I had seen St. Patrick's Day festivals and parades in films and TV many years before I actually had the chance to attend one. I've always thought they seemed like good fun: lots of alcohol, music, booze, Guiness, dancing, whiskey and beer is always a good idea, isn't it? I suspect the Saint wouldn't mind either, because after all what is a feast without alcohol? You can't celebrate the arrival of Christianity to Ireland with tea, the Irish wouldn't be too thankful to the Saint for bringing it to them. Anyway, the feast quickly transcended its religious character to become a celebration of Irish culture, one that the Irish diaspora carried with them and gained many fans around the world. Which is how I came to be at the Grote Markt in The Hague last Friday on March 17, wearing a leprechaun hat, pint of Guiness in hand, dancing to the sounds of Celtic music played mostly by Dutch groups - albeit ones that have a really good grasp of the music involved. Some would say that the music (and the feast) should remain Irish, but these questions have been settled in my mind: White people can play the blues, and Dutch (or Greek or Mexican or whatever) bands can play Celtic music as long as they feel it in their bones and don't try to fake it. And, just for one day, we can all join in and be Irish together - except for the sober ones, that is. They're just hopeless.
I guess I'd be at Grote Markt celebrating St Patrick's anyway, but what really made it an irresistible proposition for me was that Rapalje would be playing there. I saw these guys a couple of times back in their home town of Groningen when I was living there, and they're just one of the wilder live bands ever. Playing medieval instruments and attired in traditional kilts, they really know how to put on a fiery show - and by "fiery" I'm being literal as one of the guys has a helmet and set of bagpipes that shoot flames when he's blowing in them. The crowd went wild, but it was the band's playing and demeanor that won them over, far and above their stage tricks. So when I returned I took out my Rapalje CD's to listen to again and to present here. "♠" is one of a four mini-CD's series - the other 3 being (surprise!) "♣", "♦", and "♥". Like all Rapalje albums, it is self-released and only sold at gigs or on the band website. They use the following instruments (copy/paste here): Dieb (vocals, fiddle, tin whistle, accordion), William (vocals, gitouki, mandolin, bodhrán, tea-chest bass), Maceál (vocals, harmonica, accordion, gitouki, bodhrán, tea-chest bass), David (bagpipes, tin whistle). As you may have guessed from this list, their sound is straight traditional Celtic folk. The album opens with an instrumental - as usual in Celtic music, a collection of jigs- ("Glen Coe/The Pumpkin's Fancy/Crossing The Minch") before the first vocal track "Are Ye Sleeping Maggie". This is followed by a surprise, a traditional folk cover of Manowar's "The Crown And The Ring" (last Friday they treated us to another Manowar cover "Heart of Steel"). It starts off as a somber ballad, later segueing in to the lively "Morrison's Jig" a lively fiddle tune. Another instrumental later ("Sally Garens/The Congress Reel") is followed by the ballad "The Leaving Of Mullingar" and the traditional Flemish tune "Jan De Mulder". The Dutch text blends perfectly naturally with the Celtic melody. 
The short album ends with a stark version of the traditional Scottish ballad "Loch Lomond", mostly chorus vocals and a bagpipe outro. Given that it's made by a Central European (rather than Irish) band, this album is a surprisingly faithful slice of well-played traditional Celtic music. The production is very good and the quality of the packaging (embossed cover, collectable playing cards) much higher than your standard CD. One more reason, then, to buy the CD straight from the band's website: you get a beautiful collector's item and eliminate the record company middlemen. The only possible complaint would be that (at almost 30 minutes) the album's duration is rather short but it makes up for it with the consistent quality of the material and reduced price (€8). Get it - but above all, go and see the band play live - that's their natural element! **** for Are Ye Sleeping Maggie, The Crown And The Ring/ Morrison's Jig, Jan De Mulder/ Zeemanshorlepiep/Blauw Garen En Koperdraad/The Congress Reel, Loch Lomond
*** for Glen Coe/ The Pumpkin's Fancy/ Crossing The Minch, Sally Garens/ The Congress Reel, The Leaving Of Mullingar
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