Fri 2/21 @ 8PM
Although some popular Irish bands with roots in traditional Irish music have been kicking around since before most of their audiences were born, Solas is somewhat of a latecomer. They’ve only been on the scene since the mid ’90s. They’ve kept a constant touring and recording schedule though, releasing ten albums and having a big impact on the Irish music scene.
Last year, after releasing Shamrock City, their singer of three years, Niamh Varian-Barry departed, and was replaced by Noriana Kennedy. But the band is still anchored by founding members, multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan and violinist Winifred Horan, and it still plays its appealing mix of new arrangements of traditional tunes and its own tradition-drenched originals.
And like some of their fellow contemporary Irish bands, they’ve got a highly developed sense of social justice and sympathy for the workingman and woman, which is reflected in both their covers of tunes by Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen, and in their own tunes. The ambitious Shamrock City, for instance, is a concept album about an Irishman who emigrated to Butte Montana 100 years ago to work in the copper mines there. It’s the story of Egan’s actual great-great granduncle.
Solas will be performing at the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s Happy Days Lodge as part of its Heritage Series.
Tickets are $25, or $23 for Conservancy members, $7.50 for children 3-12.
http://wwwconservancyforcvnp.org/Heritage-Series-Concert—Solas
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Peninsula, OH 44264