Marcas Ó Murchú
Turas Ceoil
Cló Iar-Chonnachta CICD 163;
46 minutes; 2006
Belfast has produced a
wealth of fine flute players (including Harry Bradley and Desi Wilkinson)
though one of the less well-known outside his home turf (and he’s been long
based in Derry) is Marcas Ó Murchú whose debut solo album, the extraordinary Ó
Bhéal go Béal was released almost ten years ago, revealing in the process a
master of the instrument capable of running the gamut from sheer powerful
rhythmicity to sublime delicacy. 
A decade on some of his
wildness may have been tempered by time, but Marcas remains an unequivocal
class act and one worthy of a far greater audience. Though substantially
shorter than its predecessor (which rolled in at a stonking seventy-one
minutes), Turas Cheoil (‘Musical Journey’) provides more than a swathe
of evidence that his skills remain undiminished.
Like his Belfast
colleagues Marcas leans heavily towards the musical traditions of North
Connaught and there’s a fair smattering of tunes from that region including the
sprightly jig The Humours of Ballinafad and a couple of reels composed
by the late Josie McDermott. Add to that brew some perky polkas and fine air
playing (including Boyle Abbey on whistle) and the resplendence of his
music forms a handsome parade.
Several tracks are
unaccompanied, but when the backing’s there it’s as good as it gets and
features Altan’s Ciarán Curran on cittern and the redoubtable duo of Séamus
Quinn and Séamus O’Kane on piano and bodhrán. Guests include the fiddlers Ben
Lennon and Oisín Mac Diarmada while Spanish piper José Clement pops up on Paddy
Doory’s Fancy and no fewer than nine fellow flute players join in the fun
on a set of jigs composed by Vincent Broderick. The album also comes equipped
with extensive liner notes on the tunes’ sources.
This review by Geoff Wallis first
appeared in Songlines magazine – www.songlines.co.uk.
More information about the label
can be found at www.cic.ie.