Folk music--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Planxties]]>
In the 1980s, as part of a musical delegation to Washington, D.C., representing the State of Massachusetts, I had the honour of visiting the Old Post Office and hearing the bells ring. When in full peal, the bells can take up to three and a half hours to complete their continuous performance. However, my composition on this track takes only a few minutes. I am joined by Gabriel Donohue on guitar.]]>
Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) (composer) 33682623]]> Donohue, Gabriel (guitar) 103020997]]> Creative Commons License
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Connolly, Séamus]]> Donohue, Gabriel]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Jigs]]> Accordion music--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Boyle, Néillidh]]> Collins, Elizabeth]]>
Preferring to end this collection with lively, happy music, I asked my young musical friends, Kathleen Boyle from Scotland and Gráinne Murphy from Massachusetts, to do me the honour of recording the above-named tunes for this last track. These same jigs were recorded in 1937 by Kathleen's grandfather, the famed fiddle maestro Néillidh Boyle from County Donegal. The young ladies are joined by Néillidh's son Hughie Boyle, who plays piano, and together, with pride, they give us that same lift and drive associated with the wonderful music that is peculiar to County Donegal. I was thrilled when Kathleen invited me to join herself, her dad, and Gráinne in remembering her grandfather, completing an extraordinary musical circle. The torch has indeed been passed.

It so happens that the last tune on the track, 'The Connaughtman's Rambles', is the first jig I ever learned, and I did so from the 78 RPM recording that Néillidh Boyle recorded seventy-eight years ago. In a way, then, this track is symbolic of how Irish traditional music keeps coming full circle, shared back and forth between musicians across the broad Atlantic and across generations.

And lest I forget about the not-often-heard tune dedicated to a certain Biddy (a nickname for 'Bridget') from Sligo, my mind goes back in time to my grandmother sitting by the fireside listening to me trying to learn and play this fine jig. And so, in remembrance of my grandmother, Elizabeth Collins (née Rochford), a wonderful lady of tunes, songs, and stories, I hereby offer an account of the lyrics she had for 'Biddy from Sligo':

'Oh mother dear, may I go for a swim?
Yes, my darling daughter!
Mind the boys don't see your shins,
Keep them well under the water!']]>
Boyle, Kathleen (piano accordion) 254341404]]> Murphy, Gráinne (fiddle)]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Boyle, Hughie (piano) 254643013]]> Creative Commons License
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Boyle, Kathleen ]]> Murphy, Gráinne ]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Flute music--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Barndances]]> Caples, Billy]]> Rabata, Nicole (flute)]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> McElroy, Kevin (banjo) 70994386]]> Donohue, Gabriel (piano) 103020997]]> Creative Commons License
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Rabata, Nicole ]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> McElroy, Kevin]]> Donohue, Gabriel]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk music--Ireland]]> Marches--Ireland]]> Flute music--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> O'Connor, Liam]]> Rabata, Nicole (flute)]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Rabata, Nicole ]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Reels (Music)]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> O'Brien, Paddy 28799446]]> Breen, Tara (fiddle)]]> Connolly, Séamus (composer) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Polkas--Ireland]]> Concertina music]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Mac Mathúna, Ciarán 36142146]]> Neil, Paddy]]>
Not having a name for this polka, I thought, why not call it 'The Clare Glens'? I was honoured to get the opportunity to play it on my fiddle with Monsignor Charlie Coen on concertina. The tune originally came to us from another recording that Ciarán Mac Mathúna made of concertina player Paddy Neil from around that same area of Newport, County Tipperary, a place well-known for its polkas.]]>
Coen, Charles (concertina) 38213636]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Coen, Charles ]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> ]]> More info.]]>

Let us lift our parting glasses and toast all who have been associated with this collection. To our younger generation of musicians, singers, and dancers, may I suggest keep the tradition alive, enjoy life; live, love, and laugh, and always keep the flag flying. Or, as they proudly say in County Clare, ‘Up the Banner!’ Remember, there's a bit of Clare in us all.

"A Bit of Clare" was written by Killaloe poet and family friend J.P. "Jack" Noonan. Thanks to Jack's family for allowing me to publish his wonderful poem in this collection.

Séamus Connolly
Sullivan Artist-in-Residence, 2004-2015
Boston College



A BIT OF CLARE

There’s a bit of Clare about you

That I cannot quite explain.

It’s elusive as the fragrance

Of wild-woodbine after rain.

Or it may be I was dreaming

When I first looked in your eyes

Of the grey mists o’er the Shannon

Mingling with the star-specked skies.


With your fingertips caressing

I can feel again the thrill

Of the breezes that steal softly

O’er the turf-banks on the Hill

And I hear the lark at dawning

When your lilting laughter peals

It’s that bit of Clare about you

Which your ev’ry act reveals.


