Andrea Palandri is originally from Venice in Italy and has been living in Ireland since 2014. He started to take a keen interest in the music of Sliabh Luachra, and in particular in the fiddle music of Pádraig O’Keeffe, Denis Murphy and Paddy Cronin in his late teens. He has been looking through O’Keeffe manuscripts and studying the bowing techniques found therein for several years now. He is particularly interested in the distinctive bowing patterns taught in O’Keeffe’s notation, in which much of the rhythm and detail of this unique regional style is hardcoded. These manuscripts are an incredible resource for any fiddle player who wishes to study the techniques taught by O’Keeffe to his students, effectively allowing us to carefully retrace the steps taken by some of the most extraordinary musicians ever to emerge from this region.
Andrea choose to focus on 21 tunes from various O’Keeffe manuscripts, 11 jigs, 2 hornpipes, 2 polkas, 2 slides and 4 reels. Each of these tunes was recorded individually and made available on the ITMA site with a full suite of learning resources.
Links to all 21 tunes can be found in this collection.
21 tunes chosen by Andrea Palandri and made available as interactive scores
He also recorded a number of the tunes in sets. Note in the recordings below the sets were recorded in a different key to the individual tunes.
Untitled [tune no. 28], polka from O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor MS A
Untitled [tune no. 85], polka from O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor MS E
Untitled [The ladies cup of tea] [tune no. 30], reel from Pádraig O’Keeffe ITMA-Collins manuscripts, book 2: fiddle.
Untitled [Murphy’s] [tune no. 59], reel from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-Miscellanous Manuscripts
Untitled [tune no. 7], jig from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript C
Untitled [tune no. 8], jig from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript C
Untitled [tune no. 9], jig from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript C
Untitled [tune no. 104], slide from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript E
Untitled [tune no. 27], slide from Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O’Connor Manuscript A
Videos, like those above, were recorded for each of the 21 tunes chosen by Andrea. Each tune also has an interactive score synced with the video and a downloadable PDF of the staff notation.
The 63 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from the second of three sets of manuscripts written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for fiddle pupils, and donated to ITMA by Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry. For more tunes, further information and copies of the original manuscripts, see Pádraig O’Keeffe Resources at ITMA.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 19 April 2014
To mark World Fiddle Day 2021 ITMA invited fiddle player Andrea Palandri to select his favourite tunes from the Caoimhín Mac Aoidh Pádraig O’Keeffe collection and other Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscripts in the ITMA collection. The 21 interactive scores on this page are accompanied by split screen videos of Andrea playing each tune.
For more information on the learning resources available please see here.
The 69 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from 16 different miscellaneous Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscripts which were given to Caoimhín Mac Aoidh by various people over the years.
Three of the manuscripts are dated, the earliest is from April 1941 and the latest dates from October 1953. Some of the tunes were written on the inside of open cigarette packets etc. The collection is made up of 16 manuscripts in total and contains the greatest number of melodeon tablature tunes in Caoimhín Mac Aoidh’s Pádraig O’Keeffe Collection.>
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript downloadable as one PDF.
The Miscellaneous collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 123 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of five sets of manuscripts originally written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for his pupil Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor. They have been transcribed from O’Keeffe’s unique form of fiddle-music tablature. The tunes in this manuscript (O’Connor Manuscript E) date from 3 October 1933 to 2 May 1934.
The O’Connor manuscript collection was sourced from Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor (née Horan) of Knockhorrin, Scartaglin. She originally lived at Dirreen, Scartaglin as a young girl when the manuscripts were written. Mrs O’Connor lent the collection to Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in 1984 and once copied they were returned to her in full. They consist of five school jotters which Mac Aoidh labelled, in no particular order, A, B, C, D, and E .
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available.
The O’Connor collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 35 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of five sets of manuscripts originally written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for his pupil Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor. They have been transcribed from O’Keeffe’s unique form of fiddle-music tablature. The tunes in this manuscript (O’Connor Manuscript D) date from 31 August 1932 to 1 December 1932.
