Dereck Warfield

by John Nixon
Derek Warfield needs no introduction. For almost forty years he has stamped his unique imprimatur on the rebel and folk music of our times. He must have been overwhelmed and personally delighted when Michael Davitt's alternative national anthem A Nation Once Again was voted internationally the most popular song of the century.

Along with On The One Road the song is as synonymous with the Tones as Warfield himself is with the tradition of revolutionary songs. I first heard the Tones play in the O Gorman Arms in Bundoran in the summer of 1972 and the reaction of the crowd then, mostly young northern folk who had just watched on TV historical events unfolding on the streets of Belfast was much the same as the crowd of young folk who packed a recent venue in the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, Armagh City.

The band has changed but the music and its message is the same. Warfield is vintage stuff (but not because he's of a generation which is chronologically moving on!). His stamina and vibrancy seems fathomless. His dedication to his music coupled with his knowledge of the history behind the songs, the events, people and circumstances that spawned and shaped music and lyrics. The young generations love it and if any musician has kept the umbilical cord intact with the passing on of this unique musical tradition to the generations then Warfield's the man. Things, of course, have changed and there have been parting of the ways but not to the detriment of the music and certainly not to Warfield's dedication to it.

Legacy*, his new CD maintains an important link. It has new material: Australia A Republic, NYPD Honours Ireland's Sons, The Song of The Famine, Mairead Farrell, Sean Savage and Danny McCann, Sellafield Tiocfaidh Ar La, etc. They are songs for all generations. Warfield and his band have their finger on the pulse and we can all rest easy that a unique tradition lives on.
Legacy is produced by Shanachie records featuring Joe O Rourke, Martin Cooney, Joe Finn, Des and Kevin Sheeran.

FOURTHWRITE, PO BOX 31, Belfast BT127EE