Peter Laban

Junior wrote a parting note before he died where he said he wanted to laid to rest 'by the side of the chapel, near Cailséan an Óir' . The line caused a bit of confusion in some people as they got the impression the name referred to the church in Mullagh, where Junior was laid to rest. I remember Kitty Hayes saying after Junior's funeral, that it came as a surprise, as they had always thought the name referred to castle hill in Doonogan, close to Junior's Bonavilla/Ballymakea home. I think she had been right all along.

It's a matter of demand, over the past twenty years or so the popularity of the concertina in Ireland has been steadily increasing. Large numbers of young players in Ireland have taken up the instrument, as well as many players of Irish music worldwide, creating a high demand for good quality Anglo concertinas. There are now more players of the instrument than ever before in history and good vintage instruments are at a premium.

Concentrating Irish Traditional Music is the same as wanting to learn one song on guitar? Some of the stuff people come out with on these forums keeps amazing me. And I'll leave it at that. 😄

Junior Crehan made the hornpipe, based on an existing air. Caoineadh an tSagairt / The Priest's Lament, if I remember correctly.

In his 1936 tutor for the uilleann pipes Leo Rowsome had a page of 'A few valuable hints', basically a list of 'don'ts'. One of them was 'DON'T stamp your foot to beat time : such a habit can easily be avoided in its early stages'. While it would be rowing against the tide to object to foot tapping, I don't think it is an obligatory part of playing traditional music. It's just something most people do. Although.. I have seen a few people posting to internet forums asking how they can learn to do it

Looks can be deceiving, Sonny Murray was born in 1920. Joe Ryan in 1928, Gerdy Commane was the eldest of the three, born in 1917. I am pretty sure I saw them in Ennis just now, when I went for a coffee. In town for next week's Tradfest, I assumed.

Joe will be gone 15 years on 10 march next spring. The world is different with that generation gone. One evening I was driving my son to his karate class in Ennistymon. I had the windows of the car rolled down and we were playing the Two Gentlemen of Clare music on the CD player (my son was ten, eleven or so and learning the concertina at the time). On the backroad near Moonagh lake we met an old Renault 4. I recognised the car.. We pulled over to let each other pass. It was Joe Ryan. He had the window open as well and as he passed, he heard the tunes in the car. 'Lovely Music' I said as he drove past, he smiled and was gone again. That's a good memory.

It IS a lovely one. And it's been nagging me all morning because it sounds very familiar, it's like a few other tunes in places. Can't put my finger on it quite yet. Here are the two gentlemen, at the launch of their recording:

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.

☺️

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: