Elizabeth Roth [email protected]www.rotharts.com Performing a continuous, almost two-hour set, in a similar way to Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum, the concert seemed to unfold as one long, sustained arc of breath. — theartsdesk.com Óró, Sé do Bheatha ‘Bhaile Recorded at Grouse Lodge West- meath, Ireland. February, 2011 The Sailor’s Bonnet | From the film “Moment to Moment” (Release January 2014) Directed by Philip King. Produced by South Wind Blows. Photo credit: Feargal Ward The Gloaming Tour Schedule In The Gloaming, Irish traditional music meets the New York downtown scene meets something completely new. With fiddlers Martin Hayes and Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh, Dennis Cahill on guitar, Iarla Ó Lionáird on vocals and Thomas Bartlett on piano, the band has burst on the music scene with a rare combination of Irish tunes, ancient sean-nos song, brave explorations and exhilarating and explosive medleys with a distinctive new sound. With the traditional backgrounds of Hayes, Ó Raghallaigh and Ó Lionáird anchoring the repertoire, Cahill’s minimalism and Bartlett’s sparse, subtle piano clear the way for fascinating variations and pas- sionate forays into brave new interpretations of music both familiar and now, entirely fresh. Read individual bios… The Gloaming Intro From “Live in Dublin” Cois an Ghaorthaidh Katherine Kelly’s P Joe’ s Lullaby The Mill Stream Rolling In The Barrel The Tap Room Tom Doherty’s Reel LIVE IN DUBLIN EP : The Gloaming : Live in Dublin EP Tracklisting : Intro (21.33) Recorded live at The National Con- cert Hall, 20th August, 2011. All songs traditional and arranged by The Gloaming Recorded and mixed by Phil Hayes vibrant…joyous…sublime… provocative…astonishing. ” “ Read full reviews…
Performing a continuous, almost two-hour set, in a similar way to Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum, the concert seemed to unfold as one long, sustained arc of breath. — theartsdesk.com
Óró, Sé do Bheatha ‘BhaileRecorded at Grouse Lodge West-meath, Ireland. February, 2011
The Sailor’s Bonnet | From the film “Moment to Moment” (Release January 2014) Directed by Philip King. Produced by South Wind Blows.
Photo credit: Feargal Ward
The Gloaming
Tour Schedule
In The Gloaming, Irish traditional music meets the New York downtown scene meets something completely new.
With fiddlers Martin Hayes and Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh, Dennis Cahill on guitar, Iarla Ó Lionáird on vocals and Thomas Bartlett on piano, the band has burst on the music scene with a rare combination of Irish tunes, ancient sean-nos song, brave explorations and exhilarating and explosive medleys with a distinctive new sound. With the traditional backgrounds of Hayes, Ó Raghallaigh and Ó Lionáird anchoring the repertoire, Cahill’s minimalism and Bartlett’s sparse, subtle piano clear the way for fascinating variations and pas-sionate forays into brave new interpretations of music both familiar and now, entirely fresh.
Read individual bios…
The Gloaming IntroFrom “Live in Dublin”
Cois an GhaorthaidhKatherine Kelly’sP Joe’ s LullabyThe Mill StreamRolling In The BarrelThe Tap RoomTom Doherty’s Reel
LIVE IN DUBLIN EP :The Gloaming : Live in Dublin EPTracklisting : Intro (21.33)Recorded live at The National Con-cert Hall, 20th August, 2011.All songs traditional and arranged by The GloamingRecorded and mixed by Phil Hayes
Iarla Ó Lionáird (vocals) | Iarla Ó Lionáird grew up and learned his craft in the musical heartland in the West Cork Gaeltacht where he established himself both as a masterful exponent of Sean Nós Song and as a pioneer in its renewal and development. Always an artist on his own journey Ó Lion-áird signed to the prestigious Real World Records label in the mid-1990’s with whom he would go on to make many groundbreaking recordings with the multimillion-selling Afro Celt Sound System. His solo career was inevitable and would begin with the acclaimed and powerful “Seven Steps To Mercy” (Real World Records). Produced by Michael Brook, the album saw Ó Lionáird create a new and unique work in which his voice soars with power and tenderness. He went on to release the soundtrack for “I Could Read The Sky” and the “Invis-ible Fields” (both on Real World Records) which melds electronic soundscapes with sean nós to stunning effect. He released his latest solo album, “Foxlight” on Real World in 2011.
