Released July 1st, Plúirín na mBan (pronounced ‘Plew-reen na Man’) is a brand new collaboration between Irish traditional singer, bodhrán player, and composer Cathy Jordan (Dervish), Austrian fiddle-player, composer and singer Claudia Schwab and contemporary Irish composer Irene Buckley.
The album opens to Lissadell, co-written by Irene & Claudia. They say, “While rehearsing in North Sligo, beside us on the table lay the poem ‘The little waves of Breffny’ written by Eva Gore-Booth. It weaved its way into this track.” Eva was an Irish poet, dramatist, and committed suffragist, and you can hear a beautiful reading of Eva’s poem, the musical setting for which works so well.
While this a strong starter, you’ll be hard-pushed to pick a favourite; they are all such strong contenders. The sean-nos song Sadhbh ní Bhruinneallaigh, ‘an unrequited love song where the heroine Sadhbh has the upper hand on her would-be lover’, is stunning, while the electronic ambient backdrop to the mournful Fíll a Rún Ó is hauntingly ethereal.
While there are some well-known traditional songs, such as the folk ballad Two Brothers and Cyril Tawney’s Grey Funnel Line – which, although written in 1959, has become a staple in folk song circles, there are also some beautiful originals. Of particular note is Curragh Wrens, written by Cathy Jordan.
This song was inspired by the plight of cast-out women in post-famine Ireland. Their name comes from the tiny “nests” they dug out in the ditches using their bare hands around the soldier’s camp at the Curragh in Co Kildare.
While influenced by the Irish tradition, the musical settings are far more contemporary and diverse, reflecting their individual backgrounds – Cathy’s grounding in the Irish music tradition, Irene’s background in ambient and electronic music and Claudia’s experience of amalgamating diverse genres and music traditions. Familiar traditional sounds anchor the music while ambient electronics and fiddle loops provide an introspective feel balanced by the more dynamic elements that seep through, including Indian Classical and jazz.
The body of songs featured on “Female Rambling Sailor” focuses on the perspective of a female narrator, a theme that appeared naturally in the process of working together. The title track, Female Rambling Sailor, ‘tells the story tells of Rebecca Young, who dresses as a man to join the “men only” navy so she could live life on her own terms’. The song has been covered by the likes of Martyn Wyndham-Read, Dave and Toni Arthur and even Bob Dylan (it seems to crop up a lot in bootleg recordings made during his 1992 tour).
According to the press, the three artists were first brought together through the project “Meascán – Music Across Cultures”, which came to life as part of the Cairde Sligo Arts Festival 2019. I’m so pleased to see this album finally coming to fruition; it’s a totally unique and enthralling listen.
Order Female Rambling Sailor via Bandcamp.