Irish Music Magazine August 2006
Irish Music Magazine Review August 2006
Benny O’Carroll’s Traditional All Ireland Band “Dance It Yourself”(CD/DVD) Pinorrekk Records,PRCD 3455840 There’s a late50’s look to the liner design of this combination CD/DCD package, a two tone nostalgic cover that features Benny O’Carroll holding a guitar in the Spanish fashion, with the neck held high and himself smiling from ear to ear with brightest of Colgate smiles. Now, don’t let the cover fool you into thinking this is some early folk revival makeover, for Benny it has to be said is a one man music and tourism industry. He has a vision you see, when folks come to Ireland they want the scenery, of course, but the also expect the music, the tunes and a bit of céili dancing too. And folks it’s all here. The CD contains “14 songs and tunes in stereo”,whilst the DVD has the same music set against the backdropof some stunning landscape photography,much of it from the air and most of in wide panoramic sweeps. The landscapes are by and large those of Munster(there is a foray of two into the rugged west with a lovely shot of Clifden). We had fun in the Laffey househole guessing where the pictures take,Killarney features as does Adare,Bunratty and those fiendishly difficult golf links at Lahinch. What of the music?Consider this,Bennay has assembled an “ All Ireland Band” of musicians and he has made sure they don’t all play at once! The result is a tightly controlled dynamic, with for example Sonny’s Mazurka opening the DVD played by Elaine Hogan on Harp and Jon Sanders on the Bouzouki. There’s Peter Broube on button accordion and Malachy Bourke on Fiddle too driving the dance tunes forward.The singing is handled extremely well by Don Stiffe who gives us the Lowlands Of Holland(note the tune, it’s not the usual suspect),The Rocks Of Bawn, Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore (close to Paul Brady’s version)and the Moorlough Shore. The enclosed booklet contains all the words to the songs, and an essay on the history of Irish Music. Tunes are arranged into sets, some with tongue-in-cheek titles, such as “The Priest with Van Gogh’s Ear for music”. Fair play to Benny as each tune within these sets is given its full title, useful if you’d be wanting to look them up in well thumbed O’Neill’s or being all modern now, get them Googled in the ABC2 web. The DVD has six dances taught by Timmy McCarthy with music from Peter Browne and Jon Sanders. The dances are based around the Ballyvourney tradition and the dances are a mixed bunch of ability, of heights and ages, no Riverdance military conformism here. And that’s a good thing because you can see how ordinary folks start out learning the movements, how sympathetic they are when someone turnes left when they should have turned right .They learn quickly and Timmy (The Brit) is full of praise for their accomplishments. This is a great package to have on your DVD player,and with an eye to the tourist market the dances have English, French, German, Spanish and Italian commentaries. So if you are reading this id Cologne or Palermo you have no excuse for not making it to the Shindig at the Windmill next January. This package should be playing in every Irish tourist office in the world.Evocative and absorbing, full of superb musicianship and stunning visuals and as Timmy McCarthy says”It’s not over until the lady comes home!”. Sean Laffey |
