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"Here is a beautiful double album of songs old, new and renewed. O'Reilly and Kirwan have produced a collection of 26 songs that span a wide timeline but even with this they manage to sound melodious and to hold the listener's attention through the 130 minutes of running time. The album is Wexford-based in that most of the songs are written by local poets and songwriters or about events that occurred in the county. Many of the songs were published in 'Wexford Ballads' by Paddy Berry over twenty years ago and it is a revelation to hear them performed in their full musical glory. Like the best of ballads they are true story songs. Nowhere is this more evident than on songs like The Battle on the Hill, a wonderful recounting of a fight, complete with names and places. Farewell to Art Sinnott is one of those sean nós songs that is redolent of feeling as we hear the writer and singer echoed as they recall a true loved one. Being a Wexford collection, 1798 is seldom far from the singers vocal chords. True to form there are a number of renditions of songs of that era including The Men of Ninety Eight and The Adolescent Patriots being just two of them. In a more lighthearted vein we get a song written by Babs Egan that reminds us of the hunt on Tally Ho. The Jolly Butcher is another 'naughty' story song that has probably done the rounds in many an Irish town over the years - here he arrives in Enniscorthy. One of the most popular Wexford exports is John Barry - founder of the American Navy. He is represented here as Jack Barry in a song collected decades ago for a book called 'Songs of the Wexford Coast'. The album is a wonderful collection of music but it is also history in verse and music. It is the history of Wexford but it is also a history of a tradition, a tradition of how our forefathers celebrated incidents and people in song and story and as such is a document of Irish social history. The accompanying booklet is well produced with lyrics and background to the songs." - Nicky Rossiter, Irish Music Magazine
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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