During the lockdown we started having outdoor sessions at Graffy Bridge near Glenties. Jimmy Campbell told us a story about a woman called Peggy who lived close to the waterfall which we could see from the bridge. The waterfall is called Peggy’s Eas (eas is waterfall in Irish) and people used to reference it to the weather. They would say, “What colour is Peggy’s eas today?”. If it was brown, it was good weather and if it was yellow, it was bad.

My niece and godchild Siobhán Ní Mhaolagáin married John Pfluegler from Australia, in Markree  Castle near Colooney in County Sligo in October 2022.

To mark the occasion I put this jig together which I played with many of the extended Mulligan family at the ceremony in the Castle on a beautiful autumn day. Markree Castle, which is now a family run hotel, is one of the largest castles in Ireland.

My eldest daughter Caoimhe became ill in January 2006 and ended up in hospital for 10 days.  Confined to a ward on her own I decided, in order for her to manage her time in some way while she was there, to get her a sketch book and some colouring pens to keep her occupied. She got great enjoyment out of sketching and she was thrilled when a nurse asked her for one of her sketches to hang in the children’s ward when she was leaving the hospital.

This tune was inspired by the swirling Atlantic waters around the coast of Clare. And I was also thinking of the Muñeira, a type of jig from Galicia.

Before and during the pandemic I had a lot of problems with my left hand. Along the way there were many times I could hardly play, but I could write tunes. Nuala Kennedy, the great flutist and singer, along with a gaggle of friends, kept in touch. I sent Nuala tunes and she sent me tunes, and we went along like that, and we still do. I can’t thank her enough for all the hilarious chats and sharing and music.

Swanny is our name for the Celtic Week at the Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina.

This tune is dedicated to the memory of my uncle Paddy Mc Namara of Drumbaniff, Crusheen, County Clare.

Paddy worked the family farm, one of their fields was know as Paddy’s Haggard.

He was very fine musician on accordion and fiddle, a singer and a dancer, and was a member of the Tulla Ceili Band in the 1950s and ’60s. He played fiddle on a series of 45’s that the band recorded back then.

The name for this tune came from a story my father Joe used to tell a lot when he was in the company of some of his old band friends including PJ Hayes from the Tulla Band who was married to my mother’s sister Peggy. Whenever himself and PJ got together there were always tunes and the stories that came with them. In this case he was telling the story of ‘Turning Mary Browne’ !

His way of telling a stories was so captivating as he set out the scene, painting in the fine details and describing things in a way that came from an older time when there was no photographs or images to inform the listener. unlike nowadays.

He was after getting his first one-row melodeon from an older woman, Jane Tierney, who lived in an old mill house near the village of Crusheen, County Clare, after she had gotten a new one. He was making great progress on the melodeon and Jane was very impressed with him as a musician. Often when on his way to the village Jane would spot him coming on his bike and would run out to meet him and of course she’d enquire of him and how he was getting on with melodeon. She would then ask him to come in and help her turn Mary Browne! I have no idea who Mary Browne was nor what the tune was for that matter.

I dedicate this to the memory of Jane Tierney melodion player who was passed and gone long before I was born.

Note: The second part of a tune is often referred to as the turn.

Any Day Now is a jig that I composed for my son Conn as we waited in anticipation for his arrival in August 2019. I was preparing for a nationwide Music Network tour with Dónal O’Connor, Jim Murray, and Anxo Lorenzo at the time, and Music Network commissioned each of us to compose a tune to perform on tour. The version of that tune that appears here differs slightly from the original composition. My initial intent was to compose a very straightforward tune but I found that the melody became unnecessarily convoluted. Here I present a simpler version of the tune. I have opted to play each part (each 16 bars long) only once but they can be doubled if desired. 

An Cailín Fionn was named after my sister Ciara. She is a fantastic fiddle player and took a liking to the tune so I told her she could have it. It has a lovely laid back feeling and my sister is a lovely laid back person with the most relaxed bow arm!

Chumas an port seo i mí Iúil 2019 dom cholceathair, Gavin Ralston. Chuireas chuige é agus bhí sé ana shásta leis ach go raibh moladh amháin aige – go gcuirfinn páirt eile leis a bheadh níos ‘doirchí’ agus go mbeadh blaise don ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ ann. Cailleadh Gavin i mí Meán Fómhair 2019. Tamall ina dhiaidh sin a cumadh an tríú pháirt agus mar sin níor chuala Gavin an port ina iomláine. B’fhéidir nach bhfuil sé chomh “Rock ‘n’ Roll” san ach tá súil agam go léiríonn sé an pearsantacht chroíúil, chneasta, lán do spraoi a bhí i nGavin.
Beannacht Dé lena anam uasal x
I first wrote this tune in July 2019 for my cousin, Gavin Ralston, and it originally had only two parts. I sent it to Gavin and he said it was a lovely tune but he felt it needed a third part and for it to sound a bit darker, to make it more “Rock ’n’ Roll”. Gavin sadly passed away in September 2019 after a long battle with cancer.

