Kerry: A Kingdom of Song

Kerry: A Kingdom Of Song
Peggy Sweeney,
(Kerry Music, 2001)

"One is not of this world and the other is out of this world"; Any Kerryman will tell you that there are only two Kingdoms; the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Kerry. Well, now there are three. "The Kingdom of Song" is the title of Peggy Sweeney's new album of Kerry songs. Award-winning Peggy is no stranger to the songs of her native Kerry. Her "Songs of Sean McCarthy" and "More Songs of Sean McCarthy" were a runaway success. And each of her other albums featured at least one or two Kerry songs. The sleeve of "A Kingdom of Song", appropriately shows a map of Kerry. The 15 songs take you on a musical trip from Dooagh to Dingle and from Tarbert to Rathmore.

"The Valley of Knockanure" (that all too familiar story of young Irishmen shot by the Black-and-Tans) has been recorded by many artists. But when I heard this version I couldn't help thinking that the song was just waiting for Peggy Sweeney to sing it.

"The Tinker's Daughter" and "Brosna Town", two very moving songs have taken on a new lease of life. "The Hills of Kerry", "Lovely Banna Shore" and "As I Leave Behind Neidin" are the stuff to moisten the eyes of an exile. "Balyseedy Cross" and "Lonely Banna Strand" tell further tales of men who gave their lives in the cause of Irish Freedom. It features a refreshing rendition of a song that I hadn't heard for decades; "The Young Youth Who strayed From Milltown" as well as "The Wild Colonial Boy" and "Killarney and You".

That old favourite, and the universal anthem of Kerry, "The Rose of Tralee", "Lovely Banna Shore" and "The Wild Flower of Laune" are all given suitable treatment by the woman that this reviewer calls "The Voice of Kerry". And there is of course that tribute to her own native townland, "Rathea in County Kerry" written, for her, by her first cousin, Londoner, Brian Burke.

Peggy modestly and concisely describes it as; "...a simple little song....a beautiful little song".:

When I think of the days that once I spent
In the hills of county Kerry,
Those happy days before I went
And took the Holyhead ferry.
Well we laughed and we sang
'Til the morning sun shone,
Though my grief I try to bury,
For our lives were free in good campany,
In Rathea in County Kerry..........

It goes on to take a pensive look at a happy childhood. But this wasn't just any happy childhood. This was a Rathea happy childhood. Peggy Sweeney grew up in a house saturated in culture. Her father, who died when she was six, was a dancing teacher. Her mother, Kitty, who died suddenly last March, and to whom Peggy has dedicated this album, left a legacy of songs. Rathea has a heritage of singing, story-telling, music, dancing and what the late Sean McCarthy called "the talking song". And it seemed like almost every house had a resident songwriter and composing was seen as an important part of everyday life. I'm sure almost everyone in that close-knit community would agree with the letter, which Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun sent to the Marquis of Montrose et al;

".......if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation".

Maybe you can't make the laws of a nation, or even write a ballad, but you can enjoy the best recording of 15 Kerry songs that you are likely to hear.

Kerry: A Kingdom Of Song
CD £12.00 (including P&P)
Cassette £08.00 (Including P&P)
Coming out on video shortly

Available from;
Peggy Sweeney,
Mountcoal,
Co. Kerry,
Ireland.

Or Pat's Tracks Studio,
Causaway, Co.
Kerry,
Ireland.

Or www.kerrymusic.com

by Mattie Lennon
2nd December 2001