There have been plenty of obituaries for Shane MacGowan over recent days, some good, some bad. All giving him the credit he deserved and probably could have heard more of during his career.
I saw The Pogues live a couple of times, and when living in Paris in the 90s was friendly with a mainly Irish crowd, for whom The Pogues - by then separated from MacGwan who was forging a career as a solo artist- were a landmark of recent Irish musical culture.
It was during these years that MacGowan would work with Alan Stivell, a French musician who was always ready to celebrate the celtic connections between Brittany, Ireland, and the other celtic nations.
Shane MacGowan appeared on two tracks on Stivell's Again album, a collection that saw him revisit earlier work, this time in collaboration with other artists. Three tracks featured MagGowan, Tri Martelot, Suite Sudarmoricaine and The Foggy Dew.
Many artists who worked with MacGown or who knew him have paid tribute to his unique talent, Stivell among them.
He wrote: "It was a great gift he gave me, and for me a tip of the hat to these punk musicians to whom we owe their participation in a new Celtic wave that was about to emerge.
"His iconoclastic way of interpreting Irish songs, the opposite of an almost classical polished approach, seduced me like many people."
They worked together shortly after MacGowan parted from The Pogues, the collaboration probably being a welcome opportunity for him in what was no doubt an uncertain time.
If it's a footnote to an extraordinary career and the life of a unique artist, it's a worthy one.
No comments:
Post a Comment