Martin Hayes (fiddle) | Martin Hayes’ unique sound, his mastery of the fiddle, his acknowledgement of the past and his ability to place the tradition within a wider contemporary context, combine to create a unique and insightful interpretation of Irish Music. He has drawn inspiration from many musical genres, but remains grounded in the music he grew up with in East County Clare where the tradition he inherited from his late father, P. Joe Hayes, was the formative influence on his musical accent and ideas. He has recorded two acclaimed solo albums, “Martin Hayes” and “Under the Moon” on the Green Linnet label and three duet albums with Dennis Cahill: “The Lonesome Touch”, “Live in Seattle”, and “Welcome Here Again”. Martin is the Artistic Director of the Masters of Tradition Festival in Bantry, West Cork and the touring show of the same name. He also tours and records with Peadar Ó Riada and Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh in Triúr.
Dennis Cahill (guitar) | Dennis Cahill is a master guitarist, a native of Chicago born to parents from the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. He studied at the city’s prestigious Music College before becoming an active member of the local music scene. Cahill’s spare, essential accompaniment to Martin Hayes’ fiddle is acknowledged as a major breakthrough for guitar in the Irish tradition. In addition to his work with Martin, Dennis has performed with such renowned fiddlers as Liz Carroll, Eileen Ivers and Kevin Burke, as well as many Irish musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a sought after producer for musical artists whom he records in his own Chicago studio and is also an accomplished photographer.
Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (hardanger fiddle) | Dublin-born Caoimhín Ó Raghal-laigh plays traditional and contemporary folk music on fiddle, 5-string viola and hardanger fiddle in small intimate listening venues. In 2007, he released “Where the One-Eyed Man is King,” an adventurous, self-produced little EP:
Caoimhín has recently been studying the work of contemporary folk fiddlers from other countries, including Nils Okland, Dan Trueman and Johan Hedin, and has been writing new material that explores the edges of Irish tradi-tional music. He has recently been involved in two acclaimed recordings, “Le Gealaigh/A Moment of Madness” with Brendan Begley and “Triúr sa Draighean” with Peadar Ó Riada and Martin Hayes.
Thomas Bartlett (piano) | Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman, grew up in Vermont, and began playing ukelele at age three, after the wardens at his daycare found him strumming a block and decided he could probably put resonant strings to good use. He began playing piano at age five, and never stopped—dropping out of high school to study in London with Maria Curcio, one of the 20th century’s greatest classical music teachers. Thomas went on to Columbia University for a year but dropped out, again—this time to concentrate on his classical music studies, until he dropped out again!— this time to play with bands. He quickly become one of the most in-demand sidemen in New York City. Thomas has played or recorded with Antony & the Johnsons, Nico Muhly, Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, The Frames, Bebel Gilberto, Arto Lindsay, The National, and Yoko Ono. He makes music as Doveman. When listening to this music you should keep in mind artists such as Frederic Chopin, Cat Power, Keith Jarrett, Talk Talk. His latest release is the eponymous Doveman on Brassland.
The Irish Times | This was music of an entirely different hue: neither slav-ishly traditional nor willfully contemporary, it sought out uncharted terrain (some of which was undoubtedly familiar)—and, most impressively, welcomed their audience as essential passengers on that journey. — The Irish Times
The Irish Examiner | Via their mastery of traditional playing, they sensitively reinterpreted the wealth of songs at their disposal as well as newly com-posed melodies. The result was traditional music that was often arrestingly new. — The Irish Examiner
Thumped | Laughter and joy were something that throughout the night became synonymous with the experience, with the audience and artists in complete communion, and it was a pleasure to see five amazing, diverse musi-cians in such abandoned union. — Siobhán Kane, Thumped
The Irish Times | Taking a brace of traditional tunes as their starting point, Martin Hayes and his newly convened compadres took an audacious leap of faith into the unknown—and in that leap, drew their audience into a magnetic underworld where light and dark, old and new coalesced to compelling effect. — Siobhán Long, The Irish Times
Thursday, August 18, 2011 The dawn of the Gloaming
The Gloaming features some of the great names of Irish music – and an American who cut his teeth as a 12-year-old music promoter. The result is an intriguing supergroup, writes SIOBHÁN LONG
‘THE ONLY style of music I’d like to be identified with is good music,” Thomas Bartlett insists. This Vermont keyboards player and producer is a man of many musical identities. Founder of Doveman (whose members include The National’s Bryce and Aaron Dessner), he has worked with, among others, Antony and The Johnsons, Martha Wainwright, David Byrne and Glen Hansard.
