Just Us Folk

There is an Ireland that Karan Casey wants you to know about. It’s an Ireland based more on historical facts than the usual tourism cliches about the Emerald Isle. Karan is shedding light on this Ireland through the songs on her latest album, Nine Apples Of Gold, and through guided trips to Ireland.

“I’ve been doing a lot of activism in relation to women in Ireland,” she related at last year’s Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich Ontario.

Working with the organization Fair Play to improve working conditions for women in Ireland, Karan helped in issues from the struggle against pay disparity through to sexual assault. The songs on Nine Apples Of Gold look at those subjects and more with women at the forefront.

“It’s a lot about comaraderie and friendship, supporting women, and men supporting women.”

Karan had contributions on the album from Seán Óg Graham who produced the album, co-wrote some of the songs and played multiple instruments, along with Niamh Dunne who played fiddle, sang and created the string arrangements.

At the same time Karan was working on Nine Apples Of Gold, she was also working on a theatrical production called The Women, We Will Rise. In 2016 she was invited to Dublin to sing at the centenary of the Irish Rebellion. Looking for songs about women during that time Karan could only find three, which weren’t very good, so she set about to write her own.

“I started researching and found out my own great-grandmother was involved in the rebellion. It had been hushed up all these years. Her husband had been on a hunger strike in England so Agnes Ryan, with twelve children, ran the home while he was away.”

Karan also discovered a number of suffragettes who gave talks around the country insisting on peace at the time of The Great War, presenting theatrical shows, writing to the newspapers and creating songs and poems. Women in those days set up farm co-operatives and discussed proper land use along with creating a soup kitchen to feed children living in tenements.

“So I was trying to honour them which evolved into the play and then I actually wrote a book as well. I was really invigorated by their stories.”

Following the Irish Rebellion, the environment for women in Ireland changed drastically due to a very conservative government who, in conjunction with the Catholic Church, repressed women’s contributions and forced them back into the roles of subservient wives and mothers. As an example, in 1918 the Countess Constance Markievicz was the first-ever female government minister in all of Europe. There wouldn't be another female minister in Ireland until 1979.

“I think the powers that be saw the strength of the women and really pushed back.”

Karan’s other project to highlight unknown stories of Ireland is a ten-day bus tour which came out of the album and the play.

“The tour talks a lot about women and I have women historians who’ve written books over the past twenty years about women in Ireland’s past.”

Besides visiting favourite locations like the Cliffs Of Moher and various museums, participants will discover a few hidden places of interest in Sligo, Derry, Belfast, Dublin, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Waterford.

“It’s talking about a more modern version of Ireland and looking at what women did, along with presenting concerts every night with some of my favourite singers and musicians.”

Nine Apples Of Gold is Karan Casey’s 9th solo album since 1997. Before that she spent four years in the New York City-based Irish band Solas.

“It was a bit of a whirlwind because we made three albums and I made a solo album in those years. I learned about really hard work, about trying to enjoy your time on stage and connecting with your audience. I fell into the lap of the gods because it gave me a profile from which to launch my solo career.”

One of the factors in the success of Solas in the late 90’s was a resurgence in interest of all things Irish, partly due to the media attention given to Riverdance.

“We were just trying to enjoy ourselves back then. We were pretty wild! Now I’m just drinking ginger and lemon tea.”

For more on Karan Casey and Nine Apples Of Gold, go to http://karancasey.com.