Issue #2
October 2002
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Ancient Pulsing
by David Katz
The art of recitation is not really part of the American culture any more, to our infinite loss, but it survives grandly among the Irish. Tommy Makem, the folk-singer, composer and poet, proves this in his CD, "Ancient Pulsing."
The album is a collection of twenty-two poems and short monologues (in language poetic enough to make them indistinguishable from poems), recited by Makem, with a background of sweet and soulful Celtic music. The pieces are by turns poignant, stirring, reflective and angry, and the glorious language rolls on in the cadences of a master storyteller.
Those who have attended a Tommy Makem concert have heard him recite; he always does one or two spoken pieces in the course of the evening, and it always illuminates the spoken tradition that makes Irish song so rich. In "Ancient Pulsing," his voice is mellow and his phrasing is flawless; every breath makes a dramatic point. Eight of the 22 recitations are written by him, and include some of the best writing on the album. Two others are written by his son Peter, and the remainder are by a variety of living and dead authors, including a fine folk tale by Gordon Bok. The musical background is unobtrusive and wholly appropriate, a mixture of tradition and composed tunes played by Tommy and Rory Makem.
Patriotic sentiments are exemplified in The Man from God Knows Where, by Florence Wilson, a story of the rebellion of 1798 and the men who rose to confront their oppressors. Humor is displayed in A Glass of Beer. Uncanny events occur inThe Children of Michael, by J. B. Goodenough, and Peter Kagan and the Wind, a supernatural tale by Gordon Bok that is one of the highest points of a CD that is almost all high points. Descriptions of Ireland, both the countryside and the flavor of its people, make up the bulk of the recitations, and include some of the loveliest language of the album.
"Ancient Pulsing" is distributed by Red Biddy Records, P.O. Box 336, Dover NH 03821.
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