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MP3 Comhaltas Concert Tour - Echoes of Erin 2006
19 MP3 Songs
WORLD: Celtic, FOLK: Traditional Folk
Details:
Comhaltas Concert Tour of North America 2006
A Colourful and Exciting Show of
Irish Traditional Music, Song, Dance & Humour
Artistes:
Siobhán Ní Chonaráin (Limerick) – Bean a’Tí/Flute
Nora Butler (Tipperary) – Singer
Donie Lyons(Limerick) – Singer
Geraldine O’Callaghan (Cork) – Fiddle
Ronan Greene(Galway) – Fiddle
Sabina McCague(Monaghan) – Harp
Vincent Jordan(Birmingham) – Piano Accordion
Pádraig King(Limerick) – 2 Row Accordion
Eimear Buckley (Cork) – Concertina
Seána Agnew (Antrim) – Flute
Pádraig McGovern (Leitrim) – Uilleann Pipes
Daire McGeown (Armagh) – Banjo
Damien Mullane (London) – Melodeon/2 Row Accordion
Katy and Sarah Flannery,Carly Adams,Trish Ward (London) – Dancers
Brendan Reill (Laois) – Tour Manager
Liner Notes:
1 Reels:The First Month of Summer/Cut the Sod (Pádraig McGovern*)
‘The First Month of Summer’ is No. 491 in O’Neill’s 1001 (The First Month of
Summer – 1001Gems). Much has written about Chief O’Neill’s work and his
many publications and the fact that this 1907 publication is still referred to
today as ‘The Book’ adds further weight to his huge significance in the
development of Irish Traditional music. One of the most famous recordings of
‘The First Month of Summer’was by the legendary fiddler Andy McGann (1928-
2004).Many tributes have been paid to the great Andy McGann since his recent
death;he was a vitally important link to the great era of Michael Coleman and
had a truly distinctive style of fiddle playing and mastery of his instrument.
Andy McGann’s contribution to the development of Irish traditional music in
North America is and will remain ‘set in stone’.
This particular setting of ‘The First Month of Summer’ is associated with
whistle and pipes and was popularised by west Clare concertina, piper and
whistle player Tommy McCarthy who spent much of his time in London.
‘Cut the Sod’featured on the 1998 ‘Leitrim’s Hidden Treasure’https://www.tradebit.com was one
of the tunes learnt by Michael McNamara from Pee Fitzpatrick, a fiddle player
from Aughavas in South Leitrim.
2 Reels: John Brosnan’s (Comp https://www.tradebit.comsnan)/Leitrim Lilter
(https://www.tradebit.comnon) (Group)
Well-known accordion-player John Brosnan composed this reel over thirty
years ago and it became absorbed into what is termed core repertoire very
https://www.tradebit.com present living in Killarney,John Brosnan recorded this reel on his long
awaited solo CD ‘The Cook in theKitchen’in 1999.
The second reel is yet another new composition,one of many tunes written by
the highly regarded composer Charlie Lennon. In his publication Musical
Memories, the renowned fiddler and pianist recalled his memories on hearing
the clear sweet notes of a whistler while he worked in a nearby bog as a child.
Charlie writes that when he wrote this reel he wanted to ‘capture the range and
musical qualities of the whistler and to mark the occasion in a tune.’ Charlie
Lennon’s compositions have long become part of the traditional repertoire in
Ireland and the world over. In recent years Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann has
honoured an Ard-Ollamh at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann,and the recipient for this
highly regarded award in 2005 was https://www.tradebit.comrlie Lennon.
3 Jigs: My Former Wife/Neary’s (Geraldine O’Callaghan)
My Former Wife is included in O’Neill’s 1001 (No.110).Whereas O’Neill actually
sourced the tune from the South Leitrim piper Sergeant James Early when he
included it in his earlier publication, in 1903,O’Neill’s Music of Ireland Eighteen
Hundred and Fifty Melodies the collector wrote that it was actually the Tullamore
piper, Bernard Delaney, who had actually introduced this tune to the Chicago
musicians. Delaney, whom O’Neill described as ‘capable of craning or playing
the Connaught staccato system of execution, the free and rolling style with a
liberal sprinkling of graces and trills was his favourite.’Like Sergeant Early and,
indeed, so many of O’Neill’s musical associates, Delaney was an officer in the
Chicago Police https://www.tradebit.com same Sergeant James Early was one of Chief O’Neill’s
closest confidantes and indeed, along with Early’s musical duet partner Mayo
fiddler,James McFadden,was a source of some of the collector’s finest tunes.
