Various Artists – Rogha Raelach Volume 1
Raelach Records – Out Now
Founded in 2011 by concertina player Jack Talty and based in Co. Clare, Raelach Records has rapidly earned a reputation for producing high-quality recordings of traditional Irish music. Back in July, at a time when all their scheduled album releases and recording sessions were on hold, they announced plans for a compilation album. Rather excited by the prospect, Folk Radio reported the plans in a news item, that also explored the background to the label and its artist-centred ethos. The compilation has now appeared as Rogha Raelach Volume 1 and just one listen confirms our initial enthusiasm was thoroughly justified.
The Irish word, Rogha, translates as “selection” or “choice”, as suits a compilation album. But Volume 1 doesn’t follow the path of most compilations, its twelve tracks have not previously been released by Raelach and, perhaps more surprisingly, only four of the seventeen artists who contributed have previously recorded with the label. As with the great majority of Raelach releases, Jack himself has acted as producer and engineer, recording, mixing and mastering most of the tracks. The high-quality artwork that’s become a trademark of Raelach is the responsibility of the label’s Art Director, Maurice Gunning.
The opening tune, Frank Keane’s Reel from The Martin Hayes Quartet is slightly atypical as the remainder of the album features mainly solo performers along with three duos. It is, however, a delightful start to the album and I can imagine Jack was mightily pleased when Martin Hayes was so supportive of this project and sent him this recording for inclusion. When Martin (fiddle) and his long-time collaborator Dennis Cahill (guitar) teamed up with fiddle and viola player Liz Knowles and the bass clarinet of Doug Wieselman to form the quartet, it was very much an experimental project. In Martin’s own words the experiment soon produced music that “kept traditional Irish music at its centre while containing elements of chamber and jazz music”. Couch this in more general terms and it could well be the mission statement for Raelach Records, for, as Jack has put it, they’re “unconcerned with clichéd and polarising arguments about tradition and innovation”. For me, Frank Keane’s Reel made a great introduction to the quartet’s music. Initially, it has a beguiling simplicity and, as the tune develops, hints emerge of the variations this mix of instruments can impart. It’s short, only two and a half minutes, but that brevity sent me searching for more music from them, while, as the opening track of the compilation, it set a high bar for what follows.
That challenge is readily met by the next track. Steeped in the sean nós tradition and winner of a multitude of Irish singing competitions, Nell Ní Chróinín delivers a bewitching version of the love song Eochaill from Co. Waterford. Nell joined Danú in 2017 recording with them on their Ten Thousand Miles album. That’s where I first heard her singing, writing at the time that her voice seemed ideally suited to the various styles of accompaniment provided by the rest of the band. Here though, all accompaniment stripped away, the clarity and expressiveness of her voice shines through. Part of that expressiveness comes from Nell occasionally allowing a harder edge to creep into her voice and that contrasts nicely with the other sean nós piece on the album, Síle Denvir singing An Cailín Fearúil Fionn, giving a taste of a sean nós style that’s part of the Connemara tradition.
It’s no surprise with Jack being a concertina player that the instrument is well represented. The first piece comes from Noel Hill, like Jack, a Clare man, now moved over the border to Co Galway but, in normal times, just as likely to be found in the US. He’s widely acknowledged as one of the great Irish concertina players, and, like Martin Hayes, his enthusiasm for Jack’s project led him to sending this recording for inclusion. It’s a great showcase piece, a two-tune set The Concert Reel and Jenny’s Chickens. Starting at a lively pace it builds throughout its four minutes. In contrast, Jack’s solo piece starts with a slow air, the melody to a song An Droighneán Donn, the pace picking up with the transition to The Cúil Aodha Jig. Jack also forsakes his concertina to team up with acclaimed melodeon player and tutor, Bobby Gardiner, Jack providing piano accompaniment. The Humours of Glendart and The Mullingar Races are both taken at what you could describe as dancer’s pace, taking both players back to their youthful roots, as accompanists to step dancer gatherings in Co Clare.
No selection of Irish traditional music would be complete without the sound of the uilleann pipes and that’s provided by 2011 TG4’s (Irish language television) Young Musician of the Year, Pádraic Keane, playing The Three Blackbirds. The title references the origins of Pádraic’s extensive piece. His arrangement combines settings of three tunes, all known as The Blackbird. A hornpipe taken from a setting by John Kelly, a slow air that he associates with fiddler Tommie Potts and his own setting of the well-known step dance tune.
