Browse Content (34 total)

  • Subject is exactly "Folk music--Ireland"

Golden Flower, The

01-01_The_Golden_Flower-Air.pdf
My long-time friend Bill Black, who lives on Cape Cod, would often send tunes to my wife Sandy that he had composed in her honour. Bill's compositions greatly cheered my dear wife during her illness. She particularly liked his tune 'How Are You,…

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Shores of My Native Land

01-17_Shores_of_My_Native_Land-Song.pdf
Rita Gallagher from County Donegal recorded this song for me in her own inimitable style over twenty years ago at an All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil. I have loved the song and Rita's masterful interpretation of it.

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Gentle Mother

02-01_Gentle_Mother-Song.pdf
During those trips Mulhaire's Céilí Band made to Lixnaw and other towns in County Kerry in the 1960s (see 'Tart ar an Ól'), ballad singer Josephine McNamara was another artist who made the long journey – in her case from…

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Magherafelt May Fair

02-05_Magherafelt_May_Fair-March.pdf
The Pride of Erin Céilí Band, led by All-Ireland fiddle champion Sean Nugent, was held in high esteem throughout Ireland. Sean, from Lack in County Fermanagh, was a vibrant, energetic, and fun-loving man who adored the music. On a…

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Fleadh Down in Ennis, The

02-22_The_Fleadh_Down_in_Ennis-Song.pdf
In 1956, Robbie McMahon from Spancilhill in County Clare composed this song about the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil held in Ennis that year. When it is sung today, it is a wonderful piece of musical history, as it is also a litany of the names of…

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Longing for Peace, A

02-24_A_Longing_for_Peace-Air.pdf
Another of Sean Nugent's compositions is the slow air appropriately titled 'A Longing for Peace'. How happy Sean would be were he with us today, to know that the struggle is almost over and we now have peace again in 'Dear Old Ireland'. The tune is…

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Mhaighdean Mhara, An

02-32_An_Mhaighdean_Mhara-Song.pdf
All-Ireland champion harpist and singer Pádraigín Caesar attended Boston College as a Fulbright Scholar, and we became great friends. When Sandy and I lived in Groton, Massachusetts, 'Paudi', as we called her, visited us on a number of…

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McQuillen's March

03-16_McQuillens_March.pdf
This tune is not a composition of 'Professor' Bob McQuillen, but of the master fiddle player from New Hampshire, Rodney Miller. Rodney is considered today to be the foremost exponent of the music of New England. He has traveled all over the world…

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O'Brien the Blacksmith

03-17_OBrien_the_Blacksmith-Song.pdf
Another song from the pen of Robbie McMahon. I first heard him sing it at a County Clare Fleadh Cheoil over fifty years ago, and it has stayed with me down through the years. Robbie sang it again for me the afternoon that I visited his home in 2009,…

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In Memory of Leo Rowsome

03-26_In_Memory_of_Leo_Rowsome-Air.pdf
The name of the legendary piper, pipemaker, composer, and teacher Leo Rowsome (1903-1970) is synonymous with the uilleann pipes. An icon of Irish traditional music, Leo devoted his entire life to the uilleann pipes and has numerous recordings to his…

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Celtic Lamb, The

04-34_The_Celtic_Lamb-Air.pdf
This track comes from the CD To The Dance Floor, released in 2006 by a Rhode Island-based group called The Gnomes. Among its members is Phil Edmonds, the composer of this beautiful tune. Phil and I went to the same school in Killaloe, where we…

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Spancilhill

05-19_Spancilhill-Song.pdf
Spancilhill in east County Clare gives its name to this song which I first heard around 1958, sung by Robbie McMahon, who was himself from that very same neighbourhood. Robbie gave us his updated rendition during a wonderful afternoon of singing in…

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Lurgy Stream

06-02_Lurgy_Stream-Song.pdf
The beautiful singing voice of All-Ireland Champion Rita Gallagher is once again heard on this track. The words of the song, and the others that she sang for the miscellany, appear courtesy of Rita. Thank you, my friend. More wonderful singing from…

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Ancient Stones

06-08_Ancient_Stones-Air.pdf
My long-time friend Margaret Lawrie from Birmingham, England, composed this lovely air. The tune was the title track on her latest CD recording, which was dedicated to ten-year-old Rose Cronin, who died of leukemia. Meg told me that she took pictures…

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Chúilfhionn, An

06-21_An_Chuilfhionn-Song-Air.pdf
There are a number of versions of the ever-popular air 'The Coolin'. Two versions may be heard on this track, performed by harper/singer Pádraigín Caesar and her sister Siobhán on whistle. An English translation of the poem,…

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Winifred's Well

06-24_Winifreds_Well-Air.pdf
Another composition by Margaret Lawrie, twin sister of Kathleen Lawrie, who plays on several tracks in this collection. The tune somehow reminded her of scenes she encountered in the Welsh Highlands, so Michael Burnham, who plays fiddle on this track…

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Turlough

06-27_Turlough-Air.pdf
Rodney Miller once again demonstrates that he is not only a fiddle player of extraordinary talent, but also a fine crafter of tunes. Here he plays his composition 'Turlough'.

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Old Man in the Hob

06-34_Old_Man_in_the_Hob-Song.pdf
In this song, the old man sitting by the fireside calls his sons together to relate to them what it was like living and surviving in days gone by: true stories of tough times. Running somewhat parallel with the words of this song are words spoken to…

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Eochaill

07-01_Eochaill-Song.pdf
My dear friend Ann Mulqueen, formerly of Castleconnell, County Limerick, and now living in An Rinn, the Gaeltacht area of County Waterford, is the singer on this track. Ann travelled throughout Ireland competing at Fleadhanna Ceoil, and she was much…

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Máire Mo Chara

07-04_Maire_Mo_Chara-Air.pdf
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…

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