Fiddle
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Various – Within a Mile of Kilty
Ben Lennon & Seamus Quinn: The Girl Who Broke My Heart / Billy Bocker (reels)
Brian Rooney: Rooney’s Favourites. (jigs)
John Gordon: The Enchanted Lady / The Maids of Castlebar. (reels)
Maurice Lennon: The Lark in the Morning. (jig)
Seamus Quinn: Morrison’s Barndance.
Ben Lennon & Seamus Quinn: The Lonesome Jig / The Tenpenny Bit (jigs)
Charlie Lennon: The Edenderry / The Flowery Fields of Scotland (reels)
Ben Lennon: The Dances at Kinvara. (barndance)
Maurice Lennon: Larry Redican’s / The Dairy Maid (reels)
John Gordon: The Wandering Minstrel / Fasten the Leg in Her / Road to Kesh
Ben Lennon: The Sailor’s Cravat / Lady Gordon (reels)
Seamus Quinn: In Memory of Morrison. (jigs)
Brian Rooney: Lad O’Beirne’s Hornpipe
Charlie Lennon: Up Sligo / The Hearty Boys of Ballymote (jigs)
Press Reviews
The Irish Echo, CEOL COLUMN By Earle Hitchner
Fiddling of the Best Kind!
Within a Mile of Kilty
If the music sounds like it was all recorded yesterday, in a sense it was, for great music both reflects its time and breaks free of it.. .The Irish music heard on this recording relies on heart, respect, memory, talent, tradition, friendship, family, home town and regional pride, and the sheer, unalloyed joy of playing.
What this album does is rare: putting the listener not just within a mile of Kilty, but right beside the chairs of the musicians themselves.
Earle Hitchner
Irish Music Magazine 8.05
And to think it all came from within a mile of Kilty is cause for contemplation, so many treasures from such a small jewel box. Sean Laffey
The Irish Echo,
“This is the pure drop by the bucketful, music to sip and savor, a can’t-miss candidate for my year-end top ten”. Earl Hitchner
The Irish Echo, CEOL COLUMN By Earle Hitchner
Shortly after coming to the Irish Echo in 1991, I decided to compile an annual top 10 list of Irish traditional recordings that would stubbornly resist the trend to place albums in several, often arbitrary categories. I felt then, as I do now, that such category-crammed lists were thinly veiled attempts to pacify as many musicians, publicists, and record labels as possible by spreading acclaim like cheap margarine.
Critics, if they really are critics, should have the courage of their convictions and rank the recordings, no matter how difficult the process and unwieldy the challenge. To me, it’s a matter of put up or shut up, and each year I choose to put up for “Ceol” readers.
Every one of these standout albums from 2005, unflinchingly ranked 1 to 10, belongs in your listening library.
(1) WITHIN A MILE OF KILTY, by Ben, Charlie, and Maurice Lennon, Brian Rooney, Seamus Quinn, and John Gordon (Clo Iar-Chonnachta CICD 159)
With a lineup boasting of those six fiddlers as well as Ciaran Curran, Noel O’Grady, Frank Kilkelly, and Gabriel McArdle as accompanists, you’d expect the result to be impressive. But an all-star crew (paging Patrick Street) doesn’t always create something special, despite the best of intentions. “Within a Mile of Kilty,” for which I wrote an essay gratis, exceeds expectations. Beautifully conceived, crafted, and executed, the music spans four decades and taps into the rich loam of tradition in or near the tiny North Leitrim village of Kiltyclogher, nicknamed Kilty. Four of these musicians–Quinn, Curran, McArdle, and Ben Lennon–collaborated 17 years ago on another superb album, “Dog Big and Dog Little,” which took its title from the local names for two hills between Kiltyclogher and Fermanagh’s Derrygonnelly, where Quinn was born. Hearing that quartet, supplemented by Charlie Lennon on piano, perform “The Girl Who Broke My Heart/Billy Bocker” reels and “The Lonesome Jig/The Tenpenny Bit” recalls the brilliance of the earlier recording. Other tracks showcasing more of the soloing skill of Quinn, Ben and Charlie Lennon, Ben Lennon’s 1977 All-Ireland fiddle champion son Maurice (on viola), Brian Rooney, and John Gordon (1928-2002), who’s heard on two medleys to which Charlie Lennon tastefully added piano, make this CD something very special. Kilty clout reigned supreme in 2005.
[Published on January 25, 2006, in the IRISH ECHO newspaper, New York City. Copyright (c) Earle Hitchner. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of author.]
The Folk Diary
The reviewer notes the record label and sees that the musicians include the Lennon family. His expectations are immediately raised in expectation of the very finest in Irish traditional dance tune playing…. he is not to be disappointed.
Kiltyclogher is where the brothers Ben and Charlie were brought up and the other musicians also have an association with the town. The fourteen tracks here have been drawn from around 40 years of recordings of these outstanding musicians, though the tracks are not dated and it is not possible to detect a difference in sound quality by listening. If the ear does not tell you, then clues like tunes composed by Ed Reavy and titles like “In Memory of Morrison” should tell you that the playing style and repertoire of the early Irish American 78rpm records continue to have an influence on these musicians, whilst it is less with the younger generation of Irish musicians.
This gives the album a slightly old-fashioned feel to it. The playing in entirely delightful. Vic Smith
Kiltyclogher Clout Creates a Superb CD
CEOL Column, The Irish Echo.
By Earle Hitchner
[Published on September 7, 2005, in the IRISH ECHO newspaper, New York City. Copyright (c) Earle Hitchner. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of author.]
Hands down, or actually up, “Within a Mile of Kilty” on Cló Iar-Chonnachta, the Connemara label, is one of the best fiddle and overall Irish traditional recordings issued so far this year.
Rosin-raising talents like Ben, Charlie, and Maurice Lennon, Séamus Quinn, Brian Rooney, and John Gordon (1928-2002), a monumental rediscovery, immediately stamp this CD as something rare and extraordinary. Add in the accompaniment of Altan’s Ciarán Curran on cittern, Beginish’s Noel O’Grady on bouzouki, Frank Kilkelly on guitar, and Gabriel McArdle on concertina, and the recording only gains luster.
It was a privilege for me to write gratis the opening essay for this project, a labor of love for its co-producers, Charlie Lennon and Ben Lennon’s son David. In and near Kilty, short for Kiltyclogher, a village with a population of about 150 in northeast Leitrim near the Fermanagh border, emerged such fine fiddlers as John Quinn (Séamus’s grandfather), John Eddie Gordon (John Gordon’s father), John Timoney, and John McGovern, among many others.
Four musicians on this album–Ben Lennon, Séamus Quinn, Gabriel McArdle, and Ciarán Curran–collaborated 16 years ago on another splendid recording, “Dog Big and Dog Little,” titled after the local names for two hills situated between Kiltyclogher and Derrygonnelly, where Quinn was born. (“Dog Big and Dog Little” is also the name of a reel composed by Charlie Lennon.) Affectionately nicknamed the Dogs, the quartet made quite a stir with their downstairs concert in Morans Hotel during the 1990 Dublin Traditional Music Festival, which I attended.
The music performed in “Within a Mile of Kilty” spans more than four decades, with two tracks of fiddling by John Gordon in 1956 representing the oldest recordings. Charlie Lennon, who tastefully added piano to those two tracks not long ago, calls Gordon “the sweetest and finest player you could ever hear.” Older brother Ben Lennon describes him this way: “If he had gone to America, his major talent would have received instant recognition…. His intonation was perfect, rolls heard as clear as a bell. He had beautifully shaped hands with fingers dancing on the strings.
The bow trebles were crisp, round, and very distinct.” In “The Enchanted Lady/The Maids of Castlebar” reels and “The Wandering Minstrel/Fasten the Leg in Her/Road to Kesh” jigs, Gordon’s bowing is everything Charlie and Ben Lennon claim it was. This Drumcully, Fermanagh-born fiddler’s ornamentation is incisive and inventive at the same time. It is a powerful example of how a prodigious individual style can completely serve the melody–a paradox only the greatest players can achieve.
