Judith Gennett wrote this review.
Most popular in the 1950s, before the Chieftains and others transformed Irish music into performance art, ceili bands are traditional Irish dance bands. According to the liner notes of Sparks On Flags, the original nine members of the group came together as a competition band in May 1970, “to contest the Leinster Fleadh four weeks later.” They did in fact win the Senior All Ireland that year. In 1976 they produced a recording called Bridge on the Hawk label. Sparks On Flags is their second album, after fifteen years of non-competition.
The ten current members of The Bridge are from Laois, Westmeath, Offaly, and Kildare in Ireland’s midsection … and they do quite a bit of commuting! They play piano, fiddle, drums, button accordion, and flute; tracks feature stepdancing feet as well. Overall Sparks On Flags is a cheerful album with only a few dark undertones to secure the entire band from exhuberently bouncing off into the sky. These can be found on my favorite tracks: the reels of the Ladies Choice Set:”Ladies Choice/Coleman’s/Paddy Lynn’s Delight/Cronin’s;” the jig set: “Harper’s/The Gallowglass/The B Flat Jig;” and the hornpipes set: “The Duet/The Fly-by-Night.”
The Bridge is and always has been fronted by five fiddles; for a casual Irish music listener, this means that if you like the sound of the Tulla Ceili Band and its four fiddles, you will probably like The Bridge as well. However, if you’ve been wearing out the grooves on your old Gallowglass LPs, The Bridge will sound different from what you’re used to. If you’ve been listening to Kila, the sound will be very different indeed… Sparks On Flags will likely appeal most to those who like the traditional styles, those who like playing in or listening to the pub sessions, and those who like ceili dancing.
(Clo Iar-Chonnachta, 1999)
