From Feb. 21-24, New York City’s Symphony Space will host the 53rd annual Dance On Camera Festival, the longest-running dance film festival in the world. Each year, the festival receives something in the neighborhood of 200 submissions from over 30 countries and selects a small number to present over its course.
On Feb. 22 at noon, the festival will show “Two Roads,” a remarkable film that examines the intersection of 200 years of African American and Irish culture and cultural politics through dance and music. Produced by Susan Wittenberg, the film features the work of Mick Moloney and Leni Sloan, a pair of remarkable, kindred artists who spent many years together presenting and refining the ideas this film explores. To help illustrate the narratives finer points are performances from a talented group of important young performers, including Kaitlyn Sardin, Jerron Paxton, Nora Brown, and Malian Griot Cheick Hamala Diabate.
In addition to having seen the film, I spent many years with Moloney talking about the research he put into this work and have taken advantage of many occasions to discuss it with Sloan as well and I can attest to the depth and quality put in. This is an important documentary – especially now – that speaks to a complex, often obscure history and I encourage anyone interested in a fascinating facet of the American story to see it. Learn more and get tickets by visiting here.
In the media yoke this week is “Copley Street 2” by Nathan Gourley, Joey Abarta, and Owen Marshall. Gourley (fiddle), Abarta (uilleann pipes), and Marshall (bouzouki and guitar) are three excellent musicians based in the Northeastern U.S. and on this, the follow up to their outstanding 2016 effort “Copley Street,” they’ve really outdone themselves. If their early work was a great show traditional music played very well, the music here is even more beautifully executed and a joy to listen to.
Over the years, Gourley has made some great music under the leadership of others, including bands like Chulrua, the Doon Ceili Band, the Two Tap Trio, and the Máirtín de Cógáin Project. However, in the last good few he has been a part of some impressive, more bespoke projects, including The Truckley Howl (w/John Blake & Mairéad Hurley; 2017), “Ship in the Clouds” (w/ Laura Feddersen, Natasha Sheehy, & Anna Colliton; 2020), and the albums he made with Laura Feddersen (“Life is All Checkered,” 2014 and; “Brightly and Darkly,” 2022). Each one is brilliant.
Abarta’s work is equally impressive. An All-Ireland winner, who has also won the An tOireachtas, Abarta’s done things like tour with Mick Moloney’s group The Green Fields of America and perform for President Michael D. Higgins by invitation in Dublin’s Abbey Theater. He is currently president of the Boston Pipers Club (est. 1908) and is the organizing force behind the annual Patrick J. Touhey Memorial Weekend in Boston. In 2013, he recorded his solo debut “Swimming Against the Falls” and just last year released it’s most excellent follow-up “King of the Blind.” (for more on these releases, see www.joeyabarta.com/). Both are essential listening for the pipers out there. (Please note, too, that Abarta’s wife Jackie O’Riley is a superb dancer whose work I’ve written about here as well; they make a fabulous duo.)
For New England’s wise and enlightened, Marshall is a first-call musician. He’s a member of groups like the Pine Tree Flyers (music traditions of New England) and Rip Tide, both of which specialize in traditional musics found in New England (including Quebec, Ireland and Appalachia) and are known in the world of contra dance. Marshall has also recorded and toured with the band the Press Gang, Brittany Haas and Joe K. Walsh, and he’s currently a member of the great Seamus Egan Project.
The music on “Copley Street 2” is just marvelous and to call it a mere “collaborative effort” fails to do it justice. Gourley and Abarta are splendid musicians who have developed a special chemistry over the years, and Marshall, who was featured on much of the first “Copley Street” release but is now a fully credited partner, has been a significant part of it. But it goes deeper: Gourley and Abarta (and maybe Marshall, too, I just don’t remember) lived in the house that stands on the street after which the album is named. That house has long been a port of call and indeed a home for many very fine musicians, all of whom who shared music and experience with Gourley, Abarta, and Marshall, and who, in a real sense, contributed to the energy we hear here.
The album is full of truly exceptional tracks. Gourley and Abarta – who are tuned low throughout, resulting in a mellow brilliance – are in flying form on “Limestone Rock / …,” the album’s opener that sets the tone for what’s to come. As we listen further, the music continues to unfold. “The Grand Spy / …” is outstanding, as is “Sailing Into Walpole’s Marsh /…” – the interplay between instruments just pleasing to listen to. But when Gourley and Abarta switch gears on tracks like “Bonnie Prince Charlie / …,” “O'Carolan's Draught / …,” and “Loftus Jones,” the results are achingly beautiful. “Loftus,” in particular is a standout – its a gorgeous tune given a knockout delivery and one of the album’s best tracks.
Gourley and Abarta each take a solo feature, Gourley with “John Kelly’s / …” and Abarta with “Gallagher’s.” In both instances, the tracks gives us an opportunity to listen to the nuance in each musician’s playing and is a refreshing way, once we return to the duet playing, to better understand their music together.
“Copley Street 2” is a very developed album. There’s great beauty in the phrasing and instrumental blend, and at no time does anything feel rushed or overwrought. Rather, the combined efforts here result in music that has superb warmth and superior lift. If the music of fiddle and pipes appeals to you, there is nothing you won’t love about this outstanding bit of work from three very classy musicians – highly recommended for your collection. Purchase your copy of “Copley Street 2” by visiting here.
