Cheebah and all that - Limerick, Ireland

Kerrynini and Mr Whippy

Good news from the Kingdom with the news that the Kerrynini (my favourite club name ever, foreign readers might need to check this link)  crew are continuing on with their monthly events in Tralee. A great radio feature on last gig available here. This month's event see Limericks own a2df along with percussion group craiceann and the local heads, full details here. This news came to us on the same day as a missive from Mayo where ex velure head bongo now resides. He now runs with the Mr Whippy Sound System which hopefully will be coming to a town near you shortly. It does exactly what it hints at in the photograph.
All of this decentralisation is amusing and of course great, in the past few years- we have had hip hop nights in Ennis, reggae in Scarrif and Jungle Republic in Valentia.
It is all a far cry from a summer in 91, I think, when returning from West Kerry I came across a flyer in tralee for Horans. Photocopied on fluroscent orange paper it contained the words, house, rap, dance around a picture of vanilla ice. The event was promised for that Saturday night. At that stage,well before Paudie Cronins 'fresh 'n'funky nights,Horans was your regular big disco.  On entering that night I found I wasn't alone as a group of about a dozen or so had ventured over from Killarney. In my innocence I maybe assumed the 4-500 others also had been tempted along for new musical delights. After a warm up of chart standards from the resident, Slipmat (anthony o rourke, from Cork) stepped up. Playing the house classics that Cork was immersed in at the time, didn't fill even a tenth of the dancefloor but it was at least easy on the ear. However the next DJ , DJ Bass (DFC) from Dublin who specialised in mixing breakbeats and techno, managed to clear the floor completely and cause considerable distress around the bar as the hordes saw their Saturday night slip away. Finally order was restored as the resident stepped in after just a bare half hour, took the mic to thank DJ Bass, and promptly launched into a slow set! As I left, a short while later, the bank of televisions surrounding the dancefloor had sprung into action and were blasting out the Cher track 'The shoop shoop song'.
Shane

in the record bag this week

geraldo pino : black woman experience ‘afro soco soul live’
clyde Alexander and sanction : got to get your love 12” coloured vinyl too..
joe mensah : africa is home
mulatu astatke : ebo lala..new 10” on soundway
peak : get carter afroart 7” features a remix by limerick favourite paul Murphy on the flip

viki anderson : baby don’t you know 7” king records
paul humphrey : funky l.a. 7” on lizard records keepin time man back in the earlier days
barry gray : theme from space 1999 funk, disco and classical music all in the mix here 7” rca records
the kay-gees : you’ve got to keep on bumpin’ (pts 1&2) 7” gary records
general crook : gimme some (part 2( 7” down to earth records my first and hopefully not my last encounter with the general
general crook : what time is it (part 2) 7” down to earth records my second and hopefully not my last encounter with the general
the delegates : convention ’72 red lion records 7” the funniest record that i own
the bar-kays : son of shaft volt records 7”
everyday people : i like what i like 7” paramount records deadly drumbeat going on here
carla whitney : war 7” jazzman
the soulful strings : within you without you / burning spear 7” cadet
miles davis : ife ‘big fun’
Peter Curtin

Peter plays the cheebah sessions occasionally. Next time in Limerick 03-Feb in Mickey Martins. You can also hear a 'selection from his collection' on Cool C 's show on powerfm.org 30 January (archived here)

dublin 2006 – a space oddisee

it’s a friday evening and what better way to beat the end of january/winter blues then with the prospect of two gigs in one night…the first port of call is the ice bar on parnell street, one of the many chinese bar and restaurants that have opened on the street in recent years…there is a beautiful aroma emanating from the partially opened door of the restaurant next door and the dub/reggae music coming from the speakers isn’t too bad either…the décor of the pub is interesting with quirky old instruments intermingled with traditional chinese decorations, a bit like the crowd in a way…i notice an old transistor radio on one of the shelves and am immediately transported back into a vague childhood memory of watching my father milk cows while listening to a dodgey transistor radio…the sound from that radio wasn’t up to much and neither is the pa system in this venue at times, with deafening consequences….on the farm at home was also where i had my first experience of hip hop listening to my brother playing his records, tapes or whatever on any medium that was available….while i now have a fairly sizeable quantity of hip hop albums and singles on vinyl my experience of live hip hop is fairly limited owning to a paucity of money sometimes and at other times to a dearth of good gigs….tonight, however, neither is an issue and i leave the ice bar to head for rí rá just unfortunately, when the place is really getting going….i reach rí rá at exactly 12 after busting a gut to get there but the girl behind the counter with pigeon english is having none of my protestations about only paying a fiver in because it is still before 12 by my phone watch….i end up paying the tenner door tax and vow to work on my punctuality….the dance floor like the venue is only starting to fill but with the recently returned davy splyce playing the beats the place is bound to be heaving in no time…. in the time that i have had a quick chat with the organiser ob and bought my first pint a remarkable thing has occurred….a circle of people has formed on the floor and the real dancing has commenced….b boys….i’ve seen pictures of break dancing and once at a wedding i djed at in a former convent one person drunkenly did a bit of a spin to ‘don’t stop till you get enough’ but this was on a completely different level altogether with people spinning on their heads, legs flying everywhere and the ever swelling crowd cheering on each move….i hadn’t felt this excited about rí rá in an awful long time, in fact, not for about four years when i first came here, a wide eyed country boy with very few records to my name but an idea of what i wanted to hear and get….so coming here to hear claire moloney play funk, afrobeat etc. on a weekly basis was a tonic but ever since then rí rá has been on a slow decline into musical mediocrity…these days it’s musical policy -barring the odd night or high profile dj- is very difficult to distinguish from the doyles and whelans of this city….so maybe this was the wake up call that it needs….the crowd always comes here so why not be a bit more diverse with the music policy again and not just for one night every couple of weeks….oddisee arrives on stage at about 1 to a really up-for-it crowd and solidly performs on the mc duties for half an hour or so….he’s new 12” is out on the all city label (link is sample) in the next couple of weeks and is definitely worth picking up….during the gig out of the corner of my eye i spot mek….having met him once before at a gig in mickey martins in limerick a couple of years back I decide to go over and say hello….he recognises me (or possible not) and after a brief chat proceeds to do a tag of scary eire on the arch way leading to the toilets using a silver spray can….24 hours later i’m back in rí rá again by chance, curious in one way to see if the optimism i had the previous night is still there….the music includes the strokes, the prodigy, basement jax, dee lite etc. etc. etc. etc…..on the archway to the toilet however, scary eire still remains at large, un-removed….
pc

Above:Paul Tarpey shots of breakdancers in Dolans Limerick