But whatever is that something

It brings back a memory

Of the wild rose in the hedges

And the berried rowan tree;

There’s a breath of Irish Springtime

Fragrant flowers and April rain

In that bit of Clare about you

That I cannot quite explain.

-- Jack Noonan

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Connolly, Séamus
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Noonan, J. P. ]]> ]]> Creative Commons License
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Connolly, Séamus]]> Noonan, J. P. ]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Waltzes--Ireland]]> Accordion music--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Accordion and piano music]]> Higgins, Mary]]> Lynch, Tara (accordion)]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Donohue, Gabriel (piano, keyboards) 103020997]]> Creative Commons License
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Lynch, Tara ]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> Donohue, Gabriel]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Reels (Music)]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Glackin, Paddy (fiddle) 6013273]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Glackin, Paddy ]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Jigs]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Bridgman, Randy]]> Polo, Cynthia Keane]]>
'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.']]>
Polo, Cynthia Keane (fiddle) (composer)]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Donohue, Gabriel (piano) 103020997]]> Creative Commons License
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Polo, Cynthia Keane]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> Donohue, Gabriel]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Jigs]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Grady, David]]> Joyce, P.W. Patrick Weston 71754051]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Strathspeys]]> Marches--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Polo, Cynthia Keane]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) (composer) 33682623]]> Polo, Cynthia Keane (composer)]]> Creative Commons License
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Connolly, Séamus]]> Polo, Cynthia Keane]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Jigs]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Webb, Jeannine]]> Bérubé, Alice]]>
A few days later, after my friends had returned home, a fax came to my house with a tune written on manuscript paper. It was a jig that the ladies had composed while up in my attic. They had somehow found their way up there. Unfortunately, on the day the fax arrived my machine was running low on ink. The lines on the paper all ran together on the tune's second part, and I was unable to make it out. At Sandy's suggestion, I sat at the kitchen table to compose a temporary replacement for it.

I next met the ladies a year later at the Northeast Heritage Music Camp, and we began to play the jig, but with a few surprises and laughs as our two competing second parts clashed against each other! I had to explain to them what had happened to their original second part, and my addition was demoted to a third part. We recorded it with help from Ken Perlman on banjo and Pete Sutherland on piano, two fellow teachers at the camp. Thanks, ladies, a nice gift, better than 'anything' from a shop.]]>
Webb, Jeannine (fiddle) (composer)]]> Bérubé, Alice (fiddle) (composer)]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) (composer) 33682623]]> Perlman, Ken (banjo) 30890496]]> Sutherland, Pete (piano) 28388860]]> Creative Commons License
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Webb, Jeannine ]]> Bérubé, Alice ]]> Connolly, Séamus ]]> Perlman, Ken ]]> Sutherland, Pete ]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Reels (Music)]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Moloney, Mick 13573190]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) (composer) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Connolly, Séamus]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Reels (Music)]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Gavin, Kathleen]]>
P.S. It has come to our attention that this tune is a composition of Leitrim fiddle player and multi-instrumentalist Joe Liddy. He titled the tune "The Sweat House."]]>
Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Jigs]]> Flute music--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Canny, Paddy 231654240]]> Ryan, Mattie]]> Crawford, Kevin (flute) 71291044]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Crawford, Kevin ]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Polkas--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Brooks, Ger]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Connolly, Séamus]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Hornpipes]]> Piano music--Ireland]]> Flute music--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Thomae, Hetty]]> Bob McQuillen's Old New England]]> McQuillen, Bob (piano) (composer) 11101832]]> Stiles, Deanna (flute)]]> Orzechowski, Jane McBride (fiddle)]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Creative Commons License
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Bob McQuillen's Old New England]]> McQuillen, Bob]]> Stiles, Deanna]]> Stiles, Deanna]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Jigs]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> Walter, Chrysandra]]> Black, Bill]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> McElroy, Kevin (mandolin) 70994386]]> Black, Bill (composer)]]> Creative Commons License
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Connolly, Séamus ]]> McElroy, Kevin ]]> Black, Bill ]]> ]]> More info.]]>
Folk dance music--Ireland]]> Jigs]]> Banjo music--Ireland]]> Fiddle tunes--Ireland]]> (More on Kathleen on the tunes 'Kathleen Lawrie's' and 'The Fiddler Around the Faerie Tree'.)

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McElroy, Kevin (banjo) 70994386]]> Connolly, Séamus (fiddle) 33682623]]> Lawrie, Kathleen (piano)]]> Creative Commons License
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McElroy, Kevin]]> Connolly, Séamus]]> Lawrie, Kathleen]]> ]]> More info.]]>