He’s one of the five members of a newly-minted outfit who call themselves The Gloaming, and this weekend he’s joining Martin Hayes on fiddle, Dennis Cahill on guitar,
singer Iarla Ó Lionáird and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh on traditional and Hardanger fiddle for a seven-date tour. They plan to play lots of what Bartlett calls “good” music, which may, in all likelihood, fail to conform to any simple definitions of either traditional or contemporary music – but might just nestle somewhere on that spectrum where creativity trumps predictability – with chutzpah.
Bartlett is a musician who revels in the sparks that fly during collaboration. “I have an identity as a player,” he offers, “but since I work with many different musicians who are coming from such different places musically, I wouldn’t want to be too strong a flavour. My job should be to help make stronger what other people are doing, not necessarily to bring too many of my own ideas to it.”
The Gloaming is a reference to twilight, that nebulous part of the day just after sunset and before dark, and there’s a touch of the netherworld to the music the band has begun to create too. Born of a suggestion from singer Iarla Ó Lionáird to Martin that they “should do something together”, The Gloaming evolved gradually, as the pair developed some ideas about what kind of sound they might create. Thomas Bartlett sprang to Martin’s mind, as he had met him as an enterprising 12-year-old boy, when Bartlett booked and promoted a concert for Hayes and Cahill in Vermont.
“It was very unusual,” Martin says, “because we didn’t know that we were dealing with a kid, as we were in contact by e-mail. At that time I met Thomas, he was playing Irish music, and over the years I’ve followed his career and known that he’s really interested in the contemporary music world too.” Martin Hayes is enthusiastic about this latest musical coalition. “I felt we had a compatibility of people and ideas,” he offers. “We didn’t have any big master plan, but some form of aesthetic compatibility was there for sure.
“One thing I wanted to make sure was that this would not be a collaboration where we’d all just go on stage and do our own thing. This has to be its own thing: a collaboration between us all. And I think there’ll be enough in there to please many people and displease many people too.” Hayes is reluctant to box the music they’ve created, because it doesn’t fit neatly within any particular genre, and also because it’s a beast still in the making. “Sometimes I felt it sounded like the most traditional music I’d heard in a long time,” he discloses, “and then at others, it sounded like the
most modern music I’ve ever heard. We have to trust one another but it’s as much about not being scared to try something that maybe nobody will like.
“It won’t be the end of our lives if it’s outright rejected, which it could be. Because you could live your life trying to get everything just exactly right, but nothing happens – in life or in music – unless you take chances.”
Stepping outside the comfort zone is an essential preoccupation of anyone who is serious about remaining artistically vital, Hayes believes. “You can choose to stay in a comfortable, unchallenged space,” he says. “I’ve seen that, and I never want to be there. I want to stay excited about music, and whenever I play, I want to be stretched to the maximum of my ability. Musicians can often feel defined by a particular thing, but the truth is that we all have multiple interests and multiple musical personalities.”
Thomas Bartlett may be the greatest unknown quantity in The Gloaming. His acquaintance with Irish music came about in a circuitous way. From an early age, Bartlett and his friend, folk singer Sam Amidon, embarked on a long-term courting of contra-dance music (any partnered folk dance in which couples dance in two facing lines). It included many Irish dance tunes. The first time he heard Hayes and Cahill live, he says it was “the most amazing music I’d ever experienced. I remember the first time hearing him was a shockingly physical experience,” Bartlett says. “The way Martin toys with the melody and brings out these nuances in it, I can remember my heart just started racing listening to it. I was listening to a lot of Keith Jarrett at the time and he struck me as being somewhat similar, in that they’re both capable of these incredible powers of concentration on the melodic aspect of the music, which enables them to reach this transcendent, thrilling place.” Listening to samples from The Gloaming’s recording session from earlier this year, what’s striking is the depth and breadth of their emotional expression. At times utterly avant garde, and at others deeply traditional, it seems that The Gloaming excel at twisting and turning tunes towards the light, while they stitch the subtlest patterns into their underbelly.
