County Clare in the west of Ireland is famous for the spectacular Cliffs of Moher and the desolate rockscape of the Burren, but above all it is covered from top to bottom in music. This picture is of a sunset above the Cliffs of Moher on New Year's Eve 1988/9. Unbelievably it was a beautifully balmy day.
That winter a group of us stayed in a cottage near the village of Doolin, which on my first visit in 1983 was described to me as Ireland's best kept secret. This then tiny village boasted about 5 pubs, which had live traditional music in them every night. Alas, it no longer is a secret and has sprouted many B&B's, hostels, hotels, attracting many tourists, but the music and 3 of its pubs still remain. This is what it looked like in 1988.
East County Clare has its own distinctive style of traditional music. It's marked by sparse use of ornamentation such as crans, rolls and triplets, instead using a less technical ornamentation of double octave playing and the transmission of rhythm through foot tapping. The concertina is popular here, forcing tunes to be played in C or F rather than the otherwise more popular D tunings. Foremost amongst the concertina players of East Clare is Mary MacNamara of Clondanagh. Here's a couple of reels she is performing with Martin Hayes, who also supported her on her 1993 album Traditional Music of East Clare:
Fiddler Martin Hayes was born in 1962 (good vintage, that!) in the parish of Killanena, East Clare to a musical family. He emigrated to Chicago in 1984, where he became involved in the local Irish trad scene and became a member of the Irish-American supergroup The Gloaming. He also recorded a couple of solo albums entitled Martin Hayes and Under The Moon. Here he is playing a set with guitarist Dennis cahill, who was born in Chicago of Kerry parents:
Multi-instrumentalist Sharon Shannon, who was born in Ruan, Co. Clare, already had a couple of mentions on this blog. This tune, Mouth of the Tobique is from her 1997 album Each Little Thing:
Jimmy Ward was a famous banjo player and composer who was born in Kilfenora and died in 1987 in Milltown Malbay in Co. Clare. He was part of the Kilfenora Céilí Band. He became most famous for his tune Jimmy Wards Jig. This is another of his tunes performed by the Kilfenora Céilí Band Ward's Marches from their 2009 album Century:
Finally we're taking the ferry from Doolin over to Insheer, the smallest of the Arran Islands. When I went there on a wet and windy November day back in 2002, we stepped off the boat and the rain came down horizontally. In search for shelter we found that all the pubs on the island were shut. So we walked into the grocery shop and asked if there was anywhere open where we could find cover from the rain. So the lady behind the counter shouted out to the back: "Séamus, SÉAMUS! Could you go and open the pub for these people, please?"
Later, after a few hot whiskeys the weather cleared and we explored the island some. When we passed the souvenir shop, it was closed too, but as we idly looked at the wares through the window a lady came rushing across the road and opened the shop for us. While we were browsing, she put on some music. It was a beautiful female voice singing in Irish, so we asked who it was, and she proudly proclaimed it was her very own daughter.
That's how I first came across Lasairfhíona and I bought her debut album An Raicín Álainn, which had only just been released, there and then. This is a song from that album about her home island, Inis Oirr, In Innis Oirr, with some pictures I shot on that memorable trip.
This is it for today from County Clare. The next few counties, I think we are going to speed up a bit. As usual you can follow my virtual journey on tripline.
Fiddler Martin Hayes was born in 1962 (good vintage, that!) in the parish of Killanena, East Clare to a musical family. He emigrated to Chicago in 1984, where he became involved in the local Irish trad scene and became a member of the Irish-American supergroup The Gloaming. He also recorded a couple of solo albums entitled Martin Hayes and Under The Moon. Here he is playing a set with guitarist Dennis cahill, who was born in Chicago of Kerry parents:
Multi-instrumentalist Sharon Shannon, who was born in Ruan, Co. Clare, already had a couple of mentions on this blog. This tune, Mouth of the Tobique is from her 1997 album Each Little Thing:
Jimmy Ward was a famous banjo player and composer who was born in Kilfenora and died in 1987 in Milltown Malbay in Co. Clare. He was part of the Kilfenora Céilí Band. He became most famous for his tune Jimmy Wards Jig. This is another of his tunes performed by the Kilfenora Céilí Band Ward's Marches from their 2009 album Century:
Finally we're taking the ferry from Doolin over to Insheer, the smallest of the Arran Islands. When I went there on a wet and windy November day back in 2002, we stepped off the boat and the rain came down horizontally. In search for shelter we found that all the pubs on the island were shut. So we walked into the grocery shop and asked if there was anywhere open where we could find cover from the rain. So the lady behind the counter shouted out to the back: "Séamus, SÉAMUS! Could you go and open the pub for these people, please?"
Later, after a few hot whiskeys the weather cleared and we explored the island some. When we passed the souvenir shop, it was closed too, but as we idly looked at the wares through the window a lady came rushing across the road and opened the shop for us. While we were browsing, she put on some music. It was a beautiful female voice singing in Irish, so we asked who it was, and she proudly proclaimed it was her very own daughter.
That's how I first came across Lasairfhíona and I bought her debut album An Raicín Álainn, which had only just been released, there and then. This is a song from that album about her home island, Inis Oirr, In Innis Oirr, with some pictures I shot on that memorable trip.
This is it for today from County Clare. The next few counties, I think we are going to speed up a bit. As usual you can follow my virtual journey on tripline.
