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THE ROARING TWENTIES IRISH ORCHESTRA - By Heck: A Toast To The 1920s  

THE ROARING TWENTIES IRISH ORCHESTRA - By Heck: A Toast To The 1920s  
Private Label GMCHMUSIC001  

There have been several revivalist bands that have focused on Irish music from the first half of the 20th century, but I think this is the first explicit tribute to the Flanagan Brothers, stars of the Irish American dance hall scene in New York. Not only has By Heck copied the style and instrumentation of Flanagan music - banjo, melodeon, fiddle and piano - they have even recreated the short tracks dictated by early recording techniques. Although there are 13 numbers here, it tips the scales at just over half an hour. Those thirty-some minutes are packed with great music though, at a fierce pace: hornpipes, jigs, reels, clogs, music for the foxtrot and Charleston, and an oldtime barndance. Many of these melodies have never fallen out of fashion, at least in the Irish session and dancing scenes, and By Heck makes an excellent job of presenting them in their 1920s context. 

You can't have a 1920s album without The Temperance Reel to mark this chapter of Irish American life, of course, but reels are in the minority here for once, with jigs and hornpipes fitting the bill for the dances of the day. Frankie Gavin's fiddle is joined by melodeonista Emma Corbett, with Martin Murray on banjo and Carl Hession on piano for the core group. In the best Roaring Twenties spirit there's a full brass section with clarinet and double bass to boot. By Heck finishes with a burst of Auld Lang Syne from a Flanagan recording, not something you hear much at céilís today, but presumably there was a lot of intermingling with emigrant Scots in New York, and the Irish national anthem had not been widely adopted before 1930. Burns' anthem also has the advantage that you can dance to it! There's huge energy and joy in this recording, along with great respect for the music of a very significant era in the Irish tradition.

www.frankiegavin-dedannan.irish

Alex Monaghan


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This album was reviewed in Issue 126 of The Living Tradition magazine.