Lúnasa, described as the “Irish music dream team,” continues that tradition.
The internationally touring band is bringing its contemporary Irish instrumental music March 11 to the Foundry Theater.
There is a fine line between traditional and experimental music. When Lúnasa formed 26 years ago, the group was seen as radical. At the heart of the sound were the archetypal instruments — flutes, fiddles, Uilleann pipes — and the pool of melodies Lúnasa pulled from also paid respect to the musicians from hundreds of years ago.
Still, once driving guitars and double-basses were introduced, the old Irish sound rocketed into new territory. Lúnasa also writes new material and plays tunes from other Celtic traditions, like from Brittany, France, Galicia, Asturias, French-Canada and Scotland. As the group’s flutist, Kevin Crawford, said: “A good melody is a good melody.”
“We were just into reinventing it slightly, rearranging it, mixing it up a bit and not being so restricted,” Crawford said. “But if you’re respectful to the music, and if you’ve done your homework, you can push it. We would see ourselves as being slightly more experimental and contemporary.”
Though compared to when the band formed in the late-1990s, Lúnasa is “quite traditional” to what other contemporary artists are doing with Irish music. Crawford says that a majority of what the band does is rooted in hardcore traditional, older melodies — just with more space for solos, highly arranged with a modern twist.
According to Crawford, the guitar and other accompaniments were accepted as part of traditional Irish music around the 1930s and 1940s. Fast-forward to the 1970s and groups like the Bothy Band and De Dannan began to shake things up even more. That’s the era of Irish music that Lúnasa bases itself on.
The Irish sound evolution mirrors what happened with bluegrass. The traditional thinking once was: if there are drums, it’s not bluegrass; no banjo, it’s not bluegrass.
But influential bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice helped progress the genre past Bill Monroe and into “newgrass” territory, which paved the way for even more radical sounds years later. Novel musical elements aren’t introduced to generally upset the so-called Trad Police; the new elements just keep genres fresh, while still maintaining some semblance of the original.
Music traditions continue because they adapt.
Though, as Crawford points out, there’s a contradictory trend happening in Irish music today: younger musicians are playing the old school way.
So perhaps the moral is what goes around, comes around.
With eight studio albums released since 1998, and the record industry itself going through a bit of an evolution, Crawford said the hunger to release another album of studio originals wasn’t there. So, in a legendary jazz club in Kyoto, Japan, Lúnasa instead recorded a live album for a packed 200-seat room.
Japan is said to be one of the biggest hotspots for traditional Irish music behind Ireland. What started as a novelty became massive due to “Riverdance.” At one point there were three Lúnasa cover bands in Japan, alone.
The group, jet-lagged beyond belief, used the show at Taku Taku as an opportunity to showcase its new material it’d only previously demoed. Titled “Live in Kyoto,” the album captured the magic of experimental-flecked, traditional Irish music the way it should be: live, with people dancing. And likely a few sitting, too.
“It’s probably given us another chapter for the band,” Crawford said. “I don’t know what else it would have taken for us to really focus and come up with a whole new body of work.”
Music evolves, ensuring that it continues to connect listeners across generations and cultures. Lúnasa is a testament to the enduring nature of Irish music — one that honors its roots while embracing the creative possibilities.
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.
How to go
What: Lúnasa
When: 7 p.m., March 11
Where: Foundry Theater, 920 Corry St., Yellow Springs
Cost: $30-40
Tickets: antiochcollege.edu/event/lunasa-at-the-foundry-theater
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