Gordon never loses command or wavers in interpretation. The notes flow out with seeming ease, yet the ideas teem and bubble beneath, indicating
a fiddler who draws equally on tuneful intelligence and almost preternatural instinct, or what Ben Lennon referred to as playing “from the subconscious.” Whatever inspired and shaped John Gordon’s musical gift, Ben, Charlie, and David Lennon have allowed us to reappreciate it through their careful archival work and caring recollections here and on another CD, “The Humours of Glendart,” that I’ll be reviewing in the near future.
Those Gordon tracks are two highlights among several others in “Within a Mile of Kilty.” In “The Girl Who Broke My Heart/Billy Bocker” reels and “The Lonesome Jig/The Tenpenny Bit,” Ben Lennon, Séamus Quinn, Ciarán Curran, and Gabriel McArdle revive the brilliance of their “Dog Big and Dog Little” days with some riveting ensemble work, abetted by the piano backing of Charlie Lennon. Much to our delight, those four Dogs can learn new tricks, and one can only hope they’ll consider making another full recording together.
If Charlie Lennon were not so celebrated as a piano accompanist, he would be properly touted as one of Ireland’s most adept fiddlers. He doubles on fiddle and piano in two tracks, “The Edenderry/The Flowery Fields of Scotland” reels and “Up Sligo/The Hearty Boys of Ballymote” jigs. Rooted in a marvelous meld of Leitrim, Fermanagh, and Sligo styles, his fiddling comes across with energetic elegance in each medley.
With a measured jaunt, Ben Lennon plays “The Dances at Kinvara” barndance, composed by Ed Reavy and covered by the band Providence on their new CD “III,” which I reviewed last week. It is in Ben Lennon’s rendition of “The Sailor’s Cravat/Lady Gordon” reels, however, where his bowing ability truly shines. He surely provided Clare-born fiddler Séamus Connolly with more than just tips in tailoring, his trade by day, when the latter apprenticed to him in Ireland.
Maurice Lennon, another of Ben’s sons and a founding fiddler with Stocktons Wing, opts not for the violin but the lower-pitched viola in “The Lark in the Morning” jig and “Larry Redican’s/The Dairy Maid” reels. Though the viola is more limited in projection for these traditional dance tunes, Maurice’s playing is tautly expressive and quite moving.
Like Charlie Lennon, Séamus Quinn is a dual threat on fiddle and piano, and like Charlie, he expertly doubles on these instruments for “Strike the Gay Harp/The Legacy” jigs. Quinn also plays fiddle with Charlie’s piano backing in “Morrison’s Barndance.”
From Derragoon, North Leitrim, fiddler Brian Rooney has resided since the 1960s in London, where he remains a fixture in the Big Smoke’s vibrant Irish music scene. In 1999 he released an outstanding solo album, “The Godfather,” that finished second in the Irish Echo’s top ten for that year, and in the two tracks he performs here, “Rooney’s Favourites” jigs and “Lad O’Beirne’s Hornpipe,” another Reavy melody, Rooney clearly hasn’t lost a whit of what he delivered in “The Godfather.”
At the end of my essay for the CD booklet, I wrote, “What this album does is rare: putting listeners not just within a mile of Kilty but right beside the chairs of the musicians themselves.” The album has that effect. It is the pure drop by the bucketful, music to sip and savor, a can’t-miss candidate for my year-end top ten. Earl Hitchner
The Living Tradition 9/10.05
Kilty is short for Kiltyclogher, a village in North Leitrim that is something of a breeding ground for traditional fiddle players, many of whom are captured on this recording. Selected from a collection made by David Lennon over a forty-year period, this CD showcases the fiddling of the late John Gordon, Ben, Charlie, and Maurice Lennon, Brian Rooney, and Seamus Quinn.
Charlie Lennon and Seamus Quinn also contribute some sprightly piano
accompaniments on several tracks, and for a little variety Noel O’Grady (bouzouki), Ciaron Curran (cittern), Gabriel McArdle (concertina) and Frank Kilkelly (guitar) make appearances.
