If you remember reading Shakespeare’s Julius Cesar any time in high school, you probably remember the warning, “beware the ides of March.” That would be today, March 15th.
I’m not long over my shoulder, worrying about some enemy coming to do me harm. Instead, I’mspending the Ides of March preparing for St. Patrick’s Day, on Sunday.
Tonight we went to see a band from Dublin who go under the name The Jeremiahs (www.TheJeremiahs.ie). I’ve seen them before, at folk festivals, including the now-defunct New Bedford Folk Festival and the Old Songs Folk Festival.
They’re not the typical Irish band, in that they don’t play Irish drinking or party songs. They play original and traditional songs, certainly to get everyone in the mood for St. Patrick’s Day. I hear song on commercial radio stations by bands such as the Dropkick Murphys, the Pogues, and U2. Those bands aren’t my style.
The Jeremiahs are. four musicians built around the vocals of Joe Gibney and James Ryan, both from Dublin, along with Conor Crimmins on flute from County Clare, and fiddler Matt Mancuso, wo was born in New York. Conor and Matt are new to the band since I had seen them last. One of the things I really like about this band is the energy and the sheer fun with which they perform. I love the traditional sound they produce as well, even when playing their own original compositions. They’ve won a myriad of awards in the United States and Dublin. In my opinion, they’re the real deal.
Their latest CD (which I now have, thanks to tonight’s concert), is called “Misery Hill and Other Stories.” Tonight they performed several of the pieces on this album. The old adage of Irish songs being tragic holds true with this CD as well as their two previous offerings. But oh, how beautifully The Jeremiahs pull in their listeners and take them on a journey through Ireland’s history with sad songs and tales woven through melodies.
Tomorrow night, March 16, I will have a full show packed with Irish music, broadcasting from 8-10 pm Eastern Time on http://www.wamc.org.. I have way too many Irish music favorites to be able to include all of them in a two-hour show. I will offer a variety of Irish music styles. If you happen to listen, bring tissues.
Or a strong handkerchief.
Hi, Wanda ! I had no idea you love Irish music so much. How wonderful. Do you also like other musical tastes?
Yes, Joy. I have done a folk music radio show since 1982 on my current radio station and four years on my previous station. I’m aiming for fifty years in radio (I need four more years!). I love English folk music, too. I have several friends from England whose music I play. One, John Roberts, has lived in this country for many years. He’s giving a concert for his 80th birthday on May 5th. I will be going to that as well. He and his late partner, Tony Barrand, have done a wonderful CD featuring poetry of Rudyard Kipling set to music. Kipling had a house in Vermont, which is near here, and they did a research project at his Vermont home. They also did some British Music Hall songs. So, I’m really in this!
Wanda, you are a woman of many talents and interests. We were exposed to different genres of music, but no Irish. Weren’t exposed to much beyond our American borders.
At school our teacher, Mother Stella Marie, would gather us in the spare room to teach us Latin songs, folk music and square dancing. She was an OSP Black nun out of Baltimore and I thought she was beautiful.
My mother had a collection of Guy Lombardo big band music, opera. Daddy had the blues, Motown Sound and Nancy Wilson and more.
I don’t listen to much music since they keep changing the platform by which we can hear it. I’m not about to pay money for music I used to pay one time for then own it forever.
Mother Stella Marie was one talented lady. I would have loved to hear your Daddy’s music. I like that, too. Lots of blues like Mississippi John Hurt, Fred McDowell, John Jackson. Bonnie Raitt learned how to play blues guitar from Fred McDowell!
Hi, Wanda,
May you have a fantastic show tonight, and may all of your listeners enjoy your Irish music and feel as close to their homeland as you do.
All the best and take care.
Shalom shalom
Thanks, Pat. When I went to Ireland for the first time, in 2011, I felt eerily close to the people who suffered terribly during the Irish Famine (now known in Ireland as “The Great Hunger”). We went to the Famine Museum in Skibberean. It ties back to one of your posts, about children starving. The Great Hunger is what led many Irish to emigrate to other countries. Some were sent to Australia’s penal colonies for stealing bread to feed their children. Such painful history. But, just as the history of this country, where some people are trying to hide what our ancestors did to African-Americans, it cannot be denied. The Great Hunger was so bad that one of the Native American tribes in the United States sent what was about one thousand dollars to the Irish to buy food. How generous was that, in the mid-1800s, when they were being slaughtered and moved from their own land? What an amazing act of humanity on their part.
Joseph MacKenzie was the founding member of the percussion band Clann An Drumma and recorded a song for the Mel Gibson Vietnam War movie called “We Were Soldiers…”.
The Scottish song played during the movie and in the closing credits. It has become one of my favorites.
Knowing the fate of the real Sgt. MacKenzie makes the song’s lyrics all the more meaningful.
Lay me down in the cold cold ground / Where before many more have gone / When they come / I will stand my ground / Stand my ground, I’ll not be afraid / Thoughts of home take away my fear / Sweat and blood hide my veil of tears / Once a year say a prayer for me / Close your eyes and remember me / Never more shall I see the sun / For I fell to a German’s gun.
How chilling those lyrics are. There’s a song written by Eric Bogle that some call “The Green Fields of France,” others call “Willie McBride.” Its official name is “No Man’s Land.” It’s about a 19-year-old who’s buried in Flanders Field. It makes me cry every time I hear it:
Did they beat the drums slowly, did they play the pipes lowly?
Did the rifles fire over as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sing ‘The Last Post’ in chorus?
Did the pipes play ‘The Flowers of the Forest’?
Eric is an Australian. I’ve only met him once, about 40 years ago, just before we moved to Schenectady. He has written other songs about veterans returning from war. He wrote one about the way the soldiers in World War I had to kill their horses because they didn’t want the enemy to get them. It’s called “As If They Already Knew.” Someone called and requested that one last year. I reluctantly played it, but I couldn’t listen to it over the station’s monitors. Music plays such a big role in my life, and I would have been sobbing for the rest of my show, had I listened.
Thanks for sharing that, John. I will research it and listen to it.
Wanda,
I have heard Irish music, but tend to prefer American Country and Western music. My mother loved that too, which likely led to my attraction to it. Nowadays, I rarely listen to music, even though I have a stack of LPs and quite a few CDs, not to mention a large selection on Apple.
I am not sure when my love for music began to wane. Perhaps my brain is just too involved in other stuff. All the best!
I hope you have a wonderful celebration for St. Patrick’s Day, Wanda. I will be at the beach with my friends, welcoming in the warmer weather and enjoying nature. 🙂
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Hi Yvette–I watched baseball on TV for the first time today! The Red Sox play in Fort Meyers. I went to spring training once, in 2018. It was fun. I have to hide from the sun these days. Skin cancer attacks white Irish skin like mine!
Hi, Wanda,
I’ve always loved Irish music. It pulls at my heartstrings every time I hear that music. Must be the Scots-Irish half of me.
Blessings!