Here is an astonishing and counterintuitive release, but one that deserves to be tamed. Do Shorcha is divided into two completely disparate parts: the first consisting of eight very short sean nós-type songs (which means “old style” in ancient Irish), a musical genre of traditional ornamented singing, here performed entirely a cappella. The second part is purely instrumental and played on a solo harmonium.
The brief songs (they average 2 minutes) are beautifully rendered by Gráinne Ní Choinn, an American settled in Montreal. The beautiful baritone voice with authentic contours, occasionally betraying an indescribable fragility, transports us quite faithfully to another time, somewhere on the Emerald Isle, in the midst of an isolated village.
Do Shorcha Ní Ghuairim is the surprising conclusion of this album. The work for solo harmonium lasts more than 25 minutes without pause. The harmonic spirit that is invoked is strange while remaining consonant. We are clearly in a contemporary music approach here that evokes, without naming them, the idiomatic traces of Irish folklore. Not the touristy one from Riverdance, but the one from sean nós mentioned above.
Like a walk on an isolated road near the country’s barren coasts, between a grey and unsettling sea, green but bare moors, and a gloomy yet bright sky, this music will launch you onto a stunning voyage.
An extraordinary approach whose authenticity and originality cannot be doubted.