The O’Connor manuscript collection was sourced from Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor (née Horan) of Knockhorrin, Scartaglin. She originally lived at Dirreen, Scartaglin as a young girl when the manuscripts were written. Mrs O’Connor lent the collection to Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in 1984 and once copied they were returned to her in full. They consist of five school jotters which Mac Aoidh labelled, in no particular order, A, B, C, D, and E.
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available.
The O’Connor collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 38 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of five sets of manuscripts originally written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for his pupil Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor. They have been transcribed from O’Keeffe’s unique form of fiddle-music tablature. The tunes in this manuscript (O’Connor Manuscript C) date from 29 November 1932 to 15 February 1933.
The O’Connor manuscript collection was sourced from Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor (née Horan) of Knockhorrin, Scartaglin. She originally lived at Dirreen, Scartaglin as a young girl when the manuscripts were written. Mrs O’Connor lent the collection to Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in 1984 and once copied they were returned to her in full. They consist of five school jotters which Caoimhín labelled, in no particular order, A, B, C, D, and E.
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available.
The O’Connor collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 25 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of five sets of manuscripts originally written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for his pupil Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor. They have been transcribed from O’Keeffe’s unique form of fiddle-music tablature. The tunes in this manuscript (O’Connor Manuscript B) date from 28 January 1935 to 9 September 1935.
The O’Connor manuscript collection was sourced from Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor (née Horan) of Knockhorrin, Scartaglin. She originally lived at Dirreen, Scartaglin as a young girl when the manuscripts were written. Mrs O’Connor lent the collection to Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in 1984 and once copied they were returned to her in full. They consist of five school jotters which Mac Aoidh labelled, in no particular order, A, B, C, D, and E.
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available.
The O’Connor collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 40 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of five sets of manuscripts originally written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for his pupil Mrs Catherine O’Connor. They have been transcribed from O’Keeffe’s unique form of fiddle-music tablature. The tunes in this manuscript (O’Connor Manuscript A) date from 19 May 1934 to 6 February 1935.
The O’Connor manuscript collection was sourced from Mrs Catherine (Kitty) O’Connor (née Horan) of Knockhorrin, Scartaglin. She originally lived at Dirreen, Scartaglin as a young girl when the manuscripts were written. Mrs O’Connor lent the collection to Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in 1984 and once copied they were returned to her in full. They consist of five school jotters which Mac Aoidh labelled, in no particular order, A, B, C, D, and E .
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available.
The O’Connor collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 210 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from a set of manuscripts originally written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for his pupil Pat O’Connell (known locally as Páitín Connell) a small farmer from the townland of Cordal, Co. Kerry. Páitín kept his manuscripts in two biscuit tins in his kitchen. He was a near neighbour of Pádraig and remembered him with great affection. He lent Caoimhín Mac Aoidh his collection in full. Caoimhín was unable to photocopy this collection but he copied the music tablature meticulously using stencils and Rotring drafting pens.
Caoimhín Mac Aoidh writes:
Of all known existing individual collections of O’Keeffe’s fiddle tablature Paddy ‘Páitín’ O’ Connell of the townland of Cordal is the most comprehensive both in numbers of tunes and in terms of time span.
The music occurs on music paper, cigarette packs, school jotters, loose papers etc. It contains the earliest written piece of all the manuscripts, a reel called The Flowing Bowl, a version of The Piper’s Despair which bears no relation to O’Neill’s version of The Flowing Bowl. The tune was written on October 2nd, 1931. The latest tune in the collection, The Wonder Hornpipe was written on October 31st, 1962, less than five months before his death. The greatest period of writing seems to have taken place during the mid-1940’s.
The music transcriber for this current project worked from three different sources for these scores:
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available.
The O’Connell collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 14 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from a set of manuscripts originally written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for his pupil Jerry McCarthy. Jerry played frequently with O’Keeffe before emigrating to New York where he spent some time working with Denis Murphy in the New York Zoo along with Rory O’Connor a whistle player from Doolin.
