JIM KEAVENEY surveys the wide expanse of Irish music across 2024...
Reunions and tributes
THERE was cause for celebration amongst traditional music fans this year as the remaining original members of The Bothy Band reunited for the first time in almost 45 years for an appearance at the Waterfront Hall in February, swiftly followed by a TG4 documentary about the band in March which included new live studio performances. Though planned live shows at the National Concert Hall in Dublin over the summer were cancelled, the band hopes to reschedule in 2025.
The Bothy BandAnd they weren’t the only reunion - The Pogues reunited on 3 May at London’s Hackney Empire for the anniversary of Red Roses for Me with a cast of music stars taking the place of iconic lead singer Shane MacGowan at the band’s first live show since his death in November 2023. Brigid Mae Power, John Francis Flynn, Lankum’s Daragh Lynch, and Junior Brother were among the vocalist cameos with members of Fontaines D.C., The Scratch and The Deadlians also featuring. A Dublin show in December is followed by a UK tour next year.
Sadly, June saw the death of the celebrated fiddler Charlie Lennon at 85, just days after a concert in his honour, led by The Gloaming's Martin Hayes. He had recorded over 50 albums of traditional music and his compositions included the now-classic The Road to Cashel.
Meanwhile, November saw the tragic passing of songwriter Johnny Duhan in a swimming accident at the age of 74. Duhan provided Christy Moore with one of his notable ballads in The Voyage and had lobbied that radio stations be required to play a quota of Irish music to protect the industry. Then Taoiseach, Simon Harris paid tribute to Duhan as "a renowned and much-loved songwriter," while former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams described him as "one of our finest songwriters and creative writers.”
Radie Peat of Lankum performs at Roskilde Festival 2024Festivals
LANKUM returned with their first live album, Live in Dublin (21 June), including the first official release of their lauded take on Rocky Road to Dublin, just weeks after their headline show at the inaugural In The Meadows festival, set in the grounds of The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin - the strength of the traditional and folk scene encapsulated their headliner status. Also on the bill were Concertina master Cormac Begley, fellow Dubliner John Francis Flynn and the bouzouki-wielding, Irish-based Kurdish/Syrian singer and musician Mohammad Syfkhan whose debut album I Am Kurdish (14 Feb) finds commonality between Kurdish and Irish cultures.
And, while a new festival kicked off in Dublin, in Belfast TradFest returned for its sixth edition; a week-long programme of traditional music, song and dance with gigs by Lúnasa, Moya Brennan, Cherish the Ladies, Bow Brothers and more sitting alongside its annual summer school, talks and céilís.
Christy MooreNew music and side projects
At 79, and with a schedule to rival Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour, living legend Christy Moore shows no signs of slowing down. November saw the release of his new album A Terrible Beauty (1 November) on the reinvigorated Claddagh Records - one of a trio of folk releases by the label.
Never mind 'state-of-the-nation' stuff, Moore trained his eye on the state of the world - from international matters in Palestine and Ukraine to local examinations of alcoholism, domestic abuse and the murder of Lyra McKee.
His Claddagh Record colleague Niamh Bury's debut Yellow Roses (29 March) also came in for critical acclaim. Produced by Ye Vagabonds’ Brían MacGloinn, it marked her out as a unique voice in the flourishing folk scene among young people that she has been at the forefront of nurturing as one of the organisers of the traditional singing session The Night Before Larry Got Stretched in Dublin's Cobblestone Pub.
Making up the trio of releases was Lemoncello - the duo Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella - whose self-titled debut release (3 May) saw them take their folk roots and add elements of pop and jazz, cutting out their own niche in the genre.
Lankum's Ian Lynch was on prolific form, releasing his debut film score for the folk horror film All You Need Is Death (11 April) while also setting off on tour in support of his 2022 album …And Take The Black Worm With Me, released under the moniker One Leg One Eye, which received its wide streaming release in February.
Meanwhile, Lynch's Lankum bandmate Radie Peat and Lankum producer John 'Spud' Murphy were on the road with their band, ØXN following their 2023 release CYRM.
The debut release from Fermanagh's RÓIS - singer Rose Connolly - Mo Léan (4 Oct), saw the tradition of 'keening' reinvented with a drone and synth-filled album that naturally draws comparisons to the darker elements of One Leg One Eye and ØXN's doom folk, yet it is a uniquely astonishing experience.
Macdara Yeates' debut prompted a pub lock-inMeanwhile, Macdara Yeates's debut solo album Traditional Singing From Dublin (19 Sept) evoked the sense of being at an after-hours pub lock-in across 10 tracks including Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye and The Kerry Recruit and songs by Dominic Behan and Liam Weldon.
Vocal quartet Landless was also looking back to well-known compositions on their debut, Lúireach (7 June), with tracks including The Newry Highwayman and My Lagan Love.
The incredible four-part harmonies of the four women - Méabh Meir, Lily Power, Ruth Clinton and Sinéad Lynch - are accentuated by Alex Borwick's trombone and the trademark droning fiddle of Lankum's Cormac Mac Diarmada on the John Spud Murphy-produced album.
Meanwhile, another all-female act began to make a name for themselves on the trad scene. The 11-piece 'superstar collective' BIIRD - described by band leader Lisa Canney as "the Spice Girls of trad" - made their live debut during London's St Patrick's Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square.
Collaborations with Kate Nash, Annie Mac, Imelda May and MuniLong have been confirmed for their debut album, with the band currently in the studio.
It's safe to say, 2025 is looking as good as 2024.
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