‘Neary’s’ jig is associated with the repertoire of Jim Neary, a Mayo fiddler
who lived in Chicago. He was married to pianist Eleanor Kane. The jig was
recorded by fiddle and flute duet,Jimmy McGreevy and Seamus https://www.tradebit.coms jig
has its own particular character and having been played by the Brosna Céilí
Band in the late 1990s,it has since enjoyed a revival.
4 Song:The Vales of New Direen (Donie Lyons)
The Vales of New Direen
Farewell,farewell my native land,
Farewell forever more,
I now must leave you far behind,
And seek a foreign shore,
But very soon the ocean wide,
Between us will intervene,
From that dear old home,
That’s mine no more,
In the Vales of New Direen.
Those sand dune seas I’ve crossed before,
And sought a foreign strand,
Although I soon would see,
Again my native land,
But like John Mitchell in his cell,
There’s something tells to me,
Of that dear old home,
That’s mine no more,
In the Vales of New Direen.
At home in dear old Ireland,
I,fain,for e’er would stay,
But fate indeed was destined for me,
To wander far away,
From my native hills and valleys fair,
Where dwells the shamrock green,
In that dear old home that’s mine no more,
In the Vales of New Direen.
The parties that betrayed us,
They obtained their best desire,
The life of her blighted,
They surely blasted mine,
They sent us both a wandering,
With vengeance sharp and keen,
From that dear old home,
That’s mine no more,
In the Vales of New Direen.
When last I saw my native land,
It was with mournful eye,
The tears came trickling down my face,
And loudly I did cry,
The fall of night it soon came down,
And that was last I had seen,
Of that dear old home,
That’s mine no more,
In the Vales of New Direen.
So now I must end my end my few pen lines,
In case I might be late,
The mourning train from Ardagh,
Leaves at twenty five past eight,
So God be with you Ireland,
You’re my starlit ocean Queen,
And a fond farewell to all who dwell,
In the Vales of New Direen.
‘The Vales of New Direen’is a song of emigration from the West Limerick https://www.tradebit.com
has been recorded by Treasa Ní Cheannaigh in the past who had learnt it from
the famous singer from that area, Con Greaney. It is one of many songs that
Donie Lyons remembers hearing over the years in his native West Limerick.
5 Reels: Morning Mist https://www.tradebit.comrke/Eileen O’Brien’s Reel Comp.
E.O’Brien Pádraig King*
The first reel was composed by the one and only Joe Burke and the tune lends
its name to his most recent CD,The Morning https://www.tradebit.com composed the reel in 1958
and having given it to Raymond Roland,the great East Galway accordion-player
who was one of the stalwarts of the London Irish music scene in the late 1950s
through to the 1980s Having been introduced to the London Irish music scene
the reel quickly became part of the established repertoire amongst traditional
musicians https://www.tradebit.com was first recorded by the Liverpool Céilí Band.
Eileen O’Brien,is daughter of the legendary Tipperary accordion player and
composer,Paddy O’Brien,who spent much of his life in America.‘Eileen O’Brien’s
Reel’ has been part of the core repertoire of Irish music for over twenty-five
years having been absorbed into the tradition very soon after she composed it.
Having played it at the All-Ireland Fleadh where it got one of it’s first ‘airing’
Eileen went to the first Cooley-Collins festival in Gort with her family where she
met the great East Galway flute player Paddy Carty. Like all great musicians
Carty appreciated hearing new and interesting tunes and immediately took to
the tune. Eileen O’Brien herself remembers in particular the fact that Paddy
Carty had ‘picked the tune up’with all its detail after she had only played it once
through. Many other well-known musicians in turn learnt the reel from Paddy
Carty and East Galway fiddler, Conor Tully, and like all good newly-composed
tunes the reel has ‘stood the test of time’and is played ‘as if it was old’.
