Daoirí Farrell
The Wedding Above in Glencree
Self Released
24 February 2023
By Daoirí Farrell‘s own reckoning, he worked on his latest album, The Wedding Above in Glencree, for two and half years and, making the surely warranted assumption he was striving for excellence; I can happily report he succeeded. From the first note to the last, it is a gem of an album. After the standard he set with his first three releases, it would have been foolish to expect anything less. The foundation is Daoirí’s voice. In my view, he has the best Irish traditional voice currently around; if there’s better, I’ve yet to hear it. To that, he adds, firstly, a determination to hunt out the best songs and a talent for devising arrangements that push these great songs up another level. With this at the core, it’s no surprise many of the best Irish, and not so Irish, musicians are keen to join in the fun and record with him. This is the heady cocktail that has ensured The Wedding Above in Glencree presents us with ten songs, each a delight to be treasured.
When touring, Daoirí leans towards performing solo with only his bouzouki for accompaniment. But when it comes to recording, right from his first album, he’s been able to call on an ever-growing number of top-rate musicians to help out. It’s hardly a band, a bit more fluid than that, but for each album, there’s been a core, and for 2023, it’s Manus Lunny who plays either guitar or bouzouki on six tracks, Paddy Kiernan, five-string banjo on four and Trevor Hutchinson, upright bass on three. Trevor was also the engineer, recording all ten tracks at his Marguerite Studios in Dublin. Daoirí takes production credit.
The opening song pitches you right into the heart of Daoirí’s world, a traditional song, Father Murphy, telling the tale of a hero of the 1798 rebellion. Daoirí learnt it from the singing of Frank Harte, one of the most revered of Dublin’s singers. As with many of the recordings that are his legacy, Frank’s version is sung unaccompanied, but Daoirí has come up with an arrangement that, before a word is sung, transports the listener to a somewhat upmarket Irish session, preferably in Dublin. It does this courtesy of two instruments. Manus Lunny’s bouzouki, certainly not a traditional Irish instrument, but an essential component of the contemporary Irish trad sound since the mid-1960s and the unmistakeably traditional sound of the Uilleann pipes, played here by Co. Wexford’s Mark Redmond.
The following song switches topics from one steadfast element of the Irish tradition, rebellion against an English occupation, to another, the forlorn search for a lost lover. One Starry Night begins with a drone backing Daoirí’s voice; it comes from one of his more recent acquisitions, a shruti box. After verse two, the arrangement starts to build, first with the bouzouki, picked rather than the more usual strummed chords. One more verse and a deep bass line is added, coming from Trevor plucking his upright bass and a gently varying harmonium played by Pat Daly. Finally, Pat bolsters the high end by adding a line from his fiddle. By now, the arrangement is rather like a warm, foamy bath surrounding the lyrics and the listener; a pity it can’t console the bereft lover.
The next track has a startlingly different feel, with an arrangement that owes much to the resonator guitar sound of a dobro and lyrics that relate to the far side of the Atlantic. The song, Sonny’s Dream, is from the late Newfoundland artist Ron Hynes and the dobro comes from one of the world’s greatest players, Jerry Douglas. It’s certainly a feather in Daoirí’s cap to have someone of Jerry’s reputation guesting on the album, and they’ve made the most of the opportunity, devising a captivating arrangement for the song. Alongside the dobro and bouzouki, there’s Manus on guitar, Trevor’s bass and more harmonium and fiddle from Pat. The combination has been beautifully moulded together to produce a truly standout track.
Daoirí was well-established as a singer before he finally felt comfortable accompanying himself on the bouzouki. I well remember his self-deprecating remarks when I first talked with him back in 2016. But then, of course, off he went onto the stage with Beatrice, then his current bouzouki, and gave a faultless performance. Any of those self-doubts should be well behind him now, but he’s never lost his love for unaccompanied singing, and two such tracks are on this album. Both traditional, Slieve Gallion Braes and Murphy’s Running Dog, the second continuing a Daoirí tradition of always including a song about a dog on his albums. As the dog in this one turns out to be a Jack Russell rather than a greyhound, it also satisfies another essential component of a Daoirí album, injecting a dose of humour into the music. It’s not alone in that, Clasped to a Pig, the tale of a drunken night that ends with the drinker asleep on the floor cuddling a pig is a hoot from beginning to end.
