89-1013: Planxty were an Irish folk music band formed in January 1972, consisting initially of Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán ), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola , bouzouki , hurdy-gurdy , harmonica), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitars, bodhrán, keyboards), and Liam O'Flynn ( uilleann pipes , tin whistle). They transformed and popularized Irish folk music , touring and recording to great acclaim. Subsequently, Johnny Moynihan , Paul Brady , Matt Molloy (flute), Bill Whelan (keyboards), Nollaig Casey ( fiddle ) and briefly, Noel Hill ( concertina ) and Tony Linnane (fiddle) were also temporary members. Planxty broke up twice, first in December 1975 and again in April 1983. The original quartet reunited in October 2003 and their final performance
178-425: A barrel made of seamless tubing fitted into a plastic or wooden mouthpiece . Skilled craftspeople make fine custom whistles from a range of materials including not only aluminium, brass, and steel tubing but synthetic materials and tropical hardwoods; despite this, more than a few longtime professionals stick with ordinary factory made whistles. Irish schoolchildren are generally taught the rudiments of playing on
267-433: A complex instrument. Tradition holds that seven years learning, seven years practising and seven years playing is required before a piper could be said to have mastered his instrument. The uilleann pipes developed around the beginning of the 18th century, the history of which is depicted in carvings and pictures from contemporary sources in both Britain and Ireland as pastoral and union pipes. Its modern form had arrived by
356-421: A cousin of the simple-system flute, is also popular. It was mass-produced in 19th century Manchester England, as an inexpensive instrument. Clarke whistles almost identical to the first ones made by that company are still available, although the original version, pitched in C, has mostly been replaced for traditional music by that pitched in D, the "basic key" of traditional music. The other common design consists of
445-690: A fiddle, and the girls footing until they foam up'. suggesting the modern fiddle was already present in Ireland. Reference to the Irish fiddle can also be found in John Dunton's Teague Land: or A Merry Ramble to the Wild Irish (1698) he says "on Sundays and Holydays, all the people resorted with the piper and fiddler to the village green" Thomas Dineley visited Ireland in 1680 he says in regards to music "with piper, harper, or fidler, revell and dance
534-517: A four-piece throughout this period, with Moore occasionally playing keyboards. Since then there has been no further activity; Moore has said he would not participate in another reunion, but gave his blessing to the others for the future use of the Planxty name. Leagues O'Toole documented the history and development of the group in the biography The Humours of Planxty , which was published by Hodder Headline in 2006. Friday, 20 January 2012 ushered in
623-474: A foursome in the privacy of Moore's house at least once—rumours of putative reunions circulated for over two decades. In late 2002, broadcaster and journalist Leagues O'Toole was working as presenter and researcher for the RTÉ television show No Disco and persuaded the programme editor, Rory Cobbe, to develop a one-off documentary about Planxty. O'Toole interviewed Moore, Irvine, and O'Flynn but Lunny, who
712-676: A full orchestra and rhythm section, also recorded "Timedance" in 1981 as part of the Eurovision Song Contest ; "Timedance" was the genesis for what Whelan later developed into Riverdance . The six-piece Planxty continued to tour but began to drift apart. O’Flynn took on a project with Shaun Davey , The Brendan Voyage . Moore & Lunny, eager to experiment with a rhythm section and a different, more political, song set, formed Moving Hearts . Lunny also kept busy producing albums by other artists. The original four-piece line-up played their last show together on 24 August 1982, at
801-498: A member of The Bothy Band with Lunny and was also a close friend of O'Flynn's. Beginning rehearsals at Molloy's home on Tuesday, 19 September 1978, the line-up went on a mammoth European tour the following year, from 15 April to 11 June 1979, during which the band played forty-seven concerts in fifty-eight days, in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Ireland. From 18 to 30 June 1979, Planxty recorded their fourth album, After
890-641: A member of The Bothy Band . Johnny Moynihan , who had played with Irvine in Sweeney's Men , joined at this point, playing mandolin, bouzouki, fiddle, tin whistle and singing. This line-up, with contributions from Lunny, would record Planxty's third album, Cold Blow and the Rainy Night in Sarm Studios , Whitechapel in London during August 1974. Next to leave, shortly after the making of this album,
979-584: A number of Irish sources. Irish traditional music and dance has seen a variety of settings, from house parties, country dances, ceili dances , stage performances and competitions, weddings, saint's days or other observances. The most common setting for Irish dance music is the seisiún , which very often features no dancing at all. Traditional dance music includes reels ( 2 or 4 ), hornpipes ( 4 with swung eighth notes), and jigs (double and single jigs are in 8 time). Jigs come in various other forms for dancing –
