Irish Sing! The Celtic Trio O'hAnleigh

by Michelle A.L. Singer

Irish American music is fun music. You've got your rousing pub songs, your storytelling ballads in which a jealous lover is always shooting someone dead, and tunes like "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" which are not actually Irish at all, but "tin pan alley" tunes, hailing from Broadway. What we think of as Irish music in America is really a conglomeration of American-modified Irish ballads (as is usual in an oral tradition), Irish dance sets, folk music and music that isn't Irish but American with an Irish theme.

What all these share is the common theme of place. O'hAnleigh, the Middlebury-based Celtic trio, brings all of the genres within Irish American music into one experience and one collection of music, Of Irish Crossings Told. The trio is able to draw from toe-tappers, knee-slappers, and heartstring-pullers alike. Such an inclusive range gives a thorough picture of the various styles that characterize "Irish music," and makes for a great listening experience, live or recorded.

O'hAnleigh is a Gaelic version of Hanley, the last name of the father-daughter duo who started it all. Tom and Becca Hanley debuted at an area group's St. Patrick's Day celebration in 2002; one year later lyricist and fiddler Cindy Hill joined them and the trio of O'hAnleigh was formed.

"We're different from the typical three guys singing pub songs," says Tom Hanley. "We have two women, with two very different voices, and me." Tom's is the voice you would expect, self-described as a "burly baritone" with an Irish accent that is the genuine article. Hanley is a second-generation American whose family hails from Counties Laois and Roscommon in Ireland. Just last summer, Becca was able to pay a visit to relatives still living there.

"It was great to see these people I have heard so much about," she says. Becca, 17, is the soprano of the group. Her voice is remarkably clear and developed and has been described as haunting (think Loreena McKennitt). I asked her when she knew she had 'the voice'. "I guess it was when I was nine and sang at a school show," she said. "Everyone came up and told me how much they liked my voice. But I was singing before I could talk."

Tom jumps in and tells how, when they couldn't find her as a child, she would invariably be over on the neighbor's back patio singing. "You've got to go where your audience is," quips Cindy. After being involved in sports with Becca's three brothers, Tom was glad to have something to share with his only daughter. They have an easy working relationship.

Cindy Hill's smooth alto ties the group together seamlessly. When all three voices are present, they harmonize beautifully. Each brings something different and essential to the trio and blends in expertly. Hill brings depth and meaning to the group's performances by researching versions of old tunes and helping to create new ones based on authentic sources. Their original song, "The Feast of St. Bridget," is based on the prayer of St. Bridget that Hill uncovered and believed to be the earliest known extant piece of writing in Western culture attributed to a woman author.

O'hAnleigh's music is known to have been played on radio stations in 36 countries, the band reports. Highlands Radio in Victoria, Australia explains why: "You will hear that real element that is often missing in so many other bands and their recordings." The voices of the trio, the heritage they are steeped in and the affection they have for the music certainly do create authenticity-which is what you really want when you listen to this kind of music.

O'hAnleigh's debut CD, Of Irish Crossings Told, was released in 2006, four years after Tom and Becca Hanley first sang together publicly. The first and last tracks of the album are original compositions that speak directly to the Irish American experience. A verse from opener "Mike Muldowney" imagines an Irishman about to leave for America:

"Pack the portmanteau so with warmer clothes
And journey to the quay
With emmigrant Irish at my side
Across the ragin' sea
Farewell to all I know and love
A future starts today
My name is Mike Muldowney and I'm going to Ameri-kay."

And "Ain't it Bloody Well Grand," which wraps up performances as well as the CD, celebrates the thriving Irish culture in this country:

"On St. Patrick's Day I'll wear the green and worship as I will
And Gaelic can be spoken here and the culture's intact still
There's the AOH and the Emerald groups and I'm in the GAA
Ain't it bloody well grand to be Irish lads, and living in the USA?!"

Between them, this trio plays over 15 instruments and draws from hundreds of songs that they know. When putting together their album, they choose a variety of styles, subjects, and degrees of seriousness to represent the range of Irish American music.

On the lighthearted side is "The Scotsman," sung by Cindy and Becca together. The story tells of two girls peeking beneath the kilt of a drunken, passed out Scotsman. During live performances, a singer will add in dramatic or humorous spoken pieces, often Irish poetry, between songs and instrument changes.

Another O'hAnleigh original, a ballad called "In the Town of Strabane," received Honorable Mention in the International Narrative Songwriting Competition in the category of children's/fantasy/novelty songs. The song tells the story of three girls dancing around a 'faery tree' in Northern Ireland. When the girls spy their landlord's son riding toward them, they attempt to hide, but they are too late and young Colleen is stolen away. The faery tree, landlord and maidens all reflect classic Irish folktale and historical iconography, and Strabane is the town where Hill's ancestors lived before emigrating to America.

O'hAnleigh has already played over twenty shows since the year started; a recent whirlwind tour in the greater New York region included seven performances in five days. Their jam-packed 2007 St. Patrick's Day season includes plans to play on March 11 in Boston with the Fenian Sons, Beantown's premier rousing Irish pub band, and a gig in Burlington at the Flynn Space on March 15.

Check O'hAnleigh's full schedule at www.myspace.com/ohanleigh. Their album is available at the Vermont Book Shop at www.cdbaby.com/ohanleigh.

Michelle Singer lives in East Montpelier.