MACALLA:
Women of Ireland (Mna na hEireann)

With the current movement for Fair Ple for women to be given their fair place among the trad music heirachy, we thought the climate might be more conjucive to this re-re-release. These 23 female musicians and singers got together to perform in Dublin for International Women's Day in 1984. Thankfully they were recorded and released on LP by Claddagh in 84, and later on CD in 2004. Ages ahead of their time, this is a wonderful pean of pleasure which could only have come from the ladies. Many of the ladies involved have gone of to have international careers in traditional music and worldwide recognition.

This album women of Ireland is a collection of songs and tunes which celebrates a musical adventure which began in Dublin in 1984, It was then that more than twenty women came together to
express their music and their creativity as a group. No better day for it than March 8th, International Women's Day. This was the first time in the history of Irish traditional music, or indeed the first time worldwide, that such a group came into existence.
Although all the women were based in Dublin they brought with them music from all parts of the country adding richness and interest to the overall sound of the band- They came from Clare, Galway, Wexford, Meath, Westmeath, Donegal, Belfast, Dublin, Kerry, and Cork. Having been invited by Gael Linn to record, much thought and energy were put into the choice of music and song for this collection.

Most of the women in Macalla were not well-known on the music scene when the band came together in 1984. Thankfully, such is not the case today! Everyone knows Mairead Mooney who has
earned international fame with Altan. No less well known is Mairin Fahy who has toured the world with Riverdance and Reeltime. Mary MacNamara founded her own music school in County Clare where she hands on the tradition to the younger generation. Catherine McEvoy is one of the world's finest exponents of traditional flute playing whilst Mary Corcoran plays with the hugely popular Templehouse Ceili Band. Patsy Broderick has rightly earned her place as one of the best piano players in Irish traditional music. She was a also member of the well-known band Arcady. Joan McDermott went on to form another all-woman band The Fallen Angels with whom she travelled all over Europe and she is currently a member of Providence. Josephine Begley has forged a very successful career in broadcasting. She is also a wonderful sean nos singer and has recorded a solo album for Gael Linn, Ar Thaobh na Greine.

Since 1984 many of the members of Macalla have toured the world and recorded with various bands whereas others have opted to stay closer to home; they have all, nonetheless, remained true to the music they love.

With

Mary Mac Namara, concertina -  Bríd McElvaney, fiddle - Clare Eustace, fiddle - Edel McWeeney, fiddle - Mary Corcoran, fiddle - Mary McElvaney, fiddle
Maureen Fahy, fiddle - Máire Ní Chaoimh, fiddle - Pearl O'Shaugnessy, fiddle - Roma Casey, fiddle - Siobhán Ní Chaoin, fiddle - Mairéad Ni Mhaonaigh, fiddle, vocals
Catherine McGorman, flute - Clodagh McGrory, flute - Siobhán Bhreathnach, harp, vocals - Patsy Broderick, piano, synthesizer - Joan McDermott, vocals
Mary Clare Breathnach, vocals - Nóra M. Ní Loingsigh, vocals - Róisín Gaffney, vocals - Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich, vocals - Ursula Kennedy, vocals -
Mairéad Ní Ghallchóir, vocals, bodhrán - Nicky Ryan, producer, engineer.

Appropriately named after the famous song composed by Sean O'Riada, the air of which was performed to great success by the Chieftains for the soundtrack of "Barry Lyndon," this remarkable album was recorded and first released in 1984 by twenty-three women who came together as Macalla for International Women's Day. Many of these women musicians were not well-known back then, but have since made names for themselves on the traditional music scene. Indeed, among them were Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (fiddle, vocals), Catherine McEvoy (flute), Mary MacNamara (concertina), Pearl O'Shaughnessy (fiddle), and Maureen Fahy (fiddle), to name but a few. Not surprisingly, the music on both vocal and instrumental tracks is lovely, sometimes even gorgeous, like the rendition of the title song, first sung solo by Seosaimhin Ni Bheaglaioch, then by the full group of singers, or the wonderful harmonies on "Aililiu na Gamhna." An album well worth rediscovering.

Audio

Track 1: Mna na hEireann

Track 2: Vincent Brodrick's

Track 3: Cobbler's/Strop The Razor

Track 4: Aililiu na Gamhna

Track Listing

1. Song: An Cailin Aerach
2. Reels: O'Dowd's / The Union Reel
3. Song: Mna na hEireann
4. An Seanduine Doite / Paddy Canny's
5. Song: Bhi Mise La
6. Reels: Blackberry Blossom / Lord McDonnell / Vincent Broderick's
7. Highlands / The Congress Reel
8. Song: Eibhlin Gheal Chiuin
9. Jigs: Cobblers / Strop the Razor
10. Song: Taimse 'gus Maire
11. Hornpipes: The Chancellor / Paddy Sullivan's
12. Song: Aililiu na Gamhna

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Press Reviews

MUSICAL TRADITIONS
Macalla was not so much a band, but an adventure, bringing together twenty-three of Ireland’s best-known women singers and musicians for concerts on and around International Women’s Day in 1984. The aptly-titled Mná na hÉireann (‘Women of Ireland’) is a live recording and has been unavailable for some time until its reissue in CD format fourty years after the original release.

The ensemble included seven singers, ten fiddles, three flutes, and one harp, bodhrán, piano and concertina (though a few of the instrumentalists also sang) and brought together a range of musical influences since the members came from ten of Ireland’s thirty-two counties.

One might expect such influences to be smothered by sheer weight of numbers, but the reels O’Dowd’s and The Union have a definite Donegal drive thanks perhaps to the presence of the fiddlers Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Pearl O’Shaughnessy (whose parents came from the county). It’s likely too that the presence of some untitled highlands bears their stamp too.

However, add the Kerry-born fiddlers Máire and Siobhán Ní Chaoimh, the East Clare concertina of Mary Mac Namara, the Galway fiddle of Máirín Fahy and the North Connaught inspired flute of Catherine McEvoy and it’s patent that this is very much a predominantly cosmopolitan effort.

All but one of the six Irish-language songs present on the album is sung in unison with a very occasional use of harmony. The exception is the title track which features the Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich from the famous West Kerry clan delivering a rather more understated version than Seán Ó Sé on the recently reissued Ó Riada sa Gaiety.

Overall, this remains a thoroughly enjoyable album and partly so because the musicians themselves were clearly having a ball. Geoff Wallis