6 Reels:Tom Ward’s Downfall/The Ireland We Knew
(Daire McGeown Accompaniment Damien Mullane)
‘Tom Ward’s Downfall’ has been part of ‘core’ traditional repertoire since the
legendary South Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman recorded it in https://www.tradebit.comh
has been written about the legacy of the Irish immigrant musicians to North
America who included Coleman, James Morrison, Paddy Killoran, Tom
Morrisson,Patsy Tuohy,John McKenna,https://www.tradebit.comlon and so many more,and it is
testimony to their era and the crucial ’78 https://www.tradebit.comordings,that we still pay these
tunes and tune selections today over eighty years later.
The second reel was composed by Ed Reavy (1898-1988), the fiddler and
composer who emigrated from Cavan to the U.S. in 1912 and settled in
https://www.tradebit.come many of the great musicians of the time,he played not only as
a solo performer but also in various dance bands. These immigrant bands
played a variety of music, which included hornpipes, for the Irish immigrant
population in dance halls in the major American cities. Reavy’s compositions
have been, and still are, amongst the most popular tunes in traditional
https://www.tradebit.comeed it is perhaps very appropriate that the last known recording
of Michael Coleman made in 1944, a year before he died, includes Ed Reavy’s
composition ‘Lad O’Beirne’s Hornpipe’, which he named after the great fiddler.
The reel is included in Where The Shannon Rises,the book of one hundred and
twenty-seven compositions of Ed https://www.tradebit.comvy was anxious to ensure that the
title of his tunes said something about his own values: his personal feelings
about Ireland and about the people he https://www.tradebit.com also wanted to share some of
his own life experiences with his friends – to give them something else to reflect
on as they sat down to hear his tunes played. Included in Where the Shannon
Rises are Ed Reavy’s personal anecdotes on each tune and this is what the
composer himself wrote in relation to ‘The Ireland We Knew’:
‘Much has come and gone in Ireland since the early days of this century.
Nothing remains the same in a world that has since entered its most advanced
technological age. But poets dream their dreams, and the heart of every
Irishman longs for the Ireland he once knew.’
The reel has been recorded by the Irish band Téada on their Inné AmárachCD.
7 Gol na mBan san Ár/George Whites Reel (Sabina McCague)
This challenging descriptive piece was first recorded at the turn of the century
by the Kerry piper Micí Combá Ó Suilleabháin. This piece is included in
Allisdrum’s March - a complex piece of music which commemorates the Battle
of Cnoc na nDos which was fought on 13 November https://www.tradebit.comhiquin defeated
the Irish forces under Lord Taffe in the battle and Alasdair Mac Domhnaill was
killed afterwards.
Interestingly another very different version of ‘Gol na mBan San Ár’was recorded
by Pilib Ó Laoghaire on the first ever CCÉ album The Rambles of https://www.tradebit.com source
for this particular setting was the playing of Eoghan Ó Súilleabháin from
Waterville in County https://www.tradebit.com daughter Treasa Bean Uí Bhreallacháin played the
tune for Liam De Nóraidh in https://www.tradebit.com add further variety to the history of Gol na
mBan san Ár another version of this air was notated from Seán Ó Fionnghaile by
Séamus Mac Mathúna and Breandán Breathnach in Tacair Portc.1961.
George White’s Reel has been a core repertoire tune for many years.
According to Harry Bradshaw’s research on the Fluters of Old ErinCompilation,
from which much of our present-day knowledge of the flute players of the 78
https://www.tradebit.coma is derived,George White owned a dance hall in New York during the
early years of the twentieth century. The reel formed part of a well-loved
selection, ‘George White’s’ and ‘The Carracastle Lass’or ‘Miss Langford’ which
were recorded in 1935 by Paddy Sweeney, a fiddler from the area known as
Powelsboro,near Tubbercurry in https://www.tradebit.comgo.
8 Jigs:The Luachrachán’s Jig (Composer Junoir Crehan)/
The Millers Maggot (Vincent Jordan – group *)
Both of these relaxed jigs are associated with two of the true ‘greats’ in our
musical tradition,Junior Crehan and John Kelly,both from West https://www.tradebit.com first
was composed by Martin ‘Junior’ Crehan, (1908-1998) from Ballymackea, near
Miltown Malbay. Not only was Junior Crehan, a most respected musician, he
played both the fiddle and the https://www.tradebit.com was also a man who had a great
insight into the broader spectrum of the Irish culture – the language, stories,
house dances, seanachas and oral history among them. ‘Junior’ Crehan was
taught the fiddle by Scully Casey,father of another ‘great’Bobby Casey,but he
also played the https://www.tradebit.coms tune ‘The Luachrachán’s Jig’ was, like many of
Junior Crehan’s compositions,a response to a person,an event or a feeling and
it also provides us with a fine example of Junior as a raconteur. The jig is
accompanied by the following story as taken from the recently published
Martin ‘Junior’Crehan’s Musical Compositions and Memories1908-1998.
