Pádraig Rynne playing 2 jigs, Christy Barrys & Bye a while, live in Custy's, Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Concertina and Flute Session
From Comhaltas Live: A concertina and flute session at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2009 with Niamh O’Sullivan and Christina Dolphin respectively, both from Dublin.They play two reels - “Phylis’ Birthday” and “Fred Finn’s”. Click on link for audio download:
Comhaltas: ComhaltasLive #305-4: Concertina and Flute Session
Comhaltas: ComhaltasLive #305-4: Concertina and Flute Session
Bowing out after four decades on the road
Image via WikipediaA CHRISTMAS concert will be the last time musician Dave Richardson plays with Boys Of The Lough.The traditional Celtic group will perform a show at The New Vic Theatre, Basford, on Tuesday.
And Dave, who plays the mandolin and concertina, will be bowing out after 40 years with the band.
Boys Of The Lough began touring in 1967 and became the first full-time professional Celtic band to make an impact internationally.
In the intervening years they have completed about 70 tours of the U.S., as well as recorded more than 20 albums.
The most recent, Midwinter Live, is a festive offering of traditional seasonal favourites.
It gives a flavour of what audiences can expect from their show.
Boys Of The Lough are strictly a Celtic band – taking direct inspiration from the vocal traditions of Scotland and Ireland – but also drawing influences from Northumberland, Shetland and even North America.
Dave joined the band in 1973, after abandoning his studies in molecular science at Edinburgh University to pursue a career in music.
By then, the group was already well-established.
Formed after a few sessions at the Forest Hill Bar in Edinburgh – a centre for folk singers and instruments during the 60s, the original line-up included fiddler Aly Bain, All-Ireland flute and whistle champion Cathal Mc'Connell and singer Dick Gaughan.
But when Dick left for a solo career, Dave, pictured right, stepped in. "We've had a bit of an interesting evolution," says Dave, who now lives in Edinburgh. "We all started off within 50 yards of each other and at the moment our members are living in about three different countries – including our fiddle player (Kevin Henderson) who lives in Norway.
"I have been playing this kind of music since I was in my mid teens and when I was at university, I got a phone call from the band, asking if I would go to America because someone had left.
"I knew the guys because I'd met them socially, but I suppose by about September I decided to drop everything else and go on the road with them to see what happened.
"They were very interesting times. It was a lot of fun.
"We've had a long lineage."
As well as performing, Dave has also written for the group. In fact his jig, Calliope House, featured in Lord Of The Dance and even made the soundtrack of the Sex And The City TV series.
Now aged 66, the Northumberland-born musician is ready to take a break.
"I love the music and I play music every day," says Dave. "But I've just got very tired of doing all the travel.
"I'm quite OK about it. I just think that it's the right time. I've had more than my share. It remains to be seen how it will affect me later."
Although he might be leaving, Dave is still proud of the group's legacy.
"Our music translates very well," he says. "It's accessible. It's about stories that people already instinctively know.
"Stories about separation, emigration and parting – and drinking of course!
"It's just like the Blues was 20 years previously. Irish and Scottish music has gone worldwide.
"And since the late 60s, it's gone global."
Boys Of The Lough will be at the New Vic Theatre on Tuesday at 7.30pm. Call the box office on 01782 717962.
