The Jig's Up by Anne-Marie O'Farrell
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Here
is affirmation of Irishness, thus O’Carolan features
strongly, in refreshing variety, briskly paced. Such tempi
match O’Farrell’s other selections — Paddy
Fahy’s Jig and the Gander in the Pratie Hole jig sets.
Bright, effortless and cheerful playing from beginning to
end; interesting syncopations and odd notes about. Ellen
Cranitch’s flute joins in a terrific, biting Fanny
Power with jazz extrapolation, Conor Guilfoyle and Brian
Fleming give just a hint of percussion, Cormac De Barra enteres
on harp for Miss McDermot and Lady Gethin.
01 The Jig's Up
02 Fanny Power
03 Heir Conditioning & Miss Monaghan's Reel
04 She Moved Through The Fair
05 Song of the Chanter & Allistrum's March
06 The Night in Bethlehem
07 The Queen and Gander
08 The Salley Gardens
09 The Rights of Man & The King of the Fairies
10 The Coulin
11 Carolan's Draught
12 Limerick's Lamentation
13 The Laughter of Women
14 Miss McDermott & Lady Gethin
15 For Ireland I'll Not Tell Her Name
16 Carolan's Concerto
17 Watching The Wheat
Sleeve Notes
1. The Jig's Up, arr. O'Farrell -3.00
The first of these two jigs is the well known Paddy Fahy's Jig, which
I first heard from Cormac de Barra, and it's followed by one of my
own tunes, The Heather Jig, named after midwife Heather Helen, who
played no small part in the safe arrival of my daughter, Carmel, into
the world.In this second jig,I had a bit of fun using metres not normally
expected in Irish dance tunes. Brian Fleming plays a slitwood or tongue
drum, which looks rather like a salad bowl on its side with a carved
wooden lid attached. Its resonances matched those of the harp ideally,
we felt.
2. Fanny Power, arr. Cranitch/O'Farrell -3.59
A familiar tune by Carolan(1670-1738) is given really unusual harmonies
here, thanks to the musical imagination of Ellen Cranitch who joins
me on this track. The use of a pedal harp made it possible to do justice
to the chords she chose. The melody itself is from the Bunting collection
and was written in honour of the daughter of David and Elizabeth Power,
patrons of Carolan from Loughrea, Co.Galway.
3. Heir Conditioning & Miss Monaghan's
Rel, arr.O'Farrell - 3.42
Two slow reels, the first of which is original and composed in honour
of my daughter, are played on the Irish harp accompanied by Conor Guilfoyle
on jazz drum kit. Here I set out to bring the traditional style of playing
dance music into a new context, with the help of a few bluesy notes,
which are done by some unorthodox use of the semitone levers on the Irish
harp.
4. She Moved Through the Fair, arr.O'Farrell
-3.52
Boy loves girl, girl leaves boy, and makes a dramatic reappearance as
an apparition in the final verse. Padric Colum's text to this well-known
ballad is based on the traditional song, Our Wedding Day.
5. Song of the Chanter & Allistrum's
March, arr.O'Farrell/de Barra - 3.30
Cormac de Barra joins me on a second harp for some marches, both of which
were originally pipe tunes from the Bunting collection. Allistrum's March
was composed in 1647 for the Scottish highlander, Alasdair MacAllistrum,
who fought the English alongside the Irish at the Battle of Knockinoss.
He was defeated and this lovely march was played by a band of pipers
at his funeral.
6. The Night in Bethlehem/Don Oiche ud i mBeithil,
arr.O'Farrell -3.30
This is a solo instrumental setting of an Irish Christmas carol which
describes the Nativity scene at Bethlehem.
7. The Queen and Gander, arr O'Farrell -2.49
The Queen of the Rushes and The Gander in the Pratie Hole are the full
titles for these two jigs, which are accompanied by Brian on bodhran.
Although now popular in harp repertoire, they were originally played
on the uilleann pipes. I've departed from the traditional practice
of echoing the drone sound of the pipes, or double stopping on the
fiddle, by highlighting the modal quality of the first jig and simply
the melodic range of the second.
8. The Salley Gardens, arr.O'Farrell -2.33
The text(c Michael Yeats) of this famous love song is by W.B.Yeats, and
the melody appears in an 1877 publication of part of Petrie's collection
as The Maids of Mourne Shore.
9. The Rights of Man & King of the Fairies/Ri
na Sioga, arr O'Farrell -3.55
These hornpipes are played on the flute and harp where Ellen and I enjoyed
the possibilities created by two different keys being suggested at the
same time.
