Irish Fridays

[Globaltruth]

I went to see John Francis Flynn a couple of years back and although he may not be to everyone's taste, I really enjoyed his take on traditional tunes and sounds. He's a big guy...he appears briefly in the pub in this video which imagines the old Appalachian tune 'Mole in the Ground' as relating to the angriest ice-cream van man imaginable. I loved the tune from Flynn's new record, and I laughed a lot at the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r101tAT6mf0

Have some hundreds and thousands on your Irish Friday.

Enjoyed that JC. The moles down on the river bank are active at the moment - they're as confused as everything else about the weather, they should be hibernating.

River Lea records are a part of Rough Trade records set up to promote a certain type of folk music - think they kicked off by signing Lisa O'Neill.

[Globaltruth]

You've heard it before, and here is a better version of the Christmas carol - in Irish and English.

Oíche Nollag - YouTube.

For the translation:

CHRISTMAS EVE - Máire Mhac an tSaoi - Ireland - Poetry International -

Click on the language you want.

Nollaig shona daoibh go leir.

I couldn't get the YouTube link to work Padraig, , so instead listened to a version by Róisín Elsafty whose voice I always like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58Tt32gcYNg

[Padraig]

I couldn't get the YouTube link to work Padraig, , so instead listened to a version by Róisín Elsafty whose voice I always like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58Tt32gcYNg

That was the very one,G.

[Globaltruth]

That was the very one,G.

For some reason that makes me a little pleased with myself. We watched a documentary about Jack B Yeats recently. We knew some of his work but this was a good programme on the dreadful (but free) Sky Arts- commentary by Piers Brosnan
, insights from the excellent Colm Toíbin.

showing his breadth of style:

image.jpg

image.jpg
I know which style I prefer.





my question being - what music do we think he would have listened to?

[Globaltruth]

From 3 years ago the NPR tiny desk concert from Lankum

https://youtu.be/kCLFShptAIA?si=pZMupfHwPLoeZTZK

Hunting the Wren

https://youtu.be/lUReQ9GhT8s?si=X4DqTT4qIHoViM5Q

Want a 9 min antidote to Xmas jollity?

https://youtu.be/qhqpQiXnFx0?si=kUSzx_B7gs73Gr7m

[Globaltruth]

Far as I can see we have missed out on Cormac Begley.
This is a short but stunning version of 'To War', full of passion and bravura, guaranteed to rouse you from any post-prandial stupour you may have fallen into these drowsy days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4sf4RpVsYw

[johncorrigan]

Far as I can see we have missed out on Cormac Begley.
This is a short but stunning version of 'To War', full of passion and bravura, guaranteed to rouse you from any post-prandial stupour you may have fallen into these drowsy days.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4sf4RpVsYw

I saw him with Lisa back in Celtic Connections, Global, and mighty fine they were together...and this being the last Irish Friday of '23, I thought I'd post what is still my favourite song of the year...and my favourite album...and my favourite gig. Happy Irish Friday '24 to all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQGUYgNhQa4

[Padraig]

From the New to the Not So New ( I will not say Old - though time does dander on for us all). If we have not had Paul Brady and The Homes of Donegal before this then someone is to blame.

Not many people know this - in fact this is the first time it has been written - but the Brady family lived in the house opposite where I had my first piano lessons. Paul would have been a toddler then, though our paths did cross when he was a first year student at Queens and I was a member of a Summer group he came to hear on holiday with his parents.

Paul has made this well known Irish popular song his own and has given it the dignity that I think it deserves.


The Homes of Donegal - Paul Brady, written by Seán McBride - YouTube

[johncorrigan]

From the New to the Not So New ( I will not say Old - though time does dander on for us all). If we have not had Paul Brady and The Homes of Donegal before this then someone is to blame.

Not many people know this - in fact this is the first time it has been written - but the Brady family lived in the house opposite where I had my first piano lessons. Paul would have been a toddler then, though our paths did cross when he was a first year student at Queens and I was a member of a Summer group he came to hear on holiday with his parents.

Paul has made this well known Irish popular song his own and has given it the dignity that I think it deserves.


The Homes of Donegal - Paul Brady, written by Seán McBride - YouTube

Thanks, Padraig. I may have mentioned this before, but in the latter part of the seventies I worked in a bar in the Gorbals in Glasgow that was populated by many who had their roots firmly in Donegal. Names like Glenties and Gweedore and Ardara and Dungloe would be swapped when people returned from 'over by' as they all called it, as they filled people in on the local happenings. Dulce would be swapped around the pub when they came back to the Gorbals after their holidays, and that dulce would often appear in the till when it was mixed up with a handful of change. The images in the video really brought back some great fun days in the Blarney and some of the great characters who were around then. My brother worked in the bar too and we still roll out a few of the old tales and catchphrases from back then when we get together.

Thanks - great song too, by the way.

[Globaltruth]

Thank you for both posting the song and the memories.

[johncorrigan]

Ye Vagabonds, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh & Nia Ní Bheirn - Live at Dún Lúiche. Dún Lúiche looks like a grand place to go, I have to say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VKks9Ka2ZU

Happy Irish Friday when it comes.

[Padraig]

Dún Lúiche looks like a grand place to go, I have to say.

Happy Irish Friday when it comes.

Dun Luiche more familiar to me as Dunlewey, John. It's an area of Donegal I don't know well, though in the past some of my pals would go fishing there. It looks a mysterious place in the video - I half expect Vincent Price to emerge from somewhere!

Dunlewey - Wikipedia

The tune, a slip jig if I'm not mistaken, reminded me of this:

The Gloaming - Cucanandy - YouTube


from the 98 Rebellion to dancing the baby on your knee! Or is it?

[johncorrigan]

Dun Luiche more familiar to me as Dunlewey, John. It's an area of Donegal I don't know well, though in the past some of my pals would go fishing there. It looks a mysterious place in the video - I half expect Vincent Price to emerge from somewhere!

Dunlewey - Wikipedia

The tune, a slip jig if I'm not mistaken, reminded me of this:

The Gloaming - Cucanandy - YouTube


from the 98 Rebellion to dancing the baby on your knee! Or is it?

I realised it must be west coast, Padraig, as I expected a piper to come marching out at any moment - looked beautifully like a slice of the Hebrides.

[Globaltruth]

Thanks both - for posting and comments.
Just stopped what I was doing to watch that beautiful video.

The world needs more mystery - one of the terrible consequences of the internet is how quickly and thoroughly it has removed mystery from people's lives.
Just my opinion obv.

[Padraig]

The world needs more mystery

I used to be puzzled by the structure of Irish Reels. Sometimes it's the same tune over and over again coming to an arbitrary stop; or the tunes are really intricate and need careful listening. Now, I think there are two kinds of reel - those for dancing to and those for listening to, (though of course the best dancers are also the best listeners.)
The usual pattern for a reel is AABB three times; for a dance (ceili) this pattern is repeated three times over. Hence the listener hears the over and over bit, while the dancer's attention is on the movement and rhythm.

When I was trying to play the whistle I got to appreciate both aspects of the reel - playing for dancing, and just learning to play. So the over and over aspect made sense when it was serving the dancers, but as my lessons continued we got to play pieces for their own sake, pieces which were of a higher quality in terms of intricacy and melody. One such piece was the Tarbolten Reel. This was the last stage of my whistle course - I did not re-enroll.
Not only did we learn that reel, it was one of a set of three reels that went together. This was a new development and I have included a relevant link. The possibilities for the listener are greatly expanded and I have a new appreciation of 'the jigs and the reels.'

sets in traditional music

The Tarbolton Reel - YouTube

The Tarbolton reel / The Longford Collector / The Sailor's Bonnet by Michael Coleman - YouTube