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Kay McCarthy at the Celtic Cafe - Interview by Alfredo De Pietra.
The Celtic Cafe is grateful to Keltika Magazine of Italy for sharing some of the work of Alfredo De Pietra, its Music Column Editor, translated into English.

Also by Alfredo De Pietra the interview for "Irish Music Magazine" in April 2004 while John O'Regan wrote an appreciative review for the June 2004 issue of the same magazine.

Visit www.zyx.de the site of the German company which distributes Kay's latest Cd on the Continent.

On the 1st October 2003, Kay and her group were hosted by the Italian State Television, RAI 1, during the popular talk show, "Porta a Porta" to honour ex President Francsco Cossiga's great love for Ireland.

The press has always followed Kay McCarthy and her Group with interest. Here is a selection of some comments, translated from the Italian:

Turin Conservatory "[…] It is impossible not to be impressed with her elegant ballads, full of melancholy, by the contagious rhythm of her enthralling dance tunes. She is as minute as she is lively, ironic and determined. One would almost consider her Italian, at least be adoption, especially thanks to her exuberance, more akin to the Mediterranean than the Irish. Sand yet every concert of hers overflows with the musical tradition of the green isle […] un decidedly varied repertoire, full of political waltzes and folk lore […] Hers is a career founded on tenacity, defiant of fashion and fad, corroborated by the presence of a technically superb band.

"Kay McCarthy possesses a naturally perspicacious and tasteful bent for story-telling and pays extraordinary attention to detail and to the manner in which she expounds the anecdotes she tells: often drawn from Irish popular lore. Just like the traditional Irish story-teller, the seanchaí, her creative talent is capable of embellishing the main theme with digressions to secondary tales before returning to the main story-line, by means of a finely tuned technique involving constant interplay with the listener. If phons and phonemes are the substance of the Irish artistic tradition, Kay McCarthy, who masters and moulds them both, is fully in line with this centuries-old manifestation of Irish geniality. A meeting with this Dublin-born, Westmeath-grown singer, who has chosen Italy as her elective homeland[…] is tantamount to a detailed reflection about her home Country, about being an Irish musician in Italy at a time of renewed consumption of Celtic music".

Montefiascone. "Last night, to enflame the stars of the Village with enchantment, there was Kay McCarthy's unmistakable voice, accompanied, as always by her band of amazing virtuosi (guitar, violin, flute, percussions and Kay herself on the harp). The Dublin-born singer, testimonial of Irish culture and folk music, taught all those who turned up to know and love Ireland, the "Emerald Isle", thanks to the magic and fascination of the ballads, reels […] Kay McCarthy returned [yesterday] to the Viterbo area to present her new album, "AM", which also features her in the novel role of songwriter.

"[…] This joyful festival […] was inaugurated by a splendid evening on the 18th March in company of the much-loved [singer] Kay McCarthy at the Ghione Theatre [Rome]. Never losing sight of her, following her here and as she brings her magical singing all over Italy, keeping track of her concerts and TV apparitions, we awaited her return to Rome to be able to listen once more to her enchanting voice. And here she comes with many a new surprise […] Melodies from an album entitled "AM", which like an enticing photograph album to browse through, one cannot but listen to Kay singing and playing her harp live […]".

"[…] deserving of particular praise is the supporter group, an Italian band, which, thanks above all to the beautiful voice and the theatrical ability of the Irish singer [Kay McCarthy] helped to warm this damp and icy evening..."

"Rome meets the world […], at 10 p.m. the concert featuring Kay McCarthy, the ambassadress of Dublin sound, an occasion for joy and amusement[…]"

"Musique irlandaise à l'église Saint-Louis ce soir. Kay McCarthy, Irlandaise d'Italie. L'Irlande sera à l'honneur à l'église Saint-Louis. Après une harpiste et un joeur de uilleann pipe, la voix de Kay McCarthy fera se croiser les styles musicaux […] Kay McCarthy mêlora musiques irlandaise et mediterranéenne ce soir à l'eglise Saint-Louis".

"What's presented is a wide selection of familiar songs and tunes from the Irish folk tradition, and includes an arrangement of the dance tune The Butterfly […] followed by the 17th century song of the Wild Geese, Siul a ghra…"

"She's pretty famous this lady …. People still turn up at her concerts to have copies [of Nil se na la] autographed and then buy the other two albums, "Aris" and <"Fado, fado…."