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript downloadable as one PDF
The McCarthy collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 37 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from fair copy transcriptions made of Padraig O’Keeffe’s music tablature by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh.
Caoimhín Mac Aoidh writes:
The McAuliffe Collection was sourced from Nicky McAuliffe by Máire O’Keeffe who passed them on to me. These manuscripts were not photocopied but were transcribed directly off the originals. Given his interest and abilities on the fiddle they were offered to Nicky by local past pupils of Padraig’s. It can be dated at least from January 14th, 1951 to December 23rd, 1951.
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available.
The McAuliffe collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 91 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from a set of manuscripts originally written by Pádraig O’Keeffe. The Horan Collection was sourced from Mrs. Katie Horan (nee O’Brien). It can be dated at least from 5 June 1942 to 22 March 1949. As with the O’Connor Collection it contains the information on how to read the tablature and ornament the tunes in terms of rolls and Pádraig’s notion of “trills”.
Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available.
The Mrs. Katie Horan (nee O’Brien) collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 14 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from a set of manuscripts originally owned by Mickey Duggan a former pupil of Pádraig O’Keeffe. Some of the original manuscripts are in Pádraig O’Keeffe’s music tablature system. The tune ‘Sean Ryan’s wonder hornpipe’ is written in staff notation. Contemporary transcriptions of the individual tunes in this manuscript are also available as a downloadable PDF.
The Duggan collection is one of seven Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscript collections sourced by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh in the early 1980s. The manuscripts mainly belonged to Pádraig O’Keeffe’s pupils, and in a limited number of cases to others. Mac Aoidh photocopied the manuscripts where possible and returned the originals to their owners.
The 77 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of three sets of manuscripts written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for fiddle pupils, and donated to ITMA by Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry. They have been transcribed from O’Keeffe’s unique form of fiddle-music tablature. It is clear from the manuscripts that he was a conscientious and imaginative teacher who continuously shaped the music that he taught to the proficiency level of his pupils. As his notation was used primarily as a memory-aid for pupils following on from his personal tuition of them, it sometimes lacks essential rhythmic and other information. The re-creation here of some song airs particularly is therefore to a degree speculative. For more tunes, further information and copies of the original manuscripts see Pádraig O’Keeffe Resources at ITMA.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 19 April 2014.
The 88 interactive scores on this page have been transcribed by ITMA staff from a copy-manuscript made of music written for an accordion pupil by the Kerry music master, musician and composer Pádraig O’Keeffe (1887–1963) in his own unique accordion notation. Although O’Keeffe was famous as a fiddle player and fiddle teacher, he also a teacher of other instruments, including the button accordion.
The manuscript has been donated to ITMA by Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry, himself an accordion pupil of O’Keeffe’s as was his brother Dan. Three sets of fiddle manuscripts written for Paud’s brother Jer also form part of the donation, and have been made available in facsimile and as interactive music scores on the ITMA website (see Pádraig O’Keeffe Resources at ITMA) The fiddle manuscripts were written by O’Keeffe himself, but the accordion manuscript was copied for her brothers from O’Keeffe’s originals by Paud Collins’s sister Tess Drudy (who did not herself read the tablature).
In this copy-manuscript O’Keeffe displays a relatively little-known facet of his talents – an impressive knowledge of the accordion system available in his day and of the appropriate repertory for it. The manuscript embodies a creative and graded approach to teaching the instrument. Though the approach required is much different from that required for the fiddle, O’Keeffe’s first instrument, he is adept at modifying tunes in order to suit both the accordion and the level of proficiency of his pupils, and in placing tunes correctly in the most appropriate places in the instrument’s range. His fingering patterns are generally accurate and pupil-friendly.
