Seán Ryan & P.J.Moloney - Traditional Music of Ireland vol.1 (1960)

320 kbps



Seán Ryan & P.J.Moloney - Traditional Music of Ireland vol.1 (Avoca - 33 AV 121 - 1960)

Tipperary fiddler Seán Ryan and Galway flute player P.J.Moloney won the All-Ireland duet title in 1956, and recorded this beautiful unacompanied album on the Avoca label around four years later. A great number of Seán Ryan's tunes have become assimilated into the tradition, but it is a great shame that his recordings are largely unobtainable, and that his absolutely wonderful playing is not more readily available to be heard. You can read about Seán Ryan's music on a website created by his son Brian, and in a piece by Brendan Taaffe which you can read here.

This was ripped from a tape-recording of a well-loved LP, so the sound quality has deteriorated substantially, but the playing really is something else.

The image I have used for the cover is taken from a lovely painting by the artist Sheila Dewsbury, whose work can be viewed here.

Thanks to P.J. for sharing this, and a great number of other wonderful recordings.


1. Paddy Kelly's/Down the Broom/Farewell to Connaught [Reels]
2. The Castle/McKenna's [Jigs]
3. The Cuckoo's Nest/Cooley's/O'Brien's [Hornpipes]
4. O'Meara's/The Leitrim [Reels]
5. The Blackbird [Set Dance]
6. The Wheels of the World/Tom Steele [Reels]
7. Tony Molloy's/Out on the Ocean/The Killimore [Jigs]
8. Bonnie Kate/Jenny's Chickens [Reels]
9. McMahon's/Dingle Bay [Hornpipes]
10. The Carraroe/Morrison's [Jigs]
11. The Dash to Portobello/The Bunch of Keys [Reels]
12. The Flowing Tide/Seán Ryan's Fancy [Hornpipes]

Download

Brendan McGlinchey - Music of a Champion (1974)

128 kbps



Brendan McGlinchey & Mary Mulholland - Music of a Champion (Silver Hill Records - PSH 100 - 1974)

Armagh native Brendan McGlinchey recorded this album on Finbar Dwyer's Silver Hill label in 1974 after moving to England in the late 1960s. More information about his music can be found here, in a piece by Brendan Taaffe, in which McGlinchey describes life as a young musician in Armagh, the development of his playing while on the road with bands in Ireland and amongst the emigré community in London, as well as explaining the surprising fifteen year hiatus in his playing which was to begin only four years after this album was recorded. For a less-polished, unaccompanied recording of McGlinchey's playing made in 1973 look here.

You can also listen to McGlinchey playing 'The Job of Journeywork' with Michael Rooney here.

1. Splendid Isolation/Lawrie's [Reels]
2. Whelan's/Paddy Taylor's [Jigs]
3. Across the Fence to the Neighbour's Wife/The Gate to the West (The Acrobat) [Hornpipes]
4. The Floating Crowbar/McKenna's [Reels]
5. Banish Misfortune/The Trip to Sligo [Reels]
6. Music in the Glen/Rakish Paddy [Reels]
7. The Galway/Paddy Fahey's [Reels]
8. The Tosspot (The Queen of the West) [Hornpipe]
9. The Fisherman's Island/The College Groves [Reels]
10. The Drunken Sailor [Hornpipe]
11. The Knocknagow [Jig]
12. The Liffey Banks/The Shaskeen [Reels]

Download