Previous Page

Clancy’s vocals passionate on ‘Moon’

Download printable tearsheet (130 KB PDF) Published March 10, 2003 in The Patriot Ledger

SILVERY MOON, Aoife Clancy (Appleseed Recordings; www.appleseedrec.com)

Irish-born singer Aoife Clancy (pronounced Ee-fa) blends traditional Celtic music with refreshing renderings of contemporary songs that span the continents.

"Silvery Moon," her first solo recording since 1994, puts a modern spin on music that is hundreds of years old, including songs by Robert Tannahill and Australian poet Henry Lawson, along with a traditional Appalachian ballad.

Clancy, who lives on the South Shore, also adds passionate vocals to newer songs by Franklin’s Robbie O’Connell, Scotsman Lionell McClelland, Irish songwriter Ron Kavana and others.

Clancy is the daughter of the late Bobby Clancy (Clancy Brothers) and a former member of the all-female vocal and dancing group Cherish the Ladies. Her gorgeous vocals can hit the highest of highs and delve low seamlessly, her songs set to an acoustic backdrop of guitar, bass, dobro, fiddle, piano, mandolin, cello, percussion and flute.

One of the CDs loveliest tracks, however, is the spine-tingling, a cappella song about adultery, "Across the Blue Mountains," a traditional Appalachian ballad, in which Clancy trades vocals with Julee Glaub and Aoife O’Donovan.

To sparse piano, Clancy tenderly sings a sweetly affecting melody to Lawson’s poem of loneliness, love and parting in "The Sliprails and the Spur." In Kavana’s song of peace and healing, "Reconciliation," Clancy’s lilting voice guides an anthemic chorus drawn from her Irish heritage. And she concludes the CD with a classic from The Weavers, "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," a tender duet recorded with her father.

Clancy will perform at 8 p.m. March 15 at the Old Ship Church’s Coffeehouse off the Square, 107 Main St., Hingham. Tickets are $10. 781-749-1767.

IRELAND’S HARVEST, Joe Derrane (Mapleshade, www.mapleshaderecords.com)

Famed button accordionist Joe Derrane of Randolph returns to the recording scene with a salute to the music that gained him world renown.

On "Ireland’s Harvest," Derrane joins fiddler Frankie Gavin and pianist and musical wellspring Brian McGrath (both of De Dannan) in an instrumental tribute to the music of their heritage. Much of the music was documented and preserved by Captain Francis O’Neill, who gathered thousands of Irish tunes around 1903.

It was from O’Neill that Derrane, a Boston-born son of Irish immigrants, transcribed hundreds of songs for the button accordion, an instrument with two rows of buttons instead of piano-like keys.

Some of the more stunning examples of Derrane’s expertise are his new renderings of the triplet-filled "The Union Reel," originally recorded on 78-rpm in 1904 and later again on a 78 by Derrane in 1947, and the buoyant dance melody "Cloonloughlin Lady/The Mathematician."

But this is a trio album and each member displays remarkable instrumental expertise in jigs from the O’Neill collection and early 1930s music from Michael Coleman, including a medley of three tunes known in Ireland as "The Sligo National Anthem."

All of the tunes on this 18-track CD, a must-have for fans of traditional Irish music, have a rich history, explained thoroughly in the liner notes.

Stephen Ide may be reached at side@ledger.com.

- Stephen Ide
The Patriot Ledger

Previous Page