SÉAMUS BEGLEY (Album Launch)
Conor Byrne Presents
SÉAMUS BEGLEY
‘The Bold Kerryman’ Album Launch w/ DAMIEN DEMPSEY plus guestMéabh Ní Bheaglaioch (Vocal & Button Accordion)
Matt Griffin (Guitar)
_Main Room_
A night celebrating the launch of the Bold Kerry Man, featuring one of Irelands finest singers, Séamus Begley with very special guests Time Edey & Surprise guests.
The Bold Kerryman an album of songs from Séamus Begley, due for release, September 2015
Singer, accordionist and storyteller Séamus Begley comes from the Dingle, Co. Kerry. A member of the renowned musical family from Baile na bPoc, Ballydavid, he has been singing and playing accordion from an early age. In 1972 he recorded his first album, An Ciarraíoch Mallaithe with his sister Máire. They made a second album, Planxtaí Bhaile na bPoc for Gael Linn in 1989, introducing for the first time, the Australian guitarist Steve Cooney.
Continuing his partnership with Cooney, the duo played polkas and slides from the West Kerry tradition, creating one of the seminal recordings in Irish music, Meitheal, which was released in 1996. Meitheal is a brilliant fusion of energy and tradition, with neither being compromised by the other. Most of the tracks are dance tunes – fast and furious polkas and slides native to the Kerry region. His 2001 album Ragairne, recorded with guitarist Jim Murray, was voted 2001 ‘Traditional Album of the Year’ in both Hot Press Magazine and The Irish Times, the latter noting at the time: “Begley seems to have successfully married all the wilderness of West Kerry with a sublime talent for the feather light touch, when required.” He was awarded a TG 4 Gradam Cheoil Singer of the Year in 2013.
Meitheal was re-released in 2014 to 5* reviews and while it is an album perhaps best-known for its dance tunes, the sprinkling of songs from Séamus leaves the listener hankering for more of his sublime vocals. Arguably, the same can be said of all of Séamus’s recordings.
With this in mind, UK record producer John Reynolds of New Air Music Studios in Kilburn London (who has worked with Damien Dempsey, Seun Kuti, Sinead O’Connor, Passenger, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Brian Eno and David Bryne), persuaded Séamus to record an entire album of songs. Reynolds first met Seamus nine years ago and was captivated by his singing: “I picked him up from Paddington station and for the next 4 days, he sang from the morning until very late in the night; songs he’d had in his head for years, songs that meant so much to him. His knowledge of the traditional song is enormous; he could make 100 albums with the songs he knows and I wanted to try and capture that moment in this album. We started with just the voice, no music, no click, no fuss, just a drone for tuning and it’s quintessential Begley. He is a huge strong man but his voice is the most tender I have ever heard. Then, of cousre, the amazing guitar of Tim Edey is the icing on the cake. Seamus is joined by Damien Dempsey on “The Banks Of The Sweet Primroses” a song they have performed live together. This is a beautiful album of the songs Begley loves, sung as if he were singing into your ear”.
The Bold Kerry Man is due for release in September 2015.