Peter Laban

The pipes and concertina have been known to work. I could probably think of a few few more duets but here's one combination:

Mary MacNamara will be launching the book, again, during the opening night of the Ennis tradfest, 10 Nov 22 Article Clare Champion

Last night I was at a modern dance performance, MÁM by Teac Damsa. It's a production completely devised, created and produced in the Corca Dhuinhne Gaeltacht. Twelve international contemporary dancers, seven musicians from the Berlin based Stargaze collective and concertina player Cormac Begley. The performance is shaped around the musical heritage of Corca Duibhne, personified by Cormac Begley. Wonderful, intense performance of 80 minutes (without break). With a minutes long standing ovation at the end. They're touring Ireland for another month. At the venue some of Begley's recordings were available, including his latest, all Bass concertina album 'B'. I had heard it was coming but hadn't come across it yet. It desrves a mention here as it is probably the first all bass concertina album. Like (the collector's version) of his earlier recording, the cover is shaped like the concertina, inside more images of the inside of the instrument. Recommended. If you're into that sort of thing, ofcourse.

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So he didn't make a whole genre of music the butt of his joke? Poorly informed too, as the clips I posted will have shown.

Well, we know who started it. The problem is, you don't even know you're doing it. Just 'aving a larf, eh? But I was happy to draw a line under it several posts earlier. I'll leave you with this one, wall to wall lovely music.

You probably didn't intend it, yet saying the English prefer music with a melody does somehow carry the message some other music under discussion lacks melody. Hence my reaction. Glad you clarified your point.

And it didn't.

I surely hope you're not suggesting other music has a lesser sense of melody, or that your preferred music has a superior one. Various types of music have different characteristics and you can prefer one over the other but I don't think, in the realm of folk music (if you want to use the term), one type has a superior sense of melody over the next one. It would be far from me to discuss 'national characteristics', perceived or otherwise but I do sometimes notice some people, English or otherwise, feel the urge to get a dig in towards everything that is different or foreign to them. I don't know why, to create a false sense of superiority perhaps? I don't know if that's the case here, it can be ingrained in some, they don't even realise they're doing it, but it is not one of the most endearing habits.

Yes, I was a bit annoyed. Put it down to a cumulative effect of this sort of supposedly 'funny' jibes, usually by people who haven't listened to this music much. But d on't worry, I have settled down again. You know, this is dance music, it's supposed to be fast enough. . Dancers generally want it faster than most of the clips above. But it is not a race to see who is fastest. Here are a few steps:

Will this do you? ☺️

It's probably a matter of environment but I don't recognise anything in those words that describes the music I know. And I'll leave it at that. Do you feel any of the musicians in the clips I posted is involved in a race to beat the latest speed record? I hear something quite different.

Well, there you have it.

That tells us very little about Irish music but a lot about you. You don't listen much to Irish concertina music do you?

Mullaly's 78 rpms were recorded 1925-27

I have the old VivaVoce cassette, and one 78rpm, but never got the ITMA reissue. I did talk to Jackie Small when it was in preparation, he was very excited after the notion came to him that Mullally actually played a d/A. I donj't think I have digitised the tape but let me have a look around. Green groves of Erin is on youtube:

Sorry about that, I had only allowed necessary cookies and didn't get the availability. ITMA has at least some of Mullally's in their playlists, you may get them that way. Here's one to get you started: https://www.itma.ie/digital-library/sound/cid-231019

https://www.itma.ie/shop/the-westmeath-hunt

You have the wrong chronology: it says G. learned the tune from Mary McE. And then claims to have learned it indirectly from Mrs C. That, in turn, implies Mary McE. must have learned it from Lizzie Crotty. A recording, you'd have to assume, as their lives would not, or barely, have overlapped.

I had not come across the tune before Brian McNamara's recording. I can't think of a recording of Mrs Crotty playing it. Mary McElvaney was part of a group of young fiddlers that emerged in Dublin during the seventies, with her sister Bríd, Roma Casey, Edel McWeeney etc. She recorded with the Pipers Club Ceiliband at the time and was part of Macalla during the eighties. Macalla reformed for a concert in Ennis when Mary MacNamara received the Mór Glór award, just before Covid hit (which was quite lovely, I had last seen them in 1984 or 85). The RTE archive has some nice 1984 footage of Macalla : here Here's a snap from a once off reunion of the Pipers Club Ceiliband in 2015. They are Mary Corcoran, keyboard, Gay and Seán McKeon, pipes (Seán was sitting in for Peter McKenna who played pipes alongside Gay in the original line up) , Deirdre Hodge, concertina, Edel McWeeney, Roma Casey, Bríd and Mary McElvaney, fiddles. Barely visible in the photo, Aidan Vaughan was playing the drums on the day. And here's a scan of the image on the back cover of the original Pipers Club Ceili band lp.:

This is the Mudcat thread. Fwiw, someone just put up a WeTransfer download link there.

Sorry about that, the first link was flagged on Mudcat as not universally available but another post suggested that wasn't a problem as it was also on youtube. FWIW, I can access both and have no way of checking availability elsewhere but it seemed worth re-posting the link(s) here.

This was flagged up on mudcat : Morris dancing Also available on youtube : Moris dancing