This is an intimate, homely recording; you feel as if you’re sitting in on a particularly fine session. The tunes are mostly jigs and reels with the odd hornpipe and barn dance set, all played at judicious speeds without any pyrotechnics or over the top arrangements.
An unexpected delight is Maurice Lennon’s viola playing. His rendition of ‘Lark in the Morning’ is a revelation. Viola, because of its awkward
size and muted tone, is often relegated to slow tunes. But here he treats it like another fiddle and plays it with all the drive and lilt
characteristic of the style.
The combination of lively, well played tunes; the relaxed, spontaneous ambience, and the stylistic continuity over several decades of North Leitrim fiddle playing paint a vivid portrait of this vibrant tradition.
This album is a real treat for anyone who enjoys music in its natural habitat. E. Bradtke
The Irish Echo
For anyone who loves Irish traditional music in its pure drop state, unvarnished and unflashily virtuosic, there are two new, can’t-miss
albums from Galway’s Cló Iar-Chonnachta label: “Fortune Favours the Merry” by Sligo flutist Peter Horan and Kerry fiddler Gerry Harrington,
with piano accompaniment from Ollie Ross (his father was Wexford’s 1956 All-Ireland senior button accordion champion George Ross), and “Within a Mile of Kilty” by John Gordon, Brian Rooney, Séamus Quinn, and Ben, Charlie, and Maurice Lennon, with backing from Altan’s Ciarán Curran on cittern, Beginish’s Noel O’Grady on bouzouki, Frank Kilkelly on guitar, and Gabriel McArdle on concertina.
“Within a Mile of Kilty” offers rich traditional music from North Leitrim, specifically the area in and around the small village (population: about 150) of Kiltyclogher near the Leitrim-Fermanagh border. I had the pleasure of writing an essay for the CD, which offers some scintillating music by the previously named 10 instrumentalists, including two tracks from the late Cashel-born fiddler John Gordon. Earle HItchner
Irish Music Magazine 8.05
There was a time in Ireland when places where synonymous with families, Murphys, Barrys and Driscolls in Cork, Sullivans in Caherciveen, Staunton’s in Mayo, Sinnot’s in Waterford, you know how it goes. Along with that went townscapes populated by dynastic commercial premises, giving each town a distinctive character, local shop fronts gave an immediate sense of a peopled place.
Now regrettably, modern Ireland has changed, in a chain reaction, national and multi- national companies are gradually dominating Irish high streets and the serious papers are warning of the “cloned town”; where those idiosyncratic shop fronts are being taken over by the centralised brand images of McDonalds, Boots, Extravision, Spar and the like, their corporate facades another step towards the
blandness of the new century.
So where do you go for local flavour, in Italy or France it would be the butchers, but in Ireland it has to be to the established families of musicians who have kept the spirit of the home place alive in their playing.
And that is exactly what we get on this album from Clo lar Chonnachta, a collection of music associated with the Lennon family of North Leitrim and the musical legacy of the area around Kiltyclogher.
It is no museum piece, sure there’s a rich store of old values pulsing through every track, but there’s also bouzouki work and cittern playing from Noel O’Grady and Ciaran Curran, their accompaniment sticks to the lines laid down by generations of piano players, there’s no attempt to “rock and roll it”, no there’s plenty of swing in the music thank you very much. And if it’s piano backing you’re into then no better man than Charlie Lennon to hit the ivories in all the right places.
The liner notes begin with a short essay from Earle Hitchner who builds the context for us, the notes on the individual tunes are rather short, which is a shame because it would be interesting to know when each individual recording was made, especially as John Gordon passed away in 2002, his first track on the album (The Enchanted Lady/The Maids Of Castlebar) has a slightly more modern sound and recorded quality than the second selection (The Wandering Minstrel/ Fasten The Legin On Her/ Road to Kesh).
But maybe they came from the same recording session? There is also a feeling that the tunes don’t need a catalogue date as they are essentially timeless.
