Lunasa's new Irish folk
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Jan. 2, 2000) - Flutes, fiddles and pipes have long been the mainstay of traditional Irish folk music, propelling the melodies along in the bouncy cadences of dance tunes and the plaintive sonorities of airs and ballads.

To those raised on pop or classical music, traditional melody-driven arrangements, with no background texture or rhythmic bottom, can seem cold or thin. Which is precisely what the members of Lunasa, a relatively new Irish quintet, set out to address when they put the band together three years ago.

In addition to the requisite flutes, whistles, fiddles and pipes, Lunasa includes acoustic guitar and double-bass, thus lending the all-instrumental ensemble a sort of acoustic, folk-rock rhythm section.

And indeed, while the group includes an all-star lineup of Irish melody players, it may well be bassist Trevor Hutchinson, formerly of the Irish folk-rock group the Waterboys, who is the key ingredient in Lunasa's recipe for new Irish music.

Listeners will have the chance to judge for themselves firsthand when Lunasa kicks off the Clark Art Institute's "Celtic Music for the Millennium" series tomorrow night, Jan. 8, at 8 p.m.

"It's very easy to have a strong melody line with a traditional band," said Kevin Crawford, who plays flute, whistles and bodhran in Lunasa, speaking a few weeks ago in a phone interview from Ennis, County Clare." The standard of melody musicians in this country is phenomenal.

"I think that what we have that is different is the complement that [guitarist] Donogh [Hennessy] and Trevor are providing. They are a really formidable duo, the powerful engine that keeps the whole thing kicking over. Plus the diverse musical backgrounds of the individuals in the band kind of makes it more of a unique sound."

"Trevor coming from the rock background adds something that wouldn't necessarily be there with just a double-bass player from the jazz scene, or maybe a more folk-oriented scene. But what we're hoping to bring across is that there are five people there on the stage and we're all equally doing our thing to make the Lunasa sound. It's not the case of flute, fiddle and pipes with a guitar and a bass player."

While the songs on Lunasa's album, "Otherworld" (Green Linnet), remain mostly comfortably within the traditional framework, there are touches of contemporary rock and jazz that sneak in: a fuzz-toned guitar chord here, a popping bass line or a bowed drone there. The rock influence further surfaces in the dramatic sensibility and dynamics of the arrangements. The tunes themselves are for the most part from the traditional repertoire or contemporary compositions in the traditional style.

Crawford says that the guitar-bass lineup is unusual for a traditional Irish band. "The guitar is an adopted instrument at this point in Irish music, but the combination of the two is quite unique," he said. "Clannad, the great Donegal band, they would have had guitar and bass in their ensemble right from the early days, but it would have been more folk-based, not as punchy and powerful as Trevor plays, in a very percussive way. Not as low-end, but more percussive and driving and rhythmic, rather than just warming the low end for the guitar."

Crawford says that Lunasa was formed rather by accident than design. "It was never meant to be a full-time operation; it came about simply because we all had enormous respect for each individual's music," he said.

Hutchinson and Hennessy played together most recently in the Sharon Shannon Band. Fiddler Sean Smyth recorded and performed widely as both a solo artist and sideman, and Crawford was a member of the all-star Irish group Moving Cloud. For the last year, Cillian Vallely as toured with the group on pipes.

The group originally got together for a few one-off tours, but each time they came off the road they got offers to head back out. Finally Hennessy and Hutchinson handed in their notice to Sharon Shannon, and Smyth and Crawford backed away from their other commitments.

"A lot of the bands from the '80s onwards have tended to go for an accordion and fiddle kind of sound," said Crawford. "I couldn't think really of any bands other than the Chieftains that brought the pipes, fiddle, flute and melody lines right the way through. So we were conscious of keeping that within the frame of Lunasa."

One thing listeners won't hear at a Lunasa show is an exact reconstruction of the group's recordings. "There is a lot of improvisation, and a lot of it goes on totally unknown to ourselves," said Crawford. "Traditional music by its nature is very improvised. If you take one tune, you'll never play it exactly the same."

"It's an ornamentation thing that traditional musicians really work on. It comes after awhile naturally if you're playing traditional music for a long time. You play it as you feel it in the moment."

"Then, on top of that, the way we hear certain things within the tunes, there'll be a lot of improvisation harmony-wise and in the arrangements the dynamics of the tune. You might bring it down a bit in texture and volume, which wouldn't be worked out ahead of time, but would just happen depending on how we feel on that night."

"A lot of people have compared it to a jazz thing, but we don't really set out to do something jazzy with the tunes. We're not well-versed in the jazz idiom, but if that's the way it comes out, that's fine. There is an awful lot of interplay between us on stage. That can be a good thing, but it also can be a dangerous thing. It can fall flat, too."

Tickets for Lunasa's concert and to upcoming shows in the Clark Celtic series by Kevin Burke and the duo of Ged Foley and Sandy Jones (Feb. 5), Anam (March 11) and Kila (March 25) are $15 ($10 for members; $8 for students and children). Series subscriptions are available for $50. Tickets can be purchased at the Clark's museum shop or at Wood Brothers in Pittsfield, Cold Spring Coffee Roasters in Williamstown, and Papyri Books in North Adams. For more information and to order by phone call 458-2303, ext. 324.

Search by Artist Name Album Title

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Jan. 7, 2000. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2000. All rights reserved.]