For his part, Iarla Ó Lionáird has long been a willing collaborator. Despite his sean nós roots, he has never been one to limit himself to that aspect of the tradition. In fact, his work with the Afro Celts, Gavin Bryars and The Crash Ensemble seems to reflect a primal need to find different ways to express himself. In truth, the road of the traditional singer can be a very lonely one, Ó Lionáird admits.
“It has the potential to be very isolating and very repetitious,” he says. “I have an impulse that drives me to work with different people in music. First of all, you have to be really in love with the phenomenon of making music, and part of that love is meeting the unknown, finding out what happens after you’ve sung one note: where is the next note? It’s as fundamental as that.”
Ó Lionáird welcomed the challenge of acting as midwife to new music, as The Gloaming have done with Song 44 , which he adapted from an 18th-century poem by Aogán Ó Raghallaigh.
“Music is all about joy, and the collaborative tendencies that I have are really to do with seeking out that joy. It asks something of you that you didn’t know you had inside of you. My expectation for The Gloaming was very simply that I could create something that I hadn’t done before, to go somewhere I hadn’t gone before. I wanted this to be a little bit more essential, and that’s how it’s turned out.” Working with Thomas Bartlett was an invigorating experience, Iarla cheerfully admits.
“He reminded me of drivers in Sicily,” he cackles. “In Ireland, when you live as I do, remotely, you pull in to let other drivers by. In Sicily, they move you out of their way. I felt he was doing that to me in a musically intuitive and playful way. Although he couldn’t understand what I was singing, he had a unique capacity to understand where it could be taken, and he would set up places for me to possibly go, on the fly – which I found very unusual and very pleasing.”
Sunday, 28 August 2011 22:29
The Gloaming National Concert Hall, 20th August Written by Siobhán Kane
Siobhán Kane caught The Gloaming's recent performance at The National Concert Hall.
The seed for these five brilliant musicians to come together was sown, as so many things are, over a few tipples and talk; and somewhere, from initial conversations between fiddler Martin Hayes and sean nós singer, Iarla Ó Lionáird, to their first live performance together on the stage of the National Concert Hall, which also housed American pianist Thomas Bartlett, guitarist Denis Cahill and fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, The Gloaming was born. The lexicon associated with birth, for example - renewal - well describes what took place, and what will surely continue to evolve from the rich collaboration and friendship they have nurtured.
They began with a flurry of traditional tunes to set the tone for the evening, which was to honour tradition and pulverise convention, paying homage to what brought us all here, from the past to the present, from the streets to the Concert Hall; providing a familiar template that they could then use a touchstone to deviate from and soar back to. The reels segued seamlessly into something vibrant and joyous, and it was pleasing to see so many people of varying ages let themselves melt into the fluidity of the music.
The collective then proceeded on to new, less familiar, but collaborative territory, interpreting poet Michael Hartnett's Muince An Dreoilín/A Necklace of Wrens, and Samhradh, with Ó Lionáird's sublime vocal revelling amidst the swooping, free sound of his accompaniment, ably illustrating that poetry is not simply transmitted through words, but also feeling. Before the first half broke, Hayes excused the length of the piece they were about to play, in the most charming way particular to his way of thinking and speaking, "it's a long piece, so we'll see you after", and again when describing how The Gloaming and some of the work came together, "so there we were, here you are, and there you go".
In truth, Hayes is probably the heartbeat of the whole collective, since he is the one that has enjoyed a long relationship with each of the other musicians, mentioning at one point that he has known Bartlett since he was twelve, when the precocious twelve year old booked Hayes and Cahill for a concert in Vermont. Hayes and Cahill also enjoy a beautiful musical shorthand that continues to add coal to the fire of the steam train that is The Gloaming, and this creates a reliable strength for the project which is almost giddy in its sense of combining and melding styles and influences, talents and kinship.
There was an overwhelming sense of fluidity, evident in the way that Bartlett often plucked the piano, and how Ó Raghallaigh sometimes plucked the fiddle, making their approach to their instruments something other than tradition might dictate, but like Bartlett, this is also Ó Raghallaigh's strength, and their sense of provocative playing lent a sense of further excitement. Bartlett approaches the piano as one might do a harp, and his contribution added an undeniable weight to the collaboration, as he has an instinctive grasp on Irish traditional music (as does his friend and collaborator Sam Amidon), but for other kinds of music, also, showcased on something like his project Doveman, (which includes The National's Dessner brothers). Ó Raghallaigh is also in thrall to music in the same way, and his own fiddle playing is astonishing, protean and alive. All of the musicians work so well together, and the piano really works in this context, with Bartlett instinctively knowing when to bring his skeletal piano to bear, and as he ebbed in and flowed out, became a sort of companion for the percussive brilliance of Cahill in the process. Cahill was laid back as ever, cutting a kind of Nate Dogg dash in his hat, bobbing along on the lightness of touch he brings to the guitar.