Bowing out after four decades on the road | This is Staffordshire
Friday, December 9, 2011
Kylie Moynagh
A set of jigs played on concertina by Kylie Moynagh of Dublin, who learned them from the playing of the group Turas.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Mary MacNamara
Humours of Tullycrine ; Mickey Callaghan's, hornpipes / Mary MacNamara, concertina. Recorded in the Irish Traditional Music Archive, Dublin, 28 January 1993. REFNO: 2-ITMA-VHS
Monday, December 5, 2011
Cormac Ó Beaglaíoch
Playing a couple of barndances 'Joe Bann's', and 'The Gypsy Princess', here's concertina player Cormac Ó Beaglaíoch at the launch of the 2011 Frankie Kennedy Winter School. Webcast live on Tuesday November 29th 2011 on www.LiveTrad.com.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Celtic, jazz and standards
ROCKLAND — On Thursday, Dec. 1, Rock City Café, 318 Main St., will transform into the Velvet Lounge with A Pint of Plain. The Celtic music combo features Jim Burke on fiddle; Jim Hyland on guitar, button accordion and fiddle; Hugh McGuinness on cittern; and Susanne Ward on the uilleann pipes.On Friday, Dec. 2, Rock City Cafe's Velvet Lounge will welcome back the 14 Strings jazz trio featuring Jon Luoma on viola, Harry Richter on guitar and Doreen Conboy on bass, playing jazz standards, original compositions and tunes with Latin and European flavor. The trio gets their unique sound from the unusual combination of viola, bass and guitar. Innovative arrangements and provocative rhythms give contemporary appeal to jazz standards, soulful ballads, Latin bossas and sambas, plus a twist of Django Reinhardt and Svend Assmussen. To round out the sets, Luoma adds original compositions.
On Saturday, Dec. 3, Rock City Cafe's Velvet Lounge will present Anne Delaney. Delaney learned the great standards of the 1920s to '50s on piano when she was 12 and started singing them in public in her mid-20s. She has worked with jazz trios, quartets, big bands and, most recently, the Novel Jazz Septet. Her influences include Sarah Vaughan, Irene Kral and Johnny Hartman.
The music will run from 7 to 9 p.m. all three nights. As usual there is no cover charge; however, tipping the musicians is highly encouraged. For more information on this and other events happening at the coffeebar/cafe, call 594-4123.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Talún in Concert, Friday October 28th, 7:30 PM
Oct 28 2011 7:30 pm
Location: Northfield Arts Guild, Upstairs Studio
Talún, In Concert
Friday October 28th, 7:30 pm
Northfield Arts Guild, Upstairs Studio
$12 at the door/$10 students and seniors
Additional info and photos: 651-398-5055 laura@lauramackenzie.com
TALÚN on TOUR 2011 ~ Garry Jones with Laura MacKenzie
Talún (Taw’loon, an Irish word meaning earth or ground) is composer/guitarist Garry Jones’ performance ensemble. For the 2011/2012 tours, he is joined by renowned traditional musician Laura MacKenzie on an array of wind-powered instruments and voice. Together, they perform Garry’s compositions along with select traditional pieces, mingled with story and myth, in full concert and lyceum programs.
The music of Talún is wrapped around the Fire Eye Suite, five movements celebrating the earth as represented by the sovereign goddesses of Ireland. It was composed as the centerpiece of a renewal of a 4,500 year-old fire ritual honoring Ériú, the eponymous matron goddess of the island of Eire, or Ireland. This musical pilgrimage is presented as a modern day call to rediscover the spirit of the land that sustains us.
Garry Jones is an Australian-born composer/musician who has just moved to the United States after living for ten years on the wild and rugged west coast of Ireland. During that time, he developed a fascination for Irish mythology and has incorporated this into his music making, seeing it as both an immensely rich source of musical inspiration and a vehicle through which to tell the story of our interdependence with the natural and supernatural world. It’s a story of magic, hope and beauty that he feels particularly needs to be told in these days of environmental crises.
Through story and musical pieces such as his five movement Fire Eye Suite, Garry explores the Irish Otherworld, Faery Queens, High Kings, stone circles, sacred fire and the epic battles between the mythological races the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha De Danaan. The stories are as fascinating as the music is stirring – distinctive, evocative, powerful and beautifully uncommon.
“Jones’ music is grand and lovely; alternately achingly beautiful and breathtakingly anthemic…”- Will Ackerman, Windham Hill
Garry has composed for musicals, rock operas, huge festival fire events and millennium celebrations. He designs and builds large-scale musical sculptures, musical instruments for people with disabilities, leads tour groups in Ireland, and plays guitar and writes music with his wife Kate Hennessy in their Brattleboro, Vermont, home.
