As Liam Clancy remembers it, being asked to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show did not seem like a big deal. “We just did not understand the significance,” he told Irish America in a recent interview, during a publicity tour to promote a brilliant rerelease of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performing live at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in 1963. Two years before that … [Read more...] about The History of the Clancy Brothers
Music
Spread the Music!
Ian Worpole casts his eye over the latest CD offerings in the world of trad/folk music. Lots of great CDs this month, and by way of a preamble, I’ve been thinking lately about how the great fiddlers, accordion players and, well, all those instrumentalists who make up the sound that we know and love are often great teachers as well. This phenomenon, I believe, has become an … [Read more...] about Spread the Music!
The Original Irish Tenor: John McCormack
The year was 1906. The setting was a stage in Savona, Italy, a northwestern port town south of Milan. The opera to be performed that particular evening was L’Amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni, with a fresh-faced 21-year-old named Giovanni Foli included among the cast members. Though he had only a supporting role, Foli earned quite a bit of attention for his performance. This … [Read more...] about The Original Irish Tenor: John McCormack
Love, Laughter and Solas
Ian Worpole talks to Solas stalwarts Seamus Egan and Winifred Horan, and meets the band’s newest member, Mairéad Phelan. As I’ve mentioned in past columns, Irish-American legends Solas are probably the most lauded of all Celtic bands out there today, and quite right too. Now in their second decade, and with an exciting new singer, Mairéad Phelan, the band has a scorching new … [Read more...] about Love, Laughter and Solas
Still Fiddlin’ Away
From his days with The Bothy Band, some thirty years ago now, to the present, Kevin Burke, who was born in London to Irish parents, has been one of the most widely admired fiddlers on the Irish traditional and contemporary music scene. As an individual performer and as a member of acclaimed bands such as Patrick Street and Celtic Fiddle Festival, Burke, who now makes his home … [Read more...] about Still Fiddlin’ Away