"Kay, magical Irish voice. A resounding success at San Terenzo [Lerici] for Kay McCarthy's concert, for the splendid voice of Irish Celtic music…"

"She's back, with melodious melancholy-veined ballads and contagious dance music. Kay McCarthy, […] ambassadress of the Irish musical tradition in Italy, has just issued a new album called "Fadó, fadó..."[…]. Kay McCarthy with her crystalline voice, sings her own Ireland: that Ireland which has suffered from English domination from the struggle between Catholics and Protestants, but also the Ireland of the legends and anecdotes handed down from generation to generation […]."Fadó, fadó..." adds yet another moving chapter to the story of this energetic singer […] who began her acreer at Folkstudio […]. A career built in defiance of fad and fashion in collaboration with a band of extraordinary technical level."

"Very few musicians know how to transform their live shows into moments of true communication which go beyond performance of the pieces as such. Kay McCarthy is one of these: for her, each piece permits her to tell a story, to afford the audience glimpses of the history of her people […] All this happened last night at the Manzoni Theatre where Kay McCarthy […] performed with her faithful band […]"

"The new CD by the Dublin-born Kay McCarthy is a wealth of sounds and poetry. Kay's fables of Ireland. In Gaelic, Ireland's original language, "Fadó, fadó..." is a saying with a magical sound: it is used as a kind of key to the mystery of life […] Caressing like the sounds she weaves with her winning vocal strains (together with the social, political and environmentalist j'accuses contained in her songs) Kay McCarthy once again makes her voice heard in favour of the preservation (and the continued development) of Irish popular tradition […]"

"Kay McCarthy. The title of the Irish artist's new CD is "Fadó,fadó...": once more confirming the talent and her lively musical intuition which distinguished her previous albums. A kaleidoscope drawn from her live performances (although the Cd is not live), which broadens the singer's expressive horizons and consolidates her success based on professionalism and passion […] The wealth of inventiveness is undeniable; the correspondence between music and improvisation […] One must add that the superb musicianship of the instrumentalists made a considerable contribution to the success of the album […]"

"From the Nomadi to Kay McCarthy, this evening at the Air Treminal. Rock and mimosa remembering Kabul […] the foreign star that everyone awaits: the Dublin-born Kay McCarthy, who has a very strong following here in Italy, especially in the capital […]"

"The voice of inner strength […] Bewitching musical sensitivity and fascinating human warmth, Kay and her musicians enthral with ethereal flights of sublime fantasy and gentle ballads which give way to moments of joyful mirth or explosions of thundering grit and ire in a kaleidoscopic variety of myth and reality, whose tenuous bounds are often so slight. . ."

"Irish emotions. Trieste. Is it all James Joyce's fault? Perhaps. Because the fact is there must be something in common between Trieste and the green Ireland if, whenever Irish music is performed the people flock to the concerts. To quench its thirst for sounds. This Dublin-Trieste understanding was confirmed on Sunday evening, during the Kay McCarthy and her Group's performance […] before a packed Miela Theatre, with triestini of all ages […] airs and dance tunes which represent the entire range of Irish traditional sound and songs where McCarthy's voice itself becomes an "instrument" comprised the concert. Transmitting the Irish feelings and history creating a myriad sensations which arrive straight at the heart and the guts, before striking the brain. Forbidding one to sit quietly, making one writhe in one seat while listening to stories of injustice, war, hunger and famine […] Like "The Croppy Boy" or "Níl Sé 'na Lá" when the voice is accompanied only by the cadence of the bodhràn and cnàmha. The surprise of discovering that certain well-known tunes come from that tradition […] or allowing oneself to be drawn into the delicious melancholy of the splendid "Arís" and "She Moved through the Fair", which did not fail to move the Triestine audience, before it returned home after two hours of heartfelt, experiential musical involvement"

"McCarthy, Ireland maintain faith […] McCarthy's show was up to all expectations: accompanied by 6 players on traditional instruments (from the hurdy-gurdy to the harp) our "Celtic sister", in a ninety-minute concert brought us through the various phases of the Irish tradition. Soft ballads in Irish, stories barely whispered and part-song, lively reels accompabied by the handclap of the audience: not only a concert, but a historic-geographical trip to the emerald isle […]"

"When music unites […] then the artistic intents of the past invest the present with natural grace thanks to the involving, educated, yet slightly "dirty" voice of Kay McCarthy and the blended accompaniment of her musicians […] She presented the pieces in Italian, with precise historical and social comments, an example to be followed, because this offers the non-experts the chance of entering as fully as possible into the atmosphere of the tunes […]"

