Abduct Emily Spiers and the Band to Germany!

EMSDETTEN: The atrium of Stroetmann factory was crowded yesterday for breakfast and music. Sell out traditional Irish music concert with Blue and Emily Spiers.

Engels.

What the English singer Emily Spiers presented with the five musicians from the band "Blue" was simply the best acoustic music. It got under your skin immediately. It had the listeners longing for the landscapes of the Emerald Isle, which were transplanted whole into the heart of this inspiring music. Emily Spiers sang with a very warm vibrato voice, giving each ballad a unique colour and texture. She interpreted "The Bedmaking" and "Blackbird" with great depth of feeling. Authentic and stylish, the band demonstrated perfect mastery of Irish, Scottish and English musical traditions. Equally, Tobias Kurig dominated the five double strings of his blarge - a large, open-tuned bouzouki - masterfully. He played with dynamic virtuosity, showing great individual interpretation in his melodies and riffs.

Friendly interaction: Even a small misunderstanding about the key of one piece made for humorous banter. The band’s friendly interaction and their natural stage presence created an atmosphere in which we in the audience simply had to feel good.

Even incredibly tragic ballads like "Mary And The Soldier" and "One Morning in May" were like a balm to the ear and the soul.

The multi-talented Colman Connolly is a musical export from the Emerald Isle and is an internationally recognized uillean piper, whistler and flute player. His own composition, "Post Officer Piper", filled the auditorium with rhythmic charm. The sound of the two fiddles together was striking and harmonious, and they accompanied the songs with sensitivity and skill. The audience felt as if they were walking through lonely moors when the softly played instruments mingled with Emily’s voice.

The breakfast provided a fascinating insight into Irish culture and traditional music, enhancing the wonderful breakfast with a compelling listening experience.

A POPULAR Irish Festival went out on a serious high when they closed the 10 days of traditional entertainment with a breathtaking performance by master of the wind instruments Colman Connolly.

The London-born flute and pipe virtuoso was joined by stunningly talented German duo Tobias Kurig and Frranziska Urton. The three were launching their debut album, Blue, on the final night of the return to Camden Town Irish Festival - an annual highlight on the music scene. Taking the stage at the North London Irish Centre, in Camden, On Sunday October 29th, Colman and crew were at once energetic, hypnotic and mesmerizing as their beautiful sounds filled the room.

Haunting melodies from Mr Connolly’s quivering flute, complimented perfectly by the fine-fingered fiddling of Franziska, were always steadily and strongly reinforced by the formidable base of Tobias’ bouzouki. Easy switches between flute, low whistle and the unmistakable uilleann pipes proved the piper was more than capable of commanding a room. Quick reels and jigs were interspersed efficiently, keeping us in a constant state of toe, hand and anything else tapping. There successful performance held a definite personal appeal through the intimate venue and the odd-short story given by theses funny, likable and talented musicians. And while inimitable talent of Colman, Tobias and Franziska will resonate in the minds of the lucky audience, all those who missed it can savour those same sounds in their newly-launched album, Blue. For more information or to purchase a copy click here to view our music page

"Oxford born singer Emily Spiers (also flutes) moved to Bonn, Germany, in 2006 and met some brilliant German musicians, the outcome is her new album " The half-moon lovers" with ten traditional songs and two instrumental tunes by whistle player Till Storz.

She recorded the CD together with Irish, English and German musicians. The CD starts with a brilliant version of the Irish traditional "My Johnny was a Shoemaker" with Storz playing a wonderful whistle tune to Emily's mesmerizing voice. Michaela Grüß on bodhràn and Wolfgang Brammertz on bass create the intoxicating rhythm on "The Bed Making"; bouzouki (Tobias Kurig), harp (Steph West), fiddle (Tina Terrahe), accordion (Aisling Lonergan), flute and whistle accompany the rhythmic singing and the passionate playing together of accordion, whistle and fiddle dominates the up-beat instrumental "The broken Bed". But Emily also sings beautiful ballads like "The Emigrant's Farewell", accompanied only by Marc Decker on whistles and harmonium or the melodic "Mary and the Soldier" with Kurig on bouzouki and Stephan Schneider on fiddle and percussion. Another highlight is the melancholic "Searching for the Lambs" with fine singing and playing together of fiddle and bouzouki.
Emily Spiers has produced an exceptional debut solo album with well chosen songs and first class musicians. Her singing is inspired and the musical accompaniment perfect. Don't miss this talented young lady!"

Emily, originally from Oxford – where she was a regular (singer) at the city’s Half Moon pub session – has lately moved to Germany, where she met, and “clicked” musically with, bouzouki player Tobias Kurig, whistle player Till Storz and an assortment of other talented musicians (most of whom augment her on this album).

