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Music for the Traveler to Ireland

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Cathie Ryan, Irish singer
Cathie Ryan, Irish singer, Photograph by Kerry Dexter

Destination: Ireland

Music: The Farthest Wave (Cathie Ryan)

Here is the second post by Kerry Dexter of Music Road. This time she talks about a recording that introduces you to Ireland.

Music for Ireland

Contemporary Ireland is a country of connection and intersection. History, myth, and legend live as part of to the present in both landscape and people. It’s also a completely twenty first century country, whose people laugh and grieve, enjoy family and face uncertainty, as their ancestors have and as people in the rest of the world do.

Singer and songwriter Cathie Ryan walks those intersections  in her recording The Farthest Wave.[Note: you can listen or buy from Amazon by following the link] There’s Dance the Baby, a lively set of slip jigs in Irish which Ryan’s grandfather used to sing while playing with Ryan and her brother and sister when they were small, and there’s Peata Beag do Mhathar, a loving and lively song between mother and child.

Cathie Ryan
Cathie Ryan, Photograph by Kerry Dexter

Ryan’s own What’s Closest to the Heart is a swirling, sensuous dance of  quite another sort, an enigmatic invitation and reassurance framed in both Irish and English. Rough and Rocky is an American song which remains, in Ryan’s hands, both American and Irish in its reflection on  choices, journeys, and leaving loved ones behind

The Wild Flowers is a powerful and graceful song “for anyone who’s ever felt cast out of the garden,” Ryan says. It was written by contemporary Irish musician, John Spillane, and while his version is full of grit and hard knocks, Ryan sees that same determination as a flame of resilience and hope.

What Will You Do Love? a duet between Ryan and top Irish singer Sean Keane, is a traditional ballad of tests and persistence in love, framed in two voices whose connection is a thoughtful conversation.

The title track, The Farthest Wave, is a journey from grief to understanding to  the possibility of healing, framed in images of the natural world and touched by legend. It is also one Ryan wrote.

Ryan is a singer whose power and grace lies in restraint,  and a deep understanding of the words she sings, whether her own or others, whether in English or Irish. She’s been praised for her voice, and deservedly so. She’s also a writer and poet of vision, whose work is both contemporary and timeless.

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Photograph by Kerry Dexter, All rights reserved.

A Traveler’s Library wholeheartedly thanks Kerry Dexter for these two music posts–taking us to Scotland and Ireland in song. For more, see Kerry’s interview with Cathie Ryan at Music Road.

I hope you have enjoyed the two posts by Kerry Dexter about music for the traveler.  If you would like to have more posts about music and travel, please let me know in the comments section.  I always appreciate suggestions of books, movies, and music and people who might share their expertise here. See you around the Web, Kerry. VMB

Listening A Book While You Travel

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Weighing in for recorded books

At the Tucson Festival of Books last weekend, a couple of authors who have had their work published on audio books talked about the alternative to reading a book—wouldn’t that be “listening a book?” Since so many readers of A Traveler’s Library seem to like to listen while they travel, I wanted to pass along comments by Jonathan Lowe, author of Postal and several other recorded books. Like to be scared while you drive? Try his Tall Tales from the Road.

Lowe pointed out that audio books are evolving. From one sole reader in a studio, publishers have branched out to add music, sound effects, and even multiple readers.  It occurs to me this amounts to “staging” the books like the radio plays of the 1940’s. Good old Grand Central Station and The Mercury Theater of the Air could serve as good models for people producing audio books today.

I was intrigued to hear that 20% of adults surveyed had listened to two or more audio books over the previous year, and 40% of those are riding in a car at the time.

Here are some other stats he cited:

  • 70% of those who listen to audio books agree with me—they say NO to abridged books.
  • CDs still account for 70% of the sales.
  • Even though downloading to an MP3 is easy and cheap, the majority of audio book fans have not yet invested in the IPod or other player.
  • The fastest growing part of the industry is in downloadable, rather than on disc.
  • The 18 to 24 age cohort is growing faster than any other buyer of audio books.
  • The preferred genres are mystery, thriller and comedy.
  • People prefer to transfer sound files to CDs rather than MP3.
  • A normal-size book might take 20 hours instead of 3 minutes on MP3.
  • Lowe thinks this may change, particularly with built-in MP3 players in cars.

How do you listen to books? Do you buy, rent or download? Join the conversation.

Did you miss our original posts on alternatives to reading a book in print? Part II is here.

 

 

 

 

Read It (MORE) New Ways

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Preparation for a road trip at our house  includes a decision on what audio books to take along.  This takes a bit of negotiating, since Mr. Traveler and I do not always agree on what makes a good read (or listen, in this case).  He likes escape fiction–lots of action. I like more contemplative reads. We generally compromise on mysteries. But we never compromise on the length. We DO NOT buy or rent abridged. Give the author a break! Read it (listen to it) the way it was written.

But whatever you like to listen to in your car, you now have a lot of choices for where to get that audio book.  Our public library branches have a limited selection, but generally something interesting. We are fortunate to have an enormous used book store that carries books on tape (getting rarer) and CDs. And on the way out of town we can always stop at Cracker Barrel Restaurant along the freeway and then return a rented book anywhere along our travels. Problem is, they stock more abridged than full versions.

If you have an MP3 player–an IPOD, cell phone that takes recorded material, or other device, you can download books from dozens of sites on line. Continue reading Read It (MORE) New Ways →