Van Morrison & The Chieftains "Irish Heartbeat" 1988****

I'm sitting at my house looking at a patch of snow outside and contemplating whether I should join the outdoors St. Patrick Day celebrations in The Hague later in the evening. I've always had a good time at St. Patrick's, listening to Irish music and drinking Guiness, but would the Saint really want me to freeze my balls off just to celebrate his holiness? You'll notice I don't question whether he'd approve of my getting drunk on his nameday - of course he would, after all he was Irish wasn't he? (actually he was a Latinised Briton, but don't tell it to any Irishmen). 

The LP spinning on my record player right now was my first introduction to Irish folk almost 30 years ago, and has remained a favourite of mine ever since. I was pretty young at the time and mostly liked punk rock and 60's garage/psych but I had also discovered Van Morrison via his Astral Weeks LP which I listened to constantly. So I thought I'd try his latest one. Not that I expected it to sound the same, after all bald Van on this LP cover was worlds away from the romantic youth of Astral Weeks. As for the rest of the guys on the photo, they looked like someone's uncles from the village, or like the sort of musicians that play at the local panigyria (Greek village festivals) which is, I guess, not that far from what they really were. But that's the thing with traditional music: we reject our own as the uncool stuff our grandpas like, but someone else's grandpa music? well, it's exotic and interesting. The opening "Star Of The County Down" immediately caught my attention, with its rhythm and instrumentation so different from what I had heard until then: bagpipes, fiddles, flutes and tin whistles. As this wonderful song was my first contact with Irish folk, it's no wonder I immediately became a fan. "Irish Heartbeat" and "Celtic Ray" are two older Van songs, reinterpreted in an Irish old-timey manner yet still close to his familiar Celtic Soul style. The traditional ballads ("Raglan Road", "She Moved Through The Fair", "My Lagan Love" and "Carrickfergus") showcase Van's voice beautifully. Listening to them now is a pleasure, but at the time I was more interested in the jauntier tracks like "Marie's Wedding" and, especially, "I'll Tell Me Ma".

Here's the whole gang. For some reason, Van is posing with a fiidle...

Can't help but sing along and dance to such infectiously groovy tunes! "Tá Mo Chleamhnas Déanta" was another surprise, a ballad about arranged marriages and lost loves, Van trading vocals with The Chieftain's Kevin Conneff singing in Gaelic. What a crazy language, not a single word sounds familiar! Thank God for Van translating the lyrics, though "wee lass" wasn't exactly the kind of English I was taught at school. The Chieftains went on to make more crossover albums with pop and rock artists -I have a few and will present them here sometime- but this one is special for me. Great, great music! Certainly put me in the right mood, I think I'll brave the cold and go to the St. Patrick Day festival after all! 

***** for Star Of The County Down, Tá Mo Chleamhnas Déanta, I'll Tell Me Ma

**** for Irish Heartbeat, Raglan Road, She Moved Through The Fair, Carrickfergus, Marie's Wedding

*** for Celtic Ray, Lagan Love