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Music Of Dreams

Noel Hill And Tony MacMahon With Iarla O Lionaird

Submitted on May 30th 2005 by coyotebanjo.

  1. The Maids Of Castlebar
    The Collier's
  2. Lilies In The Field
    The Limerick Lassies
  3. A Stor Mo Chroi
  4. The Spike Island Lassies
  5. Gol Na MBan San Ar
    Cnocan An Teampaill
  6. The Hearty Bucks Of Oranmore
  7. Bean Dubh An Ghleanna
  8. Tom Keane's
  9. Whelan's
    Port Whelan
  10. The Rainy Day
    The Merry Blacksmith
    The Silver Spear
  11. The Lark In The Morning
    Cooley's
  12. The Bag Of Potatoes
    The Bird On The Tree
  13. The Fair Haired Boy
    The High
  14. Aisling Gheal

Shop for "Music Of Dreams" by Noel Hill And Tony MacMahon With Iarla O Lionaird

Details Comments

Submitter's Comments

Another powerhouse duet recording of Noel Hill (concertina) and Tony MacMahon (C#/D accordion), live in Dublin in 1993. They're joined by sean-nos singer Iarla O Lionaird (later of Afro-Celtic Sound System), who is accompanied for the songs by John Gibson, playing piano arrangements made by Peadar O Riada. But the bulk of the disc is the fantastic unaccompanied duets by Hill and MacMahon, very much in the spirit of the titanic "In Knocknagree" (also in this archive), joined again by a good group of set dancers; the playing on this disc may be even stronger.

Absolutely essential.

# Posted on May 30th 2005 by coyotebanjo

Further to the above: one slightly frustrating aspect of this disc (like the earlier Knocknagree, and in fact almost all of MacMahon's recordings) is that it's played on Cooley's old Paoli box, actually pitched D/D# but using C#/D fingerings. This means the tunes all come out 1/2 step high (e.g., a la Frankie Gavin) and that can impede playing along on a fixed-pitched instrument.

In fact, the Noel tracks are TWO 1/2 steps high.

However, the playing is so good that it's worth using one of the various methods for re-recording and lowering the pitch.

# Posted on May 30th 2005 by coyotebanjo

The "Whelan's Jig" cited is actually a slip-jig, more commonly known as "Na Ceannabhain Bhan" ("The Little Fair Canavans").

# Posted on May 30th 2005 by coyotebanjo

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