1.The Night of the Fair, Leaving the Nest, Padhraic O’Keefe’s. I learned the first and third tunes in this set from Paudie O’Connor when we were working on a Ceili House broadcast for the Skerries traditional music weekend in 2009. They are typical Sliabh Luachra tunes. The third tune is attributed to the late Padhraic O’ Keefe. He was a well-known fiddle player/composer from Castleisland. Both the BBC and RTE recorded him before he died in 1963. He taught other famous Sliabh Luachra musicians, including Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford and Johnny O’Leary. The second tune was written by Darach de Brun in 1977. He wrote it in literally five minutes after he got home from a session in the Wren’s Nest. His friend Matt Toner announced that evening that he was emigrating to Australia. Darach composed the tune and the title relates to two places, Matt’s home (nest) and the sessions in the Wren’s Nest.
2.The Cameronian Reel I learned from the playing of my good friend Martin Nolan, piper. I first heard it on the De Dannan album, ‘The Mist Covered Mountain’. It is Scottish in origin and appears in the Atholl collection as a rant. The Mullingar Races I learned from the playing of Pat Broderick, the well-known piper from Loughrea, Co. Galway. It’s a great driving tune and a pleasure to play. The third tune in this set is The Drunken Landlady. Pipers normally play it in a lower key, but here it is played in A minor, as did the Bothy Band.
3.Planxty Brigid Maxwell I wrote for Brigid Maxwell of Glenaguile, Toomevara, Co. Tipperary on the occasion of her 100th birthday. I presented this jig to her at her birthday party. The second jig, The Maid of Bearna Lodge, I wrote for Brigid’s beautiful grand-daughter Ciara who lives in Bearna Lodge just outside Templemore. The maid of Bearna Lodge loves animals and so her canine friend Benji makes a vocal appearance near the end of the tune!
4.Inisheer was written by Dublin accordion player, Tommy Walsh in 1974. I learned this tune from Darach de Brun over 25 years ago. It is a lovely melodic air and I decided to record it on the C sharp pipes with Ciara playing harmony, which I think really enhances the beauty of the tune. It is ironic that I have recorded this tune and Darach’s Larry’s Way on this CD as Tommy and Darach were actually together on a trip to the Aran Islands when Tommy wroteInisheer. They played regularly together in The Wren’s Nest in the Strawberry Beds, Dublin in the early 1970s and so were a huge influence on one another.
5.The Walls of Liscarroll I learned from listening to the illustrious Banjo player Sean Og McKenna from Donnycarney, Dublin. Dave Richardson wrote the second tune Calliope House. He is a member of the well-known group The Boys of the Lough. Dave wrote the tune as a thank you to his friend George Balderose for his support of the non-profit folk/arts organization Calliope. Coleman’s Cross was recorded by the legendary Michael Coleman on one of his famous ’78s. It was the third of three jigs he recorded but there was no name for it so it subsequently became known as Coleman’s Cross.
6. The Battle of Aughrim I learned from listening to the great Leo Rowsome. It’s a classic Irish march and perfect for the pipes. The Battle of Aughrim took place on the 12th July 1691 on Aughrim Hill, near Ballinasloe where the combined French and Irish forces were defeated by the Williamite army. The second march, The Haughs of Cromdale, is Scottish in origin. I first heard it on the famous ‘O’Riada sa Gaiety’ album, recorded in 1969. In Kerry it is played as a polka under the name of Tralee Jane. The third march is O’Neill’s Cavalcade. It appears in Bunting’s collection of Irish music. The rhythm of this tune is quite evocative of the trotting of horses. The fourth march, The Pikeman, I learned from my brother Dave who heard it on the Boys of the Lough second album, this tune is also known as The Halting March. It is a lovely tune and a real battle march of 1798.
7. Far Away was written by American composer, Peter Jung around 1985. Apparently, he was inspired to write it after meeting a very beautiful, though elusive, woman at a party in Brattleboro in Vermont. I first heard it played by Paula Grant, a great fiddle player from Portlaoise when I was playing in Dublin in the mid 1990s. I recorded it on this occasion with Julie Maisel on the Concert Flute and Grainne Hope on Cello.
8. The Glen of Aherlow was written by Sean Ryan the fiddle player/Composer from Newtown near Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. I first heard Liam O’ Flynn playing it years ago. The second tune, The Merry Sisters is much associated with the playing of Seamus Ennis it is a very spirited tune and well suited to the pipes. The Morning Dew was very much popularised by Paddy Canny, though my introduction to it was by listening to the wonderful arrangement of it by the Chieftains on their fourth album.
