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Brendan Callahan: Where I Am |
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(self-published, Brendan Callahan is a hot, young fiddler from the D.C. area who studied with Brendan Mulvihill and, to judge by the liner notes, has had a chance to pick up licks from the likes of Liz Carroll, Seámus Connolly, and Brendan McGlinchey. He has chops in abundance; his playing is polished and articulate, the production of the album smooth, the artwork tasteful. He reminds me of a young Eileen Ivers, though on his playing of one of Liz Carroll’s originals, he does an admirable job of capturing her style. The comparison to Ivers is a dangerous one, not so much for raising false expectations— Callahan is up to the task there— but because in her more recent work she has departed from the tradition so much as to have lost the ground beneath her feet, at which point I think the music becomes irrelevant. The challenge for a player as technically fluid and adventurous as Callahan is to remain musical; for the most part I think Brendan stays within the realm of good taste, but there are some moments, particularly in his playing of Jenny’s Chickens, where he sacrifices the integrity of the tune to the flashiness of his chops. Chalk it up to the exuberance of youth. There are some tasty tunes here; a lovely slip jig from Liz Carroll, an unusual version of the Silver Spear from the playing of Patrick Ourceau, four originals, and a host of others. A friend of mine said it was the smoothest fiddle playing they had ever heard. I’m have to maintain my role as a crotchety traditionalist, making sure everyone toes the line, but I can say that there is some very good stuff here. Enjoy. |
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© Brendan Taaffe, 2005. All Rights Reserved. |
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