NA FILĺ ... A KINDLY WELCOME
Dolphin Records, 1974, DOL.1008
This band recorded several LPs between 1969 and 1978 and as many other Irish groups played an important role in the Irish folk. But Na Filí were quite different from the majority of the others famous bands thanks to the place they gave to non-dance tunes. Almost half of this record are laments or songs including the astonishing Deus Meus a song mixing Latin and Irish languages going back to the 11th century.
The band is a trio with the piper Tomás Ó Canainn, the whistle player Tom Barry, the fiddler Matt Cranitch all from county Cork. While T. Barry has disappeared from the national scene, Cranitch is still on the stage as a soloist or as a member of various formations and Ó Canainn has published books about Irish music. Ó Canainn is also a singer I find very good in his rendition of old laments in Irish. He learnt that style of singing in the Connemara gaeltacht. He also plays the chromatic accordion on some songs.
All the tracks as well as the musicians are briefly introduced and 2 songs are translated into English.
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