The third part of the tune wasn’t written until much later so Gavin didn’t hear the tune in its entirety. It may not be very “Rock ’n’ Roll” but I hope it captures the beautifully warm, fun and vivacious character that was Gavin.

Forever in our hearts x

This is a jig I named after the place in which my maternal grandparents lived in Dublin and we used to visit them often as I was growing up.

My thinking behind the naming of this jig was that, as we have the reel, ‘Dowd’s No. 9’, he must have written at least another 8, which I find highly impressive. You will, therefore, be most impressed by my prolific tune output, but please don’t ask about the other 9.

I wrote this tune for my daughter, Deirdre, to celebrate her winning the All Ireland under 12 tin whistle competition. She still has a great passion, interest and love for the music. One of the things I most enjoy is playing flute tunes together when she comes home.

It’s happened to most people some time or other, and it’s not a good feeling when you think you are part of a situation, then suddenly find out you are not. There may be perfectly good reasons for the actions or decisions, but it is hard to think it through rationally at the time.

When I wrote the Outsider it was meant to be aggressive and angry, with the long high Ds in the first part being particularly punchy. Maybe that’s not a very typical Irish Traditional Music kind of thing, but it did reflect my mood at the time.

Uilleann piper/flute player Louise Mulcahy’s new composition, Port Naomh Bríd/St Brigid’s Jig, celebrates St Brigid, her legacy and her important connection with nature and the environment.

Throughout my research at the Irish Traditional Music Archive, I discovered some charming legends and folklore connecting St. Brigid to nature. St. Brigid is synonymous with the spring season, a time of renewal, new life, growth and positivity. It is the time of year when we celebrate new beginnings and new life on earth. This jig seeks to encapsulate the feelings of hope and positivity whilst celebrating the beauty of nature and new life. The jig is performed on the uilleann pipes which have a range of sonic possibilities. The instrument allows for the deep connection with the sounds of nature and these possibilities are explored in the tune.

The uilleann pipes which Louise is playing were once owned by the master piper Liam O’Flynn and were entrusted to her by Na Píobairí Uilleann.

The Glint in her Eye’ is a tune for my eldest daughter Aedín who has a beguiling charm and uses the expression in her eyes to great effect!

An Solas sa Dorchadas is a tribute to my youngest daughter Fiadh who was born in late 2019, during a time that I was going through treatment for cancer – she really was my light during a very dark time and this is my ode to her.

Both of these tunes are named for birds. An roilleach is the Irish word for an oyster-catcher while an siocán sneachta is the word for a fieldfare.

In the cold winter of 2011 Joe was at home and began composing An siocán sneachta.

It was a turn in a jig that Joe Cooley did and it stuck in my head and I just kept adding to it.

Siocán sneachta is a thrush-like bird that comes to Ireland during very cold winters. There were many of them around that year, although at the time Joe couldn’t remember the Irish name for the bird. A visit from his friend, Paddy Fitz, provided him with the missing words, and it was Paddy who suggested that he also use the Irish name of the bird as a title for his new jig. On a walk later that day Paddy and Joe spotted an oyster-catcher in the estuary and Paddy told him that he had to compose another jig to go with the first, and that he should call it an roilleach, after that bird.

Both of these tunes are named for birds. An roilleach is the Irish word for an oyster-catcher while an siocán sneachta is the word for a fieldfare.

In the cold winter of 2011 Joe was at home and began composing An siocán sneachta.

It was a turn in a jig that Joe Cooley did and it stuck in my head and I just kept adding to it.
Siocán sneachta is a thrush-like bird that comes to Ireland during very cold winters. There were many of them around that year, although at the time Joe couldn’t remember the Irish name for the bird. A visit from his friend, Paddy Fitz, provided him with the missing words, and it was Paddy who suggested that he also use the Irish name of the bird as a title for his new jig. On a walk later that day Paddy and Joe spotted an oyster-catcher in the estuary and Paddy told him that he had to compose another jig to go with the first, and that he should call it an roilleach, after that bird.

One reason I gave this tune this name is because one of my favourite traditional songs to sing in Irish is “An Cailín Bán” which is a song that I learned from the singing of my father, Séamus Begley and we often sing it together and it reminds me of him.

I also named this tune for my lovely female Golden Retriever, Saimmí (pronounced Sammie).

Port a chumas dom thriúr dearthár, Breanndán, Eoin agus Níall.
A tune I wrote for my three brothers, Breanndán, Eoin and Níall

I wrote these two jigs for my new nephew Ódhrán Ó Floinn. He’s half Cork so I thought a few slide-type jigs would suit. I was trying to come up with a tune for Faoiseamh for a few weeks, and nothing was coming, and then on the day he was born in July, I wrote the first part of this first jig. He’s the inspiration.

I wrote these two jigs for my new nephew Ódhrán Ó Floinn. He’s half Cork so I thought a few slide-type jigs would suit. I was trying to come up with a tune for Faoiseamh for a few weeks, and nothing was coming, and then on the day he was born in July, I wrote the first part of this first jig. He’s the inspiration.

