County Armagh, Ireland

Our journey continues from County Down on to County Armagh, still in Northern Ireland.  The city of Armagh is the ecclesiastic centre of Ireland with both the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic church having their main cathedrals here.  St. Patrick himself is said to have set up shop here.  

In musical terms Armagh's most famous son was Tommy Makem (1932-2007).  He was known as The Bard of Armagh (after a popular song title) and even the Godfather of Irish music.  He was born in Keady, Co. Armagh, which he described as the hub of the universe.  He emigrated to the USA in 1955, where he popularised Irish music together with the Clancy Brothers, playing at the Newport festival, where they were nominated as best newcomers in folk together with Joan Baez.

Here he is with the Clancy Brothers (from Tipperary) singing a County Armagh song, Master McGrath.  It's available on the album In Concert - The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.  The song is about a famous Irish greyhound in the 19th century who was owned by Lord Lurgan.  Lurgan is another small town in County Armagh, where there is now a statue of Master McGrath.

This is Tommy singing the song that gave him his nickname, The Bard of Armagh from the album The Legendary Tommy Makem Collection

Also from Armagh is one of the most amazing flute and whistle players, Brian Finnegan, for whom breathing appears to be optional.  He was a founding member of the band Flook.  Here he talks about a project 'Night Ride to Armagh' where he collaborates with a number of other musicians.  I'll let him explain.

And here a version of said song:

Brian mentions the Armagh Pipers Club in his wee documentary.  Here he is playing with them at the BBC Folk Awards:

Now Armagh is also a border county between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, so smuggling has long been a lucrative business.  This is a humorous song on the smuggling trade by Seamus Moore, who is actually a Kilkenny man, so he might get a mention again when we get down there.  The Transit Van is available on the album The Best of Seamus Moore.

 Finally we can't leave County Armagh without meeting the Twisted Sisters (not to be confused with an American heavy metal band) I've seen them live a few times at the Sunflower Fest in Hillsborough, County Down and they are absolutely hilarious singing about Chips and Guinness, I Don't Want to Die in Big Knickers and My Clitoris.  They do give a warning before each gig to exercise 'parental guidance' for the young and impressionable...  Their songs can be found on their album Pure Hallion on their Bandcamp page (link see above).  This clip I took at the Sunflower Fest a couple of years ago.

As per usual, you can follow my virtual journey here.

Next stop Monaghan and Cavan