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#17328008021461068-462: A one-off concert there in front of 200 people on 11 October 2003. Moore, on stage, credited the No Disco documentary with inspiring the reunion. Pleased with the results and the experience of playing together again, the original Planxty quartet agreed to the longed-for reunion (dubbed "The Third Coming") and performed together again, on and off, for a period of just over a year. First, they played
1157-601: A plethora of traditional instruments. Irvine would later dub this line-up "Planxty-Too-Far", as the personnel and musical focus, now more dominated by Whelan, was far removed from the original Planxty. A tour of Ireland in spring of 1983, including the National Stadium in Dublin on 27 April, was the end of the group. In the words of Andy Irvine: I left on a long tour and travelled to the Balkans two days later and
1246-503: A plucked or strummed string instrument has been subsumed by guitar , mandolin , and Irish bouzouki , etc., in ensemble performance. The accordion plays a major part in modern Irish music. The accordion spread to Ireland late in the 19th century. In its ten-key form ( melodeon ), it is claimed that it was popular across the island. It was recorded in the US by John Kimmel , The Flanagan Brothers, Eddie Herborn and Peter Conlon . While uncommon,
1335-570: A reel with the occasional scots snap . Polkas are a type of 4 tune mostly found in the Sliabh Luachra area, at the border of Counties Cork and Kerry , in the south of Ireland. Another distinctive Munster rhythm is the Slide in 8 time. The concept of "style" is of large importance to Irish traditional musicians. At the start of the 19th century, distinct variation in regional styles of performance existed. With
1424-545: A result of cultural diffusion . By the 1970s Irish traditional music was again influencing music in the US and further afield in Australia and Europe. It has occasionally been fused with rock and roll , punk rock and other genres. Irish dance music is isometric and is built around patterns of bar-long melodic phrases akin to call and response . A common pattern is A Phrase, B Phrase, A Phrase, Partial Resolution, A Phrase, B Phrase, A Phrase, Final Resolution, though this
1513-646: A series of concerts at the Glór Theatre in Ennis , County Clare (on 23 & 24 January 2004) and at Vicar Street in Dublin (on 30 & 31 January and on 4 & 5, 11 & 12 February 2004), which were recorded and from which selected material was released on the CD Live 2004 and its associated DVD. In late 2004 and early 2005, another round of concerts took place at the following venues: Planxty remained
1602-911: A small area between Counties Kerry and Cork , is known for Julia Clifford , her brother Denis Murphy , Sean McGuire , Paddy Cronin and Padraig O'Keeffe . Contemporary fiddlers from Sliabh Luachra include Matt Cranitch and Connie O'Connell. Modern performers include Kevin Burke , Máire Breatnach , Matt Cranitch , Paddy Cronin , Frankie Gavin , Paddy Glackin , Cathal Hayden , Martin Hayes , Peter Horan , Sean Keane , Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh , Máiréad Nesbitt , Gerry O'Connor , Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh , Dónal O'Connor and Paul O'Shaughnessy . There have been many notable fiddlers from United States in recent years such as Winifred Horan , Brian Conway , Liz Carroll , and Eileen Ivers . The flute has been an integral part of Irish traditional music since roughly
1691-452: A solo album ( Welcome Here Kind Stranger ) including Irvine, Tommy Peoples and Lunny who also produced it. The original four members of Planxty, however, continued to encounter each other socially, on the stage, and in the studio. It eventually led to a reunion encouraged by music promoter Kevin Flynn, who would become their manager. They were joined this time by Matt Molloy , who had been
1780-434: A subsequent live album. Paul Brady performed on the latter, making it a Planxty reunion of sorts. LAPD performed only occasionally, to rave reviews, but never recorded before their final performance, which took place at Sligo Live, on Saturday 26 October 2013. When O'Flynn resigned from LAPD, Irvine, Lunny and Glackin were joined by Michael McGoldrick and John Doyle to form a new group named Usher's Island (a reference to
1869-473: A young Cork fiddler, Nollaig Casey . Shows around this time would feature the four-piece band for the first set, with Whelan and Casey joining in for the second set. This line-up played a week of shows at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin on 18–23 August 1980, taped for a potential live album, which eventually emerged in 1987 as the unlicensed release The Best of Planxty Live . The line-up, augmented by