For the transcripts presented here it is assumed that the target instrument for the notations in the manuscript was a single-row 10-key accordion or melodeon. O’Keeffe’s tablature would have been valid for an instrument pitched in any key, and there might well have been variety in the pitch of instruments played by his pupils. For convenience, in the transcripts given here, the key of D is adopted as the home key of the instrument.
In making the transcripts for these interactive scores, pragmatic decisions were made regarding problems in the manuscript. Some content in the scores is conjectural due to missing content and/or legibility problems in the manuscript. Some of these problems might be due to copying errors, since the manuscript is not in O’Keeffe’s hand.
In some scores where the tonic note is G or A, the note C natural is given because it is standard for tunes in the key of the relevant tune (G major, A minor). This note was not available on the instrument for which the manuscript probably was written. In the manuscript it was probably C sharp that was intended in those cases. These instances are indicated by an editorial note in the relevant scores.
In the case of one tune in the manuscript there was not enough information to enable the tune to be deciphered – that tune therefore was omitted.
Jackie Small, Treasa Harkin & Nicholas Carolan, 13 May 2014
The 51 interactive music scores on this page have been notated from one of three sets of manuscripts written by Pádraig O’Keeffe for fiddle pupils, and donated to ITMA by Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry. There are 191 tunes in all in the three sets of manuscripts. For all tunes, further information and copies of the original manuscripts, see Pádraig O’Keeffe Resources at ITMA.
Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Jackie Small, 19 April 2014
In the following blog Caoimhín outlines the origins of this collection and his long-held desire to make the collection available to the Irish traditional music community.
Introduction to the Pádraig O’Keeffe Manuscript Collection
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript A
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript B
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript C
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript D
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connor Manuscript E
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-O'Connell Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-Horan Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-Duggan Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-McCarthy Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-McAuliffe Manuscript
Transcriptions of the Pádraig O’Keeffe Mac Aoidh-Miscellaneous Manuscripts
The famous Sliabh Luachra fiddle player and travelling fiddle-master Pádraig O’Keeffe (1887–1963) from Glountane, near Castleisland, Co Kerry, at first followed in his father’s footsteps as the principal teacher in the local national school, but in 1920 abandoned conventional school-teaching for a more bohemian lifestyle.
He had inherited music from his O’Callaghan mother’s side of the family, and over the next four decades he taught hundreds of pupils, fiddle especially but also accordion and other instruments, moving in a wide circuit within striking distance of his home. An eccentric and notably witty character with a gift for musical variation, he left an indelible stamp on the music and folklore of the region, and is an example of how an individual musician may almost create a local music style.
In his teacher-training, O’Keeffe would have learned the rudiments of staff notation and tonic solfa, but for his own teaching purposes he devised more intuitive tablature systems. For the fiddle he employed the four spaces of the music staff to correspond with the strings of the instrument, and with numerals indicating which fingers were to be pressed down. For the accordion he used numerals for the keys to be pressed and in- and out-symbols to indicate the direction of the bellows. Hundreds of the notations he left with pupils have been preserved in private hands, and two volumes of facsimiles have been published (Dan Herlihy, Sliabh Luachra Music Masters vols 1 & 2, Herlihy, Killarney, 2003 & 2007). But his music has not yet been comprehensively collected.
The O’Keeffe fiddle and accordion manuscripts presented here below as scans have been kindly donated to the Irish Traditional Music Archive by accordion player Paud Collins from Knockacur, Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry. The manuscripts belonged
to Paud’s brother Jerh a former fiddle pupil of O’Keeffe’s. Their brother Dan
was an accordion pupil of O’Keeffe’s.
The fiddle manuscripts are in Pádraig O’Keeffe’s own hand, while the accordion manuscripts were copied for her brothers from O’Keeffe’s originals by Paud Collins’s sister Tess Drudy (who did not herself read the tablature).
Interactive music scores of the fiddle & accordion manuscripts are available below.
The four sets of ITMA-Collins O’Keeffe facsimile manuscripts and the interactive music scores derived from them constitute the largest body of O’Keeffe’s music that is publicly available to date.
With thanks to Paud Collins, and to his son Denis Collins who was instrumental in the making of the donation.
Nicholas Carolan & Maeve Gebruers, 1 October 2013
Grace Toland, 2 April 2020: Provenance information updated by Paud and Denis Collins.
Sweet Donoughmore, air — Leather away the wattle o, polka — Rules [article] — Figure system [article] — Rising of the moon, march — Munster bank, polka — Fáinne geal an lae, air — Three little drummers, jig — Mary in the wood, polka — Sailors [hornpipe?] — Father Jack Walsh, jig — Lanigans ball, jig — Untitled, slide — Untitled, polka — Untitled, slide — The harvest home, hornpipe — Untitled, polka — Jacksons morning brush, jig — Untitled, polka — Untitled, polka — Loch Lomond, air — Lowlands of Holland, air — Off to California, hoprnpipe — Untitled, jig — Danny boy, air — Untitled, polka — Boys of Bluehill [hornpipe] — Blackberry blossom, reel — Star of Munster, reel — Jimmy mo mhíle as tor, or, Driharreen og machree, air — Fermoy lasses, reel — Liverpool, hornpipe — Fr O’Flynn, jig — Untitled, polka — Untitled, slide — The West’s asleep, air — An coulin, air — O’Rahilly’s grave, air — An coulin, air — Untitled, hornpipe — Untitled, reel — Untitled, jig — Rodney’s glory, long dance — Pigeon on the gate, reel — Irish washerwoman, jig — Star of Munster : 2nd part, reel — Dunphy’s Hornpipe — The rose in the heather, jig — An lon dubh, long dance — O’Sullivan’s jig — Miss McCleod’s reel — Untitled, polka — Untitled, slide — Rose in the heather, jig —
Pádraig O’Keeffe Manuscripts. Book One. Fiddle
Sweet Donoughmore, air — Leather away the wattle o, polka — Rules [article] — Figure system [article] — Rising of the moon, march — Munster bank, polka — Fáinne geal an lae, air — Three little drummers, jig — Mary in the wood, polka — Sailors [hornpipe?] — Father Jack Walsh, jig — Lanigans ball, jig — Untitled, slide — Untitled, polka — Untitled, slide — The harvest home, hornpipe — Untitled, polka — Jacksons morning brush, jig — Untitled, polka — Untitled, polka — Loch Lomond, air — Lowlands of Holland, air — Off to California, hoprnpipe — Untitled, jig — Danny boy, air — Untitled, polka — Boys of Bluehill [hornpipe] — Blackberry blossom, reel — Star of Munster, reel — Jimmy mo mhíle as tor, or, Driharreen og machree, air — Fermoy lasses, reel — Liverpool, hornpipe — Fr O’Flynn, jig — Untitled, polka — Untitled, slide — The West’s asleep, air — An coulin, air — O’Rahilly’s grave, air — An coulin, air — Untitled, hornpipe — Untitled, reel — Untitled, jig — Rodney’s glory, long dance — Pigeon on the gate, reel — Irish washerwoman, jig — Star of Munster : 2nd part, reel — Dunphy’s Hornpipe — The rose in the heather, jig — An lon dubh, long dance — O’Sullivan’s jig — Miss McCleod’s reel — Untitled, polka — Untitled, slide — Rose in the heather, jig —
Pádraig O’Keeffe Manuscripts. Book Two. Fiddle
