An area situated between the towns of kilarney ,castleisland,kanturk and millstreet on the cork/kerry border.
It is the polka and slides place of origin.
As for style listen too Jaclie Daly's cd "music from sliabh luachra.
Cork city is some distance from Sliabh Luachra, but the music you would find there has a significant SL influence. West Cork in general has strong SL leanings.
bellman your wrong
newmarket and kanturk are Sliabh Luachra strongholds in cork but some of the best Sliabh Luachra is played in cork city . the ceile allstars wednesdays in the slainte.
I'm no expert but real S L musicians have thier own indiviual way of playing tunes it becomes very skillful personel and unique. Just because you play a slide or a polka dose nt mean your playing S L. For eg The musician playing the slides on the myspace link I posted earlier are born and rared in the heart or SL so how can anyone outside of SL question the way it should be played to them.
I always thought of West Cork as stretching from Bandon on to Crookhaven! Anyway, the distance from Cork city is irrelevant to my point, I don't know why you bring it up and I don't know why you think my points (the music you would find in Cork city has a significant SL influence. West Cork in general has strong SL leanings) are all that different from yours. Are you trying to start an argument? I would not be very interested.
JoeCSS - One word: The Star Above The Garter (well, 5 words). http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1073
Actually, you won't find that many slides and polkas on this album - mostly reels and jigs. But Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford (and Pádraig O'Keefe before them) epitomised the Sliabh Luachra style in their playing of all the tunes.
Denis Murphy & Julia Clifford - The star above the garter.
Anything by Johnny O'Leary
Sliabh Notes
John Brosnan - The cook in the kitchen
The county bounds - Music and song from the cork kerry border
Anything by Jackie Daly
I'm not arguing with Bellman's point - what I am saying is that Sliabh Luachra is not in the West Cork area, it is approx. 100 miles away in North Cork (or North West Cork to be precise). That does not mean that tunes played in West Cork are not SL influenced, or indeed tunes played in Cork city or anywhere else for that matter. But just because you're playing a slide or a polka, this doesn't mean you're playing SL - SL is not only a specific area, but a specific style learnt, common to that area, e.g. bowing actions, etc. Am I making sense?!
In my (limited) experience, a large proportion of the trad players in West Cork are blow-ins from England - and many more of them migrants from other parts of Ireland. In the absence of a strong local tradition to draw on, they naturally look to the dominant style of the region. I'm told there are a few original West Corkonian musicians scattered around, who represent a true West Cork style. Whether or not it is similar to, or is influenced by SLiabh Luachra style, I do not know, as I haven't yet had the good fortune to hear it.
Sliabh Luachra
Sliabh Luachra
What is it? What's it mean? I see it referred to all the time, but have no idea what's actually being talked about. Is it a style of playing?
# Posted on May 15th 2007 by Joe CSS
Re: Sliabh Luachra
http://homepages.iol.ie/~deskerry/sliabhluachra/sliabhluachra.html
# Posted on May 15th 2007 by Backer
Re: Sliabh Luachra
The land of the rushy mountain. Lots of polkas and slides. Tune paradise for diatonic harmonica players.
# Posted on May 15th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Sliabh Luachra
Where the Irish Polkas run wild and free, unhampered by closed minded sessionistas.
# Posted on May 15th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Sliabh Luachra
It's the promised land down in the Kerry/Cork border country where all the good tunes come from.
# Posted on May 15th 2007 by peterlenz
Re: Sliabh Luachra
An area situated between the towns of kilarney ,castleisland,kanturk and millstreet on the cork/kerry border.
It is the polka and slides place of origin.
As for style listen too Jaclie Daly's cd "music from sliabh luachra.
# Posted on May 15th 2007 by dinn2
Re: Sliabh Luachra
How about Cork? Is that Sliabh Luachra too, or is that different?
# Posted on May 15th 2007 by kennedy
Re: Sliabh Luachra
I guess I mean musically, because geographically it's not quite the same...
# Posted on May 15th 2007 by kennedy
Re: Sliabh Luachra
Cork city is some distance from Sliabh Luachra, but the music you would find there has a significant SL influence. West Cork in general has strong SL leanings.
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by Alex Wilding
Re: Sliabh Luachra
bellman your wrong
newmarket and kanturk are Sliabh Luachra strongholds in cork but some of the best Sliabh Luachra is played in cork city . the ceile allstars wednesdays in the slainte.
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by Saint
Re: Sliabh Luachra
Saint, you agree with me. Why am I wrong?
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by Alex Wilding
Re: Sliabh Luachra
west cork is about 100 miles away
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by Saint
Re: Sliabh Luachra
I'm no expert but real S L musicians have thier own indiviual way of playing tunes it becomes very skillful personel and unique. Just because you play a slide or a polka dose nt mean your playing S L. For eg The musician playing the slides on the myspace link I posted earlier are born and rared in the heart or SL so how can anyone outside of SL question the way it should be played to them.
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by Saint
Re: Sliabh Luachra
I always thought of West Cork as stretching from Bandon on to Crookhaven! Anyway, the distance from Cork city is irrelevant to my point, I don't know why you bring it up and I don't know why you think my points (the music you would find in Cork city has a significant SL influence. West Cork in general has strong SL leanings) are all that different from yours. Are you trying to start an argument? I would not be very interested.
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by Alex Wilding
Re: Sliabh Luachra
JoeCSS - One word: The Star Above The Garter (well, 5 words).
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1073
Actually, you won't find that many slides and polkas on this album - mostly reels and jigs. But Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford (and Pádraig O'Keefe before them) epitomised the Sliabh Luachra style in their playing of all the tunes.
Also, check out these:
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/738
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/942
If it's slides and polkas you want, anything by Johnny O'Leary.
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/index/search?name=o%27leary&search_start=0
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Sliabh Luachra
...and there are many, many more recordings that I haven't heard of, or can't think of at the moment.
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Sliabh Luachra
Denis Murphy & Julia Clifford - The star above the garter.
Anything by Johnny O'Leary
Sliabh Notes
John Brosnan - The cook in the kitchen
The county bounds - Music and song from the cork kerry border
Anything by Jackie Daly
All worth a listen.
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by LivingTrad
Re: Sliabh Luachra
JoeCSS - the best answer to you original question may well be found in "Stone Mad For Music - the Sliabh Luachra Story" by Donal Hickey. [ http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_hickey_stonemad.html ]
This is a truely wonderful read.
Ken
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by RogueFiddler
Re: Sliabh Luachra
I'm not arguing with Bellman's point - what I am saying is that Sliabh Luachra is not in the West Cork area, it is approx. 100 miles away in North Cork (or North West Cork to be precise). That does not mean that tunes played in West Cork are not SL influenced, or indeed tunes played in Cork city or anywhere else for that matter. But just because you're playing a slide or a polka, this doesn't mean you're playing SL - SL is not only a specific area, but a specific style learnt, common to that area, e.g. bowing actions, etc. Am I making sense?!
# Posted on May 16th 2007 by Saint
Re: Sliabh Luachra
In my (limited) experience, a large proportion of the trad players in West Cork are blow-ins from England - and many more of them migrants from other parts of Ireland. In the absence of a strong local tradition to draw on, they naturally look to the dominant style of the region. I'm told there are a few original West Corkonian musicians scattered around, who represent a true West Cork style. Whether or not it is similar to, or is influenced by SLiabh Luachra style, I do not know, as I haven't yet had the good fortune to hear it.
# Posted on May 17th 2007 by CreadurMawnOrganig