With the Lennon family there’s no question that the music would be authentic and on the money, Charlie and Ben Lennon as the senior players are surprisingly not recorded as a duet, the album being essentially of solo fiddlers and their accompanists, with the opening track The Girl Who Broke My Heart/Billy Bocker and track six The Lonesome Jig/The Tenpenny Bit being the big ensemble pieces.
Maurice Lennon’s contribution is to add some strong flavours on the viola, notably on an earthy recording of The Lark in The Morning .
Seamus Quin gives us a jaunty Morrsions’s Barndance and Strike the Gay Harp/The Legacy , both associated with Morrison.
Verdict: its like a walk in a real old Irish town, the names over the doors might seem largely the same but each combination has it’s own distinctive character.
And to think it all came from within a mile of Kilty is cause for contemplation, so many treasures from such a small jewel box.
Sean LaffeKiltyclogher is a small village that lies on the Leitrim/Fermanagh border, with a population of about 150 people. From this area, a unique cluster of traditional Irish fiddle players has emerged over the last 80 years. Within a Mile of Kilty is a collection of recordings by these musicians from the past 40 years, collected by David Lennon.
The musicians on this album are six exceptionally talented fiddle players, and include three members of the well-known Lennon family, Ben, Charlie and Maurice. Ben and Charlie, brothers, were brought up in Kiltyclogher, and their names are known far and wide in traditional music circles.
They have both recorded several albums, and in addition Charlie has received widespread critical acclaim as a composer. Maurice is Ben’s son, and he was a founder member of Stockton’s Wing in 1977.
Seamus Quinn is from Derrygonnelly, in Co. Fermanagh, and both his father and grandfather came from Kiltyclogher. Seamus’ grandfather was a
well-known fiddler and was regarded by many as the most outstanding of his time.
Brian Rooney was born near Kiltyclogher, and his father played fiddle and flute. He emigrated to London in the 1940s, where he became deeply involved in the traditional Irish music scene, playing with the group Sliabh Luachra.
John Gordon was from Cashel, Co. Fermanagh. He was a very well-known musician, and featured in broadcasts on both BBC and RTE Radio.
Sadly, John passed away in 2002.
There is accompaniment on the album from Altan’s Ciaran Curran on cittern, Beginish’s Noel 0′ Grady on bouzouki, Frank Kilkelly on guitar and Gabriel McArdle on concertina.
£14.99 -
Various Artists – Caise Ceoil
- Johnny Og Connolly & Brian McGrath: The Carraroe Jig /Homage to Rooney.
- Marcas O’Murchu: The Coalminer’s Reel.
- Paddy Canny: The Gallowglass /The Rakes of Clonmel.
- Marcus & PJ Hernon: The Golden Plover /The Bobbing Sandpiper.
- Gabriel McArdle: Flora.
- Catherine McEvoy: The Haunted House /The Banshee’s Wail.
- Johnny Connolly: The Swallow’s Tail.
- Joe Ryan: The Old Torn Petticoat/Rakish Paddy.
- Charlie Piggott & Gerry Harrington: James McMahon /Paddy Mullin’s.
- Eilis Ni Shuilleabhain: Hide & Go Seek.
- Sean Hernon: Dwyer’s / Billy Bocker’s Reels.
- Johnny Og Connolly & Brian McGrath: The Happy Hornpipe / The Souvenier.
- Marcas O’Murchu: Farewell to Kennedy / The Man in the Bog / Johnny Henry’s.
- Ben Lennon & Friends: Mick McNamara’s /Touch Me If You Dare.
- Peadar O’Ceannabhain: An Rogaire Dubh / Na Ceannabhain Bhaina / Paidin O’Raifeartaigh.
- Johnny Connolly: That’s Right Too /The LeadingRole.
- Paddy Canny: The Daisy Field / Molly Bawn.
- Marcus & PJ Hernon: The Linnet’s Chorus / The Beautiful Goldfinch.
- Catherine McEvoy: The Duke of Leinster /The Ladie’s Pantalettes.
- Charlie Piggott & Gerry Harrington: The Rakish Highlander / Toss the Feathers.
- Gearoidin Breathnach: An Drioghnean Donn.
