March - September 2009
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News and Comment No. 41
March - September 2009 |
The festival's theme this year is: O Glúin go Ghlúin - the handing on of the tradition through families. It will feature some of the best known singing families in Ireland: the Uí Ceallaigh’s, mother Áine and sons Iriel and Éadán from An Rinn in the Waterford Gaeltacht; Rosie Stewart, and one of her pupils Kreena Mulcrone, from Fermanagh; the Uí Ceannabháin’s, father Peadar and daughter Saileóg from the Connemara Gaeltacht; Jim and Seamus Mac Farland from Derry; and local singers the Cleary’s, mother Bridie and son Peadar.
Programme:
Further details from Anne and Jerry O'Reilly: aandjoreilly@gmail.com
29.9.09
See the Obituaries Page for an account of her life.
Paul Marsh - 27.09.09
The following are now available:
These initiatives are now continuing into their second year as core elements of ITMA’s access and outreach activities, finances permitting.
You may also be interested in another ongoing online project of the Irish Traditional Music Archive – a cooperative project with The Journal of Music (formerly The Journal of Music in Ireland) by which the online and hardcopy Journal carries every two months an extensive list compiled by ITMA staff of ‘Recent Publications in Irish Traditional Music’ (books, periodicals and articles, CDs and DVDs) and also an Archive Image from the ITMA collections - see: www.journalofmusic.com
8.9.09
The press release is here: http://www.bl.uk/news/2009/pressrelease20090904.html
And the collection site is: http://sounds.bl.uk/
Having said that, I’ve tried it a few times and it kept crashing!
[It's OK today (Saturday). You need to tick the 'Only recordings everyone can play' box, unless you're a member of an institution the BL has a relationship with, and so can log-in. Ed.]
Anyway, it’s an interesting postscript to the Enthusiasm I did a year or so ago about access to music archives in national collections.
Ray Templeton - 5.9.09
Membership £1 annually, payable on the door. Admission for members £6, concessions £3.50, non-members £7, concessions £4.
30.8.09
28.8.09
Sheila Miller - 13.8.09
Bronson back in print againCamsco Music, in conjunction with Loomis House Press, is proud to announce that, for the first time in over 30 years, Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads is now back in print. All four volumes are available from Camsco Music or Loomis House Press.
They have printing sources in both US and UK, so there are no huge overseas carriage costs. Softcover: £23.75, hardcover: £28.50 per volume. Buy them from Dick Greenhaus at Camsco Music, using PayPal - Email him at: dick@camscomusic.com
It's not ready just yet, but Dick tells me he'll send a CD-ROM of the whole set in searchable PDF format to purchasers of all 4 volumes.
8.8.09
The 17 music manuscripts from Widecombe, Devon, form the largest collection of West Gallery mss from a single parish found so far. Most are of church music, but four contain secular music. Two are fiddlers' tune books, and contain melodies only, but two contain music in score, copied out for the same band - 2 fiddles, flute, and bass - and by the same hands as some of the church music. The manuscripts were probably copied between 1850 and 1870, and have been preserved in the families of the musicians who originally played them. Band scores of this kind are rare, and this is the largest collection found in England so far.
Never on Sunday makes all this music available for the first time: 70 tunes, some familiar, others rare or unknown, as they were played by a village band some 150 years ago, in an A4 book of nearly 100 pages of music, with introduction, quotations from contemporary sources, 2 facsimiles, and notes.
Price £10, including post and packaging. [Cheques payable to Purbeck Village Quire, please]. Available from:
Rollo Woods, 39 Bay Crescent, Swanage, Dorset. BH19 1RB. Tel: 01929 - 422789. e-mail : rollowoods@f2s.com
24.7.09
Cheers
Gwilym Davies - 14.7.09
Upcoming in the future:
Further info at: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~tinvic
1.7.09
“We've been so lucky to have learned many wonderful tunes from local people over more than thirty years of playing, and felt that we wanted to share the music more widely with others”, said Margaret. “Our idea is to hold an informal afternoon workshop for anyone who plays concert pitch melody instruments so they can learn a selection of tunes related to the area, and then invite participants to stay for an evening concert where they can join us in performing at least one of the tunes we've worked on. Everyone is welcome to attend the evening concerts, both visitors and locals.”
