Uilleann piper Néillidh Ó Maolagáin’s music is embedded in a great tradition. He is a son of acclaimed Leitrim fiddle-player and piper Tom Mulligan and was born in Dublin. He is a piper for whom playing music is a lifelong preoccupation and who plays with warmth and emotion.

He has developed and cultivated his own style of piping, which is grounded in the styles of the old piping masters. He is a great admirer of Irish sean-nós singing and this can be clearly heard in his emotive interpretation of these great songs.

Néillidh has released three solo albums to date. Along with teaching and guesting on other albums, he has performed at many festivals around the world. He has collaborated with conductor Robert Houlihan and played with Orchestras in Serbia, Hungary, and Romania. More recently, Néillidh has performed at home and abroad with renowned Leitrim poet and playright, Vincent Woods.

His two sons, Fiachra and Oisín, are both pipers and fiddle-players and his two daughters, Caoimhe and Éabha, play fiddle, harp, concertina and are both renowned sean-nós dancers.

This month’s playlist offers an unique opportunity to hear rare recordings made by the late Tom Davis. Tom was a familiar figure at Irish music events for over 50 years since the 1960s, recording music, song and conversation at fleadhs, concerts and private houses. His recording equipment was high quality and over these years he amassed thousands of tapes featuring both well known figures and lesser known musicians and singers. Tom’s widow Eleanor has generously donated Tom’s large collection to ITMA, where work has commenced on exploring and cataloging what is an invaluable resource for the Irish music community. This playlist just offers a glimpse of the breath and quality that Tom’s life’s work has made to Irish music.  – Pádraic

As is amply proved by the excellent players on these video recordings from the collections of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, the tin whistle is a destination instrument in Irish traditional music, as well as being an entry-level stepping stone to other instruments such as the flute and uilleann pipes. It has a unique sound that can range from the plangent on slow airs to a crisp tightness on fast dance tunes, and it will always have its own space in the music. In recent years, experimental makers using a variety of materials have developed the instrument, and have transformed it from the cheap, beloved, but sometimes unreliable whistles available a generation ago.

The recordings were made by ITMA staff at a variety of venues over the period: the Willie Clancy Summer School in Co Clare, the Frankie Kennedy Winter School in Co Donegal, and the Scoil Shamhna Shéamuis Ennis in Co Dublin.

With thanks to the performers for permission to present their music here, and to the organisers of the three schools for facilitating ITMA staff in making the recordings.

Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Piaras Hoban, 1 August 2015

The Kerry fiddle player Con Curtin (1926–2009) was a noted figure among the emigrant Irish traditional musicians of London in the 1960s, both as a performer and, after a period working in construction, as the landlord of the Balloon public house in Chelsea, London SW, which was one of the centres of Irish music in the city. He returned to his native Brosna in the 1970s where he set up again as a publican. In 2001, while he was still alive, a music festival in his honour was established in the village, with sessions, concerts and pub trails.

The videos presented here were recorded by Irish Traditional Music Archive staff in June 2014, at the 14th Con Curtin Festival. This year the festival was part of a new initiative, the Sliabh Luachra Music Trail, which links the various traditional music festivals of the region, and which was launched in March in Ballydesmond with ITMA participation at an event recorded here. The launch also formed the basis of an RTÉ Radio 1 ‘Rolling Wave’ programme which is archived on the RTÉ website here.

With thanks to the musicians who have given permission to publish, and for facilitation to Cian Heffernan of the Cork Co Council Arts Office and to Gerard Curtin & the Con Curtin Festival Committee of Brosna.

Nicholas Carolan & Treasa Harkin, 1 August 2014

This second tranche of copies of cylinder recordings of Irish-language singers made by Rev. Dr Richard Henebry in Co Waterford in the early 20th century, and presented here from its collections by the Irish Traditional Music Archive with some of his instrumental music cylinders, is not for the faint-hearted.

Although they have been expertly remastered for ITMA by Harry Bradshaw, who has recovered sound from them that is inaudible when they are played ‘flat’, they are nevertheless still indistinct and noisy. Not surprising, given that the original cylinders are now more than a century old, are of ‘wax’ composition and were only designed for a limited number of playings. They are now badly worn, and often scratched or cracked. The wonder is that they have survived and can be heard at all.