- The Bridge Ceili Band: The Gravel Walks / Jackson’s / Martin Fallon’s First Night in America.
Brace yourself for a feast of musical styles, all decidedly traditional, as well as sean nos songs from Connemara, Donegal and Cork, and an English song by Gabriel McArdle. The Clare fiddling styles are well represented as well as the dance driven sound of the Connemara accordion. You get a taste of the Sliabh Luarchra style, and the North Connaught style of flute playing, all well rounded off by the Bridge Ceili Band’s set of reels.The bronze figure on the cover, entitled Fiddling in Spiddal, is by Westport artist, Anthony McNamara. Each trach abounds with musical genious, something which is a definite hallmark of Clo Iar Chonnachta’s music. Caise Ceoil will have you calling for MORE!
Press Reviews
Irish Music Review.com Established in 1985 as a cottage industry in the Connemara gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area), Cló Iar-Chonnachta has developed into one of Ireland’s most prolific music publishing houses, issuing more than 200 books and almost 150 albums. Initially, CIC drew upon Connemara’s strong musical traditions and most of its early releases were recordings of sean-nós (literally, ‘old style’), unaccompanied singing in Irish, including classic albums by Seán ‘ac Dhonncha and Johnny Mháirtín Learaí. However, its output over the years has diversified to include other regional singing and musical styles.. Caise Ceoil (‘Cascading Music’) is a glorious reflection of this development, covering the years from 1995 to 2000. Lovers of sean-nós will be surprised to see only two examples of the art included, though both are sublime, especially the Donegal singer Gearóidín Breathnach’s heart-rending rendition of An Droighneán Donn (‘The Brown Cow’). Nevertheless, the breadth of the rest encompasses musicians as diverse as fiddlers from West Clare (Joe Ryan), Leitrim (Ben Lennon) and Kerry (Gerry Harrington), while differing flute styles are represented by the dynamic Marcas Ó Murchú (from Belfast) and the lyrical Catherine McEvoy, exemplifying the North Connaught style. The spirit of Connemara is present too, most notably in the masterful melodeon-playing of Johnny Connolly, one of Ireland’s best dance accompanists. All told, this is a mouth-watering taster of the treats on offer from CIC.
Musical Traditions Web Site
One of the perks of this job is that I get to review, and keep most of the English and all the Italian CDs which come in for review. I also tend to hang on to those Irish records which take my fancy, and about which I can find something worthwhile (in my opinion) to say. No small number of these have been on Connemara’s Clo Iar Chonnachta label, and this compilation of their finest I’m pleased to see that a number of my selections have turned up as house choices. This excellent record, is available from Copperplate Distribution/ Mail Order. Rod Stradling
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Various Artists – Kerry Fiddles
- Polkas: The Top of the Maol/ The Humours of Ballydesmond
- The Fisherman’s HP/ Byrne’s Hornpipe
- Muckross Abbey/ Mulvihill’s. Reels
- Cronin’s HP/ The Stack of Barley.
- O’Donnell’s Lament
- Danny Ab’s Slides
- The Frieze Breeches/ Paudeen O’Rafferty
- Chase Me Charlie/ Tom Billy’s Slides
- Kennedy’s Favourite/ The Woman of the House
- Apples in Winter/Maids on the Green/The Thrush in the Straw
- The Old Man Rocking the Cradle. Air
- Humours of Galtymore/ Callaghan’s/ The New Mown Meadows
- Callaghan’s Hornpipe/ The Rights of Man.
- Johnny When You Die/ The Swallow’s Tail/ Miss McLeod’s
We at Copperplate are delighted to be associated with this re-release of this timeless classic recording of Sliabh Luachra music, played by the acknowledged masters of the genre. Recorded by Seamus Ennis for the BBC, and released originally on Topic Records. Sliabh Luachra, “The Rushy Mountain”, is the old Irish name for the district on the Kerry/ Cork border surrounding the river Blackwater. For as long as anyone can remember, traditional music and dancing thrived here, and today there must be more active musicians and dancers per acre than any other Irish country district. Rather than reels which have come to dominate the repertoire everywhere else, polkas are most commonly played tunes in Sliabh Luachra, followed by jigs and “slides” (single jigs) and hornpipes, with reels a poor fifth. Most musicians play in a very rhythmic, relatively unadorned style. These distinctive characteristics have been dictated by the requirements of dancers, and the dancing of “sets”, (short for sets of quadrilles) is still very popular. Apart from the dance music, quite a few unusual set pieces are still performed and several musicians have specialised in the playing of song airs.
