Pop Music Reviews : Irish Neo-Traditionalists

An evening spent with Cherish the Ladies--a nine-woman ensemble of traditional Irish musicians and dancers--somehow doesn’t feel quite right in the sterile confines of a concert hall. Better to be surrounded by friends and neighbors, perhaps lifting a glass of stout, tapping the feet and shedding a Republican tear or two.

Still, a concert was better than nothing, and the group’s program at the Downey Theatre Thursday night provided a rare opportunity to sample a brand of vigorous, neo-traditionalist Irish music that has begun to attract a growing audience on the East Coast.

What made this particular ensemble even more fascinating was the fact that they are America’s first all-female group in what has always been a male-dominated field.

But the music, regardless of origin, spoke for itself. Among the highlights: flutist Joanie Madden’s bubbling good humor and infectious enthusiasm; dancer Eileen Golden’s lovely, ballet-like turns on a slip jig; a wild, three-tin-whistle rompthrough “Morning Dew”; singer Bridget Fitzgerald’s passionate twists and turns around the melody of “Only Our Rivers Run Free”, and the exuberant step dancing of Golden, Maureen Kennelly and Mairead Powell.

At the center of everything, providing both musical energy and a style that constantly pressed against the limits of traditionalism, was the brilliant fiddler Eileen Ivers. Her originality and rhythmic swing may well provide the bridge Irish music needs to break through to a mainstream audience.