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tannertan36
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Origami Around
Noah Kahan
@theartofmadeline
Cosmic Funnies
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
JVL
Peter Solarz
oozey mess
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let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
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Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
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@blogforthegrog
Alan Stivell has greatly contributed to Breton & Celtic culture over the years, primarily by modernizing the harp in the 60′s & 70′s. Enjoy here the first track off side B from his 1971 release Renaissance of the Celtic Harp, recorded in Paris at Studio des Dames. The entire B side of the album is a 19 minute musical journey through Ireland, Scotland & the Isle of Man and was dedicated to Seán Ó Riada, who passed away that year.
Clannad’s 1980 album, “Crann Úll” (Apple Tree) holds the distinction of being the first to feature younger sister Eithne Ní Bhraonáin (Enya), who appeared on percussion, keyboards and backing vocals. This song, “Crúiscín Lán,” (the Full Jug) features Moya on lead vocals.
“Galway City” made its first appearance on a Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem album on their 1966 release Isn’t it Grand Boys. Here we have a copy on what had been a mail-order Columbia Records collection released in 1977 as a double-disc best-of. You may recognize the song under the name “Spanish Lady,” as there have been many versions with various lyrics and settings popularized in Ireland and England.
Here are two jigs titled with Spring in mind: "Sweets of May" & "St. Patrick's Day." This LP, called Favorite songs of Ireland by The County Singers, was released on London-International in 1966. Unfortunately, we don't know anything about the players, but it was produced by Tommy Scott and the music director was Phil Coulter. Scott & Coulter together wrote songs for Them around this time period, before Coulter would go on to a long career of composing and producing. He is perhaps best known for his song about his hometown of Derry called "The Town I Loved So Well."
Silly Wizard's 1983 release for Shanachie Records, "Kiss the Tears Away," was recorded in Edinburgh and featured the same lineup as their previous release "Wild and Beautiful." Heard here are "The Greenfields of Glentown," a reel by the great Tommy Peoples, "The Galtee Reel," also known as the "dangerous" reel, "Bobby Casey's No. 2," and a Phil Cunningham-penned reel called "Wing Commander Donald MacKenzie's."
Earlier: If I Was a Blackbird.
Paddy Reilly from Rathcoole, Co. Dublin has been a popular folk singer since the 1960's, and had great success singing "The Fields of Athenry" and "The Town I Loved So Well." He replaced Ronnie Drew in the Dubliners in 1996 before moving to New York, where he would open a few bars including Paddy Reilly's Music Bar (featuring live music nightly, but no longer owned by Paddy).
From this, his fourth album, titled "Green Shamrock Shore," we have the first song "Farewell to Nova Scotia," one of at least five "farewell" or "leaving" songs on the album. The album was released in 1980 on Dolphin Records.
Sylvia Woods, the American harpist, wrote a book published in 1982 about the legend of an island created by a harpist using only music. She focused on the tale of the "Harp of Brandiswhiere," which tells of a young master harper who could make music out of Nature. From this tale Sylvia wrote "Dialogue With a Brook," heard here from the album accompanying her book. This was her first album. She would go on to feature on the radio program A Prairie Home Companion, record for the soundtrack to Dead Poets' Society and be invited to share the stage with the Chieftains.
Mary O'Hara, originally from Co. Sligo, was a few years into her music career as a harpist and Irish soprano, when she decided to become a Benedictine nun. She would stay in England for 12 years, when music called her again in the 1970's. This album, In Harmony, was released in 1979.
"Sliabh Na mBan," tells the sad tale of Tipperary men slaughtered in the rebellion of 1798. The Irish words translate as "Mountain of the Women," where the rebels had gathered and incidentally, not far from where the Clancy brothers were raised. Liam Clancy named his autobiography "Mountain of the Women," and in it mentions what a strong influence Mary O'Hara was on himself and other folk revivalists.
De Danann, known as "The Rolling Stones of traditional Irish music," began in Spiddal in 1974 with a lineup of Alec Finn (bazouki/guitars), Frankie Gavin (fiddle), Johnny "Ringo" McDonough (bodhrán), and Charlie Piggott (banjo). Piggott was replaced by Johnny Moynihan for a few years before Jackie Daly would join on accordion. Here, Finn, Gavin, McDonough & Daly give us "Charlie Harris' Reels" from the 1983 album Song for Ireland.
