Review: Irish Post

If you tried to make a film out of the life of folk band Uiscedwr two things would happen. First you'd have to explain that the name is pronounced ish-ka-dooer - which means water in Welsh and Irish. And second you'd have to convince the public that you weren't making it all up For parts of the story are pure cinema, parts are pure fairy tale while yet others are clearly based in grim reality.

The band formed in Manchester when young Irish percussionist Cormac Byrne got chatting to fellow music student Anna Esslemont. The cinematic element kicks in with the discovery that the band's formation happened at 3am when classical violinist Anna was cooking corn and a conversation evolved concerning her boots. Then they played a few tunes together.

The fairytale kicks in when the duo - now a trio with the addition of a guitarist - were entered for the 2002 BBC Young Folk Award and won.
As a result Uiscedwr played one of their first gigs at the Cambridge Folk Festival. "A baptism of fire," as Cormac describes it with a wry laugh and a gift for understatement.

As events overtook them their guitarist quit and was replaced by Ben Hellings. They recorded a debut album Everywhere which was subsequently nominated for another BBC Folk Award. And then reality arrived. "We've come across a few problems, yes," says Cormac, again demonstrating his gift for understatement. Just as Uiscedwr were really gathering momentum Ben quit and Anna was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia.

"It's a blood disorder," explains Cormac. "It's being treated but it's one of those slow processes and it's affected her energy levels enormously. That's meant we've had to reduce our workload significantly but she's doing alright. She's adamant that we keep gigging. Our summer diary isn't as full as we would have liked if things were going perfectly but we've go the album now and a few summer dates and we've got a big tour planned for January, February and March 2007."

The album is the newly-released - and possibly appropriately named - Circle: and energetic collection of modern folk influences and great musicianship. It must be good to be back on track? "It's great to be back, yes," agrees Cormac with notable enthusiasm. "The album was due to be released last autumn but we were mid-recording when Anna got ill. While we couldn't go out gigging we spent a lot of time on the music and we're very pleased with the results. It feels like a long awaited album - the last one was released in 2003 - and we've got a different line up now." Indeed they have. The departure of Ben Hellings left a big hole. "A lot of bands change line up but when you're a trio any change is going to have a significant effect on the sound," Cormac explains. After so many set backs, the fates were once again smiling on Anna and Cormac with the arrival of Kevin Dempsey - who's played with the likes of Mary Black, Martin Carthy and Gordon Giltrap to name but a few. "He's a fantastic guitarist," admits Cormac, "and it feels like it's all happening again. We didn't expect him to come on board but we're very happy with the result."

Cormac's musical career could have been very different though. Born in Co. Waterford he discovered a passion for drumming at the age of 12 but his interests didn't lie with traditional Irish music and Cormac went to Manchester to do a music degree in classical percussion.

But it was this change of scene that launched his love of Irish music.
"Classical was my main thing," says Cormac. "But I did a lot of world percussion at Manchester and started hanging out in Irish bars. And that was it! It was like I found it suddenly. "I started playing with Andy Dinan - a fantastic fiddle player on the Manchester scene - and through that I got introduced to people like Michael McGoldrick and Flook.
"It was through listening to those people that my interest grew and it was around the same time I met Anna who had a similar love for the tradition." As well as his work with Uiscedwr, Cormac keeps busy by teaching the bodhran at Newcastle University. "I've got two full time bodhran players, it's a great course," - and through his own studies courtesy of a BBC Fame Academy Bursary which he says has been brilliant. "I'd recommend any music student to go for that."

Although Uiscedwr is keeping Cormac busy for the foreseeable future he's hoping to visit India to further his education. "I'm going to start studying the tabla here first," he explains. "And then go over there. I love the sound of the Indian tabla and use sounds of it in my own playing so I'd like to study more in depth. Hearing those sounds working so well with the traditions really interests me."

It's this open-mindedness that makes Uiscedwr such an exciting prospect and Circle such a satisfying album. It also means that if your understanding of folk music summons up chunky men in cableknit jumpers drinking real ale and singing with their fingers in their ears then you might be in for a shock. "It's really difficult to pigeon-hole us," admits Cormac. "A lot of the critics say they like our stuff but don't know where to put it. You get that reaction to the folk thing but what we're doing is taking all sorts of influences. Not just from Ireland, not just from this country but all over. There are Greek influences on the album, Swedish. It is folk music - but it's world music as well."

With its mix of influences and original sounds Circle almost defies description. More albums like this and record shops might have to scrap their badly-defined sections and just put everything in alphabetical order. "That would be good. At the moment, shops have these definite sections and you have to go somewhere." Cormac laughs. "And you don't want to be in easy listening."

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