The Session >> Discussions >> Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
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Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
It's almost summer again and I thought it might be interesting to throw open a discussion on books not *necessarily* about ITM directly (although they could be), but more perhaps on works of fiction (or travel or othewise, eg. Ciaran Carson's Last Night's Fun) that might touch on interesting depictions of Irish trad as it was/or is practiced (thinking here of JM Synge's wonderful book about travels in Kerry...which touches on an interesting description of playing tunes on Aran as I recall in early years of 20th century).
Of course Chris Smith's great site coyotebanjo [http://coyotebanjo.com/] has a super list of "recommended reads" on ITM itself...but is,perhaps, more directly focussed on books that deal with ITM directly.
I tried this out on IRTRAD-L a year or so ago and got some nice suggestions which I'll share. Some being:
-David A. Wilson's Ireland, a Bicycle, and a Tin Whistle, in which the author (a prof. of Celtic Studies at U of Toronto and a very personable fellow) visits a great many pub sessions. [thanks jeffrey]
- Check out "The Vicar of Wakefield" by Oliver Goldsmith (Longford/flute). The fictional Vicar's son busks his way across 18th Century Europe encountering (at different times) enthusiasm (by good common folk), disinterest (by the rich) and protracted periods of financial paucity. The character's experience matches up with O'Neill's ("Irish Minstrels and Musicians") little snippet about Goldsmith. I assumed I was getting a first hand account of the author's experiences while reading the short story. There are plenty of parallels with issues that sometimes face today's trad musicians' experiences (I'll be buskin' a bit tomorrow, in fact) giving the tale modern relevance.[from Dan cummins. thanks dan]
-Charles Mooney suggests: 1. Anthony Trollope's first novel, "The MacDemotts of
Ballycloran," gives an interesting picture of life in ruralIreland before the famine. In this novel, Trollope
describes a country wedding, complete with a blind piper and
a dance. One pof the tunes the piper plays is "Paddy
Carey," which can be found in O'Neill.
2. A second example is John Keane's novel, "The Bodhran
Makers," which describes a country feast, and the attendant
music making in more modern times in the hills of Kerry.
-Lesl Haker suggested:
The People of the Sea by David Thomson
Seal Morning by Rowena Farre
Lovely Is the Lee by Robert Gibbings
-Tom Wilsbach suggested:
For a funny chaotic novel about a lad obsessed with the pipes and particularly Liam O'Flynn's playing:
Grace Notes & Bad Thoughts
by John Kelly
Marino Books, 1997
ISBN 1860230032
-And an intriguing one suggested by Paul de Grae on another disussion was:
A book that some of ye might enjoy is "The New Policeman" by Kate Thompson,
published earlier this year by The Bodley Head, London, and I think by
Random House across the pond. It's marketed as a children's or young
adult's book but will also be enjoyed by those older folk (like me) who
have devoured the Harry Potter books and the "Dark Materials" trilogy, or
indeed by anyone with an interest in traditional music--which is why I
mention it here. It's set in that famed habitation, Kinvara, County
Galway, or rather in two Kinvaras--the regular one that we know, and the
parallel magical or fairy Kinvara. Passage back and forth between the two
is possible by a secret passage (hence all the tunes we play, which came
from the fairies!), but the opening has been sealed open by an unknown
person, presumably for a nefarious purpose, and time is leaking out of our
world--where we never have enough of it now--into the fairy world, where it
hardly existed before. An ideal situation for our 15-year-old hero, fiddle
and flute player JJ Liddy, to get stuck into.
SO if anyone has any to add I'm sure we'd all be interested. Many thanks.
Re: Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
Blooming Meadows by Fintan Vallely and Charlie Piggott is an excellent book with interviews of many of trad's most important musicians. It's not in print but you can often find copies on www.abebooks.co.uk or eBay.
Humours of Planxty by Leagues O'Toole is an excellent history of the band.
In Search of the Craic by Colin Irwin is quite good and chronicles his search for the essence of the Irish session.
Re: Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
i'd throw in "haunted ground" and "lake of sorrows," the two wonderful mystery novels set in ireland by writer erin hart, who is also a traditional singer and additionally has for a spouse one of the most soulful itm box players around, namely, paddy "with a pulse" o'brien, county offaly now in minneapolis.
these novels feature forensic archeologists sleuths who solve mysteries in which the skullduggery (pun intended) surrounds human remains found in bogs, linked to hijinks in the present.
Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
It's almost summer again and I thought it might be interesting to throw open a discussion on books not *necessarily* about ITM directly (although they could be), but more perhaps on works of fiction (or travel or othewise, eg. Ciaran Carson's Last Night's Fun) that might touch on interesting depictions of Irish trad as it was/or is practiced (thinking here of JM Synge's wonderful book about travels in Kerry...which touches on an interesting description of playing tunes on Aran as I recall in early years of 20th century).
Of course Chris Smith's great site coyotebanjo [http://coyotebanjo.com/] has a super list of "recommended reads" on ITM itself...but is,perhaps, more directly focussed on books that deal with ITM directly.
I tried this out on IRTRAD-L a year or so ago and got some nice suggestions which I'll share. Some being:
-David A. Wilson's Ireland, a Bicycle, and a Tin Whistle, in which the author (a prof. of Celtic Studies at U of Toronto and a very personable fellow) visits a great many pub sessions. [thanks jeffrey]
- Check out "The Vicar of Wakefield" by Oliver Goldsmith (Longford/flute). The fictional Vicar's son busks his way across 18th Century Europe encountering (at different times) enthusiasm (by good common folk), disinterest (by the rich) and protracted periods of financial paucity. The character's experience matches up with O'Neill's ("Irish Minstrels and Musicians") little snippet about Goldsmith. I assumed I was getting a first hand account of the author's experiences while reading the short story. There are plenty of parallels with issues that sometimes face today's trad musicians' experiences (I'll be buskin' a bit tomorrow, in fact) giving the tale modern relevance.[from Dan cummins. thanks dan]
-Charles Mooney suggests: 1. Anthony Trollope's first novel, "The MacDemotts of
Ballycloran," gives an interesting picture of life in ruralIreland before the famine. In this novel, Trollope
describes a country wedding, complete with a blind piper and
a dance. One pof the tunes the piper plays is "Paddy
Carey," which can be found in O'Neill.
2. A second example is John Keane's novel, "The Bodhran
Makers," which describes a country feast, and the attendant
music making in more modern times in the hills of Kerry.
-Lesl Haker suggested:
The People of the Sea by David Thomson
Seal Morning by Rowena Farre
Lovely Is the Lee by Robert Gibbings
-Tom Wilsbach suggested:
For a funny chaotic novel about a lad obsessed with the pipes and particularly Liam O'Flynn's playing:
Grace Notes & Bad Thoughts
by John Kelly
Marino Books, 1997
ISBN 1860230032
-And an intriguing one suggested by Paul de Grae on another disussion was:
A book that some of ye might enjoy is "The New Policeman" by Kate Thompson,
published earlier this year by The Bodley Head, London, and I think by
Random House across the pond. It's marketed as a children's or young
adult's book but will also be enjoyed by those older folk (like me) who
have devoured the Harry Potter books and the "Dark Materials" trilogy, or
indeed by anyone with an interest in traditional music--which is why I
mention it here. It's set in that famed habitation, Kinvara, County
Galway, or rather in two Kinvaras--the regular one that we know, and the
parallel magical or fairy Kinvara. Passage back and forth between the two
is possible by a secret passage (hence all the tunes we play, which came
from the fairies!), but the opening has been sealed open by an unknown
person, presumably for a nefarious purpose, and time is leaking out of our
world--where we never have enough of it now--into the fairy world, where it
hardly existed before. An ideal situation for our 15-year-old hero, fiddle
and flute player JJ Liddy, to get stuck into.
SO if anyone has any to add I'm sure we'd all be interested. Many thanks.
# Posted on May 14th 2008 by mtodd
Re: Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
Blooming Meadows by Fintan Vallely and Charlie Piggott is an excellent book with interviews of many of trad's most important musicians. It's not in print but you can often find copies on www.abebooks.co.uk or eBay.
Humours of Planxty by Leagues O'Toole is an excellent history of the band.
In Search of the Craic by Colin Irwin is quite good and chronicles his search for the essence of the Irish session.
# Posted on May 15th 2008 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
Two that I can heartily recommend are Tommy Sands' autobiography 'The Songman' and Séamus Kennedy's 'Clean Cabbage in the Bucket and Other Tales from the Irish Music Trenches'.
# Posted on May 16th 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: Summer reading & ITM: recommended books? [sorry long post]
i'd throw in "haunted ground" and "lake of sorrows," the two wonderful mystery novels set in ireland by writer erin hart, who is also a traditional singer and additionally has for a spouse one of the most soulful itm box players around, namely, paddy "with a pulse" o'brien, county offaly now in minneapolis.
these novels feature forensic archeologists sleuths who solve mysteries in which the skullduggery (pun intended) surrounds human remains found in bogs, linked to hijinks in the present.
both novels also feature neat looks at ITM.
# Posted on May 17th 2008 by ceemonster