...As I sat by the fire with my son Páidín,a sudden change came over the scene.
Down the chimney came a little man so old,and I asked him for the Crock of Gold.
“No gold I have but good advice,and if you heed it you will be wise,Grow small
barley and keep a pig,and play this tune ‘The Luachrachán’s Jig’.”
The second jig was played by the late John Kelly (1912-1987), fiddler and
concertina player,a native of Rehy,Loop Head,Co.Clare,who lived most of his
life in https://www.tradebit.comn Kelly’s shop ‘The Horse Shoe’in Capel Street was a meeting
place for so many musicians in the https://www.tradebit.comn Kelly was not oly famous for his
musicianship and his highly significant contribution to the Castle Céilí Band and
Seán Ó Riada’s Ceoltóirí Chualainn and of course, like ‘Junior’ Crehan his
contribution to the Willie Clancy Summer School,he was also highly respected
authority on Irish music with a wide and deep knowledge of the music,singing
and indeed the Irish Language. John Kelly had a particularly extensive
repertoire and it included many very old distinctive and particularly musical
tunes such as this jig,a jig that the younger generation of the Kelly family,John
Kelly Junior and his brother James, play with the old setting of the Cliffs of
https://www.tradebit.comreas it is often referred to as ‘John Kelly’s’this jig was first published
under the title ‘The Miller’s Maggot’in the milestone collection O’Farrell’s Pocket
Compnaion for the Irish or Union Pipes, which comprised a number of volumes
published circa 1804/5 – 1810.
9 Reels: Alice Fitzgerald’s/The Gatehouse Maid (Séana Agnew*)
John Kennedy was born in 1928 near Cullybackey, Co. Antrim. He was
encouraged to sing by his mother, Mary, and later learned to play the fife in
Duneaney ‘First Flute’https://www.tradebit.comly Nicholl of Killyliss then taught him https://www.tradebit.comn
Kennedy began teaching whistle and flute in Portglenone CCÉ in 1973 and
Dunloy CCÉ 1974,where he continued to teach for twenty-five years,producing
many established musicians through https://www.tradebit.comrim and https://www.tradebit.comoughout this time,
John began composing tunes and competing in the newly composed ballad
section at Fleadhanna at which he won All Ireland titles in 1984,1986,1989 and
https://www.tradebit.com 2001 a book of his life and musical compositions was published and a
CD recorded to much critical https://www.tradebit.comn Kennedy received this year,2006,one
of the highest possible accolades when he was awarded the OBE for services to
Irish Traditional Music in the Queens Birthday Honours List 2006.
‘Alice Fitzgerald’s Reel’was named in honour of the Dungarvan singer,whom
John enjoyed many a singing weekend with. Alice Fitzgerald is well known in
both singing and drama circles all over Ireland and has been a regular presenter
on many Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Concert Tours.‘The Gatehouse Maid’is part of the
core South Sligo repertoire having been originally recorded by Paddy Killoran in
https://www.tradebit.comloran recorded The Gatehouse Maid with Down the Broom and like
some of his other recorded selections, such as ‘The Enchanted Lady’ and ‘The
Holy Land’,the selection has stayed together ever since.
