Music Network have brought together four top traditional artists for this tour: Michael McGoldrick (flute and pipes), Cathal Hayden (fiddle), Alan Kelly (accordion), and Karan Casey (vocals). They were accompanied by the excellent English guitarist Ed Boyd.
Karan Casey was only on stage for a small part of the evening, and although her singing was excellent, the real interest always lay with the four instrumentalists, who formed an impressive unit. Their opening set of reels was nicely balanced, driven by a soft but rhythmically emphatic guitar accompaniment.
Alan Kelly's solo set began with simple, fluid lines but quickly came to incorporate syncopated chords and elaborate ornaments. Michael McGoldrick introduced an intricate reel by Maire Breathnach with a beautifully phrased flute solo. Later in the same set he improvised twists and turns above Kelly's solid accordion melody.
The Creggan White Hare was Karan Casey's first song of the evening. It worked well, her mellow vocal blending smoothly with the instruments. She sang several songs unaccompanied, most notably the lengthy The Shamrock Shore - musically excellent despite the dull, preachy lyric. She was at her best on Ewan McColl's Ballad of Accounting, her tense, cutting delivery leading into exuberant instrumental refrains.
Cathal Hayden remained in the background for much of the concert, but stole the show toward the end with two stunning sets. First came a blistering solo set of reels, then a silky, bluegrass-inflected rendering of two hornpipes, full of slides and blue notes.
Tour continues tonight in Ashbourne (Culturlann na Cille), and tomorrow in Dundalk (County Museum)
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