The album’s title track is an epic tale, in the classical meaning of that word, recounting, or maybe imagining, the events of a chaotic wedding. Nine verses and almost seven and a half minutes give ample opportunity to build up a fine, layered arrangement behind the words. After an acapella first verse, Daoirí’s shruti box kicks it off, and, as it grows, there’s both Daoirí and Manus on bouzoukis, Daoirí and his old friend Robbie Walsh on bodhráns, along with Trevor’s bass. As a final flourish, the track closes with Damien Walsh’s, the first of Daoirí’s compositions to make it onto a recording and notable for featuring Geoff Kinsella on tenor banjo.
The album closes as it opened with a song from an Irish rebellion against the English crown. This one is possibly the most widely known Irish rebel song outside of the folk world, thanks to Sinead O’Connor’s recording. This version of The Foggy Dew stems from Daoirí being asked in 2019 by RTE One, the Irish TV channel, to contribute to a production, Ireland’s Favourite Folk Song. Behind Daoirí’s vocal is one of the least complex accompaniments on the album, Manus on guitar, Daoirí on bouzouki, Paddy with his 5-string banjo and Alan Doherty on whistles. An arrangement that tellingly pits this calm simplicity against the poignant anger of Canon Charles O’Neill’s lyrics.
With this, his fourth album, Daoirí confirms his stature as one of the finest Irish traditional singers while his playing and increasingly sophisticated arrangements show how much he’s matured as an all-round musician. But the arrival of a new album from Daoirí isn’t just an opportunity to hear some fine music. It comes with an invitation to share parts of his musical journey with sleeve notes that include not only the lyrics but also the where, the when and from whom he learned the song. Catch a live performance, and these snippets are likely to be woven into a tale, told as only a true-born Irishman can, so let’s add entertainer to his skillset.
Pre-Order it here: https://ffm.to/theweddingaboveinglencree
Daoirí Farrell Tour Dates
Island of Ireland Album Tour
Thursday, 23 February – The Spirit Store, Dundalk
Friday, 24 February – The Hot Spot Music Club, The Beach House, Greystones, Co. Wicklow
Friday, 3 March – The Seanti Bar. Smartcastle, Waterford
Saturday, 4 March – Dolan’s Limerick
Sunday, 5 March – Winthrop Avenue, Cork
Saturday, 25 March – Dún Uladh Cultural Heritage Centre, Omagh
Thursday, 25 May – Red Hot Music Club, Fallons, Kilcullen
Friday, 26 May – The Crescent, Belfast
UK Mainland Album Tour
Wednesday, 19 April – Cramlington Folk Club
Thursday, 20 April – Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax
Friday, 21 April – Folk at the Meadows, Belper
Saturday, 22 April – Talbot Theatre, Whitchurch Leisure Centre
Sunday, 23 April – Temperance, Leamington Spa
Thursday, 27 April – Calstock Arts Centre, Cornwall
Friday, 28 April – Pound Arts, Corsham
Saturday, 29 April – Devoran Village Hall, Falmouth
Sunday, 30 April – Topsham Folk Club, Devon
Tuesday, 2 May – Quay Arts, Newport, IOW
Wednesday, 3 May – The North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford
Thursday, 4 May – Rope & Tackle Arts Centre, Shoreham by Sea
Friday, 5 May – Kings Place, London (Daoiri Farrell Trio)
Saturday, 6 May – Forest Arts, New Milton
Sunday, 7 May – Hitchin Folk Club, Hitchin, Cambs.
Tuesday, 9 May – Norwich Arts
Wednesday, 10 May – Lakeside Arts, Nottingham
Thursday, 11 May – Cast, Doncaster
Website: https://www.daoiri.com