Voice from the past

CD Choice: Trad

Nioclas Toibin   Amhráin Aneas Gael Linn ****

There's an Atlantean sweep to the late Waterford sean-nós singer Nioclás Tóibín's repertory and singing style that supersedes any limitation which a solo singer might usually bequeath to the archives.

He was a fisherman and farmer as well as a singer, and his music is imbued with an indelible sense of place and of people that can only come from a deep connection with the roots that spawned his music. Tóibín's greatest legacy was his ability to free sean-nós singing from the shackles that sometimes tether it to a limited audience: his open, deep-lunged and uncluttered singing style was never short of that lust for life that was the mark of the man.

Neither maudlin nor mawkish, he tackled epic tales of banishment (Na Conneries), romantic love (Máirín de Barra), and an unapologetic affection for his own place (Sliabh Geal gCua) with equal fervour, but never allowed himself to wallow in an emotional quagmire, as some sean-nós singers are wont to do. Nor does he get hung up on the "big" songs of the tradition, but instead affords the sprightly Cití na gCumann as much rapt attention as he does one of the cornerstones of the sean-nós repertoire, Ar Éireann Ní Neosfainn Cé Hí.

This generous collection gathers together his eponymous 1977 recording with a further seven tracks recorded for Gael Linn in the mid 1960s. Sheer gold dust for any self-respecting singer intent on not only expanding his or her repertoire, but learning a thing or two about nurturing a long tradition without burying it in a mire of history.

The forensic sleeve notes (by Nioclás Mac Craith) add further to the riches of Tóibín's legacy, etching the background that informed each song with a lightness of touch in keeping with the man's singing style. www.gael-linn.ie   

Download tracks: Cois Abha Móire Na nDéise, Eochaill

© 2007 The Irish Times