"Four hundred at the Municipal Theatre. Kay's Ireland overwhelms the audience. Success beyond all expectations. If a person, unaware of the event had entered the Municipal Theatre after the show got under way last Friday evening, they would certainly have remained thunderstruck; let's imagine the effect the sight of four hundred bellunesi, from all over the province, intent on playing "clap hands, clap hands" to the wild rhythm of the band on stage might have had on this hypothetical onlooker […] One piece led to another and the simple, heartfelt words with which the singer introduced each one […] popular Irish tales, wedded with the wealth of the musical and folk tradition won everyone over. The encores were a must[…]"

Concerts. "McCarthy's splendid performance at Belluno. The singer, though running a temperature, enthralled the audience. Infinite gentleness alternated with contagious merriment. These two moods sum up the essence of Kay McCarthy's concert the other evening at the Municiipal Theatre which delighted the numerous audience which turned out to applaud her, a concert which reached amazing depths of lyricism and philological worth; accompanied by her new band, McCarthy gave an in-field demonstration of what true professionalism means: singing with a temperature of 39°C, which few are prepared to do, dauntless, she held the stage without flinching. Kay is not only music, but also amiability, good humour (not English, fortunately!) and communicability. Between tunes she explains, better still translates, the contents of the songs, but in her own particular manner: astonishing the audience with her immense humanity and irony which bridge the gap between the stage and the audience, bringing her close to the spectators, creating a group of people sitting side by side for an amiable chat […]"

"She took the audience by the hand and led it through the ancient stories of the Irish tradition […] Wednesday evening at the Teatro del Parco, part of the "Music and Languages" festival organised by the Cultural Alderman's Office of Mestre in collaboration with the Caligola cultural association. A truly original show, two hours of emotion: from the mirth of the popular ballads to the melancholy of the love stories […] a reconstruction of the historical memory and the musical tradition of her country[…]

"[…] Her constant research into the Celtic tradition and her knowledge of the humanities […] makes her one of Ireland's most qualified and valuable musical ambassadors "

"Kay McCarthy has been a well-known figure on the Celtic music scene here in Rome for over twenty years now […] Our interview ends here […] because the recorder ran out of tape. We thank Kay, her husband Piero and their daughter Antonietta for their kindness and hospitality... we recall above all the haunting lullaby, Fead an Fhiolair.. the bookcases full of dictionaries. . . the cake, the Sicilian wine, the copy of Dante's Inferno and the maths book, both in Gaelic. A memorable evening […]"

"[…] Kay McCarthy, the Irish singer has left the students [of the Tasso Lyceum, Rome] with a vivid and lasting memory […]"

"A magnificent performance [at Rome's Teatro Olimpico] in honour of Folkstudio. The evening began with Kay McCarthy's enthralling Gaelic melodies, a mixture of melancholy and merriment. This music involves, arouses, obliges the audience to sit up and take part […]

"Saturday's concert, Irish Nocturne, both matinee and evening performances were booked out. The public gave a warm reception to […] Kay McCarthy, a charismatic figure, endowed with a splendid voice and an unexpectedly witty and caustic temperament […]"

"[…] Delicate love song, the hard reality of sweat and labour […] a varied picture painted with both gentleness and irony by Kay McCarthy and her group. The irresistible fascination of Gaelic music"

"[…] The first to come on stage was the band. Led by the Irish "voice" Kay McCarthy, who has two LP's to her name and works in Rome with Italian musicians. The ballads, at times heart-rendingly melancholy, at times so stirring as to induce the audience to keep time, contain the memory of the Irish people […] handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth"

"The Todi Festival's concert of Irish music, "People of Ireland", was booked out again last night […] The Irish artist's performance […] won the audience's total approval."

"Stormy Lullaby" is a technically well-made record […] well-played and arranged with great taste […] and which RCA with rare intelligence and foresight has included in its medium-price catalogue. A happy exception to the rule.

"The Italian group, led by the amusing and witty Irish singer, Kay McCarthy, was an excellent entree to the Chieftains' performance […]"

"[…] The feeling is immediate […] and the ballads, so moving and poetical are at their best when sung by the unaccompanied voice"

"[…] I met three [Irish] tourists in Trastevere […] They were astonished and they had every reason to be. They had just spent the evening listening to Gaelic ballads sung in Gaelic […] M/s McCarthy is the voice .."

"Had I had a million hands I would have used them all to applaud the Irish singer Kay McCarthy […] her voice lies somewhere between that of Joan Baez and Maria Carta. More flexible than the former, purer than the latter[…]"