Padraig O’Keeffe, Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford were the thre greatest Sliabh Luachra musicians of recent times. O’Keeffe, who died in 1963, came from Glauntane, Co Kerry. which is about mid-way between Ballydesmond and Castleisland. After some academic training in Dublin as a teacher and musician, he returned to take over from his father as schoolmaster at Glauntane, but gave this up quite soon to devote himself to the life of a travelling fiddle teacher. He had many pupils all over the district and is still the single most talked about musical personality to this day. As such his nearest rival was Denis Murphy who died in 1974. Denis and his sister, Julia Clifford were born in Lisheen, Co Kerry and became Padraig’s pupils in the late 1920’s and early 30’s. Unlike Padraig they both spent long periods away from the district; Julia did spend most of her time since 1935 in London, while Denis lived for two lengthy periods in New York. When Seamus Ennis got them together in 1952 for this recording, Denis had only recently returned from his first stay in the States and Julia was over in Kerry for a few weeks on holiday. Alan Ward
This is one of the all time classic recordings of Irish Dance Music, and it’s great to see it available once again. Three giant figures of Sliabh Luachra fiddle music, Padraig O’Keeffe and his pupils, brother and sister, Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford are the musicians, and they play selections, not only of the slides and polkas associated with this area, but also jigs, reels and hornpipes. As well as solos from all three, there are 4 trios and 4 duets among the 14 tracks, which have a particular warm feel to them. If I can be personal for a moment, I have to say, I just love this recording. It has everything that makes Irish Dance Music so special. If you don’t like this, then you don’t like Irish music!
Press Reviews
Irish Music Review.com
These two wondrous reissues from the Cork-based Ossian label serve as welcome reminders of just how fixed (perhaps sometimes blinkered) our understanding of Ireland’s traditional music can be. Whereas reels tend to dominate most of Ireland’s sessions, the area spanning parts of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick around Sliabh Luachra (the ‘rushy mountain’) is markedly different. Here reels are relegated to the bottom of the pile, below polkas, double- and single-jigs (a.k.a. slides) and hornpipes and even when played are done so in the remarkably plain, but ever rhythmic fashion which characterizes the area’s music. This metrical emphasis and lack of ornamentation reflected the needs of dancers and remains relatively unchanged to this day thanks to the continuing influence of musicians such as the accordionist Johnny O’Leary and the local popularity of set-dancing. Kerry Fiddles was recorded by Séamus Ennis at Charlie Horan’s bar in Castleisland in September, 1952 and features three of the most acclaimed Sliabh Luachra musicians. Pádraig O’Keeffe was for much of his life an itinerant fiddle-teacher and numbered Julia Clifford and her brother, Denis Murphy, amongst his most successful pupils. O’Keeffe was in his mid-sixties at the time of this recording and the selection of tunes here to some extent mirrors his own loathing of accompanying dancers, though draws more from his extensive repertoire acquired from not only other musicians but published and recorded sources. His meticulous styling is best heard on the solo pieces, especially the air The Old Man Rocking the Cradle, while the trio cuts are probably more typical of the Sliabh Luachra style. This review by Geoff Wallis first appeared in fRoots magazine — www.frootsmag.com/
The Irish World 2/5/03
Sliabh Luachra (The Rushy Mountain) is the old Irish name for the district on the Kerry/ Cork borders surrounding the river, Blackwater. Traditional music and dancing have always been a large part of the area and this recording, one of a series, has brought this individual music and culture of the region to a larger audience. Padraig O’Keeffe, Dennis Murphy and Julia Clifford were some of the region’s best musicians. Denis Murphy and his sister, Julia Clifford were students of O’Keeffe and together their sound is completely spellbinding. Kerry Fiddles is a recording made by Seamus Ennis for the BBC in Charlie Horan’s bar in Castleisland, County Kerry in September of 1952. One of the nicest things about this album, naturally aside from the gorgeous music, is the sleeve notes. Pat Ahern provides additional sleeve notes, but Alan Ward’s earlier notes are fascinating, informing us that on Padraig O’Keeffe’s version of The Old Man Rocking the Cradle, he imitated the sound of the baby’s cry by “intermittently muting the bridge of the fiddle with a large door key held between his teeth”. The style of playing on this album is very much Padraig’s with wide repertoire of material, mainly polkas, for which the Sliabh Luachra is famous. A beautifully polished piece of work, Kerry Fiddles is not only an important part of Irish music history, but has also been the inspiration for many musicians since. Xenia Poole
