Sleeve
Notes
Máire Ní Chathasaigh-The New Strung Harp
1. Charles O'Conor and Father
Hanly
(a) Charles O'Conor (by Turlough O'Carolan) From John Mulholland "Collection
of Ancient Irish Aires", Belfast 1810.
The O'Conors of Belnpore in Co.Roscommon and the McDermotts Roe
of Alderford, two ancient princely families, were Carolan's chief
patrons. The O'Conors were directly descended from the last High
Kings of Ireland. Charles O'Conor, for whom this piece was composed,
was taught the harp by Carolan. He distinguished himself in later
years as a scholar and antiquarian. (b) Father Hanly (Jig) - Also
known as "The Rambler".
2. O Ho Nighean,
E Ho Nighean
Collected from Mrs. John Currie (Peigi Nill) of North Glendale
in 1932 by Margaret fay Shaw, and published by her in her definitive
volume "Folksong & Folklore of South Uist" (Routledge & Kegan
Paul, London 1955).
A song of lost love from South Uist in the Western Islands of Scotland.
The poet conveys a sense of desolation which is entirely untainted
by bitterness.
"Ach mas
e's gun d' rinn thu mi' fhagail
'S gura h-e 'm fear ur as fhearr leat,
Mo mhile beannachd gu brach leat..."
"But you have me and
prefer a new love, my thousand
blessings with you forever..."
The Gaelic dialect of South Uist may, in
the present performance, be slightly contaminated by that of West
Cork!
As well as harp I also play synthesiser here and sing lead and
harmony vocals. My sister Nollaig and Mairead add their harmony
voices and fiddle and whistle respectively.
3. Madam Maxwell (by Turlough O'Carolan)
From Edward Bunting's "The Ancient Music of Ireland",
Dublin 1840
Thought to have been composed in honour of Judith, wife to John
Maxwell-later Farnham of Farnham, Co. Cavan.
4. The Pullet and The Volunteer
The first of this pair of well known reels is to be found in Petrie,
the second is from the repertoire of Micky Doherty of Co. Donegal.
5. An Speic Seoigheach
From Edward Bunting's "A General Collection of the Ancient
Irish Music", London 1796. The meaning of the title is
uncertain: it has been tentatively translated by Donal O'Sullivan
in his authoritative edition of Bunting's work as "The
Joyces' Country Greeting". Joyces' Country stretches
out to the west of Lough Mask and Lough Corrib in Co. Galway. This
majestic tune exhibits all of the stylish features of the most
ancient stratum of Irish harp music. The associated words are of
a quality vastly inferior to that of the melody, and appear to
have added at a much later date.
6. The Bantry Girls' Lament
Published in Colm o Lochlainn's "Irish Street Ballads",
Dublin 1939. O Lochlainn found the works in H. Halliday Sparling's "Irish
Minstrelsy" and married them to a tune culled from Petrie's "Ancient
Music of Ireland". Petrie collected it in Co. Derry in
the summer of 1837. It is a variant of "The Dawning of
the Day".
Here I have overlaid an alto harmony and synthesiser to the lead
vocal and harp. Nollaig sings the tenor line and plays the fiddle
and Mairead sings soprano harmony. Our brother Greig sings bass.
7. The Gander in The Pratie Hole
and The Queen of The Rushes
Two popular piping tunes. The insistent 'D' drone which accompanies
the first of the pair is intended to suggest the drone of the Uilleann
pipes.
8. Carolan's Farewell To Music
From the Forde MSS in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. When Carolan
felt himself near to death he repaired to the house of his first
known patron and loyal friend Mrs. MacDermot Roe, at Alderford.
On being received by her at the front door, he declared:
"Thainic me annso tar eis a ndeachas brid,
chum bas d 'fhaghail is an mbaile fa dheire, mar
a bhfuaras an chead fhoghlium agus an chead ghearran".
(I have come here after all I have gone through to
die at home at last, where I got my first schooling
and my first horse).
We are told (in the Mundey-O'Reilly MS) that
"she received him with tears, and after a minute's rest
and taking a drop of the usual cordial, he called for the harp
and played "Farewell to Music". It is interesting
that Carolan, who throughout most of his life produced music which
was so greatly influenced by the Italian baroque style fashionable
at that time, should for his valedictory work leave us with a piece
which, in its peculiarly Irish style of composition, harks back
to the music of the harpers of an earlier age. I have accordingly
arranged it in as spare a manner as possible.
9. The Fisherman's Hornpipe and
The Cuckoo's Nest
Two popular hornpipes
10. The Boys Of Malin and The Old
Oak Tree
Learned from the fiddle playing of the late John Docherty of Donegal
11. Planxity Sudley
(by Turlough O' Carolan)
Published in John Mulholland's "Collection of Ancient
Irish Airs", Belfast 1810. Turlough O'Carolan composed
this tune as a dowry for his daughter Siobhan on the occasion of
her marriage to Captain Sudley a member of the 'King's Army '.
There is a veiled acidity about the associated celebratory verses
which suggests that Siobhan's motives in marrying were not of the
loftiest order. She evidently wished to assure herself of being
kept in a style to which she was not accustomed:
"S Siobhan
gheal a ' speribhean
Nar chuir speis i girnatain..."
"Fair Siobhan is the beauty
Who took no interest in hardship.."
and again:
"Is deas a chuir tu carta..."
"well did you play your card..."
Carolan's diapproval may possibly be attributed to the fact that
his future son-in law was not only a member of what Carolan would
certainly have regarded as an 'Army of Occupation', but a mere
commoner to boot. A scion of a dispossessed old Irish noble family,
however impoverished, would, without doubt, have been a more acceptable
husband for his daughter. On this track Nollaig once again plays
fiddle and I have added synthesiser.
My thanks to Grainne Yeats for letting me
loose in her library and putting a firm damper on flights of fancy,
to say nothing of her unfailing kindness, advice and encouragement;
and to Breandan Breatnach for putting his encyclopaedic knowledge
of the provenance and nomenclature of the dance music at my disposal.
Thanks also to Roisin Ni She, Allan Boyd, Sheila Murray and Chris
Newman.
Maire Ni Chathasaigh
October 1985
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