Concert Review: Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul

Irish fiddle, dance celebrate holiday

March 18, 2010

Kelly Blessing

Staff Writer

St. Patrick’s Day brings out a little bit of Irish in everyone.

A sea of green audience members experienced true Irish tradition in Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul’s performance in Memorial Hall on Wednesday night.

The group provided a lively show combining the mediums of music, dance and video to chronicle the diaspora of Irish immigrants during the great potato famine and their experiences up to the present time.

The diverse group, including Tommy McDonnell from the original Blues Brothers, preserved a powerful living tradition of this immigrant story.

The group played traditional Irish reels and combined elements of bluegrass, Cajun, South African Soweto and rock into their music also.

The show began with a mournful, reminiscent song, but the music quickly became enlivened with feverous fiddling, drumming and accordion playing.

A video played in the background to showcase the beauty of Ireland along with the turmoil that immigrants experienced. Most of the video was composed of clips from Ivers’ father’s hometown in Ireland.

Ivers also read a poem that her father-in-law wrote regarding the passage to America during the famine.

During the more upbeat tunes, Irish tap dancers, formerly part of the acclaimed show Riverdance, performed on stage. Their tap dancing became another instrument as their rhythms were intricately worked into the music. Some local North Carolina tap dancers also took the stage.

The group dedicated a part of the show to the Irish who immigrated to Canada. Ivers led the group in playing odd-metered tunes inspired by Québécois, a type of French-Canadian music.

During the finale, Ivers used foot pedals with her brilliant blue acoustic-electric fiddle to create a sound akin to an electric guitar.

The energy of the performers reached the audience, and they began clapping and singing along. A few people even began dancing in the middle of the aisle.

Ivers encouraged the enthusiasm of the audience and ran out into the crowd while continuing to play the fiddle. McDonnell perpetuated this energy by dancing with Ivers on stage and singing vibrantly.

In the encore the entire audience was on its feet cheering loudly and clapping along. The North Carolina dancers also returned to the stage in brilliantly colored costumes.

The spirit of the Irish was present with the passionate delivery of every element of the show.

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Concert Review

Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
Memorial Hall
Wednesday
Arts verdict: 4.5 of 5 Stars