A friend once told me that the best tribal music he had ever heard was in a hijacked London warehouse, converted into a 'rave-club' for the night, listening to aimless thumping rhythms until 5.am; he was still clearly suffering from the after-affects of an excessive consumption of acid pills combined with dangerously lethal alcoholic cocktails. I have been exposed to this type of music, and I truly strained to extract some logical sense out of it but all I had in my mind was a tremendous headache and a desire to run far, far away to a sheltered spot in a natural setting.
The very best of music in the Western tribal tradition is probably found either in the Scottish highlands or islands; a small tavern on Skye, a dram of single malt to keep out the strong wind, sitting by a fiery peat fire and listening to the creaking lament of the pipes or toe-tapping melody of a native Gaelic fiddler. Music, song and dance is an intrinsic aspect of Celtic culture, and an inheritance which goes back thousands of years. There is nothing really pretentious about it, form defines its function in that it expresses the human condition; joy, sadness, regret, loss, beauty and desire. But more than anything it is a sound which reaches out to the soul, from a time when there was no television, radio, CD's, DVD's or anything else remotely electrical or mechanical, and so for me possesses a simple charm that is intimate and evocative.
Skean Dubh (pron:
skeen do) is a native Colorado Celtic band, a fine purveyor of such traditional and contemporary music. Their name comes from the Gaelic term for the small black-handled dagger that is worn around the top of the sock as part of the traditional Celtic kilted costume. Skean Dubh reminds me of that movie called '
Ring of Bright Water' where the main character buys an otter from a pet store in London but ends up moving to a remote part of Scotland to accommodate it; these clever musicians inspire one to seek cultural roots, drink deep from a well of wisdom, and end up completely enriched after an extended vacation to Cork in South-West Ireland. I last saw them at the International Music Festival at FletcherPlaza last month, and though our affair was brief it was memorable... I can't dance for fear of making a complete fool of myself but I paid my respects with seated body joggling, head wriggling and profuse hand-clapping! I never had such good fun since I saw Iggy Pop in concert.
Although their repertoire is firmly in folk music and includes jigs, ballads, pub-songs, slowly lilting airs, and wonderful instrumental pieces, they also have a tremendous inner fire. It is also interesting to see some of their instruments; the Irish bhodran and the Uillean pipes sometimes combined with unusual additions such as the djembe and the bouzouki. Since 1994 they have played most of the major Celtic festivals including; Colorado Irish Festival, Kiowa Celtic Highland Games, Rocky Mountain Highland Games, Longs Peak Scottish Festival, High Plains Scottish Irish Festival, and the Grand Junction Celtic Festival. It is an old Irish saying that the master musician and poet should have three principal capabilities; to make a person weep with a mournful lament, to cause a person to drift off to sleep with a soothing lullaby, and to possess a tune that can make them scream with joy... perhaps Skean Dubh have a few more years to mature to that level but this is one band surely on its way to the highest levels of perfection. In true Celtic fashion they have a diverse and alternating group of talented artists, including; Lauren and Philip Douglas, Marianne Gibbs, Eric Olsen, James Messerich, Gary Burman, and Mark Brissenden.
Skean Dubh with be at the Ute Cultural Center in Woodland Park on October 17, and at Bemis Public Library Café in Littleton on October 27 2007. They have a CD out, entitled
'If I was a Blackbird' and are available for both private and public functions and appearances;
http://www.myspace.com/skeandubhgroup
Email:
Skeandubh@msn.com
Or call 303 703 1923