According to Emily herself, this meeting enabled her to find a different kind of expression in the songs than she had been accustomed to while singing in the unaccompanied style. I’d like to have heard this phase of Emily’s singing career, which she describes as being very much influenced by the singing of Graham Metcalfe and the group Folly Bridge, but I’ve not come across any recordings… But on this showing, Emily’s a persuasive singer with a good grasp of the expressive potential of a song; just occasionally (as on One Morning In May), Emily’s swooping, maybe slightly eccentric phrasing seems to be more at the service of the rhythms of her accompanists, but this is probably relative and/or a reactive swing from the freer nature of her earlier style (I can only guess) and is never a serious problem while she clearly responds directly to the songs themselves.
Traces of sean nós styling and decoration surface in slower items like The Emigrant’s Farewell (although I feel Emily could have made more emotional capital of this broadside by holding back the tempo even further), and The Banks Of The Lee, where the only accompaniment is the responsive harp playing of Steph West. Emily’s take on Mary And The Soldier also benefits from a sparer setting, with rippling percussion offsetting the keening fiddle line.

The musical settings Emily employs are very much acoustic-Celtic (predominantly Irish-inflected) in flavour, mostly scored for the small but perfectly formed ensemble of whistle, bouzouki and fiddle with sprightly bodhrán and sometimes accordion or bass to thicken the texture but always recorded with plenty of presence and separation. There’s a couple of wholly instrumental tracks (The Broken Bed and The Funeral Waltz, both penned by Till), which form pleasing enough interludes between the exclusively traditional menu of the songs. The tracklist betrays Emily’s penchant for songs about love in all its forms, and includes companionable – if sometimes a touch undersold – treatments of Searching For Lambs, The Banks Of The Lee, My Johnny Was A Shoemaker and the like.

The Half Moon Lovers is a pleasant and committed recording, even if I’m left with the feeling that sometimes the accompaniments are a shade all-purpose in nature and a little more imagination could be deployed therein to make Emily’s presentation of the songs more distinguished and individual.
David Kidman

Buy this CD online from The Listening Post
This album was reviewed in Issue 86 of The Living Tradition magazine.

Weder blau noch traurig

Tobias Kurig aus Lerche spielt mit namhaften Musikern das Irish Folk Album "Blue" ein.

Ein frisch gepresster Silberling - Das ist Ergebnis, wenn ein Musiker aus Hamm-Lerche mit internationalen Künstlern ins Studio geht, um irische folk Musik einzuspielen. "Das ist zwar schon die fünfte CD an der ich mitgewirkt habe, aber die erste, deren Sound hundertprozentig mit meiner Vorstellung von irischer Musik überein stimmt". Der Musiker spielt Bouzouki, ein irisches Saiteninstrument. Mit der Irish Folk Band Déirin Dé hat er bereits etliche Auftritte in Hamm, ganz Deutschland und auch im europäischen Ausland absolviert.

Die CD "Blue" entstand als Gemeinschaftsprojekt von Kurig, dem irischen Déirin Dé-Flötisten Colman Connolly und der Bochumer Geigerin Franziska Urton. Unterstützt wurden die drei dabei von sechs weiteren teils prominenten Musikern: Die Schottin Catriona Price war bereits Teil des National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain und der gebürtige US Amerikaner Camine Roja unterstützt mit seinem elektronischen Bass Stars wie Rod Stewart oder David Bowie. Auch Colman Connolly ist kein unbeschriebenes Blatt. Er wurde unter anderem 2003 zum "All Britain Champion“ auf den Pipes gekürt und lehrt jetzt als Musik-Dozent an der Uni in Limerick/Irland.

Als Irish Folk Musiker lernt man seine Bandkollegen üblicherweise auf Musikfestivals in In- und Ausland kennen. "Man kommt irgendwie ins Gespräch und spielt dann spontan eine Session zusammen. Dabei merkt man, ob die Harmonie stimmt", erklärt Kurig. Auf diese Weise haben sich auch Kurig, Connolly und Urton gefunden.

Nur neun Tage hat die CD Produktion in einem Studio in Münster gedauert. "Es war ein hartes Stück Arbeit. Die Künstler allein rein logistisch an diesen Tagen unter einen Hut zu bringen", erinnert sich Kurig. Alles, was bis zum Studiotermin feststand, waren die Melodien der Lieder, die Kurig, Connolly und Urton bereits im Vorhinein geschrieben hatten. Mehrstimmigkeit und Arrangement ergaben sich dann spontan im Studio. Kurig erklärt: "Wir haben einfach angefangen. Jeder durfte sich so einbringen, wie er es gerade stammt. Auch der Name der CD: "Blue" steht nicht etwa für das englische "Blau" oder "traurig". "Colman war so begeistert von dem deutschen Ausdruck, ins Blaue hinein musizieren', dass er darauf bestand, die CD so zu nennen", erinnert sich Kurig. Mit dem Ergebnis sind alle sehr zufrieden: " Wir wussten vorher überhaupt nicht, was später bei dem Projekt herauskommt und sind selbst begeistert von der Vielfalt der Klänge". Die offizielle Vorstellung der CD findet zwar erst im Herbst auf dem Camden Folk Festival in London statt, zu kaufen ist sie aber auch jetzt schon.

Bei all der Freude über die neue CD kommt aber auch Kurigs und Connollys Deirin Dé-Karriere nicht zu kurz: Zwischen dem 19 und 22 April absolviert die Band vier Auftritte mit vielen neuen Liedern in Pelkum, Ascheberg, Winterberg und Venne. Mit dabei ist auch wieder die Fünfköpfige, polnische Tanzgruppe Die Elphins, die die Musiker rhythmisch unterstützt.