Reviews of Music on CDs- May, 2019

By Sean Smith, Special to the BIR
May 3, 2019
Sean Smith, Special to the BIR

CD REVIEWS
BY SEAN SMITH
Flook, “Ancora” • One of the truly inimitable Irish music acts to come out of the 1990s, Flook released three marvelous albums between 1995 and 2005, then broke the hearts of their multitude of fans by disbanding three years later to pursue other things, like domestic and family life. But when they resurfaced in 2013 – appearing at the Fleadh Cheoil in Derry, among other places – a new recording seemed only a matter of time. The anticipation was worth it.

BIR’S Calendar of Irish Music events for May 2019

By Sean Smith
May 3, 2019
Sean Smith

The Burren Backroom series has another full calendar of Irish/Celtic music, starting on May 5 with a 4 p.m. matinee performance featuring a pair of spousal duos. West Coast-based Noctambule is Marla Fibish and Bruce Victor, a quiet but steady presence in Irish traditional music also known for their acoustically eclectic settings of poetry by the likes of Service, Tennyson, Neruda, and St. Vincent Millay with mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, cittern, guitar, and tenor guitar; Fibish in particular has drawn accolades for her mandolin playing.

‘Poets in the Trenches’ – recalling a war, and ‘ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances’

By Sean Smith, Special to the BIR
May 3, 2019
Sean Smith, Special to the BIR

BY SEAN SMITH
SPECIAL TO THE BIR
When it comes to World War I, Martin Butler will give you fair warning. “I can talk about it for hours,” says the Tipperary-born musician and singer who has been active in the Boston-area Irish music scene for years.
There are many facets to Butler’s interest in the “Great War”- the myriad, complex political, cultural and social forces that led to the conflict, and those that in turn were unleashed or affected by it – including, of course, Ireland’s bid for long-desired independence from England.

Subtlety, nuance, contemplation put Rakish duo in a nice, comfortable place

By Sean Smith, Special to the BIR
May 3, 2019
Sean Smith, Special to the BIR

BY SEAN SMITH
SPECIAL TO THE BIR
There are, of course, many reasons why Celtic musicians decide to team up. What brought the Boston-based duo Rakish – fiddler Maura Shawn Scanlin and guitarist Conor Hearn – together was less an affinity for hot fiddle tunes than a shared affection for slow ones.

When Anne O’Sullivan becomes Dr. Ruth

By R.J. Donovan, Special to the BIR
May 3, 2019
R.J. Donovan, Special to the BIR

BY R. J. DONOVAN
SPECIAL TO THE BIR
Karola Ruth Siegel was born in Wiesenfeld, Germany in 1928. Not too many years later, she watched as her father was dragged off by the Nazis. With hundreds of other children, she was shipped off, alone, to an orphanage in Switzerland. She never saw her parents again.

How has it come to be that we live in the Disunited States of America?

By Ed Forry
May 3, 2019

BY JAMES W. DOLAN
SPECIAL TO THE REPORTER
What has happened to our once glorious republic? After surviving a civil war, we managed to heal the wounds and move on to what would become the American century. It now seems to be eroding under the leadership of a demagogue whose moral compass is a mirror. Whatever serves his interest is good and any challenge to his enormous ego is evil.

Here’s a hope that massive egos find a way to come together on Brexit deal

By Joe Leary, Special to the Reporter
May 3, 2019
Joe Leary, Special to the Reporter

BY JOE LEARY
SPECIAL TO THE BIR
Britain’s long, boring, argumentative journey toward separation from Europe will be remembered for centuries. It will not be a proud moment in its history.
So far the process has been a mess. Massive egos, with their own agendas, have interrupted discussions and negotiations. British leaders have tried to set the terms of their leaving and the European leaders are not responding to the British demands.

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