County Galway again is full of good musicians. I took the above picture on my last visit a couple of years ago near Loughrea. We start our journey through the county in Corofin, where banjo player Enda Scahill hails from. This pair of jigs, The black Frog & The Sanctuary, are from his 2016 album Pick It Up:
Singer Séan Keane, known for his sean-nós style singing was born in Caherlistrane near Tuam. This is one such song, Moorlough Shore from his 2018 album Gratitude:
From the village of Sylane near Tuam hails Irish female vocal legend Dolores Keane (no relation to the above as far as I know). She was amongst the founding members of the band De Dannan (of which more below). She has also had a long and distinguished solo career. Here's a song, The Wind That Shakes the Barley from her 1997 album night Owl:
In 1975 a group of session musicians got together in Hughes's Pub in An Spidéal a bit west of Galway City to form De Danann, which later got renamed De Dannan and later got split into 2 groups, one of each spelling, just to confuse everyone. The below set of tunes is from their time when they used the original spelling from their 1991 album The Star Spangled Molly:
Born in Inishbarra in Connemara, Johnny Connolly is one of Ireland's foremost melodeon players. The melodeon is a diatonic button accordion. Here's a pair of tunes called Boys of the Blue Hill and Peacock's Feather from his 2008 album An Mileoidean Scaoilte:
Finally Seán McKiernan of Carna plays the uilleann pipes and flute. He was actually born in Boston to an Irish speaking family, but has lived in Ireland since 1965. Here's an air, Nóirín mo Mhian, and a hornpipe, Caisleán a Óir from the 2012 compilation album Masters of Tradition:
That's it from County Galway. As usual you can follow my virtual trip on Tripline. See you next time in County Mayo.
In 1975 a group of session musicians got together in Hughes's Pub in An Spidéal a bit west of Galway City to form De Danann, which later got renamed De Dannan and later got split into 2 groups, one of each spelling, just to confuse everyone. The below set of tunes is from their time when they used the original spelling from their 1991 album The Star Spangled Molly:
Born in Inishbarra in Connemara, Johnny Connolly is one of Ireland's foremost melodeon players. The melodeon is a diatonic button accordion. Here's a pair of tunes called Boys of the Blue Hill and Peacock's Feather from his 2008 album An Mileoidean Scaoilte:
Finally Seán McKiernan of Carna plays the uilleann pipes and flute. He was actually born in Boston to an Irish speaking family, but has lived in Ireland since 1965. Here's an air, Nóirín mo Mhian, and a hornpipe, Caisleán a Óir from the 2012 compilation album Masters of Tradition:
That's it from County Galway. As usual you can follow my virtual trip on Tripline. See you next time in County Mayo.
