian) and Robbie Harris, a superbly talented percussionist.
Some rich four-part harmonies are evident, with exquisite violin from Nollaig and rich modal guitar accompaniment from Dave Keery and Ewan Cowley though I can't help hearing Riverdance's formulaic modulations, chordal suspensions and rhythmic syncopations. Still, I can't really complain given the style of chord substitution and syncopated rhythmic variations I use in my own playing. I can't help thinking that the creators of Celtic Woman have done nothing more than come up with the Irish traditional equivalent of Boyzone/Take That/Insert-Boy-Band-Here. While it's great to see jobs being created for musicians, I can't help but worry that more damage than good is being done, as Irish Traditional Music gets stereotyped further into the 'everything-sounds-like-Riverdance' camp.
I must admit, I liked the marching of the playing pipers through the venue for their rendition of 'The Parting Glass' - reminds me of my time with the Irish Youth Choir performing Clare's Dragoons, when we had a playing War-Piper march up to the stage to join the choir and orchestra. I should also state that I like Riverdance and that I have the greatest of respect for Bill Whelan - but perhaps these artists could be a little more careful to distinguish themselves a little from the rich history of Traditional Irish Music, perhaps by referring to themselves as 'Neo-Traditional' musicians (as I refer to my style of playing) or something similar. Or perhaps I should be blaming the media rather than the musicians - I don't know... I'm very sure that there's a lot more to traditional Irish music than the distinctive sound of 'Riverdance' though.
posted at: 14:22 | path: /music | permanent link to this entry
