Friday 8 July 2011

Joe Heaney & Gabriel O'Sullivan -Joe & the Gabe (1979)

320 kbps



Joe Heaney & Gabriel O'Sullivan - Joe & the Gabe: Songs and Music of Galway
(Green Linnet - SIF 1018 - 1979)

Recorded by Peter Bellamy in 1979, this raw, unaccompanied album features songs by Joe Heaney (Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) and tunes by Gabriel O'Sullivan, known affectionately as the Gabe, on whistle, flute and fiddle. The Gabe was from Headford in East Galway, and he first learned his music from Tommy Coen, a fellow East Galway musician, when he went to work in Galway City. He later became interested in the Ballinakill style of flute playing, listening to 78s of the Ballinakill Céilí Band, and the flute playing of Tommy Whelan ('the greatest flute player of all from Ballinakill') and Stephen Maloney in particular. Gabe's flute playing, with its punchy, breathy attack, contrasts dramatically with the unbroken flow of the music of Paddy Carty, who might be considered the most famous exponent of the East Galway style of flute playing. The Gabe's personal style seems to have come from the old Ballinakill players:


Indeed it was the flutes that made them so special. Their breath control, their fingering, their timing, but above all they employed a very hard way of blowing, which, honest to God, the modern players now haven't a clue about. They always blew a very, very hard low D and went up to their tune from that, and the living echo of that hard D was right through their music. There's very few people outside of East Galway I've heard able to do this, and indeed nobody these days even tries. So that's it - the music shaped my being. It's my whole reason for existing.


Joe Heaney, or Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, came from Carna in West Connemara, a place where few could afford musical instruments, and where music was more often expressed in song. Heaney learned many of his English songs from his father, also a fine singer, and his Gaelic songs from his cousin Colm Keane, from whom Séamus Ennis is said to have collected no less than 280 songs.

You can watch a short video of Heaney singing the comic song Cúnla here.

1. Jack Coughlin's Favourite [Reel]
2. The Gabe's Miss McLeod [Reel]
3. The Widow from Mayo [Song]
4. The Duke of Leinster/The Kylebrack Rambler [Reels]
5. My Blessing on the Big Jug and it Full [Air]
6. Amhrán Muiginse (The Song of Mynish) [Song]
7. Whelan's [Jig]
8. The Lady on the Island [Reel]
9. The Banks of the Sweet Dundee [Reel]
10. Mama's Pet [Reel]
11. The Pipe on the Hob [Jig]
12. Martin Wynne's 2 [Reel]
13. Skibbereen [Song]
14. The Shaskeen [Reel]
15. Dónal Óg [Air]
16. Badoinn Tir Niad (The Teer Nee Boatman) [Song]
17. The Carraroe [Reel]
18. The Belles of Tipperary (The New Policeman) [Reel]
19. The Bogs of Shanaheever [Song]
20. The Green Blanket [Jig]

Paddy Cronin - Kerry's Own (1977)

256 kbps



Paddy Cronin - Kerry's Own (Outlet - OAS 3002 - 1977)

Paddy Cronin: Fiddle
Shea Walker: Guitar
Gogey McCullough: Bodhrán

A classic recording from the Outlet Records stable, featuring Gneevegullia native and Boston immigrant Paddy Cronin, brother of Johnny Cronin. The bodhrán accompaniment is a little wild and obtrusive but, thankfully, it was recorded on a separate channel, so it has been possible to remove it from the mix. Therefore both the original recording, and a version without the bodhrán accompaniment, are available for download. The latter is a few cents lower in pitch than the original recording.

Many thanks to BS for providing the manipulated version of the recording.

1. The Girl Who Broke My Heart/Tom Steele [Reels]
2. The Frieze Breeches [Jig]
3. Biddy Mickey's/The Drunken Sailor [Hornpipes]
4. Apples in Winter/The Trip to Galway [Jigs]
5. Jenny's Welcome to Charlie [Reel]
6. This is My Love, Do You Like Her? [Single Jig]/The Pipe on the Hob [Jig]
7. Tom Billy's (The Ballydesmond)/Din Tarrant's [Polkas]
8. The Boys of Cunnamore/Billy McCormick's [Jigs]
9. The Bashful Batchelor/Reavy's [Hornpipes]
10. Dowd's 9/Kennaw's [Reels]
11. Farewell to Ballinahulla/The Kilkenny [Jigs]
12. The Mullingar Races/The Humours of Newcastle [Reels]
13. The Maids of Mount Cisco [Reel]
14. The Kid on the Mountain [Slip Jig]

Saturday 2 July 2011

Youtube Channel




The blog now has a related Youtube channel, where I'm uploading some video clips of traditional Irish music which haven't been posted previously. I'm also replacing a few of my favourite Youtube clips with slightly better quality versions than those already posted. The videos found in the Artist Index & Video Vault will also be featured in the channel's Favourites section.

Clips just added include:

Donncha Ó Brian: Ní ar Chnoc nó ar Ísleacht [Air]/Finbarr Dwyer's [Reel]

Conal Ó Gráda: The Eavesdropper/Strop the Razor [Jigs]

Tommy Peoples: The Laird of Drumblair [Strathspey]

Michael Gallagher: The Jug of Punch/The Blockers [Reels]

Con Curtin: Off in the Morning [Reel]

Arty McGlynn: Peter Byrne's Fancy/Creeping Docken [Jigs]

Conor Tully, Seán Casey & Frank Hogan: The Pigeon on the Gate/The Drogheda Lasses [Reels]

Francie & Mickey Byrne - Ceol na dTéad (1992)

320 kbps



Francie 'Dearg' & Mickey 'Bán' Byrne - Ceol na dTéad: Traditional Irish Music Played on the Fiddle from Donegal (Cló Iar-Chonnacht - CIC078 - 1992)

A raw blast of fiddle music from the Byrne brothers of Kilcar, County Donegal, probably recorded some time in the late 1970's, shortly before Mickey passed away. There are hardly any sets here, only individual tunes, and the sound quality is that of a field recording, not a studio album. A little gem of pure Donegal fiddle music from an earlier age.

You can watch Francie Dearg playing Dinky Dorrian's Reel with Peter Carr here.

Some of the names are a little suspect, and any help in identifying those that have gone astray would be appreciated.

1. Franc a'Phoill [Jig]
2. Donegal Castle [Hornpipe]
3. Seán Ó Laidin (Danny Meehan's) [Reel]
4. Ríl Sheáin Parnell/An Cailín Rua [Reels]
5. Dúlamán na Binne Buí [Highland]
6. Jenny Rocking the Cradle [Reel]
7. Máire Mhaitiú [Air]
8. Gan Ainm [Hornpipe]
9. Gan Ainm [Reel]
10. The Scolding Wife [Reel]
11. Toss the Feathers [Reel]
12. O'Rourke's [Reel]
13. Clúine Meallta [Air]
14. Lough Isle Castle [Reel]
15. The Gravel Walks [Reel
16. Ríl Phadaí 'n Atharaigh [Reel]
17. The Oak Tree [Reel]
18. Nell's [Hornpipe]
19. The Dublin [Reel]
20. Limerick House [Reel]
21. Master Crowley's (Miss Patterson's Slipper) [Reel]
22. Stirling Castle [Strathspey]
23. Agnes Campbell [Strathspey]
24. Dinky Dorrian's [Reel]
25. The Glory [Reel]
26. An Bunnán Buí [Air]
27. Hudi Gallagher's [March]

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