|
|
|
|
| |
Oisín Mac Diarmada: Ar an bhFidil |
|
(Ceol Records, CEOCD 002) Oisín Mac Diarmada is a highly gifted player, and with two group efforts under his belt (with the band Teada and with Brian Fitzgerald and Micheál Ó Ruanaigh) he’s come out with a solo album. The tracks are almost evenly split between solo fiddle and accompanied tracks; among his mates are Seamus Quinn, Tristan Rosenstock, John Blake, Seán McElwain, and two fiddle duets with John Carty. Mac Diarmada’s style is fascinating; most fiddlers use the melodic texture of the tune as their palette for expression and variation, choosing a roll or a treble to ornament a note, or adding melodic variations to give new meaning to the tune. Mac Diarmada explores the rhythm as his palette, pushing and stretching the notes and the fabric of the tune to deliver what can feel like a wholly new interpretation. In this I hear echoes of Micho Russell, the famous whistle player from Doolin. Russell was very sparse in his use of fingered ornamentation, but gave his playing great lift from deceptively simple rhythmic ornaments. Oisín’s new album features a track of him playing whistle, confirming my suspicions about this connection. Because he’s blazing new ground in this sense, some parts of the album are more successful than others. His setting of The Rainy Day into The Trip to Durrow is brilliance, nothing less, and his version of The Morning Thrush (composed by James Ennis, Seamus’ father) is very sweet. A few of the tunes feel so altered as to be hard to recognize (The Tap Room), but the duets with Carty are crisp and exciting and the balance of the album is very good stuff. The Trip to Durrow alone is worth the price of admission. Overall the playing is clean and sweet, with Mac Diarmada clearly in control of his instrument and with a clear idea of the music he wants to make. |
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
© Brendan Taaffe, 2005. All Rights Reserved. |
|||||