Lunasa was introduced to the 230 fans at the Majestic Theater as “one of the hottest Celtic bands” performing in the world today. But on this unseasonably cool spring evening, frontman and flutist Kevin Crawford said “we’re the coldest band in the world tonight.” You wouldn’t have known it from the way their fingers flew.
The five-man Celtic ensemble played for more than two hours, performing a dozen or more medleys of jigs, reels and other instrumental numbers from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany, Asturias and Galicia. Most were selections from their two albums, although they worked in a few unrecorded tunes. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Lunasa’s members are well-versed in the Celtic traditions, and they know their tunes inside-out. All of the members have played, recorded and toured with other well-known bands, including Sharon Shannon’s, The Waterboys, Donal Lunny’s Coolfin, and Moving Cloud.
This band’s calling-card is its emphasis on the rhythmic aspects of Celtic music, to which it adds a jazzy, swinging element as well. Much of the credit for the driving rhythm goes to guitarist Donogh Hennessy, whose instrument at times performed more the function of a bhodran that a guitar. And bassist Trevor Hutchinson’s playing, replete with jazzy glissandos and syncopation, also emphasizes the swinging rhythm.
Most of Lunasa’s tunes feature the fiddle (Sean Smyth), uilleann pipes (Cillian Vallely on tour) and Crawford’s flute, all playing the melody together. It’s uncanny, how fast the fingers of all three can fly, as they play these intricate melodies, apparently note-for-note, in utter unison.
Crawford occasionally threw in sustained notes, or went off on little jazzy side-excursions while the pipes and fiddle carried the melody. On such occasions, and when he was soloing, Crawford’s warm, mellow tone and phrasing reminded me of none other than American soul jazz flutist Hubert Laws.
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Maybe it was because they were trying to stay warm, but in the first half of the program, Lunasa tended to have one level — intense. I was about to say something of the sort during the intermission, when my companion for the evening (who has been listening to Celtic music for at least a decade longer than I have) beat me to it. “Their transitions are really smooth, but they don’t seem to have a lot of dynamic range,”she said. “This music has a lot of emotional range to it, and one of the places you can highlight that that is in the transitions, but they’re not taking advantage of that.”
I don’t think the band was eavesdropping, but when they came out after the intermission, their performance seemed significantly more varied in terms of dynamics. There was more extended soloing, the songs started off with one or more instrument being featured before adding the others one by one, the tempo showed more variety, and some of the musicians even swapped instruments a time or two. Smyth plays a mean tinwhistle, and Crawford is no slouch with a bhodran.
At the end of the second set the crowd brought Lunasa back for an encore and sent them off with a standing ovation as the house lights came up.