This tune has been adapted from another tune of mine, the reel Maisie Friel’s, in the way in which many Irish melodies are used to create different song, jig, reel, hornpipe and march tempos, which, with necessary timing and melody adjustments make for a new tune. Some jigs fit a reel mould well, but most don’t, and quite a lot of re-arrangement can be required, as in the case of this one. The original tune was heralded at the Forkhill Singers’ weekend in 1995, played for one of its organisers Gerry O’Hanlon, the last part eliciting an explosive, critical utterance from Ciaran Carson … It was then worked on in 2016 in the tranquility of a 12th-century crypt church under Chateau L’Anglais in Puisseguin, St. Emilion, France in the company of a reclining giant steel and copper skeletal sculpture created by artist Patricia Molins. The jig version here is the result of worrying it again during the 2021 lockdown months, aided by five dozen Puisseguin St. Emilion reds couriered over by wine-maker Gérard Dupuy, owner of the said chateau …

This reel started life as an exploration favoured E-minor riffs and sounds in Irish music, with a notion of syncopation and finger ‘drumming’, as in highland and uilleann piping techniques. This creeps in to vary note repetitions (bars 14 – 16) in places where the more typical Irish thing to do is to play rolls (as in bars 10-13). It ended up as a three-parter because the melody seemed to need to go further before arriving comfortably back to the beginning. It is named for the ill-considered, ageist, PR-hype buzzword that emerged in the early Covid-response months of 2020. A cocoon is a place of transformation, inside which small creatures metamorphose, typically a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Locked-in, we all did somewhat metamorphose nightly, yes, aided by various substances. And the tune did emerge from transformation – a burbling crawl on part one, taking off to risking adventure, and flying as far as it dares before turning for home …

My fathers name was Kieran and he bought me my first fiddle in London.

That fiddle spent many years on top of my parents wardrobe in their bedroom before I reached the age where I could go for fiddle lessons to Frank Custy In Toonagh near Ennis, Co. Clare. Sometimes my parents took it down from the wardrobe to show it to me and I was always fascinated by it. My father also played the piano and created some nice sounds in the house when playing it, as well as influences of old records of traditional music. He sadly passed away suddenly when I was 19 years old, so this tune is dedicated to the memory of keeping his spirit alive through the music.

I spent around two years performing and recording with Rodrigo y Gabriella and I was so impressed with their practise ethic, often spending 8 hours a day practising. Their music was so virtuosic and technically challenging, and that inspired me to compose a traditional tune that was really, really difficult. I also loved learning complex classical violin pieces, and one in particular which weaves around the open E string – ‘Preludium und Allegro’ by Kritz Kreisler. I used the weaving idea to create this piece, and the echoing sound the last part makes suggested the name. I also wanted to double up this part to emphasise it, even though that would not be the usual traditional structure.

A very traditional sounding, 3 part, melodic jig named after an old trainline near my mother’s home house in Middletown, Co. Armagh.

This tune features in the tune book “101 Original Compositions of Irish Traditional Music by Sandie Purcell”. The tune got its name after a white owl flew across our path as a group of us walked back to our holiday house in Spanish Point at the Willie Clancy Festival in 2005.

Most of my tunes I tend to name after people and so I named this jig after the great fiddle player and composer Séamus Connolly whose compositions I greatly admire. I hope this tune captures his style of playing to some extent.

This jig is featured on my album called ‘Twill Do which was released in 2019. At the time I was living in Cork and trips back to Leitrim were a bit of a trek, but there is no place like home.

I named this tune after Michael O’Brien who passed away last year before Christmas. He was a frequent visitor at the sessions in Cryan’s and played far and wide and was a well known and regarded box player. He always had a welcoming smile and was full of energy. If someone decided to dance a few sporadic steps at a session, Michael would often leave down the box and jump up and join in for the craic.

I composed this jig to mark the occasion of Anne and I receiving the “Gradam Saoil” award from TG4 in the Waterfront Theatre, Belfast, in 2019.

The title of this jig tells its own story!!

This is a tune I composed in 2014, following Éigse an Spidéil. It was the first time I had attended the festival and I was really inspired by the fantastic musicians, singers and dancers there, as well as the lovely atmosphere. The concert was a particular highlight.

Note: This tune was recorded in C, but could be played in D.

Another Lockdown 2020 tune. I wanted to write a lively 3 part jig, and this one just wrote itself!

I was standing on the Kerry Bridge, here in Abbeyfeale, where the river Feale flows under the bridge. It flowed gently along and as I was watching a few notes came to mind and I hurried home to get the accordion to finish the composition.

The inspiration for this jig came to me while I was on the ferry to Clare from Tarbert. We were going over to Miltown Malbay for the Willie Clancy week and I went up on the top deck. It was a very nice calm day and I was looking across to Killimer and started to whistle a few notes. I recorded them on my phone and composed the jig later.