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True to who I am."īut who, exactly, is Brigid Boden? In the Internet biography that accompanies her album, references are made to a time "when the people who ruled the land were called Celts or Gaels" which, one presumes, is supposed to provide a historical context for her music. That's a big part of what comes across on this album and, to me, it's true. "I adore dance, for instance, have been studying it since I was three and even spent time with the Harlem Dance Theatre. "And although, no, I'm not black, this love of black rhythms does come from within me. "No, because Kevin Armstrong is heavy into dance and the people we use on the reggae tracks were the real authentic guys, like the drummer who came in to do Child On A Cloud," she responds. Nevertheless, as a woman who clearly isn't Caribbean, African or even dark of skin, isn't she leaving herself open to the accusation that she's just another white person ripping off black culture? When Brigid refers to dance music" she means specifically the rhythms of reggae, hiphop and other AfroCaribbean influences - "not techno". "And I really am a traditional musician myself, so the two key aspects of this album were to be respectful to the Irish traditional music and the tradition of dance music." Besides, you can't get more `purist' than Frankie Gavin, Vinne Killduff and Patrick Kilduff traditional musicians who are all on this album and love it! "I am a purist, at heart, and I was adamant purists wouldn't hate it. "You were wrong to say that purists will probably hate this album. That said, Boden is eager to reject one suggestion made in my review of her album in last Friday's Irish Times.
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Or, at least, feel it is suffering from what Tricky would describe as "Pre Millennium Tension" as it yields to the strain of being forcibly prepared for the 21st century and sent winging back into its prehistoric past by two new recordings artists at the same time: Brigid Boden and Michael Okasili.Īnd even though both artists occupy different, decidedly post modern, sonic landscapes, they share a common cultural base and are clearly obsessed with the notion of rummaging around the soul of Irish music. IRISH traditional music must be feeling pretty dazed these days.