The first concert takes place in Holy Trinity Church, Embleton at 7.30pm on Thursday 25 June - but is full booked. Further venues are:
For further details, contact Margaret or Andrew Watchorn (info@pipesandfiddle.co.uk 23.6.09
Guests include: North Cregg, Cork; Robbie MacMahon, Clare; Máire Ní Chroinín, Dublin; Maurice Leyden and Jane Cassidy, Antrim; Máire Ní Choilm, Donegal; Alison MacMorland and Geordie McIntyre, Scotland.
Further information from: Micheál Mac Raghnaill +353 879898534; Máire Ní Chroinín +353 862940652; Jerry O'Reilly +353 868161557
23.6.09
Jonathan Roper will introduce a screening of his short film The Crocodile, the Cobbler and Bob about Bob Lewis, a traditional singer from Sussex. This will be followed by an open discussion with Bob, convened by Paul Cowdell, about some of the topics of the film: learning songs, traditionality, song ownership and what exactly a 'folk song' might be (and whether that matters).
Doc Rowe will also show some additional footage, including film of some of Bob Lewis's mentors such as Bob Copper and Gordon Hall ... there will also, no doubt, be some singing. This will be followed by a reception in the Warburg Institute Common Room.
£10 [to include refreshments] concessions £8.00. For more details, contact: The Folklore Society Office on 0207 862 8564
21.6.09
The first week takes place 12 to 17 July (only a few weeks away) - this is the Traditional Music, Song & Dance Week.
Further details from: www.livingtradition.org.uk/summerschools/htmfiles/week2_000.htm
21.6.09
The EFDSS is delighted to announce that 9th June 2009 sees the launch of a dedicated website for these six manuscript collections. Access to 22,000 images of the actual documents, notebooks and letters of six major fieldworkers at the tips of your fingers, fully indexed and searchable.
The Take 6 website will be at: http://library.efdss.org/archives
3.6.09
Focus on the West Country with:
Pre-booked ticket holders only - space is limited. No admission unless pre-booked. Weekend ticket £40. To get on our mailing list contact: petawebken@aol.com or 0208 340 0530
A printable Booking Form is available here.
18.3.09
Mark Davies - 9.3.09
The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection from North-East Scotland, created in the early years of the twentieth century by Gavin Greig and James Bruce Duncan, is of national and international importance. In its published form it contains 1,933 songs, available in eight volumes arranged thematically. This selection for performers contains 150 songs from the main collection, and takes as its focus 28 of the singers from whom the songs were originally collected. All the singers lived at (or had a connection with) a range of locations in North-East Scotland, and biographical information on them has been gleaned from field research and archives. The book is designed primarily for performers: it is organized by singer, with editorial notes on each song. The selection covers a range of themes, and includes both folksongs and ballads. The book will be of interest to traditional singers, schools and universities that teach Scots song, and those interested in the culture and social history of North-East Scotland. A CD of a selection of the songs accompanies the book.
Publisher: John Donald Publishers Ltd. Paperback 224 pages. ISBN 13: 9781906566012 ISBN 10: 1906566011. Published: 31 March 2009. Price £20.
The Book Depository is offering a £5 saving on a pre-order and free delivery worldwide, see:
The following website contains the tunes (in midi files) and therefore the list of the 150 songs from Songs from North-East Scotland: A Selection for Performers from The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, edited by Katherine Campbell
Bob Blair - 7.3.09
Reg Hall was the recipient of the Graham na gCeoltóirí (musicians’s award) at the recent Gradham Cheoil awards.
Born in Kent in 1935 before moving to London in 1955, he immediately got involved with the Irish musical Diaspora there and got to know and play with some of Ireland’s finest immigrant communities such as Michael Gorman, Martin Byres, Jimmy Power, Bobby Casey, Lucy Farr and Willie Clancy.
As a historian, Reg was perfectly poised to collect and document music from over 400 musicians beginning in 1946 with the first pub sessions; something which was undertaken as a labour of love. He became a much respected member of the music scene giving musicians a platform and a voice and was the driving force behind many great recordings of the time. He also wrote sleeve notes for many of these recordings including the seminal Paddy In The Smoke in 1968 which he refers to as a “fleeting privileged glimpse at some of the best of Irish musicians of their time playing on their own semi-private world.”
