January 23 - February 1st

Hi folks,

Sorry I didn't get a giglist out last week, to be honest it was pretty quiet there wasn't really anything that took my fancy... There's a nice treat or two in store now though - I have a special one I'm planning on Wednesday so I said I'd better send this out today. This might be a good time to let you know I won't be around in February so there'll be no music news from me, but I'd like to make sure yis all know that stellar cellist Steven Isserlis, a household name and by all accounts a hugely exciting performer is playing with the Irish Chamber Orchestra on February 16th - i'd say it'll definitely sell out so book a ticket on 1890 923 543! Should be every bit as exciting a Kennedy's appearance in December... I'm very disappointed to be missing out on it, though I guess it won't seem such a big thing from Macchu Picchu... You know what I think I'll make this the last one of these before I go...

Ok, so next gigs I recommend....

Wednesday 23rd
8.30pm, The Roundy This is the special one - session with an old friend of mine, Bob Loveday, and some of the best musicians I know in Cork. Bob tours in the bands of Van Morrison and Bob Geldof, has recorded with everyone from Paul McCartney and Kirsty McColl to Jeff Beck and Rachid Taha and he was a member of the Penguin Café Orchestra. He's kindofa multi-instrumentalist, mostly fiddle and mandolin and whatnot... Hopefully appearing with him in a completely unprepared session will be the following: Padraig Kelleher & Liam Lyons (traditional flute), Pius McHale (mandolin), Andrea Bonino (slide guitar), Chris Percival (guitar), Bertrand Galen (cello) and David Whitla (double bass). God knows what'll happen but it should be fun! It'll be totally acoustic and I'm not really looking for a big crowd as we're going to record and film the session with the aim of having a nice clip to put up on youtube - so hopefully it'll be a listening audience... do come up and join us! (free Cork Music Collective gig)

Thursday 24th
11.30, The Crane Lane Bob Loveday is joining Hank Wedel for his gig in the Crane Lane - that's Hank out of Hank & Ray, Open Kitchen, Princes Street etc. I'd say they'll get on pretty well should be good - also playing is Elaine Healy who's a double bass player just moved back to Cork after a long time in the States, Hank says she's great.... (also free)


Wednesday 30th
1.15pm Cork School of Music I'm really excited about this one - Mary Dullea was one of the most amazing performers I heard play in Cork in 2005 - she's so cool - looks like a real quiet normal girl but she plays contemporary music ferociously well, she's completely fearless on the piano. Anyway, she's just recorded an album with Darragh Morgan (violin), Robin Michael (cello) - they're the Fidelio trio and they're doing a tour to launch it and get this - it's a free gig! They're playing a piece by Michael Nyman, one by Donncha Dennehy (on the CD) and some Ravel for good measure. Some way to get past the hump of the week....

Thursday 31st

8pm Aula Maxima UCC The Vanbrugh Quartet have the lovely Emer McDonagh adding her flute to their team for a really cheering concert of music by Bach, Bocchierini, Mozart and Debussy definitely one you'll be walking on air after...

9pm The Roundy Lazik are a real good homegrown group, you'd probably recognise a few of the heads from Sin E - great players and they sound lovely on their myspace. www.myspace.com/lazikmuzik


Friday 1st
126 @ Meade's Wine Bar Oliver Plunket St. Ger Wolfe's the first to play in this gorgeous intimate setting - it only takes about 30 people! Perfect for his music it should be a lovely gig (you know Ger, he wrote that gorgeous Curra Road, which his on his myspace and heaps more since too) - they're doing music up there every Friday an Saturday in February and March, definitely a nice night out.You can book ahead on 021 4270475.


After that you're on your own lads I'll be off listening to the beat of condor wings, the lap of the shores of Lake Titicaca, Criolla music in downtown Lima, Andean string bands up in the clouds and hopefully not too many panpipes...

January 5th - 10th

Whoah back to the normal routine I guess - don't know about anyone else but I'm knackered - actually managed to sleep in this morning (couldn't face the cold when i woke and didn't reset my alarm right, oops!). I would've had an earlier night last night but I went to hear the first-ever performance by Trio Nuevo who gave a gorgeous performance of some of Astor Piazzolla's music in Meade's wine bar. Definitely a good place for it ... Colm the owner tells me they are planning weekly Thursday gigs there from February.

I think we can expect a bit of a lull around town in general but there's a bit to keep those of us with a bit of juice in the batteries occupied....



Sat 5th Jan

5-7.30pm Corner House The Lee Delta Blues Club who do a regular night in here on a Thursday are holding a "Family Blues Session" with the Dizzy Blues Band to bring their stuff to a different crowd - they're lookin to hook in some young ones. There'll be an acoustic part (yippee) and then an electric bit and the plan is to chart the history of the blues. It's a nice idea if you're looking for somewhere for an early evening pint...


Tuesday 8th

9pm - Cyprus Avenue - Headlining the Melting Pot gig is Kilkenny drummer(&singer) Rarely Seen Above Ground who sounds like he has an interesting enough set-up, playing solo with a backing track but with the non-attendant band projected behind him. Which is a pretty good idea if you have to use a backing track. And the last time we saw a solo drummer(&singer) with a backing track it was a bloody great gig (the dude that was in the Liquid Lounge in November, remember? Charles Hayward, though he was probably further along in his game). See how I'm making up for lack of content with blather? People do that all the time - why should I be different?



Thursday 10th

8pm Bodega White Room - This'll be the third STeTLab gig in as many months and I gotta say they are becoming a highlight for me. To recap, it's a night of curated improv - to expand, that means that there are certain rules being applied to keep things under control but the course of the music is anyone's guess. So in the last gig there was only allowed to be 4 people playing at a time and whenever someone wanted to join in or come back Tony (curator for the night) would choose someone playing, tap them on the shoulder and they'd leave for a while and the new person joined in. It worked really well and there was some interesting instruments, like a hammered dulcimer (which Niwel had a great time on). If you think you might want to join in bring an instrument, otherwise put your ears in the lap of the gods - this one will see a group of, er Cork improv superstars (hur, hur) forming the core of the night - Mick O'Shea (Quiet Club), John Godfrey (Crash Ensemble), Paul Hegarty (Safe), Jesse Ronneau and Tony Langlois (Missioncreep).


9pm The Roundy - Led by the rather wonderful violinist Marja Tukhanen, the Polskadots are a talented bunch of musicians who play a range of European folk music, focusing especially on Eastern Europe and Scandinavia - they're particularly into gypsy music (which I am all about at the moment) - there's some lovely voices in the band with great harmonising and frankly, they're a really safe bet for a good night's music!
I can't find it mentioned on any listing sites or on their myspace, but Nora of Mai World Music also mentioned in a mail to me today that they would have special guests "Mekach from Brittany, France, who play rockin' gypsy tunes, singer Beth from Brazil and superb saxophonist Gary Baus" and Nora does tend to know what's what. Either way it'll be alot of fun!

That's kind of it for the moment really - boy did ye miss alot of craic with the Critters last Saturday in Charlie's (or were ye there? Ahem, I can't remember who was there, it sure was a helluvalot of fun...)

Nicki