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Concert Preview/Feature
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Frederick Post, Concert Preview/Feature >>
Innovations in Irish music coming to Weinberg
Want a second chance to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year?
The Weinberg Center will present two Irish supergroups, Lilnasa and Dervish for one show only on Wednesday, March 28, at 8 p.m.
Pushing the boundaries of traditional Irish music to the limits, these bands add a driving, dynamic swing to the beautiful and evocative tunes of Ireland.
Dervish
The members of traditional Irish band Dervish met as most Irish musicians do: as strangers in a bar. "I'm a farmer's daughter," says singer Cathy Jordan, "and someone else in the band is an architect's son. Outside of music, we may have never met, but this is how Irish people have forged unlikely friendships for years, playing music together."
"In Irish music, there are three eiements: goitraf: so sad, it brings tears; geantrf: so lively, it makes you want to dance; suantrd: so soothing, you want to sleep. At a Dervish concert, you experience all three and it leaves you exhilarated!"
Mandola-player Brain McDonagh saw a documentary about Whirling Dervishes and found the parallels between the devotional art form and Irish musicians similar.
"Dervishes are usualiy a group of poor but spiritual people enraptured by music," explains Jordan. "They spin around and become entranced by the music. As the spinning progresses, the dervishes reach a higher ievel of being. Similarly, in a traditional Irish session, people may meet for the first time through the common bond of music. As the night progresses, a euphoria builds and lifelong friendships ensue."
The name Dervish was meant to be an album's title, but it stuck as the band's name.
Dervish searches high and low for new material, old melodies, lesser-known lyrics.
"We're always on the lookout for new material and it comes to us in different vrays," explains Jordan. "Sometimes at a session an old man sings a tune we've never heard. We have a great rapport with the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin where there are vast collections of the old manuscripts and the earliest recordings of Irish music. Sometimes we find things on TV, on the radio, or on records.' The search for materials is simultaneously part of preserving history and making traditionai music relevant to today.
To purchase tickets, call 301600-2828, 301- 600-2838 TTY or stop by the box office Tuesday through Fiiday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are available at www.weinbergcenter.org.
(excerpt) 03/22/07
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