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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Lively and Diverse Collection for a First CD, 30 Aug 2003
Review of The New Strung Harp by Maire Ni ChathasaighAfter two sprightly jigs, Charles O'Conor (Carolan) and Father Hanly, Ms. Ni Chathasaigh (O'Casey in English) renders a song of lost love from South Uist (Hebrides) in Gaelic-which
she, being from West Cork, learned growing up. She includes a translation of a few lines in her notes. This is a clue to the listener that the sources and styles of music on the CD will be diverse. There are several other Turlough O'Carolan pieces, Madam Maxwell, Carolan's Farewell to Music, and my favorite of his pieces, Planxty Sudley, one he wrote as dowry for his daughter's husband a Captain Sudley. Supposedly he wrote some strong lyrics for it because he questioned her motives for the marriage. An ancient piece with a feeling of majesty with interesting changes in rhythm is An Speic Seoigheach. It will definitely set one in a contemplative mood. The liveliest set are The Boys of Malin and The Old Oak Tree, with an infectious, toe-tapping rhythm that will bring you back to this track again and again. The strongest piece may be The Bantry Girls' Lament, which speaks of a town's young hero going off to war in Spain during the Peninsular Wars (1808-15). The last verse follows: And if cruel fate does not permit our Johnny to return
His heavy loss we Bantry girls will never cease to mourn.
We'll resign ourselves to our sad loss and we'll die in grief and pain,
Since Johnny's died for Ireland's pride in the foreign land of Spain. On this piece, Ms. Ni Chathasaigh is ably assisted by sisters Nollaig on fiddle and vocals, Mairead on vocals, and brother Greig, vocals. (In fact, Nollaig squeezes all the sadness one can bare out of her fiddle, as she has done on other recordings.) This was originally released on cassette in 1985 and made quite an impact on reviewers and other harpers.
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