Bay Area awash in Irish music for St. Pat's Day
From Altan to the Black Brothers, there are lively Celtic shows on tap
Even in the best of times, an excuse to stomp and dance and party with strangers arrives like an unexpected check. In the case of St. Patrick's Day, it's a windfall paid in pleasure, a celebration that officially commences on the cusp of spring March 17.
Among the most welcoming of ethnic holidays on the American calendar, St. Patrick's Day long ago pulled off the neat trick of championing both assimilation and ethnic pride, at least when emerald kitsch gives way to a turbo-charged jig or reel. Traditional Irish music and its offshoots are thriving to such an extent that the holiday refuses to stick strictly to the calendar, infusing surrounding weeks with a profusion of fiddle-driven music.
Whether or not you're raising a glass, there are plenty of opportunities to get swept up in a soaring ballad or a spinning hornpipe. Here are some suggestions.
ALTAN >> Under the leadership of Donegal vocalist and fiddler Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Altan has been the international standard bearer for traditional Irish music for nearly four decades. With guitarist Mark Kelly and bouzouki player Ciarán Curran, the sextet features three founding members, and has lost none of its majestic sound and deep book of ravishing melodies. DETAILS >> 7 p.m. Sunday at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; $42-$47; www.thefreight. org; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz; $35-$40, www. celticsociety.org.
KEVIN BURKE, NUALA KENNEDY, AND EAMON O'LEARY >> County Louth songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nuala Kennedy and Dublin guitarist and bouzouki player Eamon O'Leary have performed widely together as a duo and in the trio The Alt. This configuration was born when fiddle legend Kevin Burke invited them to join him at the Michigan Irish Music Festival last summer, an encounter so felicitous they decided to take the trio on the road. DETAILS >> 8 p.m. March 14; Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; $22-$27; www.thefreight. org.
COLM Ó RIAIN >> Conservatory-trained Irish violin master Colm Ó Riain is steeped in traditional music, but since moving to the United States he's explored an international array of idioms, from jazz and blues to Cuban, Brazilian and classical Indian music. His St. Patrick's Day celebrations ranges across musical cultures, touching down in West Africa, Andalusia, and the Middle East.
DETAILS >> 7 and 9 March 15, 5 and 7 p.m. March 17; Keys Jazz Bistro, San Francisco; $40; www.keysjazzbistro.com.
BLACK BROTHERS >> The first family of Irish music in the Bay Area (and back home, too when you add their sisters), the Black Brothers ramble through an expansive repertoire of cracking Dublin street songs, folk tunes from the Irish, Scottish and English songbooks, and contemporary tunes in the folk tradition.
With Shay on guitar and Michael on various strings the Black siblings deliver close harmony vocals along with tales of childhood hijinks, jokes and wordplay. They're joined by accordion player Félim Egan and veteran Dublin pianist Eamonn Flynn, whose backed acts such as Zigaboo Modeliste, Taj Mahal, and Michael Franti and Spearhead.
DETAILS >> 7 p.m. Friday at United Irish Cultural Center, San Francisco; $15-$20; irishcentersf.org; 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Pacifica Performances, Pacifica; $23; pacificaperformances.org; 7 p.m. March 17 at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; $25-$30; www.thefreight.org.
THE WALKER ROADERS >> A Celtic punk supergroup featuring Pogues accordionist James Fearnley, Flogging Molly guitarist Ted Hutt, and Dropkick Murphys multi-instrumentalist Marc Orrell, The Walker Roaders expand on the kinetic sound of their influential parent bands. Joined by drummer Bryan Head and bassist Brad Wood (who produced Liz Phair's “Exile in Guyville”). Sam Chase and the Untraditional play the opening set.
DETAILS >> 7 p.m. March 17; The Guild Theatre, Menlo Park; $35-$83; www.guildtheatre.com.
LÚNASA >> If any band has stepped up to help carry the mantle hoisted by Altan it's Lúnasa, which features musicians who all made their reputations in important, earlier ensembles. Bassist Trevor Hutchinson anchored The Waterboys, and Colin Farrill is an expert on both fiddle and whistle. Piper Cillian Vallely hails from an illustrious musical clan, and Kevin Crawford is widely recognized as one of Ireland's finest flutists. DETAILS >> 7:30 p.m. March 23 at Presidio Theatre, San Francisco; $35-$65; www. presidiotheatre.org; 7:30 p.m. March 24 at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz; $28-$30, www.celticsociety.org.
BAY PHILHARMONIC “CELTIC CELEBRATION” >> Artistic director and conductor JungHo Pak and the 50-piece Bay Philharmonic celebrate the beauty of Celtic culture with an expansive program including San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers, award-winning Scottish fiddler Caroline McCaskey, the Irish rock band Culann's Hounds, Irish uilleann piper Todd Denman, and the Kennelly School of Irish Dance.
DETAILS >> 3 p.m. March 17; Chabot College Performing Arts Center, Hayward; $25$67; bayphil.org.