Laura MacKenzie (Northfield resident, born and raised in Northfield, moved back in 2011) has been lauded as a "Celtic music wizard" by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and a "High priestess of Celtic music" by Minnesota Public Radio. Laura has learned from many noted tradition bearers on both sides of the Atlantic, has been recognized as a Master Folk Artist (Minnesota State Arts Board) and has received numerous honors, fellowships and awards for her work in traditional Irish and Scottish music. From production work (and appearance) on A Prairie Home Companion to fieldwork in ethnomusicology, from rockin' out in Boiled in Lead to national touring with Lorie Line and her Pop Chamber Orchestra, Laura has enjoyed vast and varied experience in the worlds of music while developing as a performing artist. Her powerful array of wind instruments includes wooden flutes, whistles, concertina, Scottish smallpipes, Border pipes, French Cornemuse, gemshorn and voice.
“A performing artist of astonishing versatility, singing and playing with skill and emotion a splendid repertoire.” –The American Association of University Women
ALSO: Talún will be performing at another regional venue ----
Sunday October 30th, 2 PM
Oak Center General Store
67011 Hwy 63 (10 miles SW of Lake City)
www.oakcentergeneralstore.com
Location: Northfield Arts Guild, Upstairs Studio
Talún, In Concert
Friday October 28th, 7:30 pm
Northfield Arts Guild, Upstairs Studio
$12 at the door/$10 students and seniors
Additional info and photos: 651-398-5055 laura@lauramackenzie.com
TALÚN on TOUR 2011 ~ Garry Jones with Laura MacKenzie
Talún (Taw’loon, an Irish word meaning earth or ground) is composer/guitarist Garry Jones’ performance ensemble. For the 2011/2012 tours, he is joined by renowned traditional musician Laura MacKenzie on an array of wind-powered instruments and voice. Together, they perform Garry’s compositions along with select traditional pieces, mingled with story and myth, in full concert and lyceum programs.
The music of Talún is wrapped around the Fire Eye Suite, five movements celebrating the earth as represented by the sovereign goddesses of Ireland. It was composed as the centerpiece of a renewal of a 4,500 year-old fire ritual honoring Ériú, the eponymous matron goddess of the island of Eire, or Ireland. This musical pilgrimage is presented as a modern day call to rediscover the spirit of the land that sustains us.
Garry Jones is an Australian-born composer/musician who has just moved to the United States after living for ten years on the wild and rugged west coast of Ireland. During that time, he developed a fascination for Irish mythology and has incorporated this into his music making, seeing it as both an immensely rich source of musical inspiration and a vehicle through which to tell the story of our interdependence with the natural and supernatural world. It’s a story of magic, hope and beauty that he feels particularly needs to be told in these days of environmental crises.
Through story and musical pieces such as his five movement Fire Eye Suite, Garry explores the Irish Otherworld, Faery Queens, High Kings, stone circles, sacred fire and the epic battles between the mythological races the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha De Danaan. The stories are as fascinating as the music is stirring – distinctive, evocative, powerful and beautifully uncommon.
“Jones’ music is grand and lovely; alternately achingly beautiful and breathtakingly anthemic…”- Will Ackerman, Windham Hill
Garry has composed for musicals, rock operas, huge festival fire events and millennium celebrations. He designs and builds large-scale musical sculptures, musical instruments for people with disabilities, leads tour groups in Ireland, and plays guitar and writes music with his wife Kate Hennessy in their Brattleboro, Vermont, home.
