<![CDATA[The Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Donohue%2C+Gabriel+%28piano%29+103020997&output=rss2 Fri, 29 Mar 2024 08:35:57 -0700 burnsref@bc.edu (The Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music) Boston College Libraries Zend_Feed http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Tart ar an Ól]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/460

Story

A version of this tune can be found in The Roche Collection, but I first heard it played by Eddie Moloney from Ballinakill, County Galway. Eddie, Tommy Mulhaire, and his son Brendan were among those who travelled on a number of occasions in the 1960s with Mulhaire's Céilí Band to perform in different towns around County Kerry. These performances were part of a series of concerts and music weekends organised by Diarmuid Ó Catháin, who was later to become president of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. I was thrilled when Joanie Madden, daughter of yet another Galway musician, Joe Madden, recorded the tune for me. Thanks, Joanie – keep up the great work that you and Cherish the Ladies do. We cherish you! Sláinte to you all!

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
01-27_Tart_ar_an_Ol-Jig.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:12 -0800
<![CDATA[Jim Conroy's]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/481

Story

Jack Coen had a storehouse of older tunes from his native East Galway. Jack learned this tune from the playing of Jim Conroy, a flute player from his part of the country who was a great musical influence. It is played here for us by the one and only Joanie Madden.

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
04-12_Jim_Conroys-Jig.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:13 -0800
<![CDATA[Whelan's Auld Sow]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/494

Story

The leader of the band Cherish the Ladies is Joanie Madden, who plays this tune for us on the flute. I first heard Eddie Moloney play it. Eddie came from Ballinakill in County Galway and may have named the tune. Tommy Whelan was a member of the Ballinakill Traditional Players. However, I do not know if he indeed owned a sow...

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
05-30_Whelans_Auld_Sow-Jig.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:14 -0800
<![CDATA[Séamus Connolly's]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/445

Story

I was honoured when Mrs. Matilda Murdoch from New Brunswick composed this hornpipe for me on her ninetieth birthday. After a night of playing music together at her daughter's home in Massachusetts, Matilda presented me with this very recording of herself playing her composition. A wonderful lady, a great composer and fiddle player, Matilda Murdoch has done much for the music of the Gael. God bless you, my friend. Gabriel Donohue added piano accompaniment to Matilda's fiddle, and we both spoke to her at her home as she celebrated her ninety-second birthday. She loved the track with Gabriel's piano playing. She asked Gabriel if he would go on tour with her – so young at heart!

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
06-30_Seamus_Connollys-Hornpipe.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:11 -0800
<![CDATA[Billy Caples' Barndance]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/411

Story

This barndance is another tune from the repertoire of Boston accordionist Billy Caples. I am joined by Nicole Rabata playing flute and Kevin McElroy playing the tenor banjo. Gabriel Donohue later added his piano playing to the track.

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
06-32_Billy_Caples_Barndance.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:10 -0800
<![CDATA[Máire Mo Chara]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/400

Story

This air, played here by its composer, Josephine Keegan, is a special tribute to her friend Máire McDonnell-Garvey, author of numerous books on the history and music of the West of Ireland. Máire worked all her life promoting traditional Irish music. She was secretary to the Dublin County branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and she was a fine fiddle player in the Roscommon and Sligo styles of playing. Thank you, Josephine, for remembering Máire with this lovely air.

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
07-04_Maire_Mo_Chara-Air.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:09 -0800
<![CDATA[Queen of the Faeries]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/695

Story

I learned this set dance from the playing of Larry Redican. Its first few measures seem to be related to the melody of an old tune – also a set dance – called 'The King of the Fairies'. And so, 'here's me' (an old Irish expression) playing 'Queen of the Faeries'.

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
08-07_Queen_of_the_Faeries-Set_Dance.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:22 -0800
<![CDATA[Just Because It's You]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/731

Story

My dear friend Cindy Polo wrote this lovely tune in memory of her Dad. In her own words she tells us how it came to be:

'My first attempt at Irish fiddle playing was at a music camp in 2008, a violin novice, where I had the opportunity to learn from Séamus Connolly. He suggested that I could create a tune if I thought about a meaningful event. The tune played here by Séamus was my first attempt at composing music. It is in waltz time, and I wrote it in memory of my father, Edward Thomas Keane. As a young child, we would waltz across the living room, me riding on his feet. In later years there were father–daughter dinner dances and the dance at my wedding. We had our last waltz in 2001, the weekend before he died in the World Trade Tower on September 11th.'

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
08-08_Just_Because_Its_You-Waltz.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:24 -0800
<![CDATA[Crooked Hurricane, The]]> https://connollymusiccollection.bc.edu/document/525

Story

My good friend Cindy Polo made this tune and dedicated it to another friend, Randy Bridgman. I enjoyed playing this tune with Cindy and Gabriel Donohue. In Cindy's own words, she tells us about 'The Crooked Hurricane':

'What else to do while the power is out in the middle of a hurricane? Fiddle and fiddle! I composed this tune as Hurricane Irene battered eastern North Carolina in 2011. The hurricane did not travel as expected. Its unusual pattern of travel was described as crooked. The tune too is crooked in the style of some Canadian fiddle tunes. I dedicate the jig to my friend Randy Bridgman, a native of Newfoundland. This tune is also crooked, somewhat like the shape of many of the trees in my garden when the storm subsided.'

Publisher

Séamus Connolly
Boston College Libraries
08-34_The_Crooked_Hurricane-Jig.pdf
]]>
Fri, 12 Feb 2016 08:43:15 -0800