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Chulrua Newsletter
October 2007

In This Issue:

Paddy O’Brien has long been known and celebrated for his encyclopaedic knowledge of Irish traditional repertoire. He is adept at finding unusual tunes and variants, and in celebrating the individual voice in the flow of traditional practice. On this, his newest recording, he offers a tasty mélange of carefully chosen gems from a wide variety of sources. Tipperary fiddler Sean Ryan is recalled in the title track, a duo of the reels “The Singing Kettle/Gooseberry Fair.”

An unusual setting of “Drowsy Maggie,” credited to Mrs. Crotty but also known as “The Reel With the Birl,” appears alongside a resurrection of a fine old tune that was a favourite of Clare fiddler John Kelly.

Although Paddy’s splendid playing and deep immersion in the tradition form the sturdy backbone of Chulrua, Patrick Ourceau contributes soulful, stylish fiddling, and Pat Egan’s excellent guitar accompaniment capably supports their melodies. Pat also possesses a wonderful singing voice, but it is shown to less advantage than it could be by the choice of almost uniformly doleful songs, which strike a somewhat lugubrious note in contrast to the exuberance of the dance tunes. The pace of the playing is relaxed enough to underscore the trio’s masterful variations and ornamentations, and serves as a graceful reminder that we often move too fast to appreciate the measured, cyclic passage of time. In its recalling of past masters, in its thoughtful and well-crafted performances, this recording is at once a wakeup call and a reminder of the things that matter in Irish traditional music.

— Sally K. Sommers Smith, Irish Music Magazine, November 2007

You would think that there might be a few problems for a trio spread out between the northern Mid-West and the East Coast. But the miles don’t seem to make much of a difference for Paddy O’Brien, Pat Egan and Patrick Ourceau. Students of the music, masters of their instruments, these three fit together with a tightness and perfection to be envied. Their rich, clear playing is precise as O’Brien’s accordion and Ourceau’s fiddling share the melodies with a lilting warmth and Egan’s inventive accompaniment on guitar provides the strong base from which they build the tunes.

And what material they choose! Here are tunes which may be familiar, but their versions are always a little different, having been collected over the years directly or through friends from such seminal musicians as Martin Mulvihill, Jack Coen and Micho Russell among others. Enjoy the excellent liner notes for the details. Add to this four songs (two of which must surely find their way into my repertoire before too long!) by Egan. He chooses material that perfectly suit his warm baritone and you soon find yourself enveloped in his stories.

Here is nearly an hour of traditional Irish music at its best, well worth listening to.

— Jamie O’Brien, The Irish Edition, October 2007  (Philadelphia PA)

CHULRUA • The Singing Kettle • Shanachie ***

Three albums in and with French fiddler Patrick Ourceau now in their midst, Chulrua have absorbed a share of Gallic influences, particularly on The Ballad of Capel Street, replete with box player Paddy O'Brien's plaintive minor chords that'd sit right at home in the café society of the left bank. With tunes drawn largely from east and west Clare and from neighbouring north Tipperary, there's little to fault in Chulrua's tight-fisted delivery, and much to be admired in their choice of a robust version of the long-labouring jig, The Gander At The Pratie Hole, borrowed from charismatic fiddler Tommy Potts. At times, Egan commits the guitarist's cardinal sin of overzealous decoration, but Ourceau's belly-deep tone on The Singing Kettle bespeaks of a musician with a gloriously original voice.

— Siobhán Long, The Irish Times/THE TICKET,  August 17, 2007

Chulrua • The Singing Kettle

The Singing Kettle is Chulrua’s third album, and features beautiful and instinctive duo work on a rake of traditional tunes. Their playing together is stellar; it’s like listening to a conversation between old friends, backed throughout by the no-nonsense rhythm guitar of Pat Egan.

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