Andy Irvine at Folk & Variety Club Saturday 4th July
By Ger on Jul 5, 2009 | In Past Events | No Comments »
The Folk and Variety Club continues next Saturday night, July 4th at the Folk Park in Bunratty when Andy Irvine takes to the stage for the club’s third installment. The series is a Shannon Heritage / Production 63 initiative and has, in its first two concerts successfully introduced a new intimate venue in the Corn Barn and an innovative approach to providing world class entertainment at the affordable price of only €22.50.
In advance of Andy Irvine’s concert Shannon Heritage Chief Executive John Ruddle said, “we are really looking forward to Saturday night and we’re delighted with the success of our first concerts. It appears we’ve read the market correctly. Foreign tourists and visitors from other parts of Ireland certainly make up a percentage of the audiences but we’re delighted that we have successfully reached out to local people. Families living within a 20 mile radius of the Folk Park have responded very positively to the Folk & Variety Club. This has certainly been helped by very favourable comments from the Hanrahan brothers, Tommy Hayes, Sean Keane and others who have experienced our intimate venue and have spread the word in the very tight but influential music circles”.
Singer / songwriter Andy Irvine is one of the country’s most respected artists. Probably best known as a founding member of the popular band Planxty, he is an accomplished player of the mandolin, bouzouki, mandola and guitar-bouzouki.
Irvine was born in St John’s Wood, North London. His mother was an actress, and as a child Irvine made a few minor appearances on stage and in films, but he gave up acting when he reached adolescence. He studied classical guitar, but gave it up for traditional music upon discovering Lonnie Donegan and the Skiffle boom of the 1950s, and, later, Woody Guthrie, who was to become an enduring influence on his music and outlook.
In the 1960s he arrived in Dublin and found musical influences in the likes of Ewan MacColl. Early on he met Johnny Moynihan, with whom he formed a musical partnership, which, with the addition of the late Joe Dolan, turned into Sweeney’s Men in 1966. A year later Dolan departed, and was replaced with Terry Woods (later of Steeleye Span and The Pogues). After recording several singles and an album Irvine left the band, and headed to Eastern Europe (he later wrote a song about his experiences there: “Baneasa’s Green Glade”, which was recorded years later by Planxty). During his trips to the Balkan states he soaked up musical influences which would emerge in subsequent projects and would have a major impact on the sound of contemporary Irish music, even including (via Bill Whelan) the original Riverdance score.
When he returned to Dublin, Sweeney’s Men was breaking up, and the music scene had changed. He met Donal Lunny, and played with him for a while, but he got his big break when Christy Moore who was recording his second album gathered some musicians including Irvine, Lunny, and uilleann piper Liam O’Flynn. The album, Prosperous was released as an album by Moore, but the four musicians thereafter formed Planxty.
The group was an instant success, signing a six record contract and touring throughout Europe. They played mostly traditional songs and tunes, but several were Irvine compositions, making him the lone composer of the band. Instrumentally the group was notable for the intricate bouzouki and mandolin counterpoint of Lunny and Irvine, along with O’Flynn’s exceptional piping; Irvine and Moore were the principal vocalists. After a third album together Moore departed and was replaced by Strabane native, Paul Brady, but soon Planxty broke up. Irvine continued to play with Brady, and briefly with De Dannan (he soon left due to scheduling conflicts). But by 1978 Christy Moore was ready to reform the original Planxty lineup, complete with Lunny, who brought along flutist Matt Molloy from The Bothy Band. Planxty again broke up in 1982, and Irvine gathered a collection of musicians from throughout Europe and formed Mosaic, which was short-lived.
In 1985 Irvine joined up with fiddler Kevin Burke, guitarist/vocalist Gerry O’Beirne, and accordionist Jackie Daly. Originally billed on an American tour as “The Legends of Irish Music”, they soon chose to call themselves Patrick Street. The lineup for the band underwent several changes, but always included Irvine, Burke, and Daly.
In recent years Irvine has been active in at least four ongoing musical projects: as a solo artist; with Patrick Street; in the original four-man lineup of Planxty, which reunited for several shows in 2003 and 2004; and in a multicultural group called Mozaik (not to be confused with his earlier, similarly named group), which features Irvine, Donal Lunny, Bruce Molsky, Nikola Parov, and Rens van der Zalm.
There is no doubt that the Folk and Variety Club has succeeded in making an impression on the market and Production 63 Director Ger Sweeney comments “Andy’s performance on Saturday is being anticipated widely and we’re delighted he could be with us. The positive response we’ve received from audience members and artists has been very encouraging and I’m in no doubt that Saturday’s concert will further enhance that. Bringing artists to nice venues is something we enjoy very much. Those who have played at the Corn Barn or just visited it have been so positive in their feedback and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to be involved with the discovery of what we believe is destined to become one of the region’s best entertainment venues for visitors and locals alike”.
