Music reviews: recently released albums from Irish and Irish-American artists

Tony DeMarco: The Sligo Indians

Tony DeMarco’s fiddle is something of a modern legend in the New York City traditional Irish music scene. His new CD, The Sligo Indians, demonstrates why with several lively reels, jigs, some heart-wrenching slow airs and a polka just to maintain that twist on the tradition that DeMarco has become known for.

Born in 1955 and raised in East Flatbush in Brooklyn, DeMarco experienced the merging of Italian and Irish culture within his own family (his mother’s grandparents were Irish immigrants) and within his neighborhood. Bypassing the usual competition scene that most fiddlers experience, DeMarco found his musical calling through what he described as the “hippie scene, the folkie scene.” Perhaps it was that organic setting of barroom sessions that gives The Sligo Indians that “live in your living room” sound.

DeMarco builds his intricate patterns and pulls the listener into the themes of a piece in unexpected ways, ever-anticipating the arc of the song. The album’s title track is a solid jig which teasingly excites the listener with a simple introduction that leads into a complex and lively tune.

The album closes with “Rosemary,” composed by Andy McGann for Rosemary Gillespie, daughter of famed 1930s fiddler Hughie Gillespie. The moving piece combines a sense of remorse and hope that DeMarco plays with complete compassion and stunning ornamentation, an absolutely haunting performance. Available on his website tonydemarcomusic.net and on iTunes, The Sligo Indians was released by the Smithsonian’s Folkways Recordings series.    

– Tara Dougherty

Music in the Glen: Fuar

Appropriately titled Fuar, from the Irish for “cold,” this album  is a collection of well known wintery and holiday songs by Music in the Glen, an Atlanta-based Irish band featuring Jason Killingsworth, Susan Moran, Suzanne Harner, Katherine Irwin Thomas, and Doug Murray. Fuar also features guest musicians Tim Anderson (who produced the album) and Scott Miller

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Nster.com