These recordings differ therefore from the first published tranche of ITMA Henebry cylinder recordings. Those were remade from copper cylinder moulds as the result of a cooperative project between ITMA and the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv and are of a better audio quality. These recordings differ also in containing some fiddle renditions of traditional tunes, some of which may be given by Richard Henebry himself using up unused space on cylinders, and in including some recordings from Irish America. The first tranche of Henebry cylinder recordings is available below, along with information on the whole ITMA Henebry project and links to copies of his books and other recordings.

These new recordings are undated but at least two were made in July 1905, when the first tranche was recorded, and the probability is that at least some of the others also were. Introduced by Henebry himself, two of the singers are the same, Pádraig Ó Néill and Maighréad Ní Néill, and second takes are given of some of the same songs. The uilleann piper James Byrne is playing here again. But there are also new singers to be found from An Rinn, some introducing themselves. A Seán de Henebry, probably Richard’s brother, plays fiddle, and a whistle or piccolo player can also be heard. Among the new singers are William Power and Sylvester O’Murray, and two whose names will be familiar: Nioclás Ua Tóibín and Labhrás Ó Cadhla. But these latter are undoubtedly older relatives of the well-known Waterford singers of these names who were recorded by radio and record companies in the mid- and later 20th century. It is possible that some of these recordings were made by members of the Henebry family using his equipment after Richard’s death in 1916 as some written documentation found with these cylinders dates from 1929 and 1930 (however it is also possible that only the documentation and not the cylinders may be of those dates). Also to be heard here is the Chicago-based uilleann piper Bernard Delaney of Offaly, and an anonymous uilleann pipes and fiddle duet, on cylinders which had been sent to Henebry by Captain Francis O’Neill of Chicago (Delaney can be more audibly heard on Milwaukee O’Neill cylinder copies available here).

In spite of their difficult audio quality, these Henebry recordings have a unique cultural value. They preserve traditional melodies, something not often found in early Irish-language song collections which typically print only verbal texts. They also preserve elements of traditional song style and instrumental style which are beyond the reach of music notation. A declamatory singing style is common in these recordings; it may have been influenced somewhat by the recording process. In the hope that singers and musicians of the present day will hear enough on them to be able to re-create the songs and music, and that people with local knowledge and interested scholars will be able to add information and make transcriptions, even the noisiest of the Henebry cylinders are presented here. Some identifications of songs and singers are tentative, as indicated; additional information would be very welcome.

With thanks to Professor Seóirse Bodley, donor of the original recordings to ITMA; to Henri Chamoux of the Archaeophone Company in France who digitised them; and to Harry Bradshaw who remastered the digitisations.

Nicholas Carolan, Elaina Solon & Danny Diamond, 1 August 2015

They Love Music Mightily’: Contemporary Recordings of Irish Traditional Music – An Ceol Comhaimseartha was a joint cross-border audiovisual travelling exhibition of the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum in Cultra, Holywood, Co Down, and the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin. It was on display in various venues from 2000 to 2004. The exhibition was intended to emphasise that Irish traditional music is an exciting and varied contemporary artform. It consisted of stands with giant back-lit transparencies of thirteen leading contemporary singers and musicians, and sound recordings on headphones of the featured performers. The title of the exhibition is a quotation from the writings of William Good, an English observer of the Irish in the 1560s.

The exhibition was initiated by Robbie Hannan (then Curator of Music at the UFTM), advised by Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin of the University of Limerick (former Chairman of the ITMA Board). It was designed by Michael Donnelly of the UFTM, and featured specially commissioned photographs by Paul McCarthy (an independent photographer) and sound recordings by Glenn Cumiskey (then ITMA Sound Engineer), with additional recordings by Robbie Hannan, Niall Keegan (UL), and Paul Dooley, one of the featured performers. It was curated by Robbie Hannan in Cultra and by Nicholas Carolan (Director of the ITMA) in Dublin, with the assistance of Orla Henihan (then ITMA Visual Materials Officer).

The exhibition catalogue (produced by Robbie Hannan and Glenn Cumiskey) was a CD with the recordings and photographs featured in the exhibition, and with notes on the performers and material. It was only on sale in conjunction with the exhibition, and is now presented above.

