T R A D I S H

TRADISH has been getting some great reviews. Read the BBC2 review here

This is a brand new 15 track CD over an hour long. It was recorded over a period of eight years as I toured with the Riverdance show, and afterwards. The length of time it's taken means that some tracks have parts recorded from different years and several different countries. But I have taken a lot of care to make sure it all hangs together.

The aim behind the project was to make an album of traditional folk-inspired tunes that were composed from the harmonica itself. The harmonica is a young instrument, and has a short history in Irish, Bulgarian and other folk music. So if you want to play convincingly in those styles, you end up playing tunes that were composed on the fiddle, pipes, whistle, flute etc. That's a very worthwhile and enjoyable exercise in itself, and I'd already taken steps down that road with my earlier album New Irish Harmonica. 

However, as a result of getting to know some traditional styles pretty closely (in particular Irish and Bulgarian), I found I was naturally composing lots of my own tunes that were inspired by them, but originated on the harmonica. To me, this seems a natural continuation of the traditions - though some flavours that seem natural to me (eg. playing a jig with a blues scale) might make purists blanch. 

Some of my favourite musicians have helped me realise this concept, including:

GERRY O’CONNOR: banjo · STEVE COONEY, GARY VERBERNE, CHRIS NEWMAN, and IAN CARR: guitar · ANDY IRVINE: mandolin · CHRIS HAIGH: fiddle · GEOFF CASTLE: piano · DECLAN MASTERSON: Pipes · MICK KINSELLA: harmonica · GREG SHEEHAN: percussion

T R A C K S

1. The Dingle Angle       2. Jig Jazz       3. Twenty Out of Ten       4. The Real Blues Reel       5. Lorraine's Dream      6. Sgt. Major Minor       7. The Bloom of Youth       8. Hakanoa Hideaway         9. Tom's Tune       10. Sweet Bulgarity       11. Farewell to Muswell Hill       12. Monaco Madness       13. Danubska Horo       14. The M1 Reel       15. Lament for the 21st Century   

(Selected tunes link to MP3 Music Clips)

H A R P S

A pretty even balance of half-valved chromatics and diatonics, in various tunings.

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