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#17328008021461958-461: Is Irish for a lament , a song which is typified by lyrics which stress sorrow and pain. The word is Anglicised as "keening". Traditionally, the Caoineadh song contained lyrics in which the singer lamented for Ireland after having been forced to emigrate due to political or financial reasons. The song may also lament the death of a family member or the lack of news from loved ones. In Irish music,
2047-576: Is characterised by fast, energetic bowing, with the bow generating the majority of the ornamentation; Clare fiddle playing is characterised by slower bowing, with the fingering generating most of the ornamentation. While bowed triplets (three individual notes with the bow reversed between each) are more common in Donegal, fingered triplets and fingered rolls (five individual notes fingered with a single bow stroke) are very common in Clare. Stage performers from
2136-518: Is not universal; mazurkas, for example, tend to feature a C Phrase instead of a repeated A Phrase before the Partial and Final Resolutions, for example. Many tunes have pickup notes which lead in to the beginning of the A or B parts. Mazurkas and hornpipes have a swing feel , while other tunes have straight feels. Tunes are typically binary in form , divided into two (or sometimes more) parts, each with four to eight bars. The parts are referred to as
2225-403: Is preferred in the folk tradition, bands or at least small ensembles have probably been a part of Irish music since at least the mid-19th century, although this is a point of much contention among ethnomusicologists. Irish traditional music has endured more strongly against the forces of cinema, radio and the mass media than the indigenous folk music of most countries in the west of Europe. From
2314-489: Is that it is derived from the Latin planctus , a medieval lament composed in honour of a deceased person or a tragic event. Regardless of its origin, the moniker, which replaced the provisional "CLAD" (Christy – Liam – Andy – Dónal), turned out to be a good fit, as O'Carolan's music would play an important part in the band's repertoire. (see " Influences ", below). A formative influence on Planxty, and in particular on Moore,
2403-476: Is the largest event of its kind in the world. The term Edinburgh Festival is commonly used, but there is no single festival; the various festivals are put on by separate, unrelated organisations. However they are widely regarded as part of the same event, particularly the various festivals that take place simultaneously in August each year. The term Edinburgh Festival is often used to refer more specifically to
2492-647: The Belfast Harp Festival in 1792) in which the tunes were most often modified to make them fit for the drawing room pianofortes of the Anglicised middle and upper classes. The first generations of 20th century revivalists, mostly playing the gut-strung (frequently replaced with nylon after the Second World War) neo-Celtic harp with the pads of their fingers rather than the old brass-strung harp plucked with long fingernails, tended to take
2581-460: The Dublin quay ). "Planxty" was a word used by people who named works by harper Turlough O'Carolan after his death, and is believed to denote a tribute to a particular person: "Planxty Irwin," for example, would be in honour of Colonel John Irwin of Sligo . "Planxty" is thought to be a corruption of the Irish word and popular toast " sláinte ", meaning "good health." Another possible explanation
2670-706: The National Stadium in Dublin. Nevertheless, the band (with Whelan and Casey still on board) recorded one final album at Windmill Lane Studios for the WEA label in late October and early November 1982, Words & Music , which also featured contributions from fiddler James Kelly and Moving Hearts bass guitarist Eoghan O’Neill. The divided attention of two bands proved too much and in early 1983, Lunny and Moore left to concentrate on Moving Hearts. Irvine, O’Flynn, and Whelan decided to continue as Planxty, retaining fiddler James Kelly and recruiting Arty McGlynn of County Tyrone on guitar, plus Galway ’s Dolores Keane on vocals and
2759-680: The Scottish smallpipes , Pastoral pipes (which also plays with regulators), the Northumbrian pipes of northern England, and the Border pipes found in both parts of the Anglo-Scottish Border country. The uilleann pipes play a prominent part in a form of instrumental music called Fonn Mall, closely related to unaccompanied singing an sean nós ("in the old style"). Willie Clancy , Leo Rowsome , and Garret Barry were among
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2848-423: The cnámha ( bones ). There is also evidence of the fiddle being used in the 8th century. There are several collections of Irish folk music from the 18th century, but it was not until the 19th century that ballad printers became established in Dublin. Important collectors include Colm Ó Lochlainn , George Petrie , Edward Bunting , Francis O'Neill , James Goodman and many others. Though solo performance
2937-448: The cruit (a small rubbed strings harp) and cláirseach (a bigger harp with typically 30 strings), the tiompán (a small string instrument played with a bow or plectrum ), the feadán (a fife ), the buinne (an oboe or flute ), the guthbuinne (a bassoon -type horn ), the beannbhuabhal and corn ( hornpipes ), the cuislenna ( bagpipes – see Great Irish warpipes ), the stoc and storgán ( clarions or trumpets), and
