KILA MUSIC CRITIC ASSIGNMENT BY EZRA ITAAS

Here, we musically analyze a K`ila performance that took place in the Lock Up live studio in 14 th July
2020. Kila is an Irish folk band formed in 1987 with present members: Ronan O Snodaigh, Colm O
Snodaigh, Rossa O Snodaigh, Dave Hingery, Eion Dillon and Brain Hogan. Their Lock Up live show
performance was a no charge concert, in which they played for the first time after cancelling 26 gigs due
to the pandemic, performing their album ‘Alive/Beo’.

 Positive:
-Different songs genres
-less talking
-incorporates traditional folk music in a fun, feet tapping way
-educational in the sense of new instruments
 Negative:
-Too many songs
-They could have introduced the name of the songs and album
-The host commenting about peoples live concert wasn’t a bad thing, but it is still annoyed me
because of its irrelevance
 Interesting:
-Interesting instruments and arrangements:
-Diverse range of instruments. Instruments like the contemporary drums and bass and acoustic
guitar are in pop bands are incorporated in the Irish performance along with traditional Irish
instruments
-The Djembe drum for African origin was also played
-Instruments I have never seen before is played such as the Uilleann pipes, Irish flute, Irish
Bouzouki and Bodhran drum
-Their singing in the sense of repetitive lines and shouting

Not many people out there listen to Irish traditional folk music, and so we can distinctly
compare them to common types of music we listen to in our daily lives. Kila introduces their
music with a calming song building upbeat towards to the end. Timbre and texture: A high
pitched trio of sweet Celtic airy flutes sooths the audience’s ears into their playing with the soft
accompaniment of acoustic guitar. Then the Bodhran drum plays, completing the music’s Irish
sense. Contrasting with the contemporary drums, the Bodhran produces more of a ‘thudding’
sound than the loud ring of snare. They frequently changed the type of instruments for a new
timbre in each song. The most intriguing mixtures of timbre for me, came from the Uilleann
pipes and Irish flute, instruments that I have never seen before but with familiar sounds of the
bagpipe and flute. Instruments from diverse backgrounds is a matter of fact in texture, that the
contemporary bass guitar and drums was incorporated in the Irish playing perhaps encouraging
a ‘cooler’ and thicker sound of music. Pitch: Kila balances its range of pitch by involving all these
sorts of instruments; the flutes at high pitch, guitar medium and bass playing low pitch along
with the drums, altogether having a large combination of sound. The high pitched sound of the
flutes are usually played in vivace parts where it needs those high notes to crank up the
energetic feel. Form: Most of Kila’s songs comprises of the variation form where a theme is
repeated but is varied. Kila has a very interesting style of musical form where the songs usually
begin with flute and Uilleann pipe solos song halfway throughout the song, then it becomes
more upbeat correlating to the changing tempo and duration. Tempo and duration: In their first
song it begins with smooth long notes of flute and then halfway through, the rhythm is changed
to faster short notes led by the drums while the tempo stays the same. This is the exiting Irish
part for the audience where it becomes more upbeat and danceable, also signifying that Irish
singing will come in soon. This is the same with most of their other songs, while others also
speed up in tempo. Similar to the first, the second song also sustains at a smooth pace roughly
halfway, then the Uilleann pipes plays a climaxing solo speeding up the tempo before the drums
come in where it all becomes exiting and upbeat.

As I have said before not many people listen to Irish Folk music especially younger aged groups,
so hearing bands like Kila play for the first time may involve some surprises especially of their
instruments and style of singing (from my experience). There is hardly anything I could point out
in the performance that requires some improvement and all the musicians did an amazing job in
presenting true traditional Irish folk. In the context of their musical merits, I love how every song
was disparate from the previous one, always with different kinds of instruments being
introduced. It is interesting to note as a newbie to their music that most of their songs hardly
included lyrics and the way their songs are formed; when the lyrics do come in it is quite
different to every other classic song we hear daily. I would personally rate Kila’s performance 4
stars only because it isn’t my type of music and I gradually became bored throughout the many
songs they played. But if I was in the live audience, the upbeat lively parts of the songs would’ve
kept me awake and my feet tapping to the good vibes of the tune. I would totally recommend
this concert to people who have a hint interest in Irish tradition but also for other people to
have a new experience, listen to something new and surprising.