Leg of the duck, jig — Galbally [jig] — Queen of Hearts, reel — House in the Glen, jig — Miss McCleod’s reel — Byrne’s hornpipe — Rambling pitchfork, jig — Munster buttermilk, jig — Saddle the pony, jig — Rights of man, hornpipe — Swalow’s tail, reel — Galope, polka — High caul cap, jig — Hurry the jug, jig — Rakes of Mallow, air — Peeler and goat, slide — Kitty’s wedding, reel — Lark in the morning, jig — Jolly old man, jig — = Old man Dillon, jig — Knocknaboul reel — Unidentified, slide — Flowers of Edinburgh, hornpipe — Maid of sweet Strabane, air — Humours of Bandon, jig — The skylark, reel — Unidentified, jig — Farewell to whiskey, polka — Unidentified, jig — Unidentified, reel — Unidentified, hornpipe — Unidentified, polka — Donegal hornpipe — Isle of Innisfree, air — Shule aroon, air — Old Irish air — An beinsín lúachra, air — Stack of barley, hornpipe — Wind that shakes the barley, reel — Unidentified, jig — The high level hornpipe — Queen of fair, jig — Unidentified, reel — Siege of Ennis, air — Fisherman’s hornpipe — Siege of Ennis (contd.), air — Friendly visit, hornpipe — Unidentified, polka — Unidentified, slide — Cherish the ladies, jig — Blackthorn reel — Unidentified, polka — My britches, polka — Wandering minstrel, jig — Morning star, reel — Woman of the house, reel — Plains of Boyle, hornpipe — Murray’s hornpipe — = Cuckoo, hornpipe — Weaver’s polka — Sally Gardens, reel — Harvest jig
Pádraig O’Keeffe Manuscripts. Book Three. Accordion
Devil among the tailors, hornpipe — Coffee and tea, jig — Miss Monahans, reel — Mary in the wood, polka — The Irish washerwoman, jig — Unidentified, reel — The wild colonial boy, air — Valleys of Knockanure, air — Unidentified, polka — Blackbird, air — Unidentified, polka — Another method, polka = — Unidentified, polka — Unidentified, jig — Londonderry hornpipe — Unidentified, polka — Boys of Bluehill, hornpipe — Unidentified, polka — Unidentified, polka — Unidentified, slide — Quadrille polka — Broomstick reel — Unidentified, jig — Unidentified, polka — Green little cottage, polka — Cherish the ladies, jig — Ballymac polka — Sailor’s hornpipe — Blarney roses, air — Harvest home, hornpipe — Happy to meet and sorry to part, jig — The girl I left behind me, polka — Unidentified, polka — Unidentified, reel — Bonny Irish boy, air — Unidentified, waltz — Green cottage: second method, polka — Sweeps hornpipe — Humours of Dingle, jig — Unidentified, hornpipe — Rory O Moore, jig — Unidentified, polka — Unidentified, polka — Unidentified, slide — Maid behind the bar, reel — Unidentified, polka — Walsh’s reel — Unidentified, jig — Road to the Isles, hornpipe — Unidentified, jig — Unidentified, slide — Kelly from Killann, air — Golden hair, hornpipe — Unidentified, hornpipe — Banks of Rosbeigh, reel — Unidentified, jig — Unidentified, slide — Unidentified, slide — Plains of Boyle, hornpipe — Unidentified, polka — Haste to the wedding, jig — Chief O’Neill, hornpipe — Bonny Kate, reel — Bonnet, polka — Priest in his boots, jig — Unidentified, slide — Take her away, polka — Frost is all over, jig — Donnybrook Fair, hornpipe — Hurry the jug, jig — Munster buttermilk, jig — Unidentified, polka — Pleasure of home, hornpipe — Miss McCleods reel — Unidentified, reel — Galbally Farmer, jig — Inidentified, slide — Smash the windows, jig — Pigeon on the gate, reel — Bush in the garden, jig — Beggarman, hornpipe — Unidentified, polka — Sullivans jig — The mason’s apron, reel — Unidentified, polka — Unidentified, polka
Pádraig O’Keeffe Manuscripts : miscellaneous pages. Fiddle
