WITH Father's Day approaching in the U.S. on June 17, perhaps the family might appreciate some suggestions in the Irish music genre that dad might not think of getting for himself. If your ould fella spends much of Sunday afternoon's singing along with the ballads featured on WFUV's Ceol na nGael (www.wfuv.org) or waxing nostalgic on Irish history and songs then perhaps you can hit the right note with these ideas. Since it's likely that he hasn't moved beyond CD technology, these collections will provide many hours of historic listening for them at home or in the car.

A few weeks ago a copy of Corkman Ron Kavana's Irish Ways: The Story of Ireland in Song, Music and Poetry arrived in the mail box and it is a mighty impressive package. Upon listening to the ambitious project devised by the multi-faceted musician, songwriter and entertainer whose career existed more in Great Britain than in his native Ire-land, its scope became even more impressive.

Having gone back to school in 1995 to brush up on his Irish history and garner a degree, Kavana makes good use of it with the 122-page booklet explaining the four-CD, 103

song package that gives good historical context through many familiar songs and poems.

Divided into four sections (one for each CD) these chapters are titled "CD1: Prehistoric Ireland to Norman Invasion," "CD2: Penal Laws to Age of Revolution," "CD3: At of Union to Great Hunger, Emigration and the Diaspora," "CD4: Fenians to Civil War, Free State to Modern Ireland."

Kavana provides narration and vocals for all of the CDs, but he has a stellar musical cast to assist him with the likes of Paddy Keenan, Derek Hickey, Colm Murphy, Brian McNeill, Gino Lupari, Niamh Parsons, Eamon and Mick Coyne from the trad realm and many more.

There are five hours of entertaining history contained in the CDs alone, but many hours of thoughtful reflection on the material contained within and the chance to give many of these songs and poems their proper place in Irish history.

Kavana maintains that it is the first collection of its kind and he may be right. Nonetheless, it is a valuable collection that bolsters the Frank Harte quote that "those in power write the history, those who suffer write the songs." Although in this case, Kavana is showing us how much history is in our songs.

As he eloquently phrased it, "The words of the people in the songs of our nation represent a unique, vivid and accessible insight into the story of Ireland, giving voice to the views of a people often denied all other means of expression and dissent. Long may our songs be written and sung, let the voice of the people be heard."