Search - Joe Heaney :: The Road from Connemara

Joe was a lot better than this CD

Gerald Joyce | Chicago, IL USA | 11/06/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"My father is from the same village as Joe Heaney and my mother still sings the Sean Nos from the time she gets up in the morning to the time she goes to bed, so you can say that the Conamara sound is part of me. As an introduction, for English speakers, to Joe (known in Conamara as Joe Einniu) this is a good starting point. However, this cd is long on english ballads and short on songs in the Sean Nos style. A song doesn't necessarily have to be in Irish to be Sean Nos like. If any of the readers have heard Josie Sheain Jeaic's version of "The Bonnie Bunch of Roses", you'll understand how the Conamara singers can bend anything to their will. As an introduction to Joe, I would definitely recommend this CD to the unitiated. After that, I would go to the Clo Iar-Chonnachta website and Check out other stuff by Joe, Johnnie Mhairtin Learai McDonncha, Josie Sheain Jeaic McDonncha, Dara Ban (a singer who Joe once said was better than himself), Darach O'Cathain, Colm Keane and all the other amazing singers that sing in the Conamara style. If you want to understand what Joe is saying in Irish, you can't do any better than Micheal O'Siadhall's Irish language course "Learning Irish". If you can master this book, you will be able to listen to any of the Conamara singers without having to refer to the sleeve notes every two seconds. Good Luck!"