Peter Laban

A translation of all text in CRE, by Paul de Grae, is online : here. Breathnach does not give ornamentation for the concertina so perhaps a different source would suit better.

Just as a means to bump this thread to the top and for anybody into that sort of thing: I just got myself a copy, fresh off the press, of Helen O'Shea's excellent book on fiddle player Paddy Canny, 'No better boy'. Included in it are notations of the Cuckoo hornpipe from the playing of both Michael Coleman and Paddy Canny. Reading these side by side with the Droney version can give some insight in different styles and approaches among traditional musicians. If you're into that sort of thing, ofcourse.

Having spent a bit more time with the book I must say I love it, a great contribution to the music of North Clare and a great tribute to Chris and his music. My inner pedant spotted some minor oversights in the notes to the tunes, all of them wood for the trees issues, insignificant so never mind those. There's one thing bugging me, though: the claim Séamus Ennis composed the Cuckoo hornpipe. This is easily laid to rest when welisten to Michael Coleman's recording of the tune, as Murray's fancy. It was made in the spring of 1921, when Ennis was barely two years old.

One of the good dr's old posts is pretty unambiguous, so well spotted: This morning I was driving to Ennis, on the radio Ryan Tubridy was talking about Illeism. A clear case of that here.

The launch night in Ennis was very pleasant, lovely music by the Droneys, family and friends. Haven't had much time to look at the book in detail but first impression is a positive one. Kudos to all involved Three wise monkeys, Edgely, Branch, & Worrall: Brought back memories of the man himself: Inside Crotty's, Kilrush, with Mick Mulcahy. 1997

A quick follow up: I was in Custy's just now and noticed they have a bunch of copies of The Barley Grain available.

It's returning a Sorry, something went wrong. We are working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can.

As per thread title, small write up and video of concertina maker Sean Garvey in today's paper: Sean Garvey in Irish Times: This is what I do And the accompanying video: Seán Garvey in Irish Times

After seeing this thread I have noticed a fair few of them in the wild. I saw at least four or five around town yesterday. They seem to do the job anyway.

The Cruinniu kicked off just now with Liam O'Connor interviewing Noel Hill about the making of the recording 'The Irish Concertina', now 35 years ago. The event was filmed for ITMA.

Last night RTE aired a flim about the the dance show I mentioned above, Mám. It concentrates on the creative process and the dance, improvising and pulling everything together. With plenty of Cormac Begley. Great stuff, I thought: The Dance While at it, you may as well watch John Kelly interview Begley :The Works presents: Cormac Begley

If you listen closely, you can even hear him, just about, shout it out to Eithne just before they go into it.

No doubt about that but hearing the recording in the first post my immediate thought was that was a variant of Father O' Flynn/ToCr and that was all my post wanted to say. The same tune, landed in Ireland and adapted there for local use/circumstances. It is sometimes hard to see the relation between variants of the same melody. For example, I have been playing the jig Kit O'Mahony's for decades. KOM was Francis O Neill 's mother and he named the tune for her in his collection. I learned the jig initially from a recording by Tommy People's but it was one of Paddy Murphy's signature tunes. Some years ago I lifted Kit O Mahony's hornpipe off the recording by Paddy Murphy, Peter O Loughlin and Paddy Canny. Never gave it much further thought until I heard Tommy Keane play the hornpipe last week. I hadn't played it for a while but it kept playing in my head for days after hearing it again. Then finally a couple of days ago I had a light bulb moment and realised the jig and the hornpipe are actually the same tune, played as different forms. And I am left wondering why I didn't spot the obvious any sooner.

Father O'Flynn/Top of Cork Road goes back to an English tune, Yorkshire Lasses that became the wellknown Irish jig. I have little doubt the OP's clip and the jig are versions of the same basic melody, that developed in different directions, suited to the use, time and place. David and I will have to agree to disagree on that one.

The Top of Cork Road or Father O'Flynn in Ireland: T: Father O'Flynn R: jig M: 6/8 L: 1/8 K: Dmaj |:A|dAF DFA|ded cBA|dcd efg|fdf ecA| dAF DFA|ded cBA|dcd efg fdd d2:| |:g|fdf fga|ecA ABc|dcd Bed|cAA A2 c| BGB Bcd|AFD DFA|dcd efg|fdd d2:|

The 11th Concertina Cruinniú will be held 10-12 February 2023 2023 Programme

I donknow how it compares to the Clare but here's one

There's that, I have sat with a good few players who switched to C onm the fly to suit the flat pipes. But listen to players like Claire Keville, Dympna O Sullivan, Mary MacNamara etc who build sets of tunes going from D to C, G and F all the time, and to great effect.

I'd be wary of generalising. Irish music tends to be in D. Yes, except when it isn't. There's a reason why players of Irish music don't use the G/D, except for a limited number of tunes, perhaps. There are players who play 'on the rows' who prefer the (two row) D /A but their number is relatively limited too. That said, I played for years with a lovely 'on the rows' player who treated her 30 button instrument as a two row and I don't think she felt limited by it at any point. In fact she was always pining for a nice two row, if we could find her one. The two row C/G has its limitations but as an introduction, a starter instrument it's a great alternative to cheap 30 button accordion reeded instruments. But for the OP it may just be a little late to pick a nice one, if they want to find one before Christmas.

I know what I would do, but different strokes and all that. And different people, different circumstances to consider, everyone should make the choice best for them. A point to consider, perhaps, if someone comes to the instrument through listening to a particular music and has fallen for a particular sound, it is worth taking that into acount and look at instruments that actually produce something approaching that sound.

I started my son, aged seven at the time, off on a vintage two row we had on loan. It had a c# at the end of one of the rows so that did fine. After a year he upgraded to a 30 button mahogany ended Lachenal that kept him going for a good while. Into his teens a nice, good quality, vintage upgrade came along. Teachers advised against the cheap accordion reeded ones available at the time and, to be honest, we were never tempted to go that way, for reasons of sound and looks. Butt YMMV. I think that was the right way to go.

I just remembered he had one track, Slieve Russell/Give us a drink of water, on a RnaG compilation of music recorded at concerts at the Willie Clancy week. I have that CD. I can shoot you that track, tomorrow, to keep you going until the Barley Grain arrives.

The county library has two copies, not in branches local to me but I am curious about the recording myself so I just put in a request to have it sent over to a local branch. I'll give you a shout when I have it.

It's fresh off the press. I knew it was in the works, I supplied some photos for it. Still unavailable at amazon UK, by the way.

Amazon returns a 'temporary out of stock' I'll go into Custy's tomorrow and see if they can get any copies in, would prefer that to buying from Amazon.