10 Reels:The College Groves/Down the Broom (Eimear Buckley)
The ‘College Groves’ was one of many tunes popularised by the South-Sligo
fiddler, James Morrison, who was a contemporary of Michael https://www.tradebit.com.485
in O’Neill’s 1001, where it titled the College Grove, O’Neill obtained the tune
from John Ennis,a piper and flute-player originally from County Kildare – and
yet another musical ‘patrolman’in the Chicago police https://www.tradebit.come of the other
tunes that were notated by James O’Neill (Francis O’Neill’s scribe) from Ennis
were the reels ‘Trim the Velvet’‘Toss the Feathers’‘The Dogs among the Bushes’,
‘The Reel of Bogie’ and hornpipes ‘The Kildare Fancy’ and ‘The Wicklow
Hornpipe’all tunes that are highly regarded. O’Neill had also obtained a two-
part version of the College Grove from James Kennedy,originally from Leitrim
who had learnt the tune from his father a fiddler, Peter Kennedy from
Ballinamore. O’Neill later observed that ‘The College Grove’ may have
originated in the Scottish tune ‘Miss Corbett’s Reel’.The tune offers great scope
for exploration and attention to detail is regarded as one of the finest in Irish
https://www.tradebit.com is particularly associated with the music of the great West Clare fiddler
Bobby Casey.
‘Down the Broom’ is the first reel in the well known South Sligo selection
(Down The Broom/The Gatehouse Maid) referred to in Track 10 above. This
particular setting of ‘Down the Broom’is most associated with the music of the
famous Castle Céilí Band.
11 Air/Jig: An Buachaill Caol Dubh/The House Keeper (Damien Mullane)
Damien learnt this setting of ‘An Buachaillín Bán’from the Baile na nGall singer and
accordion player Séamus Ó https://www.tradebit.com song has been in the Ó Beaglaoich
family singing tradition for many years – Séamus’sister,Eibhlín,also sang this song
many years https://www.tradebit.comtrumental settings of this air have been played by Willie Clancy
amongst others, while the words of the actual song date back to the mid-
eighteenth century to the Munster poet Seán Ó Seanacháin, a native of Tulla in
County Clare who settled in Glin by the Shannon estuary in County Limerick.
The House Keeper No.82 occurs in the 1998 Publication Tunes of The Munster
Pipers – Irish Traditional Music for James Goodman Manuscripts (Ed. Hugh
Shields/Pub ITMA). Born outside Dingle in County Kerry into a family who had
been Church of Ireland curates for many years,the young James Goodman spoke
Irish and listened to, and subsequently played on uilleann pipes, the tunes he
heard around https://www.tradebit.comon Goodman enjoyed a notable reputation as a Gaelic Irish
Scholar,becoming a Professor of Irish at Trinity College in Dublin,the latter while
acting as rector of Abbeystrewry parish near Skibbereen in West https://www.tradebit.comdman’s
Manuscripts are contained in four volumes in Trinity College https://www.tradebit.comngst the
mammoth collection of tunes from various different sources are over five
hundred tunes which he marked with the letter K,which Goodman described as
having ‘transcribed from Munster pipers etc.’Some but not all of these ‘K’tunes
appear to have been sourced from Goodman from the Kerry piper Tom Kennedy
who visited,or may have stayed with the rector while he was based in the parish
of Ardgroom,just outside Beare in West Cork.‘The Housekeeper’features as one
of the ‘K’ tune from the 1998 Irish Traditional Music Archive publication and
heretofore has long been associated with Munster and various settings of it exist
including that favoured by Denis Murphy and other Sliabh Luachra fiddlers.
12 Reels:The New Road/ Cathal McConnell’s (Group)
The new road is a well known tune throughout https://www.tradebit.comlished as a two-part
reel in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland 1850 MelodiesCollection, the third part that is
now played is attributed to Paddy Fahey. The new road was also a great
favourite of Ray Rolland,the accordion player from east Galway,who was one of
the stalwarts of the London Irish Music scene from the late 1950s through to the
https://www.tradebit.comreas the tune is often heard with each part doubled,each part here
is played only once,as Raymond Roland played and recorded it.
The second reel is a composition of the Fermanagh flute-player/singer and
entertainer Cathal McConnell, one of the founding members of the one of the
earliest groups to become internationally famous ‘The Boys of the Lough’.It was
recorded by another internationally acclaimed group,Buttons and Bows,and thus
continued to become one of the relatively new compositions which became
absorbed into the general https://www.tradebit.coms tune has particularly fond memories for
the American CCÉ Tour 2006 https://www.tradebit.comle on tour in Ireland Pádraig McGovern
played this tune as one of his solo reels. Pádraig’s interpretation of the tune –
including his intricate use of regulators- became a favourite with the entire group,
musicians,singers and dancers alike,but no-one was more enthusiastic than Nora
Butler who was constantly to be heard humming the tune,and invariably after a
time the reel became known as ‘Nora’s Tune’to the group.
