Description
Guest musicians: Pauric Bannon (flute); Liam McGonigle (accordion); Andrea Palandri (fiddle); Con Moynihan (fiddle); Deirdre Winrow (fiddle); Oisín Morrison (flute); Pádraic Keane (pipes); Fergus McGorman (flute); Ruairí McGorman (bouzouki); Jack Talty (piano).
“An album is a marker in time,” says Aidan, “a snapshot. Your playing will change over time and so I decided to capture what it’s like now.” The album features a wealth of guest musicians. There are duets with Liam McGonigle on accordion, Deirdre Winrow on fiddle, Pádraic Keane on pipes, Oisín Morrison on flute, Con Moynihan on fiddle, and Andrea Palandri on fiddle. Pauric Bannon joins in on flute, with Liam and Andrea, on the last track. Ruairí McGorman accompanies on bouzouki on many sets, with Jack Talty playing piano on a few others.
“I wasn’t interested in making a purely solo album. It wouldn’t represent me fairly as a musician at the moment as most of my playing is with others. I also feel I play best when engaged in musical conversation, listening to what others are doing with a tune and responding. I find that when the responsibility to maintain the melody and rhythm is shared, it produces something very authentic, very organic, very social.”
The album features tunes from an impressive variety of sources. “I’ve always been an avid listener to the old music,” says Aidan, “with a huge interest in learning rare tunes. Primarily, I would learn by ear from recordings of older players. The album features quite a few rare versions of common tunes too. I enjoy playing these for the fresh twist they put on familiar melodies.”
