It was an obsession, and Altan was a key element of it. I was living in England and working in Ireland. I took every opportunity to go shopping in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Derry to buy up all the Irish music I could find. Altan became part of my personal pilgrimage.
So it’s with great delight that I spend an evening listening to Altan’s latest album. Simply called Donegal (Compass Records), this is a recording that pays tribute to the band’s home. It’s a journey through Donegal and adjoining territories. Let me act as a guide for you, as we travel together through the tracks.
UNDERLYING MESSAGE
The Yellow Tinker opens the album as a slow reel with mood and depth. That’s unusual enough, as most bands and artists look for a foot-stomper to set off an album. Not so with Altan. The underlying message is, ‘We’re just getting this party going’.
Next up is Liostáil Mé Le Sáirsint (I Listed With A Sergeant) – a bittersweet song that tells the story of a man leaving County Mayo to join the army. He spends his time reminiscing of his homeplace: ‘…thinking long and dreaming of the county of Mayo’.
At this point the foot goes down on the accelerator for a nice solid drive through three reels in The Donegal Selection: An Bothar Mor/Tommy Peoples’ Reel/Is Cuma Liom. This is where the band start to motor with their fiddle playing punctuated by the bodhrán. We are on the up! I’m told Is Cuma Liom means ‘I don’t give a feck’.
The tempo slows down to give us a breather from all that dance music. Faoiseamh a Gheobhadsa (I Will Find Solace) is a delicate song. You could almost weep, the emotion is so intense.
County Louth fiddler Zoe Conway and her husband, guitarist John McIntyre, wrote this beautiful melody for an Irish poem by Máirtín Ó Direáin from the Aran Islands Gaeltacht. It’s about going home and finding peace, between the sea and the shore.
Now we’re treated to a couple of jigs before we get too restful after all that intense poetic reflection. Port Árainn Mhór/Port Kitty Rua Mooney is a foot-tapping celebration of the clan Mooney – the roots of Altan bandleader, lead vocalist and fiddler Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh. Árainn Mhór means ‘large ridge’ and is the largest inhabited island off Donegal. Mairéad herself composed the jigs.
Altan keep the pace going with the next track – a set of reels – The House of Baoithín Selection: Miss Stewart’s/Bonnie Annie/ Hand Me Down The Tea Things/House of Baoithín. This is a tribute to the mid-sixth century Saint Baoithín, who is still celebrated in Donegal.
By now we’re ready to drop, so Altan offer us The Barley And The Rye. This is a gorgeous folk song that sounds like something deep and meaningful. But it’s really about a farmer’s wife having a bit of fun in the field with a young man! What’s worse is that her husband gets his priorities wrong when he complains that the crop is ruined by their hanky-panky.
GORGEOUS TUNE
We’re taken back to the dance floor with some more reels – An Gasúr Dána/An Ghirseach Dholba/Ríl na mBreac Beadaí. These start off gentle and quiet on guitar, almost reminiscent of Mike Oldfield’s Ommadawn. Then the pace gets going and we’re away again.
Onto another thing Altan do really well, and that’s the haunting melody. Gabhaim Molta Bríde or In Praise Of Brigid is a traditional song for the Mary of the Gael, set to an ancient Gregorian melody Ave Maris Stella. It’s simply a gorgeous tune, sung beautifully. Here is Mairéad’s own translation of the final verse: ‘The winter is piercingly dark, cuts with all its sharpness, but on the day of Brigid, spring comes near to Ireland’. Absolutely brilliant.
The whole album ends in celebratory style with a set of reels – The Letterkenny Blacksmith/John Doherty’s Favourite/Scread na Bealtaine. The first of these was written to commemorate a legendary smithy who could hurl a stubborn jackass over a stream!
Listening to this album leaves you with a deep sense of Donegal traditions and tales. You feel you’ve been taken through this vast county and stopped off at some remarkable locations for a dance and some reflection. The tour is complete, the experience is sublime.
We all need to hear these sounds. Tickets to see Altan at Iúr Cinn Fleadh are selling well as I write, so make sure you get yours here. (Review by Clive Price, Iúr Cinn Fleadh committee member)