13 Single Jigs: Siobhán Ní Chonaráin*
The first tune – referred to as a single jig was recorded by Boston based fiddler
Séamus Connolly whoneeds no introduction to American https://www.tradebit.comginally
from Killaloe in Co. Clare Séamus Connolly a virtuoso fiddler has long been
based in Boston and was founder of Boson College’s highly successful Gaelic
Roots Festival. Connolly had learnt the tune from the playing of Paddy Canny
and Martin Mulhaire in the late 1950s.
This second single jig would be more commonly referred to as a slide.
(Whereas both of these tunes were played in 12/8 time,some single jigs are in
6/8 time especially those associated with dancing).This slide is associated with
fiddler Paddy O’Connell from Cordal in North https://www.tradebit.com tune was identified in a
manuscript of Pádraig O’Keeffe’s music by Kerry fiddler Máire O’Keeffe who
recorded on her Cóisir House Party CD. These two tunes are very much
associated with the playing of Nickie and Anne McAuliffe from Castleisland in
Co. https://www.tradebit.comy featured on a home-recording made by the McAuliffes for Bill
McEvoy some years ago,a tape that has now circulated all over the https://www.tradebit.comle
at home on holiday Bill asked Nickie and Anne to record some of what was
known to be their very extensive repertoire for https://www.tradebit.coml brought the tape back
to America and,as has happened so many times in the past,copies of the tape
continued to be made.
14 Slow Piece: Moran’s Return (Group)
This slow piece is included in the Joyce 1909 Collection Old Irish Music and Songs
– A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished. Patrick Weston
Joyce was not only a pivotally important music collector he was also a highly
regarded historian, Irish language scholar and educationalist. His 1909
collection was one of two music collections that he published – the first
collection in 1873 consisted of One Hundred Tunes Hitherto Unpublishedand like
his substantive 1909 Collection if included many interesting notes to the tunes.
In 1888 PW Joyce also published a less spoken about collection of Irish Music
and Song,a collection of Gaelic Songs which significantly matched the syllables
of the words to the actual melody of the songs. This latter publication was
actually undertaken for the Society for The Preservation of the Irish Language.
The all-round scholar’s 1909 Collection included tunes from his own memory
and his own collections but also from the Forde and Pigott Collections in
addition to tunes he had obtained from his antiquarian colleagues, such as
Petrie- who actually published many tunes he had obtained from Joyce and
other similarly motivated people with whom he had been in communication
during the second half of the nineteenth https://www.tradebit.comce had notated many airs
and melodies from singers and ‘Moran’s Return’is one such tune,the footnote
to which stated that he had written it down from singers about 1844.
15 Jigs:The Old Walls of Liscarroll/The Knocknagow (Ronan Greene)
In 1922 O’Neill published Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melodyin which he put to
print three hundred and sixty five tunes or variants of tunes which he had not
published in his other https://www.tradebit.comse were generally sourced from a variety
of manuscripts which he had https://www.tradebit.com August 28th1922,O’Neill concluded
the introduction to the Waifs and Strays by writing that ‘As a sixth and final
contribution to the cherished cause of perpetuating Gaelic musical tradition,
the compiling of this work (https://www.tradebit.comfs and Strays of Gaelic Melody) – unique in
many respects – was undertaken in the sunset years of a long an adventurous
life, and at a time when the difficulties of publishing were most discouraging.
Should the musical antiquary, or modern composer derive from the study of
Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melodyas much profit as the editor did of pleasure in
its compilation and publication, all is well, and the desired end has been
attained.’One can only hope that O’Neill had some glimpse of just how much
musical profit has been gleamed from all his publications,but unfortunately a
study of his life story reveals that,like many great visionaries,it was only after his
death that the value of his work was truly realised.
The ‘Old Walls of Liscarroll’appears in the Waifs and StraysNo.179 and was
obtained by O’Neill from the manuscripts entitled ‘https://www.tradebit.com Dancing,London and
Castleisland’on donation by https://www.tradebit.comdy in https://www.tradebit.com footnote to this tune
includes some interesting comment by O’Neill:
... In the year 1902 a thin oblong book of https://www.tradebit.comic came to hand from P.D.