Musical Traditions Web Site
As well as their pioneering reissue programme, one of Topic’s other most important achievements in the 1970s, as far as Irish music was concerned, was their six-volume series documenting the music of Sliabh Luachra, ‘the district on the Kerry / Cork borders surrounding the river Blackwater’, as it is described in the booklet accompanying Kerry Fiddles, which was Volume I in the original series, and is here released unchanged on CD. This was the only one in the series which was not primarily new recordings, having been compiled from recordings in the BBC Sound Archives made by Seamus Ennis in 1952. O’Keeffe was a travelling fiddle teacher, and his influence on the development of the distinctive style of the area seems to have been very great. He is joined here by two of his most distinguished pupils, Julia Clifford, who emigrated to London, and her brother Denis Murphy, who had gone in the other direction and lived for many years in New York. Several tracks feature them all playing as a trio, Clifford and Murphy play a number of duets, and each of them play some solos. Individually, they are each quite clearly very fine players, but it is in the combination tracks, especially the trios, that the greatest beauty is to be found. The excitement they generate on the final set of reels is simply magnificent. But another quality that I think emerges from the playing of these musicians is one of warmth; there isn’t the hard edge that some fiddle players seem to bring out, nor – for me anyway – is there the wild and lonesome feeling of, say, some of the Donegal stylists. This should not be interpreted by any means as implying a failing – on the contrary, it is distinctions like these that make the music special, and these recordings stand testimony to a sadly long lost time when regional differences were the rule rather than the exception. Ennis had previously recorded O’Keeffe for Radio Éireann in 1948 and 1949, and the results of those sessions are collected on RTÉ’s CD The Sliabh Luachra Fiddle Master. Having known and loved Kerry Fiddles for about 15 years, it was a great pleasure to hear yet more music by this wonderful musician – he is solo on 14 out of 16 tracks, the other two being duets with Denis Murphy. Some tunes appear again, including both of the slow airs (along with another two), usually in different combinations, which is an interesting point in itself. This set comes with a booklet that provides more detailed biographical information than the Topic one; the latter originally had a companion booklet to the whole series, which I assume is long out of print. For anyone who doesn’t have a copy of that, the notes with the RTÉ CD help make the man behind the music come more to life. I enjoyed reading especially the section headed ‘His Way With Words’, where we learn of the wit and wisdom of the man, which somehow rings very true with the qualities that come across in his music. We are told also that O’Keeffe ‘wasn’t too fond of playing for dancers . . . He preferred ‘listening’ music as this gave him a chance to show the beauty and the depth of the tune.’ I find this interesting because although the latter point does come across in his playing, his handling of the tunes leaves out nothing that a dancer could wish for. Listen to the way he takes a stately and careful approach to Johnny Cope, bringing out the qualities of the six parts of the tune, yet never losing the essential pulse of the dance. Quite wonderful. His love of tunes for their own sake, of course, comes across most strongly in his playing of the slow airs, and indeed one sometimes gets the feeling he is milking them for all he can get. Finally, considering the age of the material on the last three discs reviewed here, the sound quality is excellent. But in almost any condition these recordings would be well worth having. Ray Templeton
£14.99
