Published: Wednesday, 17th June, 2009 8:09am

International and local flavour to Coscan's new album

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COSCÁN launched their new album 'Dinnseanchas" in Doyle"s of Slane last week. The band plays traditional and folk music and features John Shankey from Nobber on guitar and vocals, along with three members from the Slane area, Gerry Doggett on fiddle, accordion and tin whistle; David Nevin on bodhrán, percussion, keyboards and vocals; and Harry Long who plays low whistle, tin whistle, guitar and vocals.

'The tunes and songs on the album are associated with places from Tara to Spain, to local areas like Ballinlough and Stackallen and then to South America,' says David Nevin. 'The traditions and lore of these places, which is what the word Dinnseanchas means, is what is captured in this album.'

David adds that it was recorded by Gerry Simpson in Soundtrax Studios in Monasterboice, Drogheda. While the genre is traditional, the sound is very contemporary. Between recording, mixing and mastering, it took about eight weeks. However, this was spread over several months. The writing on the other hand was over the past two years. Sometimes the older tunes written several years ago fitted into the album better than the more recent tunes.

There are 13 tracks on the CD. Two are songs and the rest are tunes. Of the songs, the first, 'Siúil a Rúin", is the traditional lament for the thousands of Irishmen who left Ireland between 1690 and 1730 which became known as the 'Flight of the Wild Geese".

The second song, 'Still Waiting" was written by David, which highlights the 22 white crosses set in the wall near the 700 year old bridge in Slane which commemorates those who lost their lives on the bridge over the last number of years. The rest of the tunes were mainly written by both David and Harry.

The front cover is made up of different ancient maps of both Tara and Slieve Breagh, the later which was the location of The Stuck Stone. When one looks closely at the design which subtly includes the Coscán logo, the design gives the impression of circles within circles. At one point they merge to form the 'triple spiral". It also encompasses the tower on the Hill of Slane together with Slane Bridge. Throughout the background there is a hint of music staffs.

Dinnseanchas the album, will be available to buy from the bands website www.coscan.net shortly, and it will be available for download on website and iTunes very shortly. The band is busy playing gigs at the moment and on Sunday next, 21st June they will also be performing at the Scurlogstown Olympiad in Trim from 2-4pm and later the same day The Tara Summer Solstice on the Hill of Tara. They will also play the Celtic Fusion International Festival in Castlewellan and The Fiddler"s Green International Festival in Rostrevor.