Reidy ‘Prof. of Dancing, London and Castleisland’. Although it included forty
tunes from the repertoire of five competent fiddlers,nearly all were variants of
tunes already in our https://www.tradebit.coms jig,however,as played by Daniel https://www.tradebit.comleher
is one of the https://www.tradebit.comre can be little doubt that Mr Reidy’s title was a well
deserved, because his fame as a dancer and dancing master in early life in
North Kerry was successfully maintained later in life in London,where he was
esteemed as an authority on the subject. Frequent mention of his name
appears in Irish Minstrels and Musicians...
‘The Knocknagow’ became popular after it was recorded by Joe Burke on the
1970 album,Galway’s Own Joe https://www.tradebit.com had heard the tune in America and it
was after this recording that the Knocknagow jig became popular in Ireland and
has remained so ever since.‘The Knocknagow’is included in O’Neill’s 1850(No.
1113) and,like many of the finest of the tunes in O’Neill’s 1001 and O’Neill’s 1850
was sourced by O’Neill from Edward Cronin, a fiddler originally from Limerick
Junction on the Limerick-Tipperary border. Chief O’Neill published many fine
tunes that were sourced from Cronin and indeed the same fiddler composed
‘Chief O’Neill’s Hornpipe’.
16 Song: An Buachaillín Donn (Nora Butler)
An Buachaillín Donn
My true love he dwells on the mountain
Like a war eagle fearless and free
By the side of a low tuning fountain
That wanders through wild Annalae
His soul has more valour and honour
Than a king with his palace and crown
For the blood of the race of O’Connor
Fills the veins of my ‘Buachaillín Donn’
Soft ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’I’ll give him
Every Sunday when he comes to me
And sure what can I do but believe him
When he whispers ‘A Cuisle Mo Chroí’
For his look is so truthful and tender
From his bright roving eyes of dark brown
That I’m sure any lady of splendour
Could be coaxed by my ‘Buachaillín Donn’
My father has riches in plenty
And suitors for me in his eye
Ah but let my age come to twenty
And it’s I’ll give them all the good bye
I long for a home on the mountain
Far away from the dust of the town
With the music of a low tuning fountain
And the love of my ‘Buachaillín Donn’
Nora Butler has fond memories of learning this song many years ago when she
was a young girl of sixteen.A local man named Martin Power from Ballycommon
near Nenagh,who had a great interest in singing,met Nora one day after she had
danced at a https://www.tradebit.comtin told her that he had ‘a lovely song that would really suit
her’. Nora went on to sing ‘An Buachaillín Donn’ on many an occasion all over
Ireland,a song which had not been previously heard on a widespread basis.
17Slides: (Eimear Buckley,Pádraig King,Siobhán Ní Chonaráin,
Geraldine O’Callaghan)
These first of these three slides is a popular one in West Limerick. It occurs in
Breathnach (Vol. 2) as a number of slides and polkas which the collector
obtained from a manuscript that had belonged to a David Collins from
Abbeyfeale in West Limerick. Breathnach obtained the manuscript through
fiddler Tom Barrett who lived in Listowel.
The second tune has been a very popular tune for many years and was
published in the Roche Collectionas ‘The Echoes of Killarney’. The Roche
Collectionwas published in 1911 and the East Limerick collector and dancing
master and Roche hoped to avoid including material already published – quite
a mammoth task given that by this time,especially from 1855 onwards quite a
number of significant collections of Irish music had been published. The
inclusion of such a wide variety of tune-type, including marches, single and
hop-jigs, set-dances and quadrilles has always rendered the Collection one of
the most interesting and popular. The third slide is most associated with the
Brosna Céilí Band in North Kerry which and was one of the many tunes
popularised from their radio broadcasts during the 1970s. The late1960s
and1970s was a period during which many of the Céilí Bands which went on to
become household names played not just at Fleadhanna Cheoil but also at the
annual Oireachtas. Bands such as the Castle Céilí Band (c.f. Track 10) and the
Brosna to name just two featured on radio broadcasts at a time when much music
was still learnt from the https://www.tradebit.comy older musicians still talk about the impact of
these radio broadcasts from the late 1950s through to the 1970s. Musicians
listened to tunes that they often had not heard before and often recall the fact
that they had to listen very attentively indeed to ensure that they ‘caught’the new
tune properly as,unlike a record,there was no chance of replaying it.
