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Tim O'Brien And Kevin Burke

Venue: The Button Factory
Town: Dublin
Date: 15th May
Website: http://www.kevinburke.com/
http://timobrien.net/

A coupling I hadn't previously encountered, the appearance of these maestri at this most warm of venues piqued my interest, heightened still further when i saw who the special guests were. The quartet of John Doyle, Dezi Donnelly, Mike McGoldrick and John Joe Kelly opened proceedings with a set which balanced the sensitive and incendiary in equal measure. Opening with John Carty's masterful Seanmhac Tube Station, flute and fiddle combining with skittish ease, the bodhran emerging almost as a fretless bass, they eased through a set that challenged notions of rhythm and melody, not the least of which were John Doyle's vocal contributions. His own song, S. S. Arabic, written about his great grandfather will surely ease its way into the tradition before long. As for the tunes, no superlatives could ever do them justice; instinct, invention and respect for sources combined most powerfully to make sure that their part of the evening would not be easily forgotten.

Kevin and Tim took the stage after a short interval, initially two fiddlers in mutually giving mood, with the repertoire being drawn from both sides of the Atlantic. This is complex stuff, but it connects in a most unusual way, lead and harmony lines swapped at will. Things went up a notch or three when Tim accompanied himself on Working on A Building, and the follow-up , Evening Prayer Blues, was an exercise in mastery, call and response being the working mode. The phrasing here was exemplary.

When Tim bid the others to return to the stage, there was a shiver of anticipation at what was to come. Kicking off with My Girl's Waiting for Me, Tim on mandolin, and John Doyle taking the harmony chorus, this was possessed of a lovely mid-tempo swing, flute and fiddle laying the bedrock. Oh, Susannah-not the Foster song-was of equal stature, and to hear the sextet in full flow on two sets of tunes-not a note out of place-was pure, pure pleasure.

Irish music played like this is a thing of wonder, delivered without fuss or artifice, by musicians who know their craft and their audience, and as with all of the Liffey Banks Sessions thus far, damn near full to the gills. A mighty evening, with, I hope, many more to come.

Oliver P. Sweeney