Lorcán
Mac Mathúna was once a good hurler before old age and
the realisation that he had relatively little talent put a stop
to
that ambition (seeing as it was only ambition that kept him in
the ranks of slightly higher than mediocrity, that put paid to
that path of his development). He now considers himself an authority
on the sport.
He is a marginally better
singer –a sport that doesn’t depend on vigour and where
his advanced years aren’t actually a hindrance- than hurler.
He reckons that if he practices long enough he still has a good
chance of fooling people into thinking he is a decent singer. Coincidentally
he has also decided to bluff his way around the singing racket
and considers himself an authority on that as well.
He said something
funny about ten years ago! ..... -he claims
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find out about the album Rógaire
Dubh
“There’s
a weird sensation caused by Lorcán’s
double-tracking some passages from the text of the eerie 18th
century elegy Tuireamh Mhic Finín Dhuibh, only accentuatin the sheer
other-worldly nature of its melody line, which is at once epic
and highly disorientating… it sounds truly extraordinary… personally
I’ve found this one of the most captivating discs of
sean-nós
singing I’ve encountered in recent years.”
David Kidman
- The Living Tradition
“…But the cold vanished instantly with the opening song, Tuirimh
Mhic Fhinín Dhubh. Mac Mathúna’s performance of this unusual
eighteenth-century song was commanding. A young man with a Dublin accent and
a musical heart based deep in Múscraí, Mac Mathúna has,
on this evidence, both the voice and the attitude to place him in the first rank
of the new wave of traditional singers.”
Pat Ahern - The
Journal of Music in Ireland
“ He
delves so deeply beneath Saileog Rua that he scarcely remembers to come up
for air, his voice creaking and groaning with the weight
of one long-immersed in the spirit of the song.”
Siobhán Long - the Irish Times
“ Have a listen to a master at work.”
Allcelticmusic.com
“
I will be listening to this CD again, and perhaps
changing my mind about this song or that, and I am certainly looking
forward to hearing Lorcán Mac
Mathúna again, singing with all the unwavering commitment of his best
work.”
Barra Ó Séaghdha
- The JMI
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