A rather more recent, but now almost ubiquitous, addition to Irish “traditional” instruments, the bouzouki, features on two tracks. Macdara Ó Faoláin provides the accompaniment to Derek Hickey’s accordion on two lively jigs Fraher’s and Garrett Barry’s. After decades of playing and tutoring accordion, including accompanying artists as diverse as Stephan Grappelli and The Stones, Derek is finally recording a debut accordion album with Raelach. This taster promises so much!
Bouzouki is also the instrument accompanying Seán Gavin’s flute on The Road to Knock & The Templehouse. Although long based in the States, Seán was keen to be involved in this Raelach project, roping in brother Michael on the bouzouki. The result is a short, sharp, lively run through these two well-known reels, underlining Seán’s prowess on the flute and leaving you yearning for more of the same.
If one of the criteria when selecting material for this collection was to capture a broad sample of the current traditional and tradition inspired scene, there’s a clear sign of their success. Having opened the album with a fiddle-led piece, we get to track seven before that most pervasive of instruments makes another appearance. But what an appearance. Aoife Ní Bhriain, a strings player with equally successful careers in both the classical and traditional worlds, has recorded material with Raelach for a yet to be released debut solo album and already has a Raelach release as part of the trio Cuar. This track, a hornpipe The Drunken Sailor, was recorded for the solo album but has sneaked out early. Taken at a steady pace so that even an inebriated sailor might be able to keep up, it starts with a plain run through the melody on the fiddle. As the track progresses, she adds a second fiddle line that plays around the first and then a viola to stretch and deepen the sound. The effect of this layering is quite mesmerising. Put me down for a copy of her album when it appears, it promises to be magical.
Saileog Ní Cheannabháin released her album Roithleán on Realach in 2017. For this compilation, she’s produced a piece that’s an intriguing mixture of her vocal and instrumental talents. Starting out with the rare song, Sadhbh Thomáis, she gives a fine sean nós rendition, necessarily brief as only two verses of the song were ever collected. A steady instrumental note creeps in behind her voice towards the end of the song as it gives way to the first of two reels, Tom’s Duke of Leinster and Tom’s Collier’s. Initially played on a viola, her voice is soon back, accompanying the viola with mouth music, lilting to give it its Irish name. In this everchanging track, the sounds never stay steady for long, piano takes over from viola, only for the viola to return for a duet and they’re soon joined by the lilting voice. Eventually both piano and viola leave the stage and the track closes with the voice. But this vocal is now multitracked lilting, wow. A piece of music that certainly keeps the listener on their toes.
Piano is the featured instrument on the longest track of the album, Geraldine Cotter’s very personal interpretation of the hornpipe Poll Hal’penny. It’s described as “a personal response and reflection on the melody… stimulated by pandemic-related restrictions and isolation” Geraldine has good reason to dwell on this, her forthcoming album, Ré Órga, is one of the Raelach projects disrupted by the pandemic.
There must be many reasons for purchasing a compilation album, a look around the impulse buy displays at supermarket checkouts confirms there’s a thriving market for them. But put any such thoughts out of your mind, this Raelach compilation is an utterly different and much more valuable beast. It will introduce you to new music that’s nonetheless centuries old, and maybe to artists you’ve not previously heard. It will make you aware of a record label whose raison d’être is to support those artists by providing a high-quality outlet for their recordings. While those are all good reasons to buy this album the most important is, you’ll have 56 minutes of first-class Irish music. Some that confirm the continuing appeal of a traditional approach to traditional music, some that explore a more adventurous path, but all of it superbly executed, entertaining and delightful. And, as a bonus, by buying it at this time, you’d be supporting Raelach Records’ efforts to sustain artists amid circumstances more difficult than they could ever have imagined.
Order via Bandcamp here: https://raelachrecords.bandcamp.com/album/rogha-raelach-volume-1
https://www.raelachrecords.com/
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Discover: Listen to this special RTE Independent’s Day episode in which Jack Talty, the founder of Raelach Records is interviewed: