Niamh Parsons and Graham Dunne

 

Well, it's been entirely too long since I've posted any photos from the 2007 Dublin Irish Festival, and since I took a bunch of pictures at the CCÉ show last night I'd better work on clearing the backlog.

Niamh Parsons and Graham Dunne played a nighttime show in the pub on Saturday, mostly featuring songs from their latest album, The Old Simplicity.

For recent comments and photos from Niamh, check out Niamh's Musings, her blog.

 

My Name is Yu Ming

Via the photoblog Ireland from a Polish perspective, here's a funny but slightly tragic film from TG4 about a Chinese man who spends six months learning Irish so that he can work in Ireland. It's full of great comic moments and worth five minutes of your time, I think.

On Shopping, Spit, and Rolling in the Ryegrass

Some unrelated things on my mind today:

I put my money where my mouth was and ordered a stack of CDs from the Tayberry Music going-out-of-business sale. Having received the CDs, I'll recommend it again. I got great CDs at bargain prices, they were friendly, shipped quickly, and they fixed a misshipment at their expense. I wish the owners a happy retirement!

A while back I was having a problem with, um, drool getting into my whistle while I was playing. I asked my teacher about this and he said he'd never had the problem. But I figured it out; I just need to not look down while playing.

Mick O'Brien and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh have an interesting version of Rolling in the Ryegrass on Kitty Lie Over. They seem to prolong the first parts of the first two bars of the A part, and they don't go up as high, in relative pitch, on the second bar, as most versions I've heard. That, plus some other differences, gives the tune a really different feel. I like the whole album.

Tayberry Music Going Out of Business

Folk music vendor Tayberry Music is going out of business, an they're selling their stock at 40% off. None of the prices on the site have been reduced, but they'll take the 40% off when they prepare your order for shipping.

Update: The sale has now ended, because Compass Records just bought Tayberry.

Echoes of Erin 4

The Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann 2007 Echoes of Erin tour is coming to central Ohio! Look at the incredible list of performers — or, better still, listen to the incredible group of musicians on the Comhaltas site. I'm in awe.

I haven't found a publicly-accessible link for the concert's Granville date, so here are the details:

Granville, OH
Wednesday 17 October 2007, 7:00 p.m.
Granville Schools Performing Arts Center

The concert is also coming to the following cities:

• Ireland Dublin
• Canada Saskatoon, Regina, Manitou, Winnipeg
• USA Pittsburgh, Pearl River, NY, Waltham and North Andover, MA

Really Big Whistle

Here's hatao of the Japanese band Butter Dogs playing "The Foggy Dew" on an Overton bass G whistle.

The Roots Music Listening Room

I mentioned a while back that I was learning "I Buried My Wife...," also known as "Frieze Britches," and listed some of the recordings I am using for study. Thanks to this Chiffboard thread I've found another: This spectacular recording of "Freeze Breeches" by Leo Rowsome.

There are a number of other gems on the Juneberry archive of (allegedly, anyway) public domain Irish dance music recordings.

Idir Deighric 'Gus Breo'

I just learned this slow air from the playing of Matt Molloy. It's another great track from Heathery Breeze. It's a short, simple tune, and Molloy plays it in D, so it's easy to pick up. It's beautiful on both the flute and the whistle. I've seen it listed as a waltz, but I think it would be a mistake to play it that way, in spite of the time signature. Molloy's version really makes the most of the freedom which comes from playing it as an air. The tune is in A mixolydian.

Like a lot of slow airs, this one comes from a song. You can hear the song, or a version of it called "Idir Áird Mhór Is Eochaill," anyway, on Danú's All Things Considered. I also found a transcription and translation of the words that Ciarán Ó Gealbháin sings. This review says that he got it from the singing of Éibhlis Bean de Paor from An Sean Phobal. The melody of Molloy's track is pretty much the same, but the places in the title are different.

What does "Idir Deighric 'Gus Breo'" mean? Well, "Idir" is "Between." "Gus" appears to be a contraction of the Irish "agus" (and), and Deighric and Breo are mountains in Co. Waterford. The Waterford County Library says that the names "defy analysis, and are evidently, like many mountain and most river names, of great antiquity." So my rough translation of the title is "'Tween Deighric 'n' Breo."

Drowsy Maggie

I like the reel Drowsy Maggie. It's easy to learn and fun to play. I learned it from Matt Molloy's recording on Heathery Breeze, and, as I see no reason to play any tune faster than Molloy, it usually sounds rushed to me when I hear it in a session. It's a beautiful tune played slowly, I think. Anyway, here are some good sources for the tune.

• Here's Séamus Ennis playing it on the pipes. He includes the infrequently-heard-but-traditional third part.
• Paddy Killoran's fiddle recording.
• As above, Molloy's recording is my favorite. He plays it relatively slowly on the B♭ flute, giving it a stirring power.
• Altan play a breakneck "Northern version" of the tune on Harvest Storm. It's way too fast for my taste, but it's an interesting version of the tune, and they end the set with the spectacular Altan original reel "Harvest Storm," which is itself a great tune, and, I think, more suited to the blistering speed of the set.

Boys of the Lough

Here are some photos from the Boys of the Lough performance at the 2007 Dublin Irish Festival.

The photo above is from flute and whistle player Cathal McConnell's excellent, solo whistle rendition of Harvest Home. He played the tune three times, with increasingly complex variations. I recorded his performance of this tune and will post the recording if I can get his permission to do so. When he received a well-deserved cheer after he finished the tune, one of the other band members said, "You've just made an old man very happy!"

Fiddler Kevin Henderson is from Shetland, and brought an interesting musical color to the group. He played a solo set of Shetland fiddle tunes which were quite striking; a bit slower-paced and less driving than the dance tunes which comprised the majority of the group's performance.