9. The Lament for Limerick (Caoineadh Luimni/Marbhna Luimni) appears in Bunting’s collection. It was written after the Battle of Aughrim in 1691, around the time that the Treaty of Limerick was signed. The treaty allowed thousands of fighting men to follow Sarsfield into exile in France. This was a tremendously sad time and the lament clearly portrays the mood in the city of Limerick then.
10.Tomorrow Morning and The Cloone Hornpipes I learned from the playing of Leo Rowsome. He played them more or less as they appear in O’Neill’s collection. The third tune is The Peacock’s Feather which I learned from Colly Moore, fiddle player from Howth, Co Dublin. We used to play together regularly when we were learning our respective instruments. I was reminded of it recently on a visit to Kevin Thompson in Malahide, Co. Dublin.
11. Larry’s Way (or Caoi Labhras) was written by my good friend Darach de Brun in 1975. He wrote it to mourn the accidental death of his friend Larry Mulvaney in a boating accident in Brazil. It was Darach’s first composition. He has written many tunes since writing this beautiful air. The Blarney Pilgrim I learned from my brother Kevin and I also remember hearing it on one of the early Boys of the Lough albums.
12. Nora Criona is an unusual track. There was a tradition in South Munster of playing jigs as “Pieces” or Airs. Very few, apart from this, survive today. I first heard Pat Mitchell playing this when I began learning the pipes in 1976 and it made an impression on me. Subsequently, I heard both Tommy Martin and Mick O’Brien playing it. There are many versions of the Nora Criona jig so I chose to record two different versions of the jig with the “Piece” in between. I asked Grainne Hope to join me with the Cello for this track, and I am delighted with the result. Pipes and Cello make an interesting sound!
13. The New Mown Meadow I learned from playing around Dublin in sessions in the mid 1990s. The Broken Pledge I learned from the playing of Pat Broderick. More recently Paddy Keenan has been playing it so his version has influenced me too. The third tune, The Flogging Reel is a very well known tune that is very much favoured by pipers. I first heard it on a recording by Willie Clancy.
Track notes for Pure Piping CCF33CD.
Published in P.W. Joyce’s Ancient Irish Music (Dublin 1873), this first jig is now more commonly known as Father O’Flynn after the Alfred Percival Graves song of the same title. Leo associates this version with the playing of Leo Rowsome. The second item would appear to be a tune of some antiquity, having been published in various collections with titles such as The Pot Stick,. The Shamboy and more commonly Sean Bui. Aloys Fleischmann maintained that the yellow of the title is a reference to the followers of King William III. Capt. Francis O’Neill published it in two settings in O’Neill’s music of Ireland (Chicago 1903) and it is the first that Leo gives us here.
Curiously O’Neill includes the tune in his section ‘Marches and Miscellaneous’, suggesting that it wasn’t played in jig-time but perhaps at a more temperate pace in deference to it’s ancient lineage.
The selection ends with a piece by the blind itinerant harper Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) composed in honour of the eldest son of Denis and Mary O’Connor of Belenagare, Co. Roscommon. The O’Connors were principal patrons of Carolan and as a young man Charles made written accounts of his tuition on the harp by Carolan.
Long considered a test piece for any piper of worth, the Ace and Deuce falls surprisingly well on the chanter. It’s attributes as the mark of a piper’s ability may well reside in the opportunity it affords to colour the melody with cuts , pops, tips, rolls, slides, backstitching and staccato triplets, all standard piping devices. Strangely for a piece of such reputation, it makes no use of the most distinctive sound on the chanter, the cran, as at no point does the melody descend to the bottom D.
The second set-dance refers in it’s title to the long period following apprenticeship when craftsmen must fashion their skill over years of laborious toil before becoming recognised masters of their art. In this the title serves as a fitting signpost for the task facing aspiring musicians. Leo gives us a spirited performance reminiscent in it’s flowing legato sections of the piping of the legendary travelling musician Johnny Doran.
The first jig comes from the blind piper Garrett Barry from Inagh, Co.Clare, through the piping of Willie Clancy, whose father Gilbert, although not a piper himself , struck up a lasting friendship with Barry. Through this intimate knowledge of Barry’s music he passed on many of the old settings of popular tunes to Willie. The second jig likewise comes from Willie’s repertoire , this time the source being his mother Ellen, but it seems to have had a much wider circulation countrywide as can be attested to by it’s numerous inclusion in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland. It is a perennial favourite of pipers.
