Put aside your notion of Irish music as a bunch of familiar jigs and reels, and just listen. Martin Hayes plays his fiddle with an exquisite touch and tone, as well as a magnificent sense of melody and rhythm that never ceases to astonish. Guitarist Dennis Cahill provides delicate support.
http://www.npr.org/event/music/173842530/martin-hayes-dennis-cahill-tiny-desk-concert
This is the 85th episode of The Rocky Road to Dublin, and I’ve decided to "wrap up" the programme in the next few weeks. This will be the last regular show, but tune in again on the next two Wednesdays for a review of some of my personal favourite tracks from this year’s shows!
I managed to squeeze seven tracks in today for good measure:
Tagged with traditional irish music
Mickey Finn’s life was short and had many of the elements of tragedy for Mickey drank himself to death.
In ‘No Cure for Mickey Finn’ Finn’s life is remembered by his family and his wife, Lena Ulmann.
In a sense Mickey Finn has not been forgotten, his image decorates many of the pubs in Galway to this day.
He was a fine musician. His music was improvised and flamboyant. He was photogenic and became a legendary character in the Galway of that era. He was sharp-tongued and quick-witted. He busked on the streets, became part of an emergent music scene centred around the Cellar Bar; one that spawned Mary Coughlan, Sean Tyrell and De Danann.
The short life and death of Mickey Finn are emblematic to that time, a time when Galway began to expand; when people drank with no notion of the price that would one day be paid. ’
No Cure for Mickey Finn’, tells his story, the relentless search for alcohol, through the memories of his family and his wife. But this is also a documentary about a time and place and about the symbiotic relationship between traditional music and alcohol and the consequent waste of this single life.
More Irish Than The Irish Themselves - Níos Gaelaí ná na Gaeil iad féin An international perspective on the Irish language, featuring three people of different nationalities and their experience of learning Irish. For many of us, our school days knocked any passion we had for the Irish language. We learnt the songs, we studied the poetry and prose, but we left school after 13 years without being able to hold a conversation in Irish. We when say we have the "cúpla focal’, we literally only have a couple of words. Yet our national language has reached people of different nationalities around the world, who have been inspired to learn and to speak Irish. In ‘More Irish than the Irish Themselves’, Batshèva Battu from France, Cathinka Hambro from Norway and Cóilín O Floinn from New York tell of their interest in the language, how they went about learning it as adults, talk about the different peculiarities of the language, how they use it in their everyday lives, and their view on Irish people’s relationship with the language.
French born Batshèva Battu (28) has no family connections with Ireland. In a quest to learn a language different from the norm, she decided to take up Irish. In 2005, she travelled to Ireland for the first time to take part in an Oideas Gael course in Glean Cholm Cille, Co. Donegal. Having been involved in classical and jazz singing in France, Batshèva discovered Sean-Nós singing during her time in Donegal. She moved to Ireland in 2008 to study for an M.A. in Irish Traditional Music Performance at the University of Limerick. In 2009 she went on to study on a Music Diploma taught through Irish in An Spidéal, County Galway. Batshèva now teaches singing in Galway city, and lives in An Spidéal where she gets to use her Irish on a daily basis with the locals. Cathinka Hambro (32) from Norway also has no family connections with Ireland. She first heard the Irish language as teenager on a school trip to Ireland, which took in visits to Kerry, Galway and the Aran Islands. Subsequent trips to Ireland inspired her take up Celtic Studies at the University of Oslo. A working knowledge of the Irish language was a prerequisite for the course, so Cathinka returned to Ireland in 2008 to learn Irish in Connemara and on Inis Meáin. She is now working on her PhD in Celtic Studies in Oslo, where she is researching a 15th century text in Irish called ‘Altram Tige Dá Medar’, which is preserved in The Book of Fermoy. She endeavors to spend a week or two in Ireland every year, in order to practice her Irish.
Colin Flynn or Cóilín Ó Floinn (33) grew up on Long Island, New York. As his grandparents were from Cork, he was always surrounded by Irish culture. He first heard the Irish language as a young child on an old Clancy Brothers recording of ‘Fágfaidh Mé an Baile Seo’ that his mother used to play, and he always wanted to understand what the words in the song meant. He later got the opportunity to learn the language at New York University where he studied History and Irish Studies. Cóilín moved to Dublin in 2000 and spent his weekends in the Gaeltacht in order to practice his Irish. He qualified as a secondary school teacher in 2005, but decided to work in adult education instead. This led him to a job as an Irish language teacher and course designer with Gaelchultúr in Dublin, where he taught for five years. Cóilín is currently a PhD student in Trinity College, but still teaches Irish part-time.
Produced by Sarah Blake.
Sound Supervision by Damien Chenelles.
First broadcast Saturday 12th March 2011, 2pm as part of Seachtain na Gaeilge.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/radio-documentary-irish-language-seachtain-na-gaeilge.html
Irish “sessions” are intimate group performances that take place in pubs all over New York City. Based in the traditional Irish “seisiún,” these informal musical gatherings feature jigs, reels, hornpipes, and the occasional waltz. Writer and Vogue contributing editor Robert Sullivan and writer-musician Larry Kirwan of the Irish rock band Black 47 explain the history and vibrant present of the tradition.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/2010/dec/22/irish-musical-tradition/
From Matt & Shannon Heaton, home of the Tune of the Month Podcast.
This month’s Tune of the Month goes out to the gang at Simple Gifts Folk College in PA. We had a great time participating at this fine annual event over the Memorial Day weekend. We worked on this e minor reel, "The Ashplant" at our Rhythm and Style for Melody Players workshop, and managed a great group rhythm by the end of the class. Thanks, Pennsylvania (Matt’s home state) for having such style.
Also, if you are seeking inspiration beyond the June tune, check out my friend Sue’s recent blog about practicing and flute playing. I think she sums things up better than I could: http://sueandstevelindsay.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-320-of-practice-lessons-from-lesson.html
From http://tuneofthemonth.posterous.com/ashplant-june-totm-0
The story of two Irish traditional music sessions; one in California, USA and one in Waterford, Ireland.
In Radio Ballad #2 we explore the mysterious Irish music ‘Session’ - what’s really going on between the musicians, why do the tunes all have multiple names, and is an audience really necessary to a good session or not?
Featuring interviews with the Morro Bay Irish Session, a group of musicians who have been meeting every week in Central California for 12 years to play tunes and enjoy the ‘craic.’
Find a session near you—wherever you are in the world—at http://www.thesession.org.
From http://www.radioballads.com/2010/02/radio-ballad-2-session.html
Two takes on the Irish language: one from Patrick’s dad, who was a schoolboy in the early years of Ireland’s independence, when studying Irish was an exercise in nation-building. Then, an interview with Manchan Magan who made a TV series about traveling around Ireland speaking only Irish. Next, we hear from Alexander McCall Smith: his latest offering in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is a children’s book in the Scots language. Finally, hip-hop artist Boomer Da Sharpshooter who grew up speaking English but now raps in Cambodia’s main language, Khmer.
From: http://www.theworld.org/2010/03/19/swearing-in-irish-storytelling-in-scots-rapping-in-khmer/
Irish-American fiddler Liz Carroll joins guitarist John Doyle on her latest CD, In Play. Her music made it from the American Midwest into the canon of Irish traditional tunes. Carroll talks to Melissa Block about the satisfaction of hearing her songs played at Irish fiddle sessions.
From: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5232287
Tagged with music:artist=liz carroll music:album=in play irish trad fiddle
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