Rolling on the rye grass, reel — Untitled, polka — Gallant Tipp boys, jig — Maid behind the bar, reel — Beggarman, hornpipe — Valley of Knockanure — Wild colonial boy — Annie Laurie — Untitled, hornpipe — Mary — St Patrick’s day — Flower of the flock, hornpipe — Untitled, polka — Untitled, polka — Off to California, hornpipe — Winter apples, jig — The bridal, jig — Untitled, reel — Untitled, hornpipe — Mairéad Ní Ceallaigh, air — Farewell to Erin, reel — Untitled, slide — Maid in the green, jig — 10d bet, jig — Fire in the mountain, jig — Haste to the wedding, jig — Homebrew, hornpipe — Untitled, polka — Untitled, jig — Untitled, reel — Untitled, jig — Untitled, polka — 1st May, hornpipe — Untitled, polka — Quarrelsome piper, hornpipe — Shaskeen reel — Sligo maid, reel — Geese in the bog, jig — Untitled, reel — Chancellor’s hornpipe — Untitled, jig — Untitled, polka — He-up-i-addy-i-a, slide — Untitled, air — Untitled, jig — Cronin’s hornpipe — Untitled, reel — Tarbolton, reel — Untitled, jig — Off to California, hornpipe — Untitled, polka — Hand me down the tackle, reel — My love is in America, reel — Kettle boiled over, jig
Pádraig O’Keeffe, traditional musician, was born 8 October 1887 at Glountane (Gleanntán), Knockdown townland, near Castleisland, Co. Kerry, eldest of four sons and four daughters of John Leahy O’Keeffe, teacher, and Margaret O’Keeffe (née O’Callaghan), of a musical family from Doonasleen (Doon), Kiskeam, Co. Cork. In accord with prevailing local custom, as the firstborn son he was fostered at an early age to the home of his maternal grandparents in Doon, and attended the nearby Ummeraboy national school. Showing a ready aptitude for music – he could tune the fiddle at age four, and also learned the accordion and concertina – he was deeply influenced by his uncle Callaghan ‘Cal’ O’Callaghan, an accomplished fiddler recently returned after twenty years in the USA. He completed his primary schooling on returning to his parents’ home in Glountane, then attended secondary school in Ballydesmond, Co. Cork. Bowing to parental expectations, he qualified as a teacher at a Dublin training college; after occupying two substitute posts, he was assigned to Glountane national school during his father’s illness, and was appointed principal teacher in May 1915 within a month of his father’s death.
In contrast to his father, a severe classroom (and household) disciplinarian known to his pupils as ‘the roaster’, Pádraig was kind-hearted and easygoing. Though a gifted teacher, as his life’s work would attest, he was restless within the confines of professional responsibility and classroom routine. A heavy drinker from an early age, playing music in public and private houses late into the nights, he was frequently absent from his duties, reliant on his sister Norah, the other teacher in the one-room school, to cover his classes. After several reprimands and repeated unsatisfactory inspectors’ reports, O’Keeffe walked out of the job on the day that a newly assigned co-master arrived (June 1920). After trying his hand at cattle dealing, and working for a year as a civil servant in Tralee, he adopted the precarious but self-regulated trade of a full-time travelling music teacher. Ranging throughout Sliabh Luachra – a remote upland region of indeterminate extent straddling the Kerry – Cork border eastwards of Castleisland – he walked up to thirty miles (48 km) daily in all weathers, calling at the houses of pupils.
