Album Launch – Jason O’Rouke “The Sunny Side”

The Queens hotel Ennis, Sanctuary room.

Friday 11th Nov 2022 @8pm

Jason O’Rouke “The Sunny Side”

Free entry.

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The Sunny Side of the Latch is Irish concertina player Jason O’Rourke’s eighth album and his third solo project. The album is comprised of 24 new compositions in the traditional style, and contains ten tracks totalling 43 minutes. There is a wide variety of material, including less common tunes such as highlands, hop jigs, and French mazurkas.

Jason uses two vintage Jeffries concertinas, one in standard tuning and the other in B.

He is joined on this recording by a wealth of traditional music’s greatest accompanists: Steve Cooney, Tony McManus, Deirdre Galway, Luke Ward, Jacopo Ventura, Caterina Sangineto, Dermot Mulholland and MiadhachlughainO’Donnell.

Jason is launching the album at Ennis Trad Fest on Friday 11th November and will embark on a two week tour in Italy immediately after.

“Traditional music is all about communication and connectivity. It’s almost as if the tunes don’t exist until we play them with people and for people. The fact that this collection has come out of a period where those inter-personal possibilities had been removed is a testament to Jason O’Rourke’s creativity. In his descriptions of the tunes and their titles you can see Jason conjuring up and re-imagining all those human connections that make Irish traditional music such a vibrant art form. It’s all about people and places. Through these tunes we hear Jason reaching out from his adopted home of Belfast, through every corner of Ireland where there’s a good tune to be had, to places as far-flung as Scotland, Italy, India and Cambodia. We hear the echoes of all the musicians past and present that have helped to form Jason’s musical identity.”

Niall Vallely

You can find his music on Bandcamp: