Latest news with #CormacBegley
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Two fathers, two sons, two books and an album: the Begleys and the O'Connors collaborate
Dublin and Kerry's sporting ties are well documented, whether it's the rivalry of the counties on the pitch or the camaraderie that has bound their footballers together long after the final whistle at Croke Park. The musical ties that bind the two counties are less well known, but now their shared passion for music, song and dance is being highlighted with the launch of an album by two of the finest musicians in the tradition, Cormac Begley and Liam O'Connor , and with the publication of books by each of their fathers, Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich and Mick O'Connor . Cormac and Liam's album, Into the Loam , is a full-throated, visceral excavation of our tradition through the coalescence of concertina and fiddle. It's a collection that's intuitively familiar and gloriously groundbreaking, the musicians searching for new meaning in old forms. Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich, a box player and singer of renown, has written a rich personal account of his life in music, in culture and in the Irish language. Clann na Seanmhuintire , whose title he translates as Of My People (and which has editions in both Irish and English), is shot through with west Kerry wit, spit-polished and honed by Breanndán's richly textured bilingualism. READ MORE Mick O'Connor is a Dublin flute player and traditional-music historian whose life's work interviewing, recording, photographing and documenting the capital's vast musical tradition has culminated in the publication of In Safe Hands. The book reflects on the city's tapestry of influences and contributions to our musical tradition, beginning with the Gaelic Revival in 1893 and culminating in the formation of Na Píobairí Uilleann in 1968. Mick refers to it as his Satanic Verses, but it's in fact a lovingly nurtured portrait of the great, the good and the downright brilliant artists and characters who have shaped the tradition – and one that halts, perhaps wisely, at a juncture at enough of a remove from the present to allow for insightful appraisal. Mick O'Connor, whose life's work on Dublin's vast musical tradition has culminated in the publication of In Safe Hands Cormac Begley and Liam O'Connor borrowed the title Into the Loam from the late Tony MacMahon, who, upon hearing Cormac's playing some years ago, used the phrase to describe how he was delving deep beneath the surface of the music and making the tunes his own. 'We wanted to record tunes we both resonated with,' Liam says. 'We wanted to explore different combinations of instruments, and we were trying to push a little further than our natural boundaries, in terms of being a bit more organic or rougher around the edges. To leave the earth in there, so that it wouldn't be as clean or crisp – exploring a different spectrum, I suppose.' They recorded the album in the studios at the Irish Traditional Music Archive , on Merrion Square in Dublin – Liam's professional home, as he has been the organisation's director since 2019. [ 'A beast of a musician': Video showing concertina master Cormac Begley goes viral Opens in new window ] 'It's trying to explore what's in the collective subconscious of what we inherited from our families, everyone we played with or met,' he says. 'There are countless experiences from Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy where you have a cacophony of noise, and we wanted to explore some of those experiences on the album and be a little braver in our approach together.' Into the Loam is about creation, not just recreating the music the duo inherited. 'I think it's important to develop your own style,' Cormac says. 'It's something my father always encouraged me to do, and the same for Liam. The goal is to try to find your own voice, your own style of playing, and I think we've dug into that, in terms of exploring the meaning of tunes. 'Every tune has a different emotional world, a grittiness and a way of describing it. The more you open up to that, and listen, and see what the potentials are in your instrument, the better the shared sounds that we create are. 'That's our way of thinking about it. A lot of the people we've listened to over the years who inspired us have done it in their own ways, and that's informed our approach, to step into that for ourselves musically.' To what degree has geography played a part in their tune selections? 'Geography comes up a lot,' Cormac says, 'and for me there's a west Kerry side, but I'm very strongly influenced by Clare music as well. More broadly, geography for me is an emotional geography. Different tunes tap into different feelings and experiences, and it's about trying to be as honest as you can with that.' Breanndán's delight in hearing what Cormac and Liam have created is palpable. 'I've never heard playing like it. It's completely individual,' he says. 'Two individuals coming together as one – and, by the same token, being individual in their playing as well. It's almost ón saol eile' – otherworldly – 'but still very true and very traditional. 'If tradition is alive it has to move – and it has moved to a place that's completely new and yet an-traidisiúnta ar fad', or very traditional altogether. 'It's of itself. It's going deeper into the world that they've come from.' Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich's memoir is Clann na Seanmhuintire Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich's musicianship has been a magnet for musicians and visitors to west Kerry for decades. His autobiography will be the first book to be published under his son's Airt imprint. Writing it played a central role in his recovery from the untimely death of his friend Danny Sheehy, the poet, when the boat they were in capsized off the Iberian coast in 2017. 'I found writing the book therapeutic,' Breanndán says. 'I got great encouragement from [the poet and academic] Tadhg Ó Dubhsláine and from [the book's editor] Tracey Ní Mhaonaigh. There were some – very few – bad memories, and I wanted to settle my score with them, but I found it very healing. 'I keep a diary every day, whether it's a bad or a good day. The road can be very lonely if you're travelling on your own, but if there's something bothering you, and you go to the trouble of writing it down, you've shared it with somebody and it's not stuck within you any more.' Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich might be regarded as someone with the most mellifluous Irish. Perhaps surprisingly, he says of writing the book, 'my fluency in both languages improved, because you have to work to find the right words. I've always loved Hiberno-English. I would hate to see us lose that or to lose all the canúintí ceoil [musical dialects] and canúintí cainte [spoken accent or turns of phrase].' Breanndán's memoir was launched at Listowel Writers Week . Mick O'Connor's book will be launched at the Teachers' Club in Dublin on June 27th. Both men will be at Vicar Street in Dublin for their sons' album launch on Friday, June 6th. It seems that the histories and tunes of both counties are destined for reinvigoration for generations to come. 'It's essentially about my community,' Mick O'Connor says. 'I remember showing visiting pipers from America around Dublin, seeing where all the different musical families lived but don't any more: the Rowsomes, the Potts and the Recks. 'Then we went on to Kerry – and the music was flying. There were no buildings, but they had passed the music on intact. It's great to think that the music has survived. 'Some things are lost, but I think it's in a much better place. Recently I was playing with my family and grandkids, and there were 13 of us up on stage, and all their friends are friends with the Mulligans and the Kellys and so on. 'That's a magnificent place to be: they'll be connected and friends for life now. You couldn't ask for better than that.'