Laura MacKenzie (Northfield resident, born and raised in Northfield, moved back in 2011) has been lauded as a "Celtic music wizard" by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and a "High priestess of Celtic music" by Minnesota Public Radio. Laura has learned from many noted tradition bearers on both sides of the Atlantic, has been recognized as a Master Folk Artist (Minnesota State Arts Board) and has received numerous honors, fellowships and awards for her work in traditional Irish and Scottish music. From production work (and appearance) on A Prairie Home Companion to fieldwork in ethnomusicology, from rockin' out in Boiled in Lead to national touring with Lorie Line and her Pop Chamber Orchestra, Laura has enjoyed vast and varied experience in the worlds of music while developing as a performing artist. Her powerful array of wind instruments includes wooden flutes, whistles, concertina, Scottish smallpipes, Border pipes, French Cornemuse, gemshorn and voice.
“A performing artist of astonishing versatility, singing and playing with skill and emotion a splendid repertoire.” –The American Association of University Women
ALSO: Talún will be performing at another regional venue ----
Sunday October 30th, 2 PM
Oak Center General Store
67011 Hwy 63 (10 miles SW of Lake City)
www.oakcentergeneralstore.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Two reels on Irish concertina
The Lady of the House
The Baltimore Salute (composed by Josie McDermott)
The Baltimore Salute (composed by Josie McDermott)
Concertina, Accordian and Bouzouki
Kelly Geraghty(Concertina), Colm Gannon(Accordion) and Mick Coneely(Bazouki). Geantrai 2010 recorded at O'Sheas' bar in Cararoe, County Galway.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Jeffries C/G Anglo Concertina ~ Three Irish Polkas
Dick Glasgow on Jeffries C/G Anglo Concertina, playing three Irish Polkas.
Dick Glasgow:
http://dickglasgow.blogspot.com/
Dick Glasgow:
http://dickglasgow.blogspot.com/
Monday, October 3, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Local musicians to feature on Comhaltas
THE annual Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Echoes of Érin Tour of North America will take place from October 9th – 22nd and will feature a performance from local musicians Pádraig Donlon and Paul McMahon
For audiences in North America the Echoes of Erin tour provides a fantastic showcase for all that is best in Irish traditional music, song and dance. Top class performers in all fields display the highest standards and regional styles that have become synonymous with these events down through the years.
Performers include Oisín Morrisson from Dublin on the Harp, Breda Shannon from Roscommon on the flute / concertina, Maura Walsh from Kerry on the fiddle and concertina, Conor Moriarty from Kerry playing the button accordion and the melodeon, Róisín ní Riain a singer from Kerry who will also be playing the fiddle, Pádraic Keena from Westmeath playing the button accordion and singing, Pádraig Donlon from Dundalk on the uilleann pipes, Paul McMahon from Louth on the guitar and the piano accordion and Rhona Lynch from Offaly on the fiddle.
The dancers as part of the tour are Mark Nestor from Clare, Emma O'Sullivan from Galways and Clare McDermott from Cavan.
For audiences in North America the Echoes of Erin tour provides a fantastic showcase for all that is best in Irish traditional music, song and dance. Top class performers in all fields display the highest standards and regional styles that have become synonymous with these events down through the years.
Performers include Oisín Morrisson from Dublin on the Harp, Breda Shannon from Roscommon on the flute / concertina, Maura Walsh from Kerry on the fiddle and concertina, Conor Moriarty from Kerry playing the button accordion and the melodeon, Róisín ní Riain a singer from Kerry who will also be playing the fiddle, Pádraic Keena from Westmeath playing the button accordion and singing, Pádraig Donlon from Dundalk on the uilleann pipes, Paul McMahon from Louth on the guitar and the piano accordion and Rhona Lynch from Offaly on the fiddle.
The dancers as part of the tour are Mark Nestor from Clare, Emma O'Sullivan from Galways and Clare McDermott from Cavan.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Accordion and fiddles kick off 83rd music festival - Dumfries and Galloway Standard
"YOUNG musicians battled it out on Saturday, when the accordion and fiddle section kicked off the 83rd Dumfries and District Music Festival in traditional style.
Accordion entries held up well, despite a UK eliminator being held in Paisley on the same day, but entries for fiddle section were well down due to a number of previous competitors not having a teacher.
