Concert Tour 2006
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- New Mown Meadow/Bonnie Kate
- 5 December 2006
- This first reel has long been a favourite of melodeon players, each of them finding
it gave them the scope to explore the potential of their instrument. The final reel
of the album,‘Bonnie Kate’, recorded with Jenny’s Chickens by Coleman in 1934, is
one of the all-time favourites in the traditional repertoire.
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- The Green Island/The Lone Bush
- 5 December 2006
- The Green island, is included in O’Neill’s 1850 (No.1774) the
source of the tune being Captain O’Neill himself. ‘The Lone Bush’ is another of a composition of Ed Reavy.
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- Three Slides
- 5 December 2006
- These first of these three slides is a popular one in West Limerick. The second tune has been a very popular tune for many years and was published in the Roche Collectionas ‘The Echoes of Killarney’. The third slide is most associated with the Brosna Céilí Band in North Kerry.
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- An Buachaillín Donn
- 5 December 2006
- Nora Butler has fond memories of learning this song many years ago when she
was a young girl of sixteen.
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- The Old Walls of Liscarroll/The Knocknagow
- 5 December 2006
- The ‘Old Walls of Liscarroll’ appears in the Waifs and Strays No.179 and was
obtained by O’Neill from the manuscripts entitled ‘Prof.of Dancing, London and
Castleisland’ on donation by Prof. P.D.Reidy in 1902. ‘The Knocknagow’ became popular after it was recorded by Joe Burke on the
1970 album, Galway’s Own Joe Burke.
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- Moran’s Return
- 5 December 2006
- This slow piece is included in the Joyce 1909 Collection Old Irish Music and Songs
– A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished.
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- Single Jigs: Siobhán Ní Chonaráin
- 5 December 2006
- The first tune – referred to as a single jig was recorded by Boston based fiddler
Séamus Connolly who needs no introduction to American audiences. This second single jig would be more commonly referred to as a slide.
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- The New Road/Cathal McConnell’s
- 5 December 2006
- Published as a two-part reel in O’Neill’s 'Music of Ireland 1850 Melodies Collection', the third part of The New Road that is now played is attributed to Paddy Fahey. The second reel is a composition of the Fermanagh flute-player/singer and entertainer Cathal McConnell.
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- An Buachaill Caol Dubh/The House Keeper
- 5 December 2006
- Damien learnt this setting of ‘An Buachaillín Bán’from the Baile na nGall singer and
accordion player Séamus Ó Beaglaoich. The House Keeper No.82 occurs in the 1998 Publication Tunes of The Munster
Pipers – Irish Traditional Music for James Goodman Manuscripts (Ed. Hugh
Shields/Pub ITMA).
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- The College Groves/Down the Broom
- 5 December 2006
- The ‘College Groves’ was one of many tunes popularised by the South-Sligo
fiddler, James Morrison, who was a contemporary of Michael Colman. ‘Down the Broom’ is the first reel in the well known South Sligo selection
Down The Broom/The Gatehouse Maid.
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- Alice Fitzgerald’s/The Gatehouse Maid
- 5 December 2006
- ‘Alice Fitzgerald’s Reel’ was named in honour of the Dungarvan singer, whom
John Kennedy enjoyed many a singing weekend with. ‘The Gatehouse Maid’ is part of the
core South Sligo repertoire having been originally recorded by Paddy Killoran in
America.
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- The Luachrachán’s Jig/The Miller’s Maggot
- 5 December 2006
- Both of these relaxed jigs are associated with two of the true ‘greats’ in our musical tradition,Junior Crehan and John Kelly,both from West Clare.
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- Gol na mBan san Ár/George White’s Reel
- 5 December 2006
- Gol na mBan san Ár was first recorded at the turn of the century by the Kerry piper Micí Combá Ó Suilleabháin. George White’s Reel has been a core repertoire tune for many years.
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- Tom Ward’s Downfall/The Ireland We Knew
- 5 December 2006
- ‘Tom Ward’s Downfall’ has been part of ‘core’ traditional repertoire since the legendary South Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman recorded it in April 1922. The second reel was composed by Ed Reavy (1898-1988), the fiddler and composer who emigrated from Cavan to the U.S. in 1912 and settled in Philadelphia.
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- Morning Mist/Eileen O’Brien’s Reel
- 5 December 2006
- The first reel was composed by the one and only Joe Burke and the tune lends its name to his most recent CD,The Morning Mist. ‘Eileen O’Brien’s Reel’ has been part of the core repertoire of Irish music for over twenty-five years having been absorbed into the tradition very soon after she composed it.
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- The Vales of New Direen
- 5 December 2006
- ‘The Vales of New Direen’is a song of emigration from the West Limerick area.It
has been recorded by Treasa Ní Cheannaigh in the past who had learnt it from
the famous singer from that area, Con Greaney.
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- My Former Wife/Neary’s
- 5 December 2006
- When he included it in his earlier publication, in 1903, 'O’Neill’s Music of Ireland Eighteen Hundred and Fifty Melodies', the collector wrote that it was actually the Tullamore piper, Bernard Delaney, who had actually introduced this tune to the Chicago musicians.
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- John Brosnan’s/Leitrim Lilter
- 5 December 2006
- Well-known accordion-player John Brosnan composed this reel over thirty years ago and it became absorbed into what is termed core repertoire very quickly. The second reel is yet another new composition,one of many tunes written by the highly regarded composer Charlie Lennon.
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- The First Month of Summer/Cut the Sod
- 5 December 2006
- This particular setting of ‘The First Month of Summer’ is associated with whistle and pipes and was popularised by west Clare concertina, piper and whistle player Tommy McCarthy.