After being opened in the UFTM in November 2000 by Roisín McDonough, Director of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, ‘They Love Music Mightily’ remained on exhibition there for a year before moving to the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks, Dublin. Managed there by Mairead Dunlevy, Keeper of Art & History in the NMI, and architect Niall Parsons of the Office of Public Works, in cooperation with ITMA staff, it was opened in November 2001 by Dr Ciarán Mac Mathúna of RTÉ Radio and Dr Pat Wallace, Director of the NMI. The exhibition was enlarged for its Dublin appearance by an exhibition of musical instruments from the collections of the NMI and ITMA, a film compiled from the Archives of RTÉ Television (with the cooperation of Cathal Goan, then Director of RTÉ Television and Chairman of the ITMA), a series of public talks – ‘What is Irish Traditional Music?’ (Nicholas Carolan), ‘Traditional Singing in Ireland’ (the late Tom Munnelly, Dept of Irish Folklore, University College Dublin, and former ITMA Chairman), and ‘The Story of Irish Dance’ (author Helen Brennan) – and a recital by Robbie Hannan, uilleann pipes, and three of the featured musicians: Mary MacNamara, concertina; Paul O’Shaughnessy, fiddle; and Paul Dooley, harp. In 2002 the exhibition ran in the Fermanagh County Museum in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh; in 2003 in the Glór music centre in Ennis, Co Clare; and from 2003 until 2004 in the Millennium Forum, Derry City. Having been dismantled and ended its terrestrial life, it begins a virtual existence on this website.

A gallery of the exhibition photographs by Paul McCarthy is available below.

With thanks especially to the thirteen performers who took part in the exhibition, to all listed above and otherwise who contributed to its success, and to the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum and Robbie Hannan, Head of Folklife and Agriculture at the UFTM.

Nicholas Carolan & Danny Diamond, 1 October 2009

ITMA have received many recordings of the proceedings of Rencontres Musicales Irlandaises de Tocane. These recordings document the festival format over the years and also the people who performed there. They are all available for reference in the Archive and a selection from 2010 is presented here.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s Dr Tom O’Beirne, now of Mohill, Co Leitrim, was a medical student in Dublin and an enthusiast for Irish traditional music. He had acquired a domestic reel-to-reel tape recorder and used it to record musicians in his flat in Rathgar and in the Irish music club that then operated in Church St in the city. He also recorded traditional music from Ciarán Mac Mathúna’s radio programmes on RTÉ, and from the ‘Bring Down the Lamp’ series on RTÉ Television. A selection of these recordings is presented here; Dr O’Beirne’s voice can be heard identifying some of the selections.

Irish traditional instrumental music was growing in popularity in Dublin from the early 1960s – aided by the public performances of groups such as the Castle Ceili Band and Ceoltóirí Chualann, and by radio and television programmes – although it was at the time nothing as popular as were traditional songs and ballads.

Older Dublin musicians, like the accordion player Sonny Brogan and the uilleann piper Tommy Reck, played regularly with older immigrant country musicians, like the flute player John Egan from Sligo, and celebrity players visiting the city, like flute player Paddy Taylor of Limerick & London and the accordion player Joe Cooley of Galway. A new rising generation of Dublin instrumentalists was also to be heard, among them banjo player Barney McKenna, flute and whistle player Dessie O’Connor, and fiddle player Sean Keane. Much of the music then current in the city is to be found in Breandán Breathnach’s first printed collection Ceol Rince na hÉireann (Dublin, 1963)

The technology of tape recording had been introduced commercially in the late 1940s in the United States. But it was only used in the professional domain in Ireland until the later 1950s when domestic reel-to-reel tape machines began to become widely available. Awkward to use and normally depending on mains electrical supply, these held the field until the 1970s when they were generally abandoned for the inferior but more convenient cassette tape recorder.

With thanks to Dr Tom O’Beirne for the donation of his tape recordings and for permission to publish selections from them; to Tom Mulligan of the Cobblestone bar, Smithfield, Dublin, for his good offices; and to fiddle player Jesse Smith for his work in digitising them. ITMA always welcomes the donation of such tape recordings or the opportunity to copy them.

Nicholas Carolan & Danny Diamond, 1 August 2010

Ann Lane, a political activist from Cork and personal assistant to Mary Robinson as Senator and as President of Ireland 1990–1997, was living in the early 1970s in 42 Lower Mount Street in south central Dublin, a Georgian building in a terrace since demolished and replaced by an office block. She acted as its caretaker as it awaited redevelopment. Uilleann piper Liam O’Flynn and his brother Michael took an apartment in the building about 1972, as did, somewhat later, the famous traditional music collector and musician Seamus Ennis. Late-night parties were held in the house, and it became a meeting place for contemporary traditional musicians. They included those who were then in the process of forming the group Planxty, soon to be world-famous, and Planxty held its first rehearsal in the house.

