The South Wind

Given the broad exposure many of us have now had to it, it may be hard to believe what a novelty traditional Irish music was in the early 1960's. Before 1959, for example, there had never been an LP devoted to the uilleann pipes. The first pressing on Claddagh Records changed that by offering over 40 minutes of master piper Leo Rowsome. The label's second release was by a newly formed group called The Chieftains, led by an accomplished student of Rowsome's, Paddy Maloney. Now they are running (and winning Grammy's) with the likes of Van Morrison, Bela Fleck, Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, Roger Daltrey, Nanci Griffith, Tom Jones, Sting, Rosanne Cash, Ziggy Marley, Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne — well, you get the idea — but then, they were engaged in the (still) risky business of recording traditional Irish music before there was any proven market for it.

The Chieftains' early albums were a revelation to many and still serve as a touchstone for anyone interested in the traditional music of Ireland. Many of the tunes they collected, arranged and performed are now part of the standard repertoire and The South Wind is no exception. It appeared on their 1971 release, The Chieftains 3, under its Gaelic title An Ghaoth Anea. As you will hear on the audio clip that follows, they offered a delicate and nuanced take on this air. Their arrangement opens with solo uilleann pipes, joined in the second chorus by harmony and counterpoint on tin whistle — which would make for a great ear training project, by the way — later layering in other instruments as the performance unfolds.

Audio Clip: The Chieftains perform An Ghaoth Anea (The South Wind)

Another seminal group of the Irish music renaissance was The Bothy Band. I don't think they ever recorded this tune as a group, but two veterans of the ensemble, guitarist Micheal O'Domhnaill and fiddler Paddy Glackin (shown left), did their bit for New Age/Celtic comingling by contributing The South Wind to one of Windham Hill's popular Celtic Christmas samplers. Listen for O'Domhnail's monotonic bass, played throughout; notice the freedom this allows him to voice the remainder of his chords all over the fingerboard.

Audio Clip: Micheal O'Domhnaill and Paddy Glackin on The South Wind

The guitar had no place in traditional Irish music until very recently and, in my experience, is still not always welcome at a ceili (pronounced Kay' lee), an Irish jam session. At least part of the reason for this is that these melodies were written without accompaniment, which leaves the chord progression open to widely divergent interpretations. This can create real train wrecks in a jam situation. The chords I've provided for our arrangement are what you might call the "vanilla" option: as plain as they can get. The last three audio clips offer, among other things, other options for harmonizing this lovely tune.

The first is what you might hear at your local contra dance when it comes time for a waltz. Your basic bass-strummy-strummy guitar with the occasional moving bass line suffices quite nicely, thank you very much. This is from an outfit that calls itself The Celtic Music Society, about which I know nothing, but which doesn't sound so Celtic to me. No matter — have a turn around the floor to this simple rendition.

Audio Clip: The Celtic Music Society on The South Wind played as a waltz

If an Irish session can only keep one guitarist gainfully occupied at any point in time, what are the other 20 pickers supposed to do? Why, work up solo fingerstyle arrangements, of course! Often taking inspiration from Irish harp renditions, fingerstyle guitarists have taken to Celtic melodies with passion and inventiveness over the past five decades, so let's wrap up our sampling of this tune with audio clips from two skilled and influential performers who have arranged The South Wind for solo guitar. The first of them, John Renbourn, was in on the Folk and early music revivals in England from the get-go: late 50's, early 60's. This take on The South Wind is from his 1998 release on Shanachie, Traveller's Prayer.

Audio Clip: John Renbourne's arrangement of The South Wind

The second is from San Francisco-based Duck Baker, a versatile fingerstyle player whose early work on Kicking Mule Records, gave me a kick or two right where I needed it when I was a teen trying my hands at ragtime guitar. This is from his 1999 release on that label, The Kid on the Mountain: Irish, English and Scottish Fiddle Tunes for the Fingerpicking Guitarist.

Audio Clip: Duck Baker picking The South Wind