Reg is currently writing a history of Irish music in London based on his doctorate thesis Irish Music and Dance in London 1890 - 1970. A Socio-Cultural History. He has donated 400 of his own original tapes to the British Sound Library and, but for Reg, much of our Irish music in London would have been left entirely undocumented. His work is of immense artistic and historical value providing a rare archive of recordings when Irish music in London was at its zenith.
5.3.09 Jerry O'Reilly - 5.3.09
The festival will run from Thursday 23 April to Sunday 26 April in Kilfenora. The main events include:
2.3.09
Frank Harte Festival 2009
The Frank Harte Festival 2009 is on September 25th - 28th at The Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin.
The Songs and the Singer
A Folklore Society Members' Evening dedicated to Traditional Song, Wednesday 8th July, 6:30-9:00pm, Warburg Institute Lecture Room, Woburn Square, London WC11HN. It's not just for FLS members, but is very much open to all.
Living Tradition Summer Schools
Living Tradition Summer Schools take place in Dundee in July and August. They comprise five separate weeks and take place in the superb West Park Mansion in the west end of Dundee. To enrol for a full week all workshops/classes/concerts cost £135.00.
Take 6 website now online
In 2007 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded £154,000 to the EFDSS for its Take 6 project. Their brief was to catalogue, conserve and digitise six of its major manuscript collections of England's folk songs - those collected by Janet Blunt, George Butterworth, Francis Collinson, George Gardiner, Anne Geddes Gilchrist, and the Hammond Brothers.
Fifth Keith Summers Festival
May 8th -10th 2009 The Musical Traditions Club presents at The King & Queen, 1 Foley Street, London W1W 6DL. Fifth Weekend Celebration in Honour of Keith Summers
Also we hope that many of our previous guests will join us again, along with Musical Traditions residents who give the club its special quality. Keith Summers co-founded the club with us in 1990. If you don't know about Keith - or want to remember him - see the Obituary.
Bradfield Traditional Music Weekend
The Sixth Bradfield Traditional Music Weekend is on the 26th, 27th & 28th June 2009. There's a formidable lineup of guests and information, too large to include here, but a flyer> and booking form are available here.
New Grieg-Duncan book
A selection of the Grieg-Duncan material aimed at peformers is being published on 31st March 2009.
A Selection for Performers from the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection (Paperback)
edited by Katherine Campbell
Reg Hall gets TG4 award
The following text and photo will appear in this coming Saturday's edition of The Irish Post.
30 years of An Góilín
An Góilín Traditional Singing Club will celebrate its 30th Anniversary on the weekend of the 15th -16th May 2009. We hope many of our 'old friends' will join us to mark the event in a suitable manner. At the moment, we plan to have the usual singing session on Friday May 15th, with a singing session on the afternoon of Saturday 16th followed by a bit of food with the 'Anniversary Singing Session' on Saturday night. All to take place in The Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Hoping to see as many of you as can make it.
6 The Orchard, Palmerstown, Dublin 20.
Tel: 0035316267589. Mob: 00353868161557
E-mail: aandjoreilly@gmail.com
Kilfenora Ceili Band Centenary
A unique event in music and social history will take place in County Clare, Ireland, from 23-26 April, when the centenary will be celebrated of the Kilfenora Ceili Band (KCB). Few musical ensembles can claim a hundred years of history - and indeed the Kilfenora has its origins in a village fife & drum band stretching back into the 1870s. Contributing to its uniqueness are its roots in a web of local families who have supplied many of its members over the century. Also unique is the KCB's feat of winning at the Fleadh Cheoil three years running on two occasions - 1954-6 and 1993-5.
Céilís with both the Kilfenora band itself and the Four Courts band, concerts, the launch of the Kilfenora's new CD Century, a guest appearance by the Tulla Ceili Band, and of course singing and instrumental sessions in the pubs throughout the weekend with many fine musicians from North Clare and beyond.
The programme of events will be viewable shortly at www.kilfenoraceiliband.com For any enquiries before then, please email to: kilfenoracelebrations@hotmail.com
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