With its long tradition as an
elite Ivy League school and proximity to the revitalized Center City of
Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Center
for the Performing Arts would be an enticing venue for any artist.
Its spacious proscenium auditorium, the Zellerbach Theatre seats almost a
thousand people, offering an aesthetic and contemporary setting for an ensemble
like Masters of Tradition organized for a recent coast-to-coast tour by the
Clare fiddler Martin Hayes.
Keeping with the raison-être of the Bantry-based originator, the Masters of
Tradition Festival held each year in August, the focus is on presenting
traditional Irish music in an unadorned fashion where the audience can focus on
the artistry and skill of the musicians in historic buildings in West Cork like Bantry House and St. Brendan’s Church.
The Zellerbach Theatre would be a significant place for this tour to appear,
and from a first-time visit to the esteemed locale in mid-tour, the importance
was born out.
The six-city tour for the Masters of Tradition included New York, Boston,
Alexandria, Virginia, Olympia, Washington, Denver and Philadelphia and averaged
600 patrons for the seven-member complement first assembled for a two-night
invitation to the Sydney Opera House.
The stellar cast included sean nos singer Iarla O’Lionaird, piper David Power,
a trio of Mairtin O’Connor, Cathal Hayden and Seamie O' Dowd and the long time
partners Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill. Hayes and Cahill would be highly
recognized performers in all the other venues besides Philly for their
long-time duet touring that would be recognized as one of the more successful
Irish acts on the road.
The Zellerbach would be a challenge for the Masters of Tradition troupe in the
sense that the audience makeup would be similar to many performing arts centers
with season ticket subscribers looking for new and interesting entertainment or
music options, and therefore not totally familiar with traditional Irish music.
The first half of the show featured singer O’Lionaird’s Irish language songs
and piper Power’s haunting uilleann piping performed with a chanter dating back
150 years, and once in the hands of the iconic Willie Clancy, followed by a
riveting set by Hayes and Cahill and later Power.
The crowd politely applauded each selection, but the
blistering last set of the first half brought thunderous applause and a
standing ovation at the interval and a pivotal point had been reached for the
musicians.
The second half opened with Iarla singing a song, “Shule Aroon,” from the canon
of his Great-Aunt Bess Cronin, a noted singer from West
Cork. And his final song in the encore was “Mo Ghile Mear,” (My
Gallant Darling), the symbolic ode to Bonny Prince Charlie, and in between
Gaelic selections that have marked him as one of Ireland’s pre-eminence singers.
The recent release of his CD Foxlight shows the form of a talented artist who
can easily move from the old world into a more contemporary one, taking the
Irish language along for a much-needed ride in the process.
The trio of O’Connor, Hayden and O’Dowd were prominently featured in the second
half, proving that they were no “fossils of folk” sharing some of the music
from their brand new recording Going Places, their second CD together as one of
Ireland’s more dynamic contemporary trad groups.
At times blazing fast and savage, but never out of control and in their deft
hands, the music and notes are very capably shared with one another as they
feed off each other’s playing on accordion, fiddle and guitar and vocals.
They play with great clarity no matter what the speed, and also with great
subtlety and feeling for the music, especially when accompanying O’Dowd’s voice
in a song like “Believe Me Sligo.”
This magnificent seven bore out the underlying treatise that Hayes operates
under in that traditional music is the equal of any other form, and can strike
and capture the hearts of music fans anywhere and at any time.
And on this night like the others on the tour, the imaginative Hayes set out to
take the audience on a journey that trad music has taken over the past two
centuries in a brilliant stage show that will continue to draw interest and
appeal into the future when venues like this are available and ready to offer
entertainment like this.
Hayes is one of the busiest people in Irish music these days, moving smartly
and innovatively from one collaboration to another in sharp contrast to
performing with one band or individual until the air runs out of the
tires.
In this economic climate it pays to be light on your feet and flexible, and it
is a trend you are seeing more and more among Irish musicians.
In fact, Martin’s next stateside engagements will be with flute player Kevin
Crawford and guitarist/vocalist John Doyle in a superstar tour traveling over
in May under the name the Teetotallers, another compelling trio to watch out
for.
We’ll share more on them down the road, but you can keep track of their
whereabouts at www.facebook.com/theteetotallers,
including Joe’s Pub on Sunday, June 3.
If you are tempted to experience the five day Masters of Tradition in Bantry,
it will be August 15-19.
Among those joining Martin and Dennis will be Clare kinfolk in Seamus Connolly
and the Tulla Ceili Band (where Martin’s father P. Joe Hayes was a founding
member and long-time leader) along with Moya Brennan.
Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/from_the_hob/masters-of-tradition-martin-hayes-and-other-pros-take-philadelphia-by-storm-149353165.html#ixzz1zlNS7HCs
