Meet the girls from traditional Irish group Girsa

Box player John Whelan came down from Connecticut and joined in some tunes. They were all accompanied by the venerable Felix Dolan, who looked hale and hearty after some recent surgery.

Teachers Margie Mulvihill, Rose Flanagan and Patty Furlong offered a set along with fiddler John Reynolds and singer guitarist Gabriel Donohue, who recorded and produced the CD at his Cove Island Production Studio in Hawthorne, New Jersey.

Of course, the stars of the evening were the eight gals who have spent so much of their young lives learning, playing, competing and performing with one another.  To make an a comparison to current female ensembles professionally touring for many years, Cherish the Ladies and Liadan wouldn’t be fair at this juncture for several reasons, but most importantly because Girsa deserve to have a full hearing on their own because they have developed an act that reflects their own take on Irish music collectively and individually.

The new CD contains 16 tracks that are well-balanced and reflective of the multi-talented Girsa ensemble featuring Deirdre Brennan (fiddle/vocals), Margaret Dudasik (fiddle/vocals/steps), Bernadette (piano/bodhran/steps) and Maeve Flanagan (fiddle/whistle), Pamela Geraghty (accordion/guitar/vocals), Blaithin Loughran (accordion), Emily (piano/vocals/ bodhran) and Kristin McShane (fiddle). 

Deirdre and Maeve are sophomores in college and Kristen a freshman, while the others are still in high School (and supplemented by Lindsay and Sarah Buteaux and Naidin Loughran when the college girls are away).  

They have all competed successfully in the New York Fleadhs and Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, including several first place championships.

The group is blessed with four very fine singers (Deirdre, Emily, Margaret and Pamela) who each display a real singer’s sensibility as they tackle the songs on the CD, many of which resonate with the immigrant experience of their grandparents or songs that we have heard for years on WFUV that had a compelling storylines or melodies.

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Nster.com