Counties Derry and Antrim, Northern Ireland

We are coming to the end of our musical journey around Ireland as we re-enter Northern Ireland.  Above a picture of Castlerock Beach in county Derry, that I took last summer.  Now the politically correct name for the city these days is Derry/Londonderry so as not to offend anybody, but it's way too much of a mouthful for me and I shall stick to simply Derry.  

We will feature only one young artist from this troubled city, Soak, or Bridie Monds-Watson to give her full name.  She has a powerful voice for someone so young.  Her genre is described as indie folk or Dream Pop. Here is a performance of her for the npr Tiny Desk Concert series from when she was only 19 years old and includes 3 songs from her debut album Before We Forgot How to Dream:

County Antrim is mostly famous for it's northern coastline and the Giant's Causeway.  It gets pretty busy with tourists these days, even on a miserable New Year's Day such as this one in 2014 

But of course the western half of Belfast is also in County Antrim.  Rooted in the traditional music of County Antrim are the trio Brendan Mulholland on flute (from Glenavy near Belfast International Airport), Conor Lamb on Uilleann pipes and Deirdre Galway on Guitar.  This a tue, The Antrim Barndances, off their 2018 debut album Music in the Glen.

McPeake is a Belfast family band that is now run by the 4th generation of Francis McPeake.  During the peak (excuse the pun) of their popularity they were recorded by Pete Seegar playing their most famous song written by Francis I around 1948, The Wild Mountain Thyme:

Here are a couple of airs I recorded at a concert in Portaferry in 2015 in their present line up:

Gráinne Holland is a Gaelic singer born and bred in Belfast.  Here she is performing a haunting County Antrim song called Airde Cuain from her 2015 album Gaelré:

Joshua Burnside is from Lisburn just south of Belfast and his style of music is described as indie folk or folktronica.  His 2017 debut album Ephrata was actually written in Colombia and incorporates some influences of Cumbia.  This is a song from this album, Blood Drive:

I first met Belfast singer/songwriter Andy White about 14 years ago in a small bar in the village of Arcola near La Spezia, Italy.  He was performing in the Pegaso Bar, which was run by friends of ours at the time and just across the valley from where we lived, as part of his annual tour of Europe.  My wife being from Belfast we had an immediate connection and we chatted away after the gig.  The next few years he kept returning to the same venue until alas the bar changed ownership.  Nowadays we go and see him every year on the Belfast leg of his tour, and in fact we have tickets to see him at the end of the month (29th November 19) at the American Bar in Belfast, fancy coming along?

Andy rose to fame in the mid-80's particularly with his song about the Troubles, Religious Persuasion.

He now lives in Melbourne, Australia with his son Sebastian and has just released what I believe is his 14th studio album.

This concludes our tour of the 32 counties of Ireland, next we will head for brief sojourn to the Isle of Man, before hitting Scotland.  To follow my virtual journey check the tripline map. 

County Donegal, Ireland

I just spent 10 days in Donegal last month and it is a county of spectacular beauty with sites like the above pictured Slieve League cliffs, the highest in Ireland.  Gaelic is still widely spoken and the old traditions are still very much alive.

First stop is in Dungloe in the region of the Rosses.  Here's a photo of the nearby Crohy Head.

Here we meet Celtic rock band Goats Don't Shave.  They have been churning out their music on and off since 1990.  This song, Las Vegas (in the Hills of Donegal), features on their 1992 album The Rusty Razor:

From Dungloe we had north to Gweedore.  Now as you drive around Donegal you will be hard pressed to find a sign to Gweedore, because firstly Gweedore isn't really a place, but a collection of villages forming the district of Gweedore, and secondly it's in heart of the Gaeltacht, the Irish speaking area of Donegal and whilst in most of the Republic sings are bilingual, here signs are in Irish only.  The Gaelic spelling for Gweedore is Gaoth Dohair, which isn't immediately obvious to English speakers...  It lies between the Atlantic Ocean and Mount Errigal, Donegal's highest peak.  Here's a view from Bunbeg Beach, Gweedore towards Mount Errigal.

By far Gweedore's most famous export is Enya or Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (you can see why she shortened it...).  Here's a song called The Celts from her 2015 album Dark Sky Island:

Of course she started her career with the band Clannad who play a similar style New Age music. This song, Harry's Game, features on their 1983 album Magical Ring. (later edit: Here's a really good interview with them on the story of that song):

Going a bit more traditional the group Altan are also from Gweedore and have been doing their stuff since 1987.   Here's their love song to the region sung in Gaelic, Gleanntáin Ghlas' Ghaoth Dobhair, with some nice pictures of the region from their 1997 album Runaway Sunday

Moving east to Letterkeny, we encounter young folk duo Without Willow conisting of Karen Kelly and Simon McCafferty who regularly perform at the Earagaill Music Festival in their home town.  As I look out of the window at a grey November day what better song to play than their 2018 single release November Fog:

Finally we head to the northern most point on the island of Ireland, Malin Head on the Inishowen Peninsula.

Here we meet the Henry Girls, 3 very talented sisters who are all multi-instrumentalists and sing in beautiful harmony.  I saw them perform their own songs as well as some other roots music earlier in the year at the Portico in Portaferry.  I was blown away by their lively and energetic style and the evident fun they have performing together.  This song is more of an American Country song, but it's a lovely interpretation.  It's called Ol' Cook Pot featuring on their 2011 album December Moon:

That's it for today from the north.  We have nearly completed our round trip of Ireland.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey on tripline. 

Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone, Northern Ireland

We're back over the currently invisible border into Northern Ireland.  County Fermanagh is famous for its lakes and it is where songwriter Mickey MacConnell hails from.  Born in 1947 in Bellanaleck near Enniskillen, after a career as a journalist he moved to Kerry and devoted his life to music.  He recorded only 3 CD's, 2 of them currently unavailable, but his often humorous songs are recited in sessions up and down the land.  The following song, The Ballad of Aldi & Lidl, has not made it onto any recordings, but went viral on YouTube:

In the County of Tyrone we meet The Whistlin' Donkeys, a band combining traditional Irish tunes with upbeat Celtic rock influences.  This is their song of their home town Pretty Little Girl From Omagh, off their 2013 album Kiss My Ass.

From Derrytresk in County Tyrone hails singer and guitarist Niall Hanna.   Here is a song about Lough Neagh, the largest lake on the British Isles, part of its shore is in County Tyrone.  This is a photo of me with my dog and a Colombian friend on the shores of Lough Neagh. 

The song appears on the 2017 album Autumn Leaves. 

From Dungannon hails uilleann piper Jarlath Henderson, who was the youngest ever BBC folk musician of the year in 2003.  Here he is playing a rousing live set with long time collaborator Scottish piper Ross Ainslie:

Finally I can't go to Dungannon without visiting my friend singer-songwriter Wendy Jack, although she actually lives on Rathlin Island these days.  She once played in my yurt in Portaferry back in May 2015.

My favourite song by her is called Fairies, which is on her recently released album Sunsets available on bandcamp.  

That's it for today.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey on Tripline.  See you next time in Donegal.