Salut! Live

Colin Randall's choice

1  Paul Brady:  Arthur McBride. My Desert Island Discs selection as the one stand-out piece. Brady packs social history, grim  humour and superb musicianship into this finest of press gang songs

2 Altan - John Doherty Reels. No compilation of Irish music would be complete without a set of tunes, Altan deliveer traditional music just about as good as it gets.

3 Christy Moore - Smoke and Strong Whiskey. An accomplished songwriter and magical interpreter of other people's work, Moore is also a supreme showman with captivating stage presence. This is one of his, a perceptive portrait of Irisb social ills

4 Dance to Tipperary - Fields of Athenry. Born in Dublin, adopted by Celtic fans, stolen by Liverpool supporters, Pete St John's song was a favouite of Paddy Sheehan, Corkman and late father of some of Colin’s closest friends. He would barely recognise this pulsating techno version sung to and with a Celtic Park crowd. 

5 The Cranberries - Zombie. The Troubles inspired many better songs than this but it is a good and powerful one reacting to the 1993 IRA bombing that killed two children in Warrington. Plus I owe Dolores O'Riordan a posthumous apology for once, long ago, being unkind, wrongly, about her songwriting abilities.

6 The Chieftains with Joan Osborne - Raglan Road. There have been many excellent treatments of  Patrick Kavanagh's poem, set to a traditional tune. This combines the Chieftains' towering musicianship and the beauty of Osborne's singing.

7 Glen Hansard & Friends - The Auld Triangle. The Royal Albert Hall is the unlikely setting as Hansard oozes charm while leading fellow performers and audience in a hearty singsong of the prison ballad in the presence of Michael D Higgins during the first state visit by an Irish president to the UK, in 2014.

Andrew Curry's choice

Donal Lunny, False Fly: A seven year girl outwits the Devil, who has appeared to her as an insect. This is something of a family favourite, from Lunny’s outstanding record Coolfin. Maighréad and Triona Ní Dhomhnaill are the vocalists.

Luka Bloom, City of Chicago: Perhaps the best song about Irish emigration, written and perfomed by.Luka Bloom—Christy Moore’s brother.

Mary Black (with Seamus Begley), Bruach Na Carraige Báine: Mary Black duets with the traditional Irish musician Seamus Begley on a traditional Gaelic air that was first collected in 1806.

Sharon Shannon, Galway Girl: A heart mended and broken in an hour. Sharon Shannon and Mundy perform Galway Girl live in the middle of Galway.

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Paddy Fahey’s Reel. From their sparse, spare record Lonesome Touch, one of the great Irish fiddle records. Hayes’s touch is gorgeous.

Cara Dillon, She Moved Through The Fair.  A classic voice sings one of the classic Irish songs.

The Dubliners, Seven Drunken Nights: In which an adulterous wife runs rings round her drunken husband, and who can blame her if he’s always drunk? The perfect Dubliners’ song. I’m hoping the other artists in this list will all join them onstage for this one.

There’s a Salut Live playlist of this imaginary CD here. But of course we’ve missed things here. Tell us what else you’d want to see on this compilation—in the comments or at the Facebook group.

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