Lunasa And Leitrim lead The Way

By Denis O'Brien

It is said that music was brought to Ireland by the Tuatha de Danann when they descended in a magical mist at the top of Sliabh an Iarainn mountain in County Leitrim. With them were three musicians, Ceol, Binn and Téidbhinn - music, melody and harmony - whose echo today can be heard in that county's traditional musical heritage.

Leitrim, the least populated county in Ireland with 29,000 people, has suffered more than its share of misfortunate throughout its history.

The Great Famine of the 1840s devastated its people with survivors forced to take emigrant ships to New York, Boston and other far off parts of the globe.

Many of those emigrants took with them their love of traditional music like flautist and New York fireman, John McKenna, whose recordings during the 1920s and '30s rekindled an Irish music revival throughout Ireland.

At the Button Factory at Temple Bar in Dublin recently, that revival continued when top traditional band Lúnasa, who have just returned from touring the US, launched their new album, 'The Leitrim Equation'.

The new CD is the result of an 18-month residency in the county by the band and features newly composed tunes by local musicians, Lúnasa playing Leitrim tunes and traditional tunes and songs by Leitrim artists such as Eleanor Shanley.

The residency experiment is the first of its kind in Ireland to feature a top band visiting with local musicians in a county. Lúnasa conducted composition workshops during their stay and also played in musician's houses, as well as pubs, schools and hospitals.

Wider Audience

The idea was initiated by Leitrim County Council Arts Officer, Caoimhín Corrigan and the local authority funded the experiment.

"This project is the brainchild of Caoimhin our arts officer. It was his inspiration that led to having a group like Lúnasa to come and meet with all the musicians, dancers and singers of Leitrim, [so as] to try and experience the music in and of Leitrim," the county's manager, Jackie Maguire told the New York Irish Examiner on launch night.

"The project has been very successful with the Lennon brothers taking part in it as well as local people who have not as yet come to the forefront in traditional music. I think it has brought the energy that is in Leitrim music very much alive and has helped to bring traditional music to a much wider audience through a well known band like Lúnasa," Ms Maguire noted.

The Temple Bar venue saw Leitrim native, RTE presenter, poet and playwright, Vincent Woods officially launch the new CD and afterwards the band along with Leitrim guest artists gave a rousing performance to a packed house.

The success of the residency venture can also be measured through the media attention it has attracted, which has included a full page feature in the Irish Times, a Céili House recording in the original homestead of John McKenna and a Geantraí programme in Leitrim last September.

Lúnasa leader, Kevin Crawford says the residency gave the band the chance to explore the county's musical heritage.

"This gave us a great opportunity to immerse ourselves in the whole Leitrim experience; not just flying in and out for a few hours here and there. We got a sense of what's special about Leitrim, the people, the place and the music, and, we came away totally mesmerized, and invigorated by the whole thing.

"We met great people and we learnt an awful lot. We found a place comfortable in it's own skin and very proud of what it has and rightly so."

More Revered In America

He added however that Leitrim's traditional musical heritage isn't as well known as it should be and went on to pay tribute to past county music greats who he thought were more revered for their music in America than at home.

"Leitrim does have a rich tradition of music but it's not that well documented or celebrated as it should have been. It's not one of the county's that roles off traditional musicians lips like Clare, Sligo or Donegal. But for the John McKenna's and James Morrison's and the people who left in the early 1900s, I doubt if the music would be as popular across the board in Ireland as it is.

"Having said that they were probably more revered in some ways in the states than they were at home," remarked Crawford.

He then went on to talk of how the residency affected the band and how it led them to a new appreciation of the various styles of music found throughout Ireland.

"There are many arguments for and against if you like the whole thing about regional styles and the fact that since the onslaught of CDs and digital media, that regional music styles have been watered down to some extent. Previous to the residency project, I probably would have jumped on that bandwagon and agreed with them.

"But, having been involved in the whole Leitrim experience, I doubt it now because there are so many regional pockets within Leitrim who haven't really been exposed to the whole record industry and what groups are doing. They have kept their own identity in terms of the tunes they play; the style they play, and, we were able to tap into that and get a sense of what music has been like [there] for the last 60 years.

"It has been a wake up call for a band like ourselves. We are on the road all the time; you can live a kind of a false life in some ways in terms of what your vision of music is in Ireland and you're playing on stages most days of the week.

"But coming back into a community thing is just fantastic and we've enjoyed dipping into the well and coming out with a fresh approach even though it's an older approach," said Lúnasa flute player, Crawford.

Top Trad Band

Lúnasa's members have been the backbone of some of the greatest Irish groups of the decade: bassist Trevor Hutchinson was a key member of The Waterboys and the Sharon Shannon Band, while fiddler Seán Smyth is an All-Ireland champion who has played with Donal Lunny and Coolfin.

Kevin Crawford is considered to be among the finest flautists in Ireland and has played with the acclaimed traditional group Moving Cloud; piper Cillian Vallely is a member of the famous Vallely artistic clan from Armagh and toured with Riverdance. Guitarist, Paul Meehan has played with North Cregg and the Karan Casey band, among others.

The band is noted for its interweaving of wind and string instruments such as the flute, fiddle, whistle, pipes as well as bass, that together create flavors of jazz and progressive rhythm.

On their first American visit, word-of-mouth led to sold-out shows and rave reviews. The New York Times wrote "a standing-room only crowd in New York confirmed Lúnasa's reputation... This is the hottest Irish acoustic group on the planet."

The band has just returned from a recent tour of the US and the renowned flautist spoke about that tour and their gig in New York as part of the coast-to-coast tour.

"We ended it only three weeks ago. We had toured for seven weeks starting off in the Midwest and ending up on the west coast in California.

"In New York we played in this beautiful new club down in the meat-packing district, a new venue and it was a great spot. Everything went lovely and the whole Leitrim thing has already been voiced over there.

"We have been mentioning it at the gigs and we are talking about Leitrim all the time because we are totally buzzed about it and people have been on to our website and looking for the album and it's really great to see that," Crawford enthused.

Local Musicians And Reconnecting

At the Button Factory launch which took place Friday, May 15, as Lunasa finished rehearsing for the concert, the guest Leitrim musicians gathered in a circle for an impromptu session and afterwards related what it was like as students under the band in this unique music experiment.

Fiddle player, Mossie Martin from Keadue, has a hornpipe, 'The Himalayan Hornpipe' and a gig 'Susan Sweeney's' on The Leitrim Equation CD.

"I had bits of them [the tunes] put together from before and Lunasa helped me knock the final shape onto them. The experience was fantastic. It was amazing just chatting to them and bouncing ideas off them and learning about chords and key structures; just getting a chance to come up here and do things like this that we never otherwise would have," he declared.

The youngest member of the Leitrim musician's 18-year-old, Shane Meehan from Carrick-on-Shannon, had double reason to celebrate as he was celebrating his birthday on the night. He also composed two tunes on the CD, 'The Courthouse Reel' and 'Donohue's' and was delighted to take part in the residency.

"The experience was very educational. It showed you how they arranged things and how to write tunes and record, and, it was very helpful," said the youngest contributor on the new album.

Jackie Maguire added that the band loved their stay over the year and half as artists in residence in Leitrim. She noted that there is a large population of Leitrim natives living in America and that the new album gives people a chance to reconnect with their roots.

"What the CD can do for people, especially for those who haven't been home for quiet a long time or who have lost connections; [is] it can help to reconnect with the county and their heritage.

"The tradition of Irish music is loved within all parts of the states and whether they are of Irish descendency or not, people take to it. And, because it's a mix of the old and the new, it will be warmly received."