Craobh Rua have been touring Germany again and Marcus Metz got Brian Connolly for a wee chat...
Marcus: Do you enjoy it playing in Germany?
Brian: Yes!!! Do you want me to say a bit more than "yes" (laughs). No,
we do enjoy playing in Germany.
We usually have a tour every year. We try to tour every year and in fact
we've been touring Germany since
autumn 1990, that's when we first met Peter from Peter Braun Concerts,
he puts the concerts on for us at
the Lorient Festival. And he invited us, he said he would put a tour
together in Germany. That was back in 1990.
And we've coming here every year since.
Marcus: I know Craobh Rua playing with different members in the band
last year. So could you explain what changed, the personal changes?
Brian: Yes, we two changes in the group this year. The first one....Marc
our old piper left and we got Diarmuid in and Diarmuid is from Cork.
And we played with Diarmuid before, in fact we played with Diarmuid at
the Lorient Festival years ago. And the change after that was Jim.
He decided to leave for various reasons and Alan Jones from Scotland
joined. And again we played with Alan a few years ago in Scotland.
So...that was the line up change.
Marcus: Could you name the countries you toured recently?
Brian: Certainly I can (laughs). Where do want me to take it
from....from this year (laughs)?
Marcus:Yes, from this year perhaps.
Brian: I think I just can remember the summer this minute (laughs). June
and July we were touring Slovenia - which we never did
before - Austria and Italy and we came home from that, took about a
couple of days off and went to tour England and Wales.
Back from that and another few days off and we went to the west coast of
America and Canada and that was through the month
of September. Back from that and then over to England and Wales for a
three week tour. Back from that and we were here over
in Germany for the start of a three week tour, which will take again
Germany, Austria, Holland and then we go down to Italy
to finish off our touring for this year '97.
Marcus: So how long have you been touring in 1997 now - this year
altogether?
Brian: All year (laughs)! Well, we exactly started...the first gig we
played was up there in...in...it was Germany, too...we did a radio
thing.
Where was it? Up in....I can't remember...
Marcus: On the radio...?
Brian: Yes.
Marcus: In Duisburg?
Brian: Is that where it was...no...Harald Jüngst...
Marcus: Yes, that's Duisburg, where he is!
Brian: Well, I can't remember...we flew in...I think it was Hamburg and
we did the radio show. And it was great because of the timing.
It said a concert, it said "soundcheck: 7.30" and "concert: 11.00".
So...normally that is 7.30 in the evening and it was 7.30 in the morning
(everybody laughs)!
The German time and the Irish time are just ever so slightly different.
Marcus: It just the "a.m." and the "p.m."?!
Brian: Yes! So we didn't look at the "a.m." and the "p.m.". Because even
7.30 p.m. would be early for an Irish band. So we didn't get up too
well,
got down and did the soundcheck. And it was great, there was a couple
of hundred people there. But you only would get that in Germany, you
would'nt
get that at that time of the morning in Ireland (laughs), they'd be all
to drunk from the night before (laughs) and then the other half of them
would
be at mass.
So that was the story about it. And we did trips to England. We were out
in the States. And back over to England and Scotland.
Marcus: Where do you get your material?
Brian: Again....whereever you here the music. When you're travelling
about, you're alway meeting up with other musicians and having a session
here
and there. You could pick up tunes there. And there's a great tradition
in the families listening to the tunes and the songs. Collectors would
have them.
And of course then we would write our own songs. And in fact on our
last album Micheal wrote - I think - three other tracks.
Photo credits and comments: Photo by The Mollis
Latest published CD: Soh it is!; KRL/Lochshore Records
German agent: Peter Braun
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