Ann Lane made recordings at parties in no 42 on audio cassette, a new technology then, and also at the landmark Planxty concert in the National Stadium, Dublin, in 1973. She recorded Seamus Ennis in performance at the Swamp Folk Club in Rathmines, Dublin, at about the same time. Ann has kindly donated her recordings and photographs of the period to the Irish Traditional Music Archive, and a selection of the recordings is presented here. She has also recorded an interview on camera for ITMA about her musical memories of the time.

With thanks to Ann Lane, and, for permission to reproduce these recordings of their music, to Andy Irvine, Dónal Lunny, Matt Molloy, Christy Moore, and Liam O’Flynn.

Nicholas Caloran & Danny Diamond,  1 October 2011

The ITMA audio field-recording programme began in March 1992. Between then and the end of 1993, twenty-seven recording sessions had been carried out, in Clare, Galway, Tipperary and Donegal.

As well as collecting all the contemporary and historic materials of Irish traditional music which are published by others, the Irish Traditional Music Archive has, for the past twenty years, also been creating new documentary recordings of the music on location, ‘in the field’. It now normally makes these recordings on digital video, or simultaneously on video and audio; in its earliest years, for reasons of cost, it made audio recordings only. Thousands of recordings have been made to date, and these are available within ITMA for public listening and viewing. The rights to the recordings remain otherwise with the performers.

The ITMA audio field-recording programme was begun in March 1992 (shortly after it had moved from its first office at 6 Eustace St in Temple Bar, Dublin, to new premises at 63 Merrion Square where it was officially opened). Between then and the end of 1993, twenty-seven recording sessions had been carried out, in Clare, Galway, Tipperary and Donegal. ITMA recordists in the period were Jackie Small (now ITMA Sound Archivist, seen above left recording at the Willie Clancy Summer School with ITMA co-founder Harry Bradshaw, RTÉ Radio) in Clare, Galway and Tipperary; Lillis Ó Laoire and Packie McGinley in Donegal; and Aidan McGovern and Nicholas Carolan also in Donegal (including Fermanagh singers and musicians).

Below is a selection of those recordings from the ITMA collections which were made by Jackie Small in 1992–93 in Cos Clare and Galway. They feature music, song and oral history, in Clare from Joe Bane, John & Paddy Killourhy, and P.J. Hayes, and in Galway from Danny Smith and Pat Keane.

With thanks to all the performers.

Nicholas Carolan, Danny Diamond & Jackie Small, 1 August 2012

ITMA would like to thank Cathal for his donation to the archive as well as Sharon Creasy, Déirdre Ní Mhathúna and Duncan Woods for their instrumental work in connecting ITMA with this material.

Researchers Caitlín Uí Éigeartaigh and Nicholas Carolan have studied the 12 volumes of Forde manuscripts and have deduced that approximately half derive from printed sources, with the remaining recorded from manuscript and oral sources.  The melodies, mostly song airs, were organised systematically by Forde in the manuscripts in order to compare the various versions he had sourced.

Unfortunately, as with many other nineteenth century collectors the words of the songs have not been documented. His sources extended beyond Munster to Connacht, Ulster, London, and in Leitrim he collected approximately 190 tunes from the piper Hugh O’Beirne.

Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914) acquired the Forde-Pigot Collection from members of the Pigot family and a selection of the melodies was published in his 1909 Old Irish Music & Songs reproduced here.

P.W. Joyce donated the Forde-Pigot Collection to the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.  An article by Nicholas Carolan ‘The Forde-Pigot Collection of Irish traditional music’ was published in Treasures of the Royal Irish Academy Library  (Dublin, 2009).

Learning the Tunes

John Blake selected two jigs from RIA MS 24 O 19 for Mary and Tony to learn,  The Basket of Oysters and The Sprightly Widow.

We now invite you to learn the jigs. By learning and playing these tunes you can ensure the labours of William Forde are not forgotten and are shared with future generations.

ACCESS INTERACTIVE SCORE FOR THE BASKET OF OYSTERS

ITMA’s Interactive Score facility gives you the opportunity to listen to the tune, speed it up/slow it down to play along with as you need, and follow the transcription.

ACCESS INTERACTIVE SCORE FOR THE SPRIGHTLY WIDOW.

ITMA’s Interactive Score facility gives you the opportunity to listen to the tune, speed it up/slow it down to play along with as you need, and follow the transcription.

