http://www.ameliaisaverb.com


My friend Amelia Hogan has a new CD, Transplants - From the Old World to the New. I haven't heard it yet, but Robert Rodriquez asked me to post his review of the recording:

This CD has been a long time in the making, but the final results have been more than worth the wait. This is a journey in song and imagery that amply succeeds on several levels, from the actual physical trek from Ireland to America in the second half of the nineteenth century as well as a somewhat musical autobiography reflecting Hogan's own family heritage and how these songs come to her through family members, colleagues, and others a well. Here are songs that range the emotional landscape from a children's song in Irish, to the eternal magic and mystery of music as expressed in the Yeats poem, "The Fiddler of Dooney", to the familiar traditional love song, "Wild Mountain Thyme," to the grim despair of the actual famine years in Ireland as seen through "The Praties They Grow Small," to a song dealing with loves loss and a political allegory in "The Wind That Shakes the Barley," to perhaps the recording's musical lynch pin, the actual Atlantic journey as poignantly told in "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore." Once the journey reaches America itself, the Irish experience takes on new dimensions as seen in such songs as the angry sentiments of "No Irish Need Apply," a Civil War soldier caught in the aftermath of the war in "The Lakes of Pontcharttrain," and the hardships endured by coal miners in "Sixteen Tons." The hope for a brighter tomorrow comes across in Hogan's beautiful interpretation of the familiar "Bright Morning Stars," while sad and witty recollections of home and loved ones comes across in such stirring pieces as "A Stor Mo Chroi" and the "Boys of Barr Na Sraide," with its imagery of youthful boys hunting the wren on Saint Stephen's Day as in days of old.

If Amelia Hogan is the catalyst for this journey through song and imagery, then the beautiful and very tasteful guitar accompaniment of Ray Frank adds a solid dimension of musical magic all its very own. Other musicians who ably assist in this effort include Lewis Santer on mandolin, Ananta on violin and cello, Winter Sichelschmidt on bass, steel guitar, and snare drums, Deirdre McCarthy on bodhan, and Keith Johnson on bouzouki and guitar. Perhaps what says it all is the narrator of "To Welcome Poor Paddy Home" when he joyously sings out his pride and happiness to be an Irishman, which is what this recording says over and over again. Another added plus to this recording are the excellent liner notes which not only give the lyrics to each song but also valuable information on song sources and how songs entered Amelia Hogan's repertoire. This recording is an absolute must for nay fan of the Irish heritage and tradition and especially of those fans of Amelia Hogan, and I do know they number a whole lot out there. This is Irish music at its very best: no brag, just fact.

Amelia Hogan, Transplants: From the Old World to the New.
For CD Information, contact CDBaby, or: ameilaisaverb@yahoo.com


Robert Rodriquez