18 Hornpipes:The Green Island/The Lone Bush (Group)
The first hornpipe,The Green island, is included in O’Neill’s 1850(No.1774) the
source of the tune being Captain O’Neill https://www.tradebit.comen the many references to
Ireland in some of O’Neill’s tune titles it could be easily assumed that ‘The Green
Island’was a reference to the island of Ireland but it is highly likely that it is a far
more specific reference to a landscape feature on view from O’Neill’s home in
Tralibane in West Cork. Nickie McAuliffe (c.f.Track 13) while on a visit to view
O’Neill’s homestead met a local man who pointed out a little green patch of
ground at the crossroads at Tralibane https://www.tradebit.com told Nickie that in times gone
by local people used to dance on this patch of ground,a patch referred in local
folklore to as The Green Island. Nickie immediately linked this local custom to
the name of the said hornpipe in O’Neill’s Collection. Many of O’Neill’s tunes
have names with links to the Captain’s West Cork connections – ‘Banks of the
Ilen’, ‘The Bantry Hornpipe’, ‘The Humours of Drinagh’ and it is thought that
O’Neill may have named some tunes, which came to him without titles, after
places and memories from his childhood.
‘The Lone Bush’ is another of a composition of Ed Reavy. As stated
previously (c.f.Track 6) Reavy was anxious to ensure that the title of his tunes
said something about his own values: his personal feelings about Ireland and
about the people he https://www.tradebit.com Where The Shannon Rises,Ed Reavy himself makes
the following comment on this lovely hornpipe.
‘The Lone Bush’: There was a bush that bloomed alone outside Ed’s
https://www.tradebit.comy times he has wondered about that bush and why it survived
when all around it perished. It has meant many things to him and has always
been a life-sustaining thought.’
19 Reels: New Mown Meadow/Bonnie Kate (Damien Mullane)
This first reel has long been a favourite of melodeon players,each of them finding
it gave them the scope to explore the potential of their https://www.tradebit.com final reel
of the album,‘Bonnie Kate’,recorded with Jenny’s Chickens by Coleman in 1934,is
one of the all-time favourites in the traditional https://www.tradebit.comluded in O’Neill’s 1001
(No. 545) in his earlier 1903 Collection 1850the collector noted that he has
obtained the tune through James O’Neill.‘Bonnie Kate’is Scottish in origin but like
many Scottish tunes that became popular in Ireland but with the passage of time
they have been phrased and interpreted by Irish traditional musicians in such a
way that they fit in with the oldest Irish https://www.tradebit.com repertoire associated with a folk
or traditional music will always be changing and constantly expanding according
to the preferences and influences on the musicians playing the music at any given
time and in the same way as the Irish traditional repertoire has benefited from
other musical genres and repertoires in the past so also has our Irish Traditional
Music has enhanced many other musical genres and repertoires the world over.
* indicates harp accompaniment by Sabina McCague
Acknowledgements
Recorded at:CCÉ,32,Belgrave Square,Monkstown,https://www.tradebit.comlin
Tracks 1 and 7 Recorded,mixed and mastered by Dónal O’Reilly at
Green Meadow Studio,Killeshandra,https://www.tradebit.comvan (086) 604 4227 (August 2006)
Tracks 3 and 10 Recorded,mixed and mastered by Ally O’Riada at Studio Leath Dhoras,
Cúil Aodha,https://www.tradebit.comrcaí (August 2006)
Producer:Siobhán Ní Chonaráin
Singing Advisor:Séamus Mac Mathúna
Sound Engineering:Brendan Knowlton,CCÉ Email:Brendan@https://www.tradebit.com
Design & Layout:Daire Ó Beaglaoich,Graftrónaic
CD Mastering and Replication:Trend Studios
Sleeve Notes:Siobhán Ní Chonaráin,Sabina McCague,Nickie McAuliffe and Paddy
https://www.tradebit.comnks also to Séana Agnew,Joe Burke,Eileen O’Brien,Domhnall Ó Lideadha,
Kathleen Nesbitt and to Con Herbert for a variety of contributions.
Special thanks to Bernard O’Sullivan,Tour co-ordinator,and all the staff at CCÉ Monkstown.
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