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paddy fahy


michael sam wild

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Guest Peter Laban

Which is not quite the same Larry.

 

Listen to this, Paddy Fahey with Paddy Carty on the flute. I'll leave the clip there for a couple of days.

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If I'd want to listen to someone playing Fahey material, I'd rather go with Breda Keville instead of the Kane sisters, I think her sound is much more 'authentic' in this regard.

Edited by Azalin
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  • 2 weeks later...

There was some talk several years ago of a Paddy Fahy commercial cd being done but I never heard more about the project.

I love his music and although I am just getting back into playing after a two year hiatus, I play 5-6 fahy tunes.

 

There used to be a circle of trad enthusiasts on the web who would trade non-commercial cds. The idea was that someone would

post a cd they had and would send a copy to the first person who asked for it; then that person would make a copy for the next, etc.

I am sorry but I can't recall the name and they may not still be going.

 

The point is that via this web ring I obtained some great cds including one from the University of Limerick archive with 40 tracks of

Paddy Fahy playing solo and another one with 23 Fahy tracks. A third had solo home recordings of Fahy, John Kelly and Dennis Murphy.

Two others of note were a concert in Brest 1981 with Noel Hill, Tony Linnane, Micho Russell & Tony McMahon, and another concert in

Peppers Bar, Feakle 1987 with Hill, Linnane, Alec Finn and Mary Bergin.

 

Not sure if any of this helps.

 

All the best

Paul

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was listening to various recordings of Paddy Fahey tunes by himself and other musicians who have taken them up, thanks to various colleagues on concertina net. I played Paddy Fahey's Jig by Martin Hayes, where he uses a Bb in the first part. Paddy Fahey uses a B nat which gives it a completely different sound. I always go back, if I can, like going to the well for water, to the source musicians, but fully accept the evolution of the tune once it is 'cast into the pool to swim on its own' or 'caught and thrown back to swim again '.

 

The fact that PF gives no names to his tunes but donates them to the musical community is an inspiration.

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Guest Peter Laban

Things are a bit more ambiguous than you suggest: Paddy Fahey doesn't really play a straightforward B natural there. Actually I think Planxty introduced the version with the B au naturel to suit the pipes. The Bflat/Minor version, which is different again from Fahey's own, certainly goes back long before Martin Hayes: this piece was a particular favourite of Martin Rochford and it's more than likely he was the source for Martin Hayes' version.

 

To compare the 'source musicians' (I don't like that term):

 

linknd8.gif [edit: files removed when discussion and number of downloads dwindled]

 

 

Paddy Fahey

Martin Rochford

Edited by Peter Laban
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Thanks for those Peter!. All varients on the tune are interesting and reflect how people remember and interpret

 

I suppose instruments where inherent scope for pitch variation are built in willfavour this as opposed to the Anglo concertina. I love the litle quarter notes etc I can get on fiddle, flute or whistle.

 

Despite your commnet on the use of the term 'source musician' I still maintain it's worth getting as far back down the chain of transmission, not to imitate but to understand. Just because someone has been recorded in various forms doesn't give them a claim on possession but it gets you nearer the wellspring or 'source' as the french would call it.

 

Yours Mike

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Guest Peter Laban
I just found this which was interesting on fiddle styles and various temperaments

http://fiddlesessions.com/oct06/Taaffe.pdf

 

It's interesting to note Taaffe ignores the massive influence on some East Clare musicians by Dubliner Tommy Potts in his article despite the fact this is well documented.

 

Potts came to East Clare on occasion and stayed at Hayes'. it's interesting to see the notation of Canny's playing of Garret Barry's jig which follows Potts' way quite closely and is a bit of an odd duck in Canny's repertoire for that reason. Potts' influence is even present in a few of Rochford's tunes, I recorded him playing 'Julia Delaney' with an unusual second part to it. Martin Hayes' version of The Star of Munster is another case in point.

 

Martin Rochford used to drive lorries, delivering lime from his own lime kilns, and got around a good bit. As East Galway goes he was a more regular visitor to the Whytes and some of his East Galway music would have come from there. I did notice though that one of Martin's pet tunes, the Larry Redican composition 'Forget me Not' appears on a tape I have of Paddies Fahey and Carty playing it in virtually the same setting as Rochford had, which is considerably different from the versions circulating as 'Martin Rochford's' (eg the one recorded by Vincent Griffin).

Edited by Peter Laban
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