10. The Coulin, arr O'Farrell - 3.54
This beautiful air has been said by some to date as far back as 1295,
when Edward I passed a law forbidding the Irish to wear long locks
or coulins. The word in Irish, cuilfhoinn, came to mean a fair-haired
youth who wore such locks. The melody was first published in 1786 in
Joseph Walker's Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards.
11. Carolan's Draught, arr O'Farrell 2.10
Carolan is up to his usual delightful exploits with a fusion of baroque
and Irish traits in this lovely melody in two parts. It's perhaps one
of the more classically oriented tunes in his work.
12. Limerick's Lamentation/Caoineadh Luimni, arr.O'Farrell-3.26
This tune is from the Bunting collection and was first published in Neale's
A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes in 1726. It laments
the enforced exile of thousands of Irishmen after the Treaty of Limerick
was broken in 1691. I kept this setting quite stark, as I think it's
one of those slow airs which stands alone without unnecessary embellishment.
13. The Laughter of Women/Gaire na mBan,
arr.O'Farrell - 1.18
A slip jig rhythm gives this song its lilt- it describes the wildness
of revelry at a ceili once it gets going properly.
14. Miss McDermott & Lady Gethin,arr.
O'Farrell - 3.41
Cormac joins me for two of Carolan's most elegant airs which commemorate
his loyal patrons after whome they are named. Miss McDermott-also known
as The Princess Royal- is one of the more traditional sounding tunes
Carolan has written.
15. For Ireland I'll Not Tell Her Name/Ar Eireann
Ni nEosfainn Ce hI, arr, O'Farrell - 2.41
This is one of my favourite slow airs and actually first appeared in
print outside Ireland in the Orpheus Caledonian Collection in 1733 under
the title Tweedside. It became absorbed into the Irish song tradition
and was set to words as an aisling or vision poem in the 18 th century.
16. Carolan's Concerto, arr.O'Farrell -
1.25
Every harpist's anthem, this concerto is said to have been composed in
response to a wager between Carolan and the Italian composer Gemimiani
to find out who could improvise the better concerto. It shows Carolan
paying tribute once more to the fashionable baroque style of the time;
he also called the tune Mrs.Power in honour of one of his many patrons.
This track was recorded live at the Peppercanister Church in Dublin.
17. Watching the Wheat/Bugeilio 'r Gwenith
Gwyn, John Thomas (1826-1913) - 3.34
John Thomas's arrangement of this Welsh love song was originally written
for the pedal harp, but I transcribed it for Irish harp to defy anyone
who thinks it's not possible to perform it on the small harp. Playing
this without the luxury of pedals involves transposing it to a higher
key, using a 36-string (Camac) harp, and 69 lever changes, several of
which are double changes in opposing directions. I had fun.
Credits
Anne-Marie O'Farrell - Harp
Ellen Cranitch - Flute
Conor Guilfoyle - Drums
Brian Fleming - Bodhran and tongue drum
Anne-Marie plays all tracks on a Camac Excalibur, except track 2 which is performed on a Salvi Diana. Cormac plays on an Aoyama Irish Harp (130B). The cover illustration is from an original oil painting by Sorcha Rooney.
All tracksrecorded in September 1997 at The Works,
Dublin,except track 5&14 which were recorded at Westland Studios,
Dublin in January 1996, and track 16 which was recorded at the Peppercanister
Church, Dublin in February,1992.
Tracks 5&14 are also released on the album, 'Le Peuple Magique-Francoise
Cornwell'Escalibur Records, CD860.
Producer: Anne-Marie O'Farrell
Sound engineer: Paul Ashe-Browne
Audio post production: Bobby Broughton, Dublin and Robyn Robins, Mid-Atlantic
Digital, Enniskillen
Cover illustration :Sorcha Rooney, London
Inlay photo: Joanne O'Brien, London
Liner notes: Anne-Marie O'Farrell
Design: C&A Print services, Dublin
For their very special kindness and generosity I thank:
Paul Ashe-Browne, Victor Salvi, Sorcha Rooney, the Irish Traditional Music Archive, Mercedes Garvey(DIT College of Music), Cormac de Barra, Francoise Cornwell of Coop Braizh, Robert and Patricia O'Farrell, Carmel Heaney and my dearest R.P.C.
Total playing time 53.37
Contact:28 Grange Manor Drive,Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
Tel/Fax :353 1 493 1873
e-mail : amofharp@iol.ie
| Instruments: | Harp with Flute, Drums, Bodhran and tongue drum |
| Genre: | Traditional Irish |
| Format: | CD |
| Our Ref: | A0230 |
| MCPS: | CD1903 |
| Label: | Anne-Marie O'Farrell |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Origin: | Ireland |