Co. Monaghan's Anna McGoldrick was a television star in Ireland, Canada & England when she released "Ireland on My Mind" in 1984. To this day, she offers musical tours of Ireland - more info can be found on her site here.
There are many songs about the life of James Connolly, and this is probably the most well-known, being popularized by the Wolfe Tones in 1972. If you don't know the story of Connolly, then we suggest you have a serious amount of reading to do before the Super Bowl tomorrow!
Here is a bit of Irish Country for your afternoon courtesy of Brian Coll, whose recording of "My Hometown on the Foyle" reached # 5 on the Irish charts in 1974. This documentary from BBC 2 in 1980 tells the story of Brian and his band at the time, the Buckaroos.
Apologies for the two skips in our recording. Sadly, this couldn't be helped as our copy of this country compilation is in a terrible state. If you are interested in hearing a less-loved version, check out the youtube here.
West Cork's Máire Ní Chathasaigh recorded her first solo album in 1985 for Temple Records outside of Edinburgh. This album holds the distinction of being the first by a harpist to feature exclusively Irish dance music. Máire included a few selections written by O'Carolan, and this one happens to be his last, titled "Carolan's Farewell to Music." O'Carolan, knowing he was going to die, returned to where he had been educated as a boy by Mrs MacDermott Roe in Roscommon. In Máire's words,
It is interesting that Carolan, who throughout much of his life produced music which was so greatly influenced by the Italian boroque style fashionable at that time, should for his valedictory work leave us a piece which, in its peculiarly Irish style of composition, harks back to the music of the harpers of an earlier age.
Tommy Makem had been six years into his solo career when he and Liam Clancy found themselves playing a festival together. The two would go on to record five albums over the next ten years. The first one, recorded in Calgary in 1976, featured a number one hit in Ireland with Eric Bogle's "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda." Enjoy here a traditional song from Side A called "Fadh Mo Buartha" (The Cause of my Sorrow).
You may know this song as "Take Me Home To Mayo," but the lyrics here have been altered to tell the story of Michael Gaughan, a hunger striker who died in prison in England in 1974. The singer, Kathleen Largey, was in a Belfast group of musicians along with her husband Eamonn called the Flying Column before putting out "The Price of Justice" in 1975. Sadly, this would be her final recording as she died of cancer in 1979. You can read Gerry Adams' thoughts on the 20th anniversary of her passing here.
The Boys of the Lough were once described as the only group playing the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and Shetland. That was bound to happen, of course, when a group was formed by players hailing from all of those places. They released their first album in 1972 are are still touring today (after a lineup change or two).
Their sixth album, from 1977, was aptly titled "Good Friends.. Good Music" and was recorded in Edinburgh, Dublin, London, Northern Ireland, and here in the USA. Each track features a different group of musicians joining the Boys of the Lough, sharing their local music and allowing the Boys to add their two cents. Enjoy these tunes recorded at Philo Studios up in Vermont. Jay Unger & Lyn Hardy introduced the Boys to the first tune "Kitchen Girl," while Aly Bain added the second from his Shetland Islands, "The New Riggit Ship."
We found another great album from the Tannahill Weavers' catalog. This was their first release back in 1979 for Plant Life Records, re-released here in the US by the reliable Green Linnet label a few years later. Roy, Phil & Alan were joined by Hudson Swan on bouzouki and Michael Ward on fiddle. The pipe tunes heard here kick off Side B.
The Furey Brothers - Finbar, Eddie, George, and Paul - dedicated their 1982 album "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" to the memory of their father, Ted Furey. Ted came from a background of Irish Travellers and was himself a famous fiddle player. Here is a fantastic youtube video from 1972 featuring Ted and others playing two reels outdoors in Sligo.
The siblings were joined on this album by Davey Arthur, with whom they recorded from 1977 until he left the group in 1992. Though the title track would become their biggest worldwide hit, we chose to share the lone instrumental track. If the music sounds like it belongs on a soundtrack, that's because Greek songwriter Mikis Theodorakis wrote this one for the movie "State of Siege."
Instead of the usual album cover here we had to go with the album sticker from Banshee Records, Dublin, not because there is anything wrong with the album cover, but the record label art is not to be ignored!
