Celtic group's show to have winter theme

Saturday, December 21, 2002

When the local traditional-Celtic group Finvarra's Wren takes the stage at The Ark tonight, it will celebrate the winter solstice. This is, in fact, the first day of winter - the shortest day of the year in terms of the daylight-to-darkness ratio.

Finvarra's Wren took its name from a custom practiced on St. Stephen's Day (the day after Christmas) by the so-called "wren boys" in Ireland.

"In the old tales, St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was supposedly hiding under a bush, and a wren began to sing loudly in the bush," says Jim Perkins, singer/guitarist for the band. "That attracted the attention of the men who were hunting for him, and he was dragged out of the bush, taken away and stoned to death.

"So, ever since, in Irish folklore, there has been a revenge grudge against the wren. Irish boys would go out and try to hunt down a wren, and in old times, actually try to kill one. In the last century, though, they have just made a small stuffed effigy of the wren, put it in a shoebox, like a coffin, and go door to door with it, and perform little songs and rhymes and dances.

"The wren boys would blacken their faces with coal, and put straw under funny hats, to look otherworldly, and after their performance, they'd gather alms -like pennies, or maybe some food or drink.

"We've always fashioned ourselves after the idea of the Irish wren boys."

At tonight's special solstice show, the group will focus on traditional songs from Ireland, Scotland, England and the U.S. that have a winter theme or tell stories about the solstice.

"Many of the songs tend to focus on the death-and-rebirth theme of winter, going back centuries to the way it appeared to people in the bronze age, when the sun seemed to be going away, and they would light fires, and bring out greenery and put it in the earth," Perkins says.

He has been doing variations on the solstice show for about seven years, dating back to when he led a group dubbed Jim Perkins and the Wren Band, which had a shifting group of members. The current line-up - which includes Perkins' wife, Cheryl Burns, on Appalachian dulcimer and vocals; Terrence McKinney on uilleann pipes; and Marty Somberg on fiddle - solidified four years ago and the band changed its name.

McKinney is an accomplished piper who competed for several years in regional and international Highland bagpipe competitions, traveling to Scotland one year and placing fifth in his class. In Finvarra's Wren, he plays the Irish uilleann pipes.

Somberg leads the Sunday-night Celtic-music sessions at Conor O'Neill's pub in Ann Arbor. Burns, meanwhile, has devised a unique "cross key" style of playing that allows her to play in many more keys than players who use the traditional method. "She brings three dulcimers to the shows, so, between them, she can play in about nine different keys," says Perkins.

The dulcimer was not used in traditional Celtic songs in Ireland or Scotland, says Perkins: "It was developed in the southeastern U.S. around the 1830s." So, when they perform a traditional song from the British Isles, they rearrange it for their particular instrumentation.

"We take great liberties in the arrangements," says Perkins. "And we also sing many songs unaccompanied by instruments, which is the traditional way of Irish singing."

"Finvarra's Wren is a group with a diverse musical background that that gives a great traditional Celtic performance," says Glen Kealy, a board member of Crotty-Doran, the Detroit-Windsor chapter of an international group devoted to the celebration of Irish music and culture. "They're versed in both Celtic music and American folk music, so they appeal to people who enjoy both of those styles."

Finvarra's Wren released its self-titled debut album in 1998, "but it's mostly me and Cheryl, with Terrence playing the small Scottish pipes on a couple of tunes," Perkins says. The group has been working on a new recording, which is about half complete.

Perkins began his performing career playing American folk songs, but was soon attracted to traditional Irish music.

"I learned that, in both Ireland and the U.S., playing this kind of music was very much a social event," says Perkins. "People gather every week and have an informal session, to share tunes.

"And everyone shares - a kid who can just scratch out a couple of tunes, or some little old guy with a button accordion - and some nights, if the Chieftains or Altan or another one of the big Irish groups are in town and they have a night off, one of them might sit in.

"So it's top to bottom. I love that about it - everyone shares, at every level."

Writer and music critic Kevin Ransom can be reached at KevRansom@msn.com.