Turning the Tune is a new double-CD of fiddle music from Charlie Lennon which includes one CD of his own compositions, released on the CIC label.

"One CD looks back, the other looks forward." That is how Charlie Lennon summed up his new double-CD Turning the Tune.

Charlie is a veteran of traditional Irish music and a member of the well-known Lennon family from Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim, which includes his older brother Ben, also a master fiddler. Charlie has seen many changes within the tradition over the years and fears that it may be in danger of becoming too diluted. "We are moving through a period of constant innovation and unless we keep a sharp eye on where we've come from, we're likely to stray off course," he says. The challenge, he feels, is to build on the tradition, and that is the underlying principle of Turning the Tune. The first CD looks back to the roots of the tradition and past masters and features trusted old tunes with the notes in the booklet referring to many sources including McKenna, Morrison, Coleman and Killoran. Charlie Lennon presents many of these tunes in a new way while staying within the tradition, demonstrating the possibilities which the tradition offers. The second CD looks forward, and contains all new music composed by Charlie. He says of the compositions: "I find it helpful in writing to recall good memories of people and places and seek to capture these in music. While the genre is primarily Irish traditional, I have moved into other genres at times in order to best paint the picture." The booklet details the inspiration for each piece, adding a particularly personal touch to the album.

Other musicians featuring on the album include: Brian McGrath, Frank Kilkelly, Éilís Lennon, Brian Lennon, Johnny and Johnny Óg Connolly, Steve Simmons and Emmet Gill. Turning the Tune contains thirty tracks in total.

Press Reviews

Leitrim fiddler and prolific composer Charlie Lennon lends some finely wrought tunes to the tradition, and this double CD is a formidable addition to his arsenal.

With one CD of established tunes accompanied by another brimful of newly minted compatriots, Lennon bestows another gabháil of music to listeners and players hungry to cross new borders.

Against an occasionally overly robust backdrop of piano, banjo, viola and box, Lennon's throaty fiddle traces an earthy route around old standards such as James Morrison's Peach Blossom, as well as recently birthed muzettes (Waltz Joe-Anne), strathspeys and a pair of sublime commemorative pieces: an air/reel in memory of Lennon's talented sound engineer, Éamonn Goggin, and a reel dedicated to his nephew, John Lennon.

Delicately perceptive playing from a musician who marries the cerebral and the emotional without ever sacrificing one to the other. Siobhan Long

The Folk Diary

Under the booklet section entitled "A Word of Advice" Charlie counsels 'Don't just learn the notes for these are only a portion of the tune.

Think about the different ways of phrasing it.' He then demonstrates the value of this over 30 tracks and two albums. Thus on the first album,

his assured fiddling finds new and exciting ways of addressing standards from the Irish repertoire and tunes such as 'The Liverpool Hornpipe' and

'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' have new life breathed into them and his rendition of 'The Blackbird' makes the hair stand on its end.

Charlie doesn't mention the value of listening to the classic recordings of Irish music, but from his whole approach we can hear his appreciation of these, particularly of the early Irish American 78s.

On the second album, Charlie plays tunes that he has written himself, but apart from the fact that these obviously sound less familiar than those on

the first album, nothing else in the approach is changed. These are tunes that totally fit alongside the tradition.

These albums are as exhilarating as any I have heard in a long time. Vic Smith

(This album also got my vote in the fRoots Critics/BBC Radio 3 "Album of the Year" poll)

Irish Music Magazine OCT 07

To get one CD of fiddler, Charlie Lennon's playing is cause enough for celebration, but to get two, one of them devoted entirely to his own compositions, is quite something indeed. On the album he also plays viola, piano, harpsichord, bass and keyboards, and he is joined here and there by Brian McGrath (piano & banjo), Frank Kilkelly (guitar), Johnny O'Connolly (accordion), Johnny Connolly (melodeon), Steve Simmons (guitar), Emmet Gill (uilleann pipes), and family members, Eilis Lennon (fiddle), and Brian Lennon (flute).

The arrangements are nicely varied, but always with justice done to the fiddle player himself, whose sound doesn't lose out to over-dominant accompaniment. For that we must thank Charlie himself who, along with David Lennon, produced the album, and to Ed Kenehan and the late Eamonn Goggin who were the sound engineers. The CD is dedicated to Eamonn, who was a close friend of Charlie's.

In Clo lar-Chonnachta's (CIC) website notes we are told, "One CD looks back, the other looks forward," which is how Charlie summed up his new double-CD Turning the Tune. The first CD looks back to the roots of the tradition and past masters and features trusted old tunes with the notes in the booklet referring to many sources including McKenna, Morrison, Coleman and Killoran. Charlie presents many of these tunes in a new way while staying within the tradition, demonstrating the possibilities that the tradition offers. The second CD looks forward, and contains all new music composed by Charlie. He says of the compositions: "I find it helpful in writing to recall good memories of people and places and seek to capture these in music. While the genre is primarily Irish traditional, I have moved into other genres at times in order to best paint the picture." The CD booklet details the inspiration for each piece, adding a particularly personal touch to the album.

In his written introduction to the CD, Charlie explains the choice of the album's title. "Can you turn this one?" Francis John McGovern used to spend time at Charlie's parents' house in Co. Leitrim in long winter evenings. Charlie recalls that his father and Francis John would chat by the fire, and during a pause in the conversation, the latter would draw a Clarke's whistle from his breast pocket and play part of a seldom-heard tune. "That came to me while I was taking the rough off a headstone in the workshop today but I can't turn it," he would say. There'd be another long pause while all looked into the fire for inspiration. "Sometimes I would get an inkling of the high part," Charlie writes, "reach for the fiddle and start to stagger out a phrase or two." Francis John would exclaim, "That's it! I have it now." Then the old man and the boy would take time in fleshing out the tune together. "This was Francis John McGovern's way of giving encouragement and recognition to any aspiring young musician that he came in contact with," says Charlie.

There is a feast of good music and tunes on these two CDs of Charlie's: reels, jigs, hornpipes, a couple of barn dances, a waltz, an air/reel (dedicated to Eamonn and his parents), and even a strathspey which Charlie composed in memory of his friend, Dick Lett, who promoted Irish and Scottish music workshops when Charlie lived in the north of England. I recommend this album highly. Aidan O'Hara

www.liveireland.com

Turning the Tune" is a new double album out from the great musician, Charlie Lennon. In this outing, we have Charlie giving a tour de force on fiddle. This is a beautiful textbook of music at its best, played with total understanding and grace. This is for real trad lovers only. It is required for all aspiring Irish fiddlers, not only for the technique, but the vast array of tunes on offer. In a double album we would have wanted more airs, but you can't have everything. This is a corker. Rating: Recommended. Bill Margeson