Irish Examiner
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Five For Your Radar: Cormac Begley in Cork, Féile in Dingle...
Concert: Cormac Begley Cork Opera House, Friday, May 2 Concertina player Cormac Begley plays his biggest Cork show to date with a headline outing at the Opera House. Expect stories about his instruments big and small and tunes to stir the soul — Begley may stay seated for the performance but tracks like the pulsating To War will have the audience floating. Cinema: Thunderbolts* General release, Friday, May 2 Marvel has been on a disappointing run in recent years but maybe Thunderbolts* (the asterisk sounds like it'll be pivotal in what comes next) can provide an electric shock. Florence Pugh heads the ensemble cast in a Suicide Squad-esque escapade. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Festival: Féile na Bealtaine Dingle/An Daingean, until Monday, May 5 Lisa Hannigan performs at Féile na Bealtaine in Dingle over the weekend. A music and arts festival that takes over Dingle and its environs for the May bank holiday weekend, Féile na Bealtaine is like Other Voices' cool little cousin. There are art exhibitions, talks, comedy, literature, and children's events. The Scratch, Dug, and Lisa Hannigan are among the musical attractions. Visual art: Threads of Time Greywood Arts, Killeagh, East Cork, Sunday, May 4 Olivia Hassett's latest work Threads of Time features as part of Killeagh's May Sunday Bealtaine festival running over the weekend. Olivia Hassett's latest work Threads of Time features as part of Killeagh's May Sunday Bealtaine festival running over the weekend. Drawing inspiration from the 120-year-old Singer sewing machine that belonged to her grandmother and another used by her great-grandmother, Hassett will present a live performance exploring the relationship between body, machine, lived history, and the 'fabric' of the space. Streaming: Poker Face Sky/NOW, Thursday, April 8 A word-of-mouth success on airing in the US in 2023, Natasha Lyonne's Charlie, who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying, returns for season two from Thursday, when the first three episodes of Poker Face drop. Created, written, directed, and executive produced by Rian Johnson ( Knives Out), it's a mystery-of-the-week series that keeps the viewer — and Charlie — on their toes.
Irish Times
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Cormac Begley in Vicar Street review: milestone performance from concertina master
Cormac Begley Vicar Street, Dublin ★★★★☆ West Kerry has yielded more than its share of fine musicians and influenced many others far beyond its bounds. Its riotous polkas and slides have so often been sent skywards by box players whose formative years were spent propelling set dancers across dance floors from Ballyferriter to Ballydavid. Cormac Begley has chosen the concertina as his instrument and digs deep into the well of the tradition, mining new depths and scaling innumerable heights along his picaresque way. Lemoncello support with equal parts apprehension and delight. Laura Quirke on lead guitar and vocals brings an unhurried, quietly confident tone to their short set of original songs, with Claire Kinsella on cello and vocals adding judicious and spacious colours to Dopamine, the product of Quirke's attempt at writing possibly 'the worst song ever written'. It's a cool-headed, often ironic take on the tsunami of social media that defines these times, and a fine calling card for a duo who pepper each of their songs with insightful observations on life's incidental moments. READ MORE Cormac Begley's performance took flight against a backdrop of carefully chosen visuals, with the concertina itself the recurring image, amplifying the visual aesthetic of this diminutive instrument that in his hands transmogrifies into a gargantuan, muscular propulsive force. From the outset he lets the concertina bellows breathe deep and free, the lungs offering not only their notes but their breathy silence on O'Neill's Cavalcade, referencing the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. The concertina reaches deep into the heart of the tune, every turn in the tune amplified by Begley's expressive shoulders moving in concert with the notes. The trademark Begley wit is undeniable and threaded throughout his performance. Drawing deep from the family well, he references his colourful ancestry, revelling in their innate rebelliousness and in his own inheritance of the family gene. The gifts of his bilingualism are woven seamlessly into the mix, with punning plays on his name, his lineage and his mischievousness. Cormac's mastery of not only the treble and piccolo concertinas, but the robust bass and baritone ones too, imbues his tune sets with a remarkable spectrum of colour, with left and right hands bringing a strapping percussive force to the mix. The addition of a foot-controlled harmonium is a smart addition of a simple drone, bringing further heft to his sound palette. His special guest, sean-nós dancer Stephanie Keane, is an able compadre, matching Begley's raw energy with her equally unfettered yet precision-engineered rhythms that find humour and grace within the notes. Later, Breanndán Begley, Cormac's father, joins him on accordion for a gorgeously delicate take on Beauty Deas An Oileáin. Fiddle player Liam O'Connor magnifies the boldness of the music even further with a set of tunes opened by Ryan's Rant, a nod to the late, extraordinary fiddle player Tommie Potts, allowing us a sneak preview of the pair's forthcoming album, which promises more feral music that traces a clear thread back to its roots, but with its sights firmly set on the future. Cormac Begley's musicianship is akin to Flann O'Brien's policeman whose molecules had merged with his bicycle. At times, it was difficult to recognise the boundaries between musician and concertina, so fluid, freewheeling and unerring were the tunes. This performance was yet another milestone in Begley's musical journey, filled with hairpin bends and delirious adventures.