On the whole, the day ran smoothly thanks, not only to the performers and teachers, but also to the many helpers who gave their time to the festival.
The adjudicators this year were Iain Cathcart for accordion and Ian Kirkpatrick for fiddle."
Accordion entries held up well, despite a UK eliminator being held in Paisley on the same day, but entries for fiddle section were well down due to a number of previous competitors not having a teacher.
On the whole, the day ran smoothly thanks, not only to the performers and teachers, but also to the many helpers who gave their time to the festival.
The adjudicators this year were Iain Cathcart for accordion and Ian Kirkpatrick for fiddle."
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Fiddler finds his worldly corner
Fiddler finds his worldly corner: "Colm Mac Con Iomaire drew on his Gaelic roots to create his first solo album, writes Liza Power.
COLM Mac Con Iomaire is a firm believer in doing things when the time is right. Which is why, after 20 years playing fiddle for Irish rock bands The Frames and The Swell Season, he decided to release his first solo album. Called The Hare's Corner, it was recorded in a caravan in an open field in County Wexford, south of Dublin; skirted by green fields and the cold breath of the Irish Sea. He locked himself away in splendid isolation to weave fragments of song that have played in his mind for years.
''Recording ideas is like putting a pin through the butterfly, so I'd been trying to put it off and save the fragments until I had time to sit down and devote my attention to it fully.''"
COLM Mac Con Iomaire is a firm believer in doing things when the time is right. Which is why, after 20 years playing fiddle for Irish rock bands The Frames and The Swell Season, he decided to release his first solo album. Called The Hare's Corner, it was recorded in a caravan in an open field in County Wexford, south of Dublin; skirted by green fields and the cold breath of the Irish Sea. He locked himself away in splendid isolation to weave fragments of song that have played in his mind for years.
''Recording ideas is like putting a pin through the butterfly, so I'd been trying to put it off and save the fragments until I had time to sit down and devote my attention to it fully.''"
Basque accordionist Kepa Junkera performs in Glasgow
"Basque accordionist Kepa Junkera and new young female choir Leioa Kantika Korala performed at the Main Auditorium at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (Scotland) on Thursday, January 20th as part of Celtic Connections, a festival that takes place from January 13th to 30th.
According to the Scottish newspaper Scotsman 'Kepa Junkera is a great ambassador for the Basque country, and his concerts rarely disappoint'.
'The imaginative settings of ancient ballads of the Bay of Biscay, collected by improvising bertsolari poet Xabier Amuriza, use beautiful melodies and in novel style several involve recorded fragments of Mongolian throat-singing', the Scottish newspaper Scotsman reported on its website on Monday."
According to the Scottish newspaper Scotsman 'Kepa Junkera is a great ambassador for the Basque country, and his concerts rarely disappoint'.
'The imaginative settings of ancient ballads of the Bay of Biscay, collected by improvising bertsolari poet Xabier Amuriza, use beautiful melodies and in novel style several involve recorded fragments of Mongolian throat-singing', the Scottish newspaper Scotsman reported on its website on Monday."
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Joe Derrane is the Irish Echo’s top traditional artist of 2010
"Since 1993, the Irish Echo has honored these 16 musicians — and two radio hosts — with its highest annual accolade, “Traditional Artist of the Year”: Charlie Lennon, James Keane, Joe Derrane, Seamus Egan, Joanie Madden, John Whelan, Mick Moloney, Liz Carroll, Kevin Crawford, Seamus Connolly, Mike Rafferty, Andy McGann (posthumous), Monsignor Charlie Coen, WFUV-FM’s Kathleen Biggins and WGBH-FM’s Brian O’Donovan (co-recipients for 2006), Micheal O Suilleabhain, Brian Conway, and John Doyle.
Boston-born button accordionist and composer Joe Derrane now becomes the first to receive this most coveted award twice."
Boston-born button accordionist and composer Joe Derrane now becomes the first to receive this most coveted award twice."
Sunday, January 16, 2011
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