The album titles are actually all well-known Belfast expressions. Three members of the band, Brian Connolly, Michael Cassidy, and Jim Byrne hail from Belfast. Piper Mark Donnelly comes from Armagh, or Tyrone, if you ask his wife. Here we go again... "My wife is actually from Tyrone; and though we're living in Armagh, our postal address is actually Tyrone, because we're right on the border. She argues that we're in Tyrone, and I argue that we're in Armagh." Without any arguments, Craobh Rua could definitely be called a "northern band." Is there a northern sound, as there's a Clare or Donegal or Sligo style? "We're thinking here," said Connolly. "I suppose there are a number of bands coming from the North. It's evolving its own style.
"A lot of bands have the pipes in them," Connolly continued. "There are a lot of pipers from Belfast, and they all have their own distinctive sound. Three All-lreland Champions live within two hundred yards of each other, up the street and around the corner from me... The music in Belfast is really, really strong. There's always been music coming from Belfast, but now more people are recognizing it than did before, which I think is great."
Among the great northern pipers are Robbie Hannon (who's worked with Donal Lunny and fiddler Paddy Glackin) and John McSherry (who's performed with everyone from Spandeau Ballet to Donal Lunny to Niamh Parsons). The northern style of music, as heard in Belfast, incorporates sound from the other northern counties, as musicians come to that city to seek employment or go to school. "A lot of people come in from the country to the university, so you're getting a lot of music from younger musicians," said fiddler Michael Cassidy. "You have more chance of catching a great seisun in Belfast now, than you do in Dublin."
Cassidy himself started out playing classical violin. "My father played the fiddle. He played some classical music, but he loved Sean McGuire's fiddle playing. So, there was lots of Sean McGuire played in the house. That was my sort of introduction. I went to classical lessons for about a year, then I started playing with a traditional group at school; but I didn't really have any interest until I was about 17. That's when I started listening to other fiddle players." Cassidy counts Kevin Burke and Paddy Glackin among his own favorites and influences. "I come from a long line of musicians," said Donnelly. "My father was a fiddle player, my grandfather was an accordion player, and my mother was a singer. The whole family plays, basically; my sisters all play, and my two younger brothers are actually learning at the minute. One of them, he's only been playing for about two years now, but he's actually formed his own band. He plays flute and tin whistle. He attempted uillean pipes, but then gave them up as a bad job.
"My Dad was a purist," he continued, "sort of traditionalist Irish music. He was adamant that I was going to play the fiddle, and I was adamant that I was not going to play the fiddle. I finally came home with a set of pipes one day. I took up the pipes because he wouldn't let me play guitar or something else popular."
Banjo, mandolin and bodhran player Brian Connolly described his musical background in much the same way. "My father played, both sides of the family played," he said. "My grandma played the mandolin, and that's where I got that." He cites an odd combination of Ry Cooder and the Dubliners' Barney McKenna as his musical heroes.
Finally, vocalist and guitarist Jim Byrne related his background in song. "Three was always music 'round. My father was a very bad piano player, and his father was a classical violinist. On my mother's side, she was a kleptomaniac singer; her father was a fiddle player in a ceili band. Lots of music about the place, which was nice."
Byrne is the most recent arrival to the band, although he's been with them for several years now. The same impeccable phrasing and wit that he brings to his songs and stage banter are present in his story of "how I joined the band... I got a phone call from Michael to say, 'Would you like to play with us at The Edinburgh Folk Festival, and play along for a few other gigs throughout Scotland?' So, I said, 'Yeah, fair enough, I'll phone you back tomorrow and let you know.' So, I phoned him back in ten minutes and said, 'Yes.' I remember afterwards, at the gig at The Edinburgh Festival, I was asked was I doing anything in July. I said, 'No, I don't think so.' 'Well, do you fancy going to France?' 'Yes, of course, I do.' Then a few days later, 'Are you doing anything in August? Do you fancy going to the Milwaukee Irish Fest?' 'Of course, I do.' So, that was my introduction to the band, and I stayed. Being a 'Northern band,' the group likes to include as many tunes and songs indicative to the region as possible." Byrne explained, "We like to include as many of those as we can, because there's not too many people actually doing them at home. It's nice to keep it to the local area where we come from."
Even the band's name has a local association. "Craobh Rua means 'red branch,' and it's taken from the Red Branch Knights of Ulster," Connolly explained, "That is, back in the Celtic mythology, there's a name of a place in the area that's not too far from where Mark lives, in County Armagh. They were a band of warriors that travelled from place to place, and the tradition was that when they went to a place, they were fed and watered, and they had to stay for three days, and once they'd finished there, they moved on to the next castle and they'd have to stay there for three days."
"It came down to two names," Cassidy concludes, "Craobh Rua or Setanta (another mythological name, the youthful name of the hero Cuchulain). And we wouldn't name it Setanta lest everyone get us mixed up with Santana."
And so, with quiet whimsy, slight bewilderment, and excellent musicianship, Craobh Rua are making their place in Celtic music. After just two years of touring, they are one of the most in-demand Irish groups in folk circles in America. They've been called "the ultimate seisun band," and the group accepts that for the compliment that it is.
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