As most of his pupils, unlike himself, were musically illiterate, he devised a simple system of notation in which he wrote out tunes for the pupil to practise until his next visit: the four spaces of the standard five-line staff represented the four strings of the fiddle, with the digits 0 to 4 placed in the appropriate spaces to indicate the fingering required to play each note (0 representing an open string). He contrived a similar ‘code’ for the accordion, and could adapt the system to other instruments. O’Keeffe commanded a vast repertory of tunes, some of his own composition, some learned by ear from other musicians, or radio, or recordings, or read in printed collections; it was said that he knew every tune of Neill’s 1,001. Performing at house dances, informal gatherings, and in the many pubs that punctuated his daily rounds, he routinely astonished fellow musicians with entire evenings of previously unheard tunes, which he would write out on request on odd scraps of paper that came to hand. Never terribly keen to play for dancers, he preferred to play for listening, and rendered dance tunes in a stately, deliberate tempo, caressing every note. He had a remarkable sensitivity for slow airs, his favourites including ‘The banks of the Danube’ and ‘O’Rahilly’s grave’. In performing ‘The old man rocking the cradle’ he would use a large metal door key held in his teeth against the fiddle bridge to mute the tone and mimic an infant’s crying. O’Keeffe’s treatment of a piece was classical in temper, a self-effacing concentration on the integrity of the music – the performer’s purpose being to express the beauty, the depth, the shape of the tune – not a self-aggrandising display of virtuosity. He disdained elaborate flourishes or gratuitous ornamentation; skill in technique and imagination in variation were subservient to the meaning of the music, embellishing the piece, not the player.
A colourful character, O’Keeffe was a celebrated wit and conversationalist with a rich fund of anecdote; his stories and sayings, and accounts of his exploits, endure in local folklore. After abandoning in early manhood his courtship of a local girl, under pressure from his mother who disapproved the match, he never married, but led a confirmed bachelor’s life based in the family’s substantial two-storey house across from the school at Glountane crossroads. The fiddle was ‘the missus’, his ‘only wife’. He told of once leaving a fiddle – ‘the first wife’ – outside during a night of heavy rain; she got the rheumatics, and was no good to him thereafter. Asked by the lender of a bicycle about the vehicle’s whereabouts, he pointed to his throat: ‘Look down and see if the handlebars are sticking up.’ Hearing a pub discussion about the mileage performance of various automobiles, he remarked that he himself that day had done thirty miles to the pint. He described having a dream in which a publican notorious for his meanness stood him a whiskey, asking whether he preferred it hot or cold. ‘Hot,’ Padraig replied, only to awaken before the kettle had boiled; ‘if I’d had it cold, I’d have been right.’ Short of funds, he would enter a pub with ‘the entrance fee’ – the price of the first pint – confident that his music and conversation would induce others to buy him drinks. When music and drink were flowing, he was ‘purring’; on nights of rare conviviality he was ‘purring high’.
Such affability notwithstanding, O’Keeffe was deeply private and enigmatic, by personality and mode of life set apart from the crowd. One of the major figures in the history of Irish traditional music, O’Keeffe left an indelible mark on the distinctive regional style of Sliabh Luachra, an important centre of the mid-twentieth-century revival of the genre. His teaching and playing were central to the preservation and evolution of the style through a period of minimal interest in traditional music. Indifferent to reputation, and travelling little outside Sliabh Luachra, O’Keeffe was not recorded until the late 1940s, when he was nearly 60 and past his prime. The finest examples are those made by Séamus Ennis (qv), with whom his relationship was mutually empathetic; some of these have been commercially released. Kerry fiddles (1977), comprising Ennis’s 1952 recordings for the BBC, includes solos by O’Keeffe, and duets and trios with the brother and sister Denis Murphy (1910–74) and Julia Clifford (1914–97), his most illustrious students. The Sliabh Luachra fiddle master (1993), issued to accompany a series of four RTÉ radio programmes by Peter Browne, includes music from Radio Éireann recordings of 1948–9. A third set of recordings, made by Ennis for the folklore commission (1947), is in UCD. A celebrated photograph of O’Keeffe wielding fiddle, bow, and glass of stout was taken by Liam Clancy during recording sessions in 1955 with the American folklorist Diane Hamilton, who included a track by O’Keeffe on the LP The lark in the morning. During the severe winter of 1962–3, O’Keeffe was periodically isolated in his home, and stranded for a week in a Castleisland pub. Falling seriously ill, he was admitted to St Catherine’s hospital, Tralee, where he died on 22 February 1963. Burial was in the family plot in Kilananama graveyard, Cordal. A portrait bust in Scartaglen overlooks Lyons’s pub, his favourite haunt.
