Thursday, April 25, 2019

*And Once Again, Making Joyful Irish Music- The Dubliners

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of The Dubliners Performing "The Irish Rover".

And Once Again, Making Joyful Irish Music

The Dubliners Collection, The Dubliners, BMG, 1999

I have mentioned elsewhere that every devotee of the modern Irish folk tradition owes a debt of gratitude for the work of the likes of Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers and the group under review here, The Dubliners, for keeping the tradition alive and for making it popular with the young on both sides of the Atlantic. Not only for the songs, but for the various reel and jig instrumentals from the old days that they have produced. Here The Dubliners produce a veritable what’s what of Irish music from the above-mentioned instrumentals to the fighting patriotic songs to the fighting barroom songs to the doggerel. Let’s sort it out a little on this CD.

In this CD The Dubliners do both modern and traditional pieces, some of them I have mentioned in other reviews of the work of The Dubliners. As for the instrumentals the “Queen Of The Fair” medley and “Doherty’s” medley stand out For songs of day to day Ireland in the old days “Donegal Danny”, “The Irish Rover”, “Farewell To Ireland” and “Danny Farrell” stick out (that last one about the plight of the ‘tinkers’ (travelling peoples). For those patriotically inclined “James Larkin” will touch a chord (in his leadership of the famous strike in 1913 and as the predecessor of James Connolly as leader of the Irish labor movement) as will “Johnson’s Motor Car” in a humorous way.

I have always been partial to “Ragland Road” and its theme of missed love and longing. For the culturati there is “The Aul’ Triangle”, the many times-covered Brendan Behan lyrics from his play "The Quare Fellow”. As a tip of the hat to the diaspora here there is a tribute to the much maligned “The Molly McGuires" (19th century Irish militant coalminers in Pennsylvania). As I always mention in discussing The Dubliners, if you are looking for some serious Irish music that goes beyond St. Patty’s Day but can still be appreciated then check out this well-done compilation. And you get Luke Kelly as a bonus. Nice, right?

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