At different turns Bartlett sipped from his glass of red wine, adding an air of informality and pleasing looseness to the performance, which felt elevated rather than shrouded by the more formal environment, and Ó Lionáird made us laugh when he introduced Song. 44 adapted from an 18th century poem by Aogán Ó Raghallaig, who discovered that "the woman of his dreams, only existed in his dreams", before qualifying that they were not his own thoughts on the matter. Laughter and joy were something that throughout the night became synonymous with the experience, with the audience and artists in complete communion, and it was a pleasure to see five amazing, diverse musicians in such abandoned union.
Another thing that became evident very quickly is how each individual musician continues to feel they are on a journey, with their obvious curiosity becoming as much of a currency and metronome for living as Hayes and Ó Raghallaigh's fiddles do for the music. For example, when Hayes introduces Michael Coleman's Sailor's Bonnet, written in the early twentieth century, he said that because it is in such common usage, it had become so familiar to him, almost staid, so that he didn't give it too much thought, until he started teaching it, and through teaching realised how beautiful it was, and at that moment (though it was probably evident long before) it became clear that part of The Gloaming's desire is to break such familiar music down to show others its complicated beauty, but also to show that it is never too late for rebirth, as Hayes said "now we're beginning to look".
When the five men come back out on stage to rapturous applause for their encore (which was over all too soon), they finish with the rousing, almost meditative Óró, Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile, and the piece is suddenly transformed, becoming a different kind of rebel song, but a passionate call to arms, nonetheless. As we spill out on to Earlsfort Terrace, the questions that seemed to preoccupy people the most were "when can we see them again?", and "where will they take us to next?". So there we were, here you are, and there you go.
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Monday, August 22, 2011 The Gloaming SIOBHÁN LONG
National Concert Hall
THE AIR of anticipation that greeted The Gloaming on their debut was met with an equally freighted desire by the five musicians on stage to excavate something special.
Taking a brace of traditional tunes as their starting point, Martin Hayes and his newly convened compadres took an audacious leap of faith into the unknown – and in that leap, drew their audience into a magnetic underworld where light and dark, old and new coalesced to compelling effect.
The impermanence of this union further sharpened its focus and its impact. Born of a conversation between Hayes and sean nós singer, Iarla Ó Lionáird (of the “we really should work together some time” variety), The Gloaming fully exploited the rich sonic possibilities which Thomas Bartlett’s piano, Dennis Cahill’s guitar and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh’s fiddles brought to the party.
The warmth of Ó Lionáird’s voice was immediately evident, as were the show-stopping impact of Vermont-born Bartlett’s lines on the piano, an instrument which has long evoked extreme reactions from fans of traditional music. At times, the piano adds substance to a set, but at others, players can bludgeon melody lines into damp submission.
Bartlett’s approach was discerning: picking out the skeleton of the tune, leaving its sinew and muscle for others to chew over (Dennis Cahill seemed to relish his percussive company enormously).
At other times, he was daringly florid, and this too served the tunes well, particularly when he chose to exploit their dark underbelly.
The Gloaming’s newly forged songs were a revelation. A rendering of Michael Hartnett’s Muince An Dreoilín/A Necklace of Wrens soared on the back of Ó Lionáird’s beautiful Munster Irish, as did the deliciously rough-edged Samhradh .
Hayes and Ó Raghallaigh are two immensely differing fiddlers but both are fearless in their pursuit of mood music.
Amid a flurry of tenderly chosen tunes, the two fiddles loped effortlessly through The Sailor’s Bonnet , its essence unpicked and then reconstituted with the delicacy and affection of musicians still struggling to know fully their own musical inheritance.
This was music of an entirely different hue: neither slavishly traditional nor wilfully contemporary, it sought out uncharted terrain (some of which was undoubtedly familiar) – and, most impressively, welcomed their audience as essential passengers on that journey.