This first tune comes from Leo Rowsome who published it in his Tutor for the Uilleann Pipes (Dublin 1936).Rowsome was probably the most important figure in uilleann piping in the 20th century. He excelled not only as a player, recording artist and teacher of the pipes, but also as an expert pipe-maker. His Grandfather the piper Samuel Rowsome, came from Co. Wexford. The second hornpipe in it’s original form is a two-part composition of the mid 19th century fiddler James Hill. It was originally titled The High Level Bridge after it’s namesake which was built to connect Newcastle and Gateshead, and was so called because it was built at a higher level than the Old Tyne Bridge. The tune was popularised by fiddler Sean Maguire but has become a staple of the modern piping canon.5. Flax in Bloom / Pinch of Snuff / Corney is Coming.
O’Neill credits his musical scribe James O’Neill as the source for this tune.
However it is unclear whether it came directly from James’s fiddle-playing or from one of the many manuscripts held in his father’s collection. The version of the Pinch of Snuff which follows comes from the playing of Seamus Ennis who in1953 recorded a unique performance of the tune from the Donegal fiddler Frank Cassidy while working as a collector for the BBC. In Donegal the reel has more parts but here Leo follows the convention set by Ennis in one of his two versions of the tune and plays it as a two-part reel. Brendan Breathnach ascribes no less than seventeen names to the third item in Leo’s selection. Among the more unusual are Knit the Pocky, The Merry Bits of Timber and Cheese It.
Also titled Mrs. Poer or Power, this first piece appears to have been composed by Carolan in honour of the wife of David Power of Cooheen, Co. Galway, formerly a Miss Elizabeth Keating. However it’s composition in the popular imagination goes back to a meeting between Carolan and a celebrated musician, who is sometimes said to be Geminiani. The meeting took place in the house of an Irish nobleman where Carolan is supposed to have composed the concerto extempore in reaction to the Lord’s low opinion of his ability. A version of Planxty Davis appears in James Goodman’s Tunes of the Munster pipers (Dublin1998,ed. Hugh Shields) in the guise of a reel titled Killiecrankie. The likely composer seems to have been one of Carolan’s predecessors, the harper Thomas Connellan.
A selection here of three stalwart jigs equally popular on al the instruments of Irish Traditional music. This popularity may be due in part to the fact that all three were recorded extensively during the early years of commercial sound recording. These recordings certainly impacted on musicians at home and abroad , helping to establish their content as essential must-have items in any musicians repertoire.
Donal O’Sullivan in Carolan, The Life, Times, and Music of an Irish Harper (London1958) tells us that this piece was composed in honour of Morgan magan of Togherstown, Co. Westmeath, the younger son of Morgan Magan of Cloney. A favourite among contemporary interpreters of Carolan on guitar and harp, it has rarely been adapted for the pipes.
This beautiful air comes from one of the great Munster songs commemorating an abortive rising by a body of United Irishmen on the slopes of Slia na mBan near Clonmel, Co.Tipperary, in 1798. The poorly armed rebels were routed by General Sir Charles Asgill and dispersed in disarray.
Francis Roche, the Limerick fiddler, dancer and collector, that includes this first hornpipe in his Collection of Irish Airs, Marches and dance Tunes (Dublin,Cork, Limerick 1912). Although never replacing O’Neill’s Dance Music of Ireland in popularity, it nevertheless achieved wide circulation and certainly preserved tunes and tune settings that would have otherwise been lost.Roche began the task of assembling his work in 1891, drawing from both manuscript and oral sources. However, as much of this manuscript material appears to have been destroyed, we have no ides of his source for the tune. Seamus Ennis relates a story about the second piece: A man returning home from a spree through the fields one night finds himself continually coming upon the same spot. Realising he is under a seachran si or fairy straying , he has to turn his jacket inside out and put it back on in this fashion to break the spell. Thus armed, he soon finds his way home where, a long field’s distance from the house, he comes across the fairies dancing to the strains of a piper. He dutifully falls asleep only to awake in broad daylight with all evidence of the assembly gone, bar the notes of The Fairies’ Hornpipe ringing in his ears.
Too often the simpler melodies and rhythms of marches are overlooked in favour of the pace and complexity of reels. Here Leo demonstrates why these older tunes were often favoured by the greats of piping. Delivering a full-blown account of each with regulators brashly ringing out, Leo’s playing is reminiscent of the late Leo Rowsome. The first tune’s title translates as The Eagle’s Whistle. P.W. Joyce in Ancient Irish Music (Dublin 1901) says he took it down from the whistling of James Quain and Micheal Dinneen, both of Coolfree. It was the marching tune of the O’Donovan family, ancient chiefs of the territory of Hy Fidhgheinte, a district to the west of the river Maigue in Co. Limerick. The Fairy Revels is a song air, originally set to march time by Leo Rowsome.
Track notes were written By Glen Cumiskey, of The Irish Traditional Music Archive , Merrion Square , Dublin.