A Kan-do festival

Brian Finnegan’s quartet is one of the main acts at Cork Folk, which has bounced backthis year, says Nicki ffrench Davis

THE Cork Folk Festival continues to attract top talent despite losing its long-term sponsor, Beamish, last year. Other support has been secured and the headline acts include KAN, a quartet of virtuoso musicians that has become one of the key names on the scene in the past two years.

When flute player Brian Finnegan formed KAN in 2010, he had modest expectations. “I suppose, we thought we’d do a few gigs and see what happened, and from there it kind of snowballed.” Finnegan’s previous band, Flook, disbanded in 2008 after 13 years of success and four albums.

“After Flook, I wanted to take a step in a different direction,” the Armagh man says. “While it was happening, I couldn’t see beyond it, but once we’d stopped playing a line-up gradually came together.” Finnegan sought out guitarist Ian Stephenson, from Yorkshire, master drummer Jim Goodwin, from Manchester, and fiddle-player Aidan O’Rourke, from Scotland’s Isle of Seil, who was a founder member of Blazin’ Fiddles and Lau.

“I’d been aware of Ian and Jim, who is the only drummer who John-Joe [Kelly, drummer of Flook] would endorse. Jim is a masterful player,” Finnegan says. “And I had done bits and pieces with Aidan over the years. He’d played on my record and I’d played on his.”

Finnegan didn’t have a fixed concept of how the band would work or sound. “I’d be a strong advocate for not holding on too tight, letting the music reveal itself. The lads were hungry to experiment. That was another thing that drew me to these three musicians. They want to push out and beyond.”

“Aidan uses lots of loops, octave dividers and harmonisers. Ian has an amazing trigger for bass. He’s a bassy player anyway, but with the pedal he can take on the role of a bass. And Jim is on fire with experimenting. He’s using a wave drum and a sampler. He’s actually sampling us live on stage as we play. I’m the only one playing au naturel.”

The band’s unconventional approach extends to their stage plan. “When we started off, we thought we’d have a front and back line, but it soon became apparent that we all should be equal. We sit in an arc, with the drummer out front looking across the stage.

“The material comes from all of us. I’ve never played in a band where both the drummer and the guitarist wrote tunes. We’re very democratic that way. And it takes the pressure off me,” he says. “Now, I just get to cherry pick the best tunes.”

KAN’s first album, Sleeper, was released in January to critical acclaim and became a top-seller. Fans familiar with the album will still experience something new at their live gig. “The record was as good as was possible at the time, but the nature of the band is we’re evolving so quick. Like Flook, we have done a lot of journeying together and that lets you get to a space it’s not possible to get to without spending that kind of time together. It lets you play a wee bit looser, you become more and more liberated.”

The band is fresh from a tour of England, Wales and Scotland. “The highlight has to have been a gig in Edinburgh in a new venue. It was in an old town house that was converted by a National Geographic photographer into a venue that you can get about a 100 people into,” Finnegan says.

“They took out walls, ceiling, whole floors, it’s an amazing job. It was full of musicians. All the gigs there sell out, which creates this energy. One feeds the other, audience and musicians,” he says. Known only as House Concerts @ 42, the gig location prides itself on quality and intimacy.

“We’ve played a couple of festivals, so far, in Ireland. There was a rocking gig in Dingle last year,” Finnegan says. “It’s great to be coming back to Cork with a band that isn’t predominantly Irish.

“When I first came to Cork with Flook, I was worried how it would go down. I’ll never forget the gig. It was in the Lobby and it was packed-out with musicians. There’s nothing better than playing for a big bunch of musicians. Actually, with Flook we played all over the world, but our favourite gig was in McCarthy’s bar in Baltimore.”

Finnegan is enthusiastic about this year’s Cork Folk Festival line-up. “Máirtín Ó Connor is one of my favourite musicians, and people, in the world. There’s such mischief in him and he’s like Benjamin Button, he just seems to be getting younger all the time.”

“Liz Carroll is my favourite tune writer in the whole world, herself and Diarmuid Moynihan. They write these tunes in the moment and as soon as they’re played they’re already part of the tradition.

“Aidan’s doing the International Fiddle Night concert with Liz, the next night. I think he’s a bit nervous about it. I just wish I had the time to stay for the whole festival. It’s always the same when you go. You see the line-up and think, ‘God I just wish I could be a punter’.”

* Cork Folk Festival, Oct 3-7. Full listings: www.corkfolkfestival.com

Festival highlights (Oct 3-7)

Wednesday

Spailpín Fánach: 9pm Ceolchoirm Amhránaithe: €10 l Singers concert featuring two recent TG4 Gradam Award winners and leading Cork singers.

Thursday

Spailpín Fánach: 9pm Lynda Cullen Band & Karrie Sullivan (singer-songwriters) €10

The Pavilion: 9pm: KAN + Deluce’s Patent €20

Friday

The Pavilion: 7.30pm Session Americana plus Serge Desaunay & Kieran Fahy, Ray Barron & Eileen Healy €15 Triskel Christchurch: 8pm International Fiddle Night €15 Spailpín Fánach: 10pm The Outside Track €10

& Pete Quinn, + Tremolo €10

Saturday

Grand Parade: Food & Folk 11am-5.30pmCIT Cork School of Music: 1pm Young Trad Concert, Free Spailpín Fánach: 2pm Traditional song writers competitionSpailpín Fánach: 4pm Cork Pipers Club concert €10 Triskel Christchurch: 5pm Tune Makers Tour: Dave Flynn, Máirtín O’Connor, Liz Carroll & Peadar Ó Riada €20 CIT Cork School of Music: 8pm Declan O’Rourke (singer-songwriter) €25 Pavilion Theatre: 9pm Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick (+Mick Daly) €20 Triskel Christchurch: 10pm till late: Guidewires, Raw Bar Collective, London Lasses & Pete Quinn €15

Sunday Oct 7

Spailpín Fánach: 12.30pm Fiddle Concert, Tola Custy, Kieran Fahy, Karen Ryan & Pete Quinn, Tim Browne & Owen O’Sullivan (Stan) €10 Grand Parade: 2pm Céilí Mór 2012 with The Kilfenora Ceili Band, Guidewires & Máirtín Ó Connor & Arundo Spailpín Fánach 4pm: Box/Concertina Concert with Serge Desaunay, Dave Hennessy, Pádraig Rynne, Benny McCarthy & Graham Wells (Newfoundland) Triskel/Christchurch: 8pm Paul Brady €30 Spailpín Fánach: 9.30pm: Cork Singers’ Club Crane Lane Theatre: 9.30pm Session Americana €15

Crane Lane Theatre: 12pm Wrap party, Two Time Polka Free