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Media Release 14 July 2011
A new 5-man Trad band, ‘The Gloaming’ to perform at the National Concert Hall as part of ESB LIVE 2011 What do a New York pianist, a Sean-nós singer, a guitarist and two Irish and hardanger fiddlers have in common? A raw musical talent with a shared quest to push the boundaries of traditional and contemporary musical moulds. The result is ‘The Gloaming’;; a new musical collective of five renowned and masterly musicians who will perform on Saturday 20 August 8pm in the third of four ESB LIVE 2011 concerts at The National Concert Hall. Described by The Irish Times as ‘The traddest band in the whole damn town’ The Gloaming features sean-nós singer Iarla O’Lionaird, master of the fiddle, Martin Hayes, Chicago born guitarist Dennis Cahill, Dublin-born Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh on fiddle, 5-string viola and hardanger fiddle and New York born Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman on piano. The five came together to explore new music at Grouse Lodge Studios is West Meath in early 2011 the result being their formation to produce music that’s described as ‘both ancient and utterly new’ as well as ‘authentic and tune-filled’.Iarla Ó Lionáird grew up and learned his craft in the musical heartland of Cúil Aodha in the West Cork Gaeltacht. Ó Lionaird established himself both as a masterful exponent of Sean Nós Song and as a pioneer in its renewal and development. He went on to sign to the Realworld label in the mid-1990s and succeeded in making ground breaking records including the multi-million selling Afro Celt Sound System. He then went on to develop a solo career which saw the release of "Seven Steps To Mercy", the soundtrack for "I Could Read The Sky" and the "Invisible Fields" mixing electronic soundscapes with seans-nos with his latest solo album Foxlight on Realworld in September. Master fiddler, Martin Hayes is no stranger to the Irish music scene having garnered a hugely successful career over the last 30 years. He has drawn inspiration from many musical genres, but remains grounded in the music he grew up with in East County Clare where the tradition he inherited from his late father, P. Joe Hayes, was the formative influence on his musical accent and ideas. He has recorded two acclaimed solo albums, "Martin Hayes" and "Under the Moon" on the Green Linnet label and three duet albums with Dennis Cahill: "The Lonesome Touch", "Live in Seattle", and "Welcome Here Again". His latest release is Triúr sa Draighean with Peadar Ó Riada and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.
Dennis Cahill is a master guitarist, a native of Chicago born to parents from the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. He studied at the city's prestigious Music College before becoming an active member of the local music scene. Cahill's spare, essential accompaniment to Martin Hayes' fiddle is acknowledged as a major breakthrough for guitar in the Irish tradition. In addition to his work with Martin Hayes, Dennis has performed with such renowned fiddlers as Liz Carroll, Eileen Ivers and Kevin Burke, as well as many Irish musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Dublin-born Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh plays traditional and contemporary folk music on fiddle, 5-string viola and hardanger fiddle. In 2007, he released “Where the One-Eyed Man is King”, an adventurous, self- produced EP. Caoimhín has recently been involved in two acclaimed recordings, “Le Gealaigh/A Moment of Madness” with Brendan Begley and “Triúr sa Draighean” with Peadar Ó Riada and Martin Hayes. Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman began playing piano at age five, and never stopped. He studied classical music in London with Maria Curcio, one of the 20th century's greatest classical music teachers and Columbia University for a short time before deciding instead to play with bands. He quickly became one of the most in-demand sidemen in New York City. Thomas has played or recorded with Antony & the Johnsons, Nico Muhly, Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, The Frames, Bebel Gilberto, Arto Lindsay, The National, and Yoko Ono. He makes music as Doveman. His latest release is the eponymous ‘Doveman on Brassland’. This concert is the first concert which opens a major national tour by the band and takes place as part of ESB LIVE 2011, supported by the Arts Council and the Irish Independent Newspapers.Tickets: €30, €35 (Choir Balcony €20). 10% group discount available. 20% discount for Friends of the National Concert Hall. ENDS: For further information please contact: Sinead Doyle, Marketing & PR Manager tel: 01 417 00 57 / 087 1775334.
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Dream team gather in The Gloaming Music: Nicki ffrench Davis
Friday, August 19, 2011
THE enigmatic Dublin-born fiddle player Caomhín Ó Raghallaigh has stirred the traditional scene, releasing five
albums in 10 years, four of them collaborations with leading lights in Irish music.
