Hey Guys,
I was wondering if anyone had any recording suggestions about music from West Limerick. Are there any people that are the poster players for that region of music? I have the Mulcahy Family CD's and I just got one of Diarmuid O'Brien, great stuff. I have heard of Padraig King, does he have a CD? Any stuff I should look into?
Thanks,
Geoff Maher
Worth looking out for the playing of Patrick "the Bird" Ahearne of Athea.
If you could find a copy of the LP set "Our Musical Heritage", based on the RTE programmes done by Sean O Riada, you could hear him on a couple of tracks there.
Martin Mulvihill - you can download 'The Humours of Glin' from iTunes, and there are a couple of teaching albums available there too - not the same thing at all, but it gives an insight into his technique.
If you want the other Mulvihill album PM me. The copyright is owned by Compass Records, but they don't seem to have any immediate plans to re-release it. Which is a real shame because it's a classic.
Oh yeah - you could do worse than check out the accordion players on O'Brien's album. They're mostly West Limerick players and many of them have their own material on general release.
There's Tim Collins' concertina album 'Dancing on Silver'. Though Tim was born in Kerry and now lives in Clare, his formative years were spent in West Limerick.
There's also accordionist Dónal Murphy from Abbeyfeale who can be heard on his solo album 'Happy Hour' as well as the three Sliabh Notes CDs and some of the Four Men & a Dog albums.
From a previous generation, Paddy Taylor, the flute player from Foynes, W. Limerick.
He made an album, "The Boy in the Gap" but I don´t know about its availability.
It's a shame it's so hard to get hold of Paddy Taylor's music. There are a few tracks of him on the Saydisc CD 'Traditional Music of Ireland". You could also look out for Mrs Ella Mae O'Dwyer from Athea. There are recordings of her on the Free Reed CD "Irish Traditional Concertina Styles". She has a very rythmic style of playing. I do associate strong rhythm with West Limerick. My father Mick Sheehy, played button accordion in the Devon Inn Ceilidh Band in Templeglantine and at crossroads dances in the late 1940s/early1950s and had a deep steady rhythm in his playing.It's hard to find recordings, but I've always enjoyed some of the older players. Con Herbert is a stalwart of the West Limerick music scene and other players such as Mossie Murphy, The Kings of Strand and the Moloneys. I had a lovely session in Manchester a few months ago with Patsy and Connor Moloney. Patsy is a former All-Ireland Champion on flute and can be heard regularly in Birmingham while Connor is a regular on the Manchester session scene. Both have a lovely steady way of playing. I've heard all of these on various Ceilidh House programmes on RTE when they have been in Limerick, so It's well worth scouring the archive programme section. Then there's Derek Hickey, a very fine box player from near Ballingarry.
Music Of West Limerick
Music Of West Limerick
Hey Guys,
I was wondering if anyone had any recording suggestions about music from West Limerick. Are there any people that are the poster players for that region of music? I have the Mulcahy Family CD's and I just got one of Diarmuid O'Brien, great stuff. I have heard of Padraig King, does he have a CD? Any stuff I should look into?
Thanks,
Geoff Maher
# Posted on August 3rd 2009 by AEisenheim
Re: Music Of West Limerick
Worth looking out for the playing of Patrick "the Bird" Ahearne of Athea.
If you could find a copy of the LP set "Our Musical Heritage", based on the RTE programmes done by Sean O Riada, you could hear him on a couple of tracks there.
# Posted on August 3rd 2009 by Presumin Ed
Re: Music Of West Limerick
Martin Mulvihill - you can download 'The Humours of Glin' from iTunes, and there are a couple of teaching albums available there too - not the same thing at all, but it gives an insight into his technique.
If you want the other Mulvihill album PM me. The copyright is owned by Compass Records, but they don't seem to have any immediate plans to re-release it. Which is a real shame because it's a classic.
# Posted on August 3rd 2009 by Dragut Reis
Re: Music Of West Limerick
Oh yeah - you could do worse than check out the accordion players on O'Brien's album. They're mostly West Limerick players and many of them have their own material on general release.
# Posted on August 3rd 2009 by Dragut Reis
Re: Music Of West Limerick
There's Tim Collins' concertina album 'Dancing on Silver'. Though Tim was born in Kerry and now lives in Clare, his formative years were spent in West Limerick.
There's also accordionist Dónal Murphy from Abbeyfeale who can be heard on his solo album 'Happy Hour' as well as the three Sliabh Notes CDs and some of the Four Men & a Dog albums.
# Posted on August 3rd 2009 by MacCruiskeen
Re: Music Of West Limerick
From a previous generation, Paddy Taylor, the flute player from Foynes, W. Limerick.
He made an album, "The Boy in the Gap" but I don´t know about its availability.
# Posted on August 3rd 2009 by murfbox
Re: Music Of West Limerick
Sadly, Claddagh has never reissued 'The Boy in the Gap' in CD format, but there's also this - http://www.folktrax-archive.org/menus/cassprogs/171.htm - which I might shortly be able to land my hands on.
# Posted on August 3rd 2009 by MacCruiskeen
Re: Music Of West Limerick
It's a shame it's so hard to get hold of Paddy Taylor's music. There are a few tracks of him on the Saydisc CD 'Traditional Music of Ireland". You could also look out for Mrs Ella Mae O'Dwyer from Athea. There are recordings of her on the Free Reed CD "Irish Traditional Concertina Styles". She has a very rythmic style of playing. I do associate strong rhythm with West Limerick. My father Mick Sheehy, played button accordion in the Devon Inn Ceilidh Band in Templeglantine and at crossroads dances in the late 1940s/early1950s and had a deep steady rhythm in his playing.It's hard to find recordings, but I've always enjoyed some of the older players. Con Herbert is a stalwart of the West Limerick music scene and other players such as Mossie Murphy, The Kings of Strand and the Moloneys. I had a lovely session in Manchester a few months ago with Patsy and Connor Moloney. Patsy is a former All-Ireland Champion on flute and can be heard regularly in Birmingham while Connor is a regular on the Manchester session scene. Both have a lovely steady way of playing. I've heard all of these on various Ceilidh House programmes on RTE when they have been in Limerick, so It's well worth scouring the archive programme section. Then there's Derek Hickey, a very fine box player from near Ballingarry.
# Posted on August 3rd 2009 by Rathawaun
Re: Music Of West Limerick
Another great player from West Limerick is Tony O'Connell (concertina). He's recorded two albums, both with Leitrim fiddlers. One is with Andy Morrow:
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1528
and the other with Ben Lennon: http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/3060
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by Dragut Reis
Re: Music Of West Limerick
Oh, definitely, Robert, that's a great couple of recommendations!
I'd forgotten about Tony and those two albums deserve the widest possible audience.
# Posted on August 4th 2009 by MacCruiskeen