The Boys of the Lough, one of the British Isles' premier Celtic music groups, seemed to derive surprisingly little inspiration from a performance in Los Angeles during the week of the wearing of the green. Saturday night at the Ambassador Auditorium, the Boys presented a far-ranging collection of jigs, reels and marches that was long on accuracy and a bit short on gusto.
Drawing on the music of Ireland, Scotland and other Celtic sources, the Boys constructed near-orchestral blends of flute, concertina, cittern, violin and uilleann pipes. But with the exception of a rousing penny-whistle duet between Cathal McConnell and Christy O'Leary, and an energetic closing set of reels, the music had too much the feeling of a concert program, and too little of the infectious, foot-tapping exuberance of the Celtic dances which are at its source.