Known for marrying old-school techniques with an experimental outlook, Ó Raghallaigh now brings his unique
soundworld to The Gloaming.
The Gloaming’s upcoming series of concerts around the country are the realisation of a dream for two of Ireland’s
foremost musicians, Iarla Ó Lionáird and Martin Hayes. The vocalist and fiddle-player have played regularly in the
last five years in Europe and around the world, experiencing what they describe as a "kind of feeling" onstage
together. Seeking to create a context where they could create that feeling with a group and sustain it, Ó Lionáird and
Hayes met in New York in 2010 to hatch a plan.
The celebrated guitarist Dennis Cahill, Hayes’ long-term collaborator, was an obvious choice to join their dream team.
Adding the extraordinary talent of New York-based pianist Thomas Bartlett was more of a surprise, and will attract a
new audience to traditional music here, the young musician having already worked with such seminal artists as
Antony & the Johnsons, Laurie Anderson and David Byrne. To complete the quintet, Ó Raghallaigh came to their
minds immediately.
"I suppose my background in a way is very traditional up until quite recently. One of my most memorable early
moments was when I was about 11, and I heard Martin Hayes for the first time. That had a great effect on me." It was
1991, and Ó Raghallaigh was at the Comhaltas Summer School. "It was the quiet in his playing, it could bring a room
of screaming kids to silence. The teachers all would have played for us and we were pretty noisy regardless, but when
Martin played you could have heard a pin drop."
In particular, Ó Lionáird and Hayes were drawn to the sound of his hybrid Norwegian instrument, which Ó
Raghallaigh called the 5+5. It is, he explains, "a cross between the hardanger fiddle and a viola d’amore." The
instrument has 10 strings in total, five playing strings and five which resonate of their own accord.
Bartlett was introduced to The Gloaming project by Hayes. "Thomas grew up together with Sam Amidon and they
were really good pals. When they were about 14 they made this Martin Hayes tribute-type album. They held Martin in
massive regard. The two of them organised a gig for him in Vermont around that time and I think he didn’t realise
they were only 12 years old ‘til he arrived!" Amidon, who returns for his second Irish tour this year in September, has
been enjoying exponential growth in an Irish fanbase. Although he isn’t involved in The Gloaming, his continuing
involvement with pianist Bartlett and their deep involvement in the New York alternative music scene will allow this
project to tap into popular culture.
"Thomas is an amazing musician, you just have to play with him to understand," say Ó Raghallaigh. "He plays these
clusters of notes, not blocking out chords or imposing harmony. It’s very suitable to trad, and he just has such a great
feel. Thomas and Iarla seem to have this understanding, it’s amazing to see. I’m delighted to be working with them,
and of course just watching Dennis play with Martin is very special."
The group spent four days in January at the Grouse Lodge recording studio in Co Westmeath. Ó Lionáird brought to
the table a selection of Sean Nós songs which were explored, alongside new arrangements of old Irish poetry dating
back to Tudor times which he developed with Ó Raghallaigh. "I’ve done some recording with Iarla and I just love the
way he works, he’s really open, not looking to reproduce what’s in his head, he might give you some sense of what he
imagined but really he leaves the canvas blank."
Alongside more traditional sounds, some of the new music will have a darker, contemporary and alternative flavour.
With the musicians involved each lauded for their improvisation and experimentation, every concert promises to be
unique. "Somebody starts something, we’ll join in and it will go somewhere! It really is an unknown thing. It’s nice for
us all if it’s completely different every night."
The band’s name was coined by Ó Raghallaigh. "I came across the word gloaming in Beckett a couple of times. The
way I have it in my head is somehow specific to Scotland at certain times, in certain conditions. Something about a
quality of light, well after the sun has set, maybe with a bit of mist too. In some way I think it has something to do
with the playing of Iarla and Martin. It’s an in-between time, I suppose, a time when new things seem possible."
nTHE GLOAMING TOUR AUGUST: Tomorrow, National Concert Hall, Dublin; Sunday, August 21, An Grianan,
Letterkenny; Wednesday, August 24, The Model, Sligo; Thursday, August 25, The Riverbank, Kildare; Friday, August
26, Cork Opera House, Cork; Saturday, August 27, Glor, Ennis; Sunday, August 28, Mandela Hall, Belfast.