ITMA would like to sincerely thank the Royal Irish Academy for permission to use images from RIA MS 24 O 19.

The text used above in the section ‘William Forde & Irish traditional music’ is an extract from an earlier ITMA Feature on William Forde’s printed publication 300 National melodies of the British Isles. Vol. 3. 100 Irish airs. (London, ca. 1841). It was written by Nicholas Carolan.

Mary Bergin is a whistle player from Shankill, Co. Dublin. Her mother played fiddle, her father melodeon. She picked up the whistle at nine, having heard Willie Clancy play in an Oireachtas concert in Dublin.. She picked up the whistle at nine, having heard Willie Clancy play in an Oireachtas concert in Dublin. Influenced by visiting musicians (Kathleen Harrington, Paddy Hill and Elizabeth Crotty in particular), and by local and fleadh sessions in the 1960s (in Blackrock with her harper sister Antoinette, fiddlers Joe Liddy and Sean O’Dwyer); whistle player Terry Horan also informed her playing. She played in the Claremen’s Club in Church Street, Dublin and the Thomas Street Pipers’ Club sessions, and learned too from observation of such as singer Nioclás Tóibín in Ring and Willie Clancy in Miltown Malbay while on family holidays.

She took part in CCÉ tours of Britain with, among others, Liam O’Flynn and Matt Molloy, and in the USA with such as Séamus Begley, Joe Burke and James Kelly. She worked for Radio Éireann in Henry St., Dublin, then CCÉ in Monkstown before moving to Spiddal where she now teaches the whistle. She played with the Green Linnet Céilí Band (Dublin: Mick Hand, flute, Tommy Peoples and Liam Rowsome, fiddles, Johnny McMahon, accordion), with Éamon de Buitléar’s Ceoltóirí Laighean, and for a time with De Dannan. She has also toured with her sister Antoinette, who performs with whistle and uilleann pipes player Joe McKenna. She has played much with bouzouki player Alec Finn, and now tours with the group Dordán.

Brightly ornamented but uncluttered, her playing is distinctive with a crisp articulation, and was the role model for two decades of whistle players. Her first solo album, Feadóga Stáin, in 1979, is still definitive; Feadóga Stáin 2 came in 1989, and she has recorded several albums with Dordán. In 2000 she was awarded TG4’s Gradam Ceoil for Traditional Musician of the year.

Carmel Gunning is a composer, a multi-instrumentalist, singer and teacher.. Carmel Gunning was born into a musical family – The Nangles – in Geevagh, Co. Sligo. She is a composer, a multi-instrumentalist, singer and teacher of many well-known musicians such as Liam Kelly and Orlaith MacAuliffe to name just a few. She teaches all year round and hosts The Carmel Gunning Summer Music Classes every August.

Recently, she celebrated 50 years in the music industry and published a book of her own compositions, The Sligo Maid, and a book of songs from Connaught and outside, Shamrocks from Geevagh, to mark the occasion. Her books can be purchased from The Coleman Centre, Gurteen, Co. Sligo, and/or directly from her (see contact details below).

They are very much in demand and many of her tunes are today being taught and learned in many countries. She has also devised her own system in phrasing and breath control for tin whistle and flute which she passes on to all her students.

She also released her sixth solo CD Cathair Shligigh.

She has taught music and singing at many festivals all over the world and has tutored M.A. and B.A. students at The Irish World Academy of Music in Limerick University.

Now living in Sligo town, she is working on more material to be published at a future date and plans some launches in Ireland and abroad when safe to do so.

Lisa Shields is a graduate in modern languages from Trinity College Dublin, and worked for the Irish Meteorological Service for many years as Librarian and translator. She plays concertina, whistle and uilleann pipes.

Compositions

1. Lovely Lough Gill [comp. Carmel Gunning], waltz
2. Conway’s Cross [comp. Carmel Gunning], fling
3. Sunny Strandhill [comp. Carmel Gunning], reel
4. Bring on the poteen [comp. Carmel Gunning], reel
5. Off to Rosses Point [comp. Carmel Gunning], jig
6. Off to the session [comp. Carmel Gunning], polka
7. The Geevagh jig [comp. Carmel Gunning]
8. The lament for Fred Finn [comp. Carmel Gunning], air
9. Daniel’s delight [comp. Carmel Gunning], hornpipe

A test score for an upcoming project featuring transcriptions of Micho Russell’s tunes by Bill Ochs.  Scheduled for February 2023.