County Limerick, Ireland

There once was a man called Rick

He came from the town of Limerick

He wanted to write

Poems of shite

But instead played some nice music

So much for my poetry...  I'll stick to music will I?  It's in fact not entirely certain that Limericks came from Limerick. Moving on, 6-member, all female band Líadan describe their origins as from Limerick and Galway.  They formed in 2004 and churn out beautifully crafted traditional tunes and songs in both Irish and English.  Here is a set of polkas by them (in my opinion there aren't enough polkas around) that are collectively known as Limerick Polkas and can be found on their album Casadh na Taoide / Turning the Tide:

And talking about polkas they are particularly popular in the Sliabh Luachra (Anglicised Slieve Logher), which is an upland area bordering counties Limerick, Kerry and Cork.  The members of the trio Sliabh Notes hail one each from these 3 counties and here is a set of polkas by them, which can be found on their 2005 album Gleanntan:

Four Men and a Dog were founded in Limerick in 1990, but the band members hail from Tyrone, Tipperary, Donegal and Dónal Murphy who was born in Birmingham, but grew up in Limerick.  They play traditional Irish music, but often combined with rock, jazz, blues, bluegrass, swing, salsa and even rap.   There's a bit of rap and bluegrass on this number, Wrap It Up from their 1991 album Barking Mad:

As usual you can follow my virtual journey on this link.  Next stop County Clare.

County Kerry, Ireland

We arrive in the very southwest of Ireland in the spectacularly beautiful county of Kerry, famed for the Ring of Kerry, the Skellig Rocks and the Dingle Peninsula.  I spent a couple of weeks down there a couple of years ago.  This was the view from our accommodation:

Whilst the members of the band Beoga hail from Antrim, Derry and Limerick, they did form up as a group at the All-Ireland Fleadh in County Kerry in 2002. Their influences combine traditional with more contemporary sounds with unorthodox instrumentation (piano and 2 accordions) , and in fact they recently sold out to pop as they combined with the abominable Ed Sheeran.    However they do churn out some pleasant and lively tunes such as this one, Eochaid, which apparently means escaped from their 2016 album Before We Change Our Mind:

We move on to the beautiful Dingle Peninsula, where Irish is still spoken as the first language.  Here a shot of Dingle harbour:

Here we meet Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, who used to be the lead singer of Danú, whom we met in County Waterford.  She was born near the tip of Dingle and grew up between here and County Clare speaking Irish. Here is a song from her 2017 album Foxglove & Fuschia entitled Bean Dubh A' Ghleanna, which roughly translates as black woman of the glen I believe.

Also from Dingle is Pauline Scanlon who has been collaborating extensively with Sharon Shannon of Co. Clare.  She also blends contemporary sounds with traditional Irish music.  This song is from her 2004 solo debut album Red Colour Sun and is entitled What Put The Blood, a story of a tragic infanticide.

Pauline Scanlon is also part of the duo Lumiere together with Éllís Kennedy, also from Dingle.  This haunting song is from their self-titled 2010 debut album, entitled Ca Rabhais Ar Feadh an Lae Uaim.  Not sure what the song is about.

That's it for today.  Remember you can follow my virtual trip on tripline.  Next stop Limerick.