Pol MacAdaim, If We Don't Help Them Now (Self-released,
2002)
Irish singer songwriter Pol MacAdaim was born in Belfast and
at the age of 30 he has lived through the worst of the troubles in Northern
Ireland. You have to live in the real world, not read about it in newspapers,
to know what is going on. This explains a lot when you listen to this short
album. It only has 8 tracks and of these only 5 are songs. The song lyrics
are best described as being poignant and radical -- as seen through his eyes
with his opinions. I have to comment on all of this because 'the first bite
is with the eye' as they say, and it may help you to understand the theme.
The front cover of the album has a photo of Pol on a dock with a bodhran by
his side, leaning on a winch cover, looking sexy in shades and sleeveless
vest etc. The back cover is filled with a photo of riot police in protective
gear beating the stuffing out of some individual on the ground. The inside
cover is filled with a panoramic photo of a Turkish general looking at the
dead bodies of innocent Turkish & Kurdish people who have been executed
by the Turkish regime in 1991. These radical photos are there to remind us
of man's inhumanity to man. If this is not enough to shock you, I believe
the photo on the inset cover is from the Russian revolution. But I digress
-- this is a theme album and I'm not here to review the man's politics, but
his music, albeit with this album the two are connected.
So what about his music? Pol Macadaim recorded, produced and mixed this album
at Reality Records. This is a studio produced album and Pol plays guitar,
whistles, synth, bass, percussion as well as singing the vocals. The only
other musician is Patrick Martin, who plays the Uilleann pipes, and very well
too. The first impression I get when listening to Pol sing, is how much he
sounds like Christy Moore. Pol is blessed with a superb folk voice and sings
with a real heartfelt passion. He even uses the same close mike technique
that Christy does. This is all very well but on the first song 'If We Don't
Help Them Now', anyone outside of Ireland may have slight trouble, as I did,
catching all the lyrics. Ditto the same for the song 'I don't Know'. I wish
Pol had printed the lyrics in the notes, it would have made life easier.
The album starts with jigs played on the Uilleann pipes: 'Leg of the duck'
/ 'Pat O'Raffertys'. Next, written by Pol, is the title song for the album:
'If we don't help them now'. The inspiration for this very moving song came
after meeting fellow activist Alex McCrory in Dublin, whilst attending several
events aimed at showing solidarity with Turkish hunger strikers in and outside
of jails in Turkey. Track 3 finds Pol playing 'The Belfast Hornpipe' on his
whistle, a tune that is instantly recognisable. This pre-empts the next song
'The well below the valley', taken from the singing of renowned traveller
and folk singer Johnny O'Reilly from Roscommon. It's a dark song which deals
with the contentious issues surrounding incest. This recording is featured
in the film 'The Magdalene Sisters' an emotive film set in the 60's at the
Magdalene Laundries and based on the life story of 3 women who worked there.
(It's about cases of mental, physical and sexual abuse that were perpetrated
and covered up by members within the institutions of the Catholic Church.)
Possibly the best song on the album comes next. 'Bigots Scaring Children'
is superbly written and sung by Pol; it stands out! It deals with the Irish
sectarian 'protests' and the terrible scenes on the TV news. Young children
ran a gauntlet of abuse, when all they wanted to do was go to school. Almost
as a backcloth comes the next track with the haunting sound of Uilllean pipes
playing 'Port Na Bprucai.' The next song is 'I don't Know'; lyrics written
by Pol's brother Gary and set to music by Pol. It deals with environmental
issues as well as equality with the 'New World Order'. Finally, ' The Rose
of Armagh' is a tribute to life and death of Rosemary Nelson. She was a human
rights activist who did a lot of wonderful work, and inspired many others
to do the same, in the interest of creating a better society in Ireland. She
was brutally murdered by car bomb, not far from the school her children attended.
A beautiful song that ends the album, and will leave you wondering.
As a debut album it is good and radical; devotees of contemporary Irish music
will love it. A lot of time and thought have gone into the arrangements. The
album, unfortunately, runs only 31 minutes 23 seconds -- why? This is a young
man who is well worth listening to and could have a big future in folk music.
The album put me in mind of an old vinyl LP of Irish protest songs I have
by The Barleycorn called The Boys Behind The Wire - Live at the
Embankment, released in 1972. Just goes to show nothing changes, though
it's about time it did!
Pol MacAdaim has a Web site here