3026-532: The slip jig and hop jig are commonly written in 8 time. Later additions to the repertoire include the waltz ( 4 with a heavy accent on the down beat ) and, in County Donegal , mazurkas in the same time signature, though with an accent on the 2nd beat. Donegal is also notable for its "highland", a sort of Irish version of the Scottish strathspey , but with a feel closer to
3115-552: The 1970s and 1980s (groups such as The Bothy Band , or soloists such as Kevin Burke ) have used the repertoire of traditional music to create their own groups of tunes, without regard to the conventional 'sets' or the constraint of playing for dancers. Burke's playing is an example of an individual, unique, distinctive style, a hybrid of his classical training, the traditional Sligo fiddle style and various other influences. The most common instruments used in Irish traditional dance music, whose history goes back several hundred years, are
3204-667: The A part of onto the B part. Many airs have an AABA form . While airs are usually played singly, dance tunes are usually played in medleys of 2-4 tunes called sets . Irish music generally is modal , using Ionian , Aeolian , Dorian , and Mixolydian modes, as well as hexatonic and pentatonic versions of those scales. Some tunes do feature accidentals . Singers and instrumentalists often embellish melodies through ornamentation , using grace notes , rolls, cuts, crans, or slides . While uilleann pipes may use their drones and regulators to provide harmonic backup, and fiddlers often use double stops in their playing, due to
3293-460: The A-part, B-part, and so on. Each part is played twice, and the entire tune is played three times; AABB, AABB, AABB. Many tunes have similar ending phrases for both A and B parts; it is common for hornpipes to have the second half of each part be identical. Additionally, hornpipes often have three quavers or quarternotes at the end of each part, followed by pickup notes to lead back to the beginning of
3382-734: The B-side of their very first single), played by O'Flynn on the pipes. Much of this music first came to the attention of the band through the work of seminal Irish composer Seán Ó Riada and his group Ceoltóirí Chualann . Irish folk music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad , Irish folk music , and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland . In A History of Irish Music (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland , there were at least ten instruments in general use. These were
3471-863: The Break , at the Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin; it was produced by Lunny and released on the Tara Records label. Molloy left the group to join The Chieftains shortly after the album was recorded; he remains with them to this day. In between the Planxty activity, Irvine squeezed in tours in Europe with Lunny, Mick Hanly and Gerry O'Beirne. He also recorded his first solo album, Rainy Sundays... Windy Dreams , at Windmill Lane Studios in late 1979, produced by Lunny and released on Tara Records in 1980. On 28 February 1980, Planxty headlined
3560-464: The Caoineadh tradition was once widespread, but began to decline from the 18th century onwards and becoming almost completely extinct by the middle of the 20th century. Examples of Caoineadh songs include: Far Away in Australia , The Town I Loved So Well , Going Back to Donegal and Four Green Fields . Caoineadh singers were originally paid to lament for the departed at funerals, according to
3649-466: The Fureys and Dorans and Keenans, are famous for the pipers among them. Uilleann pipes are among the most complex forms of bagpipes ; they possess a chanter with a double reed and a two-octave range, three single-reed drones, and, in the complete version known as a full set, a trio of ( regulators ) all with double reeds and keys worked by the piper's forearm, capable of providing harmonic support for
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3738-802: The Sense of Ireland concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. When they returned to Ireland, they recorded two programmes for RTÉ at the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire , then started rehearsals at Kilkea Castle in Castledermot , County Kildare with two musicians from County Clare : concertina player Noel Hill and fiddler Tony Linnane. The six-member lineup of Moore, Irvine, Lunny, O’Flynn, Hill, and Linnane were joined by Molloy and keyboardist Bill Whelan , to record
3827-662: The Valley , recorded at the Escape Studios in Kent , from 18 June 1973. The group's increasing popularity led to heavy touring throughout Ireland, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and northern Europe. Tired of constant touring and wishing to explore other musical avenues, Lunny left Planxty at the start of September 1973, playing his last gig with the band at the Edinburgh Festival . He would eventually end up
3916-401: The audience nor the band knew what to expect, and both were pleasantly surprised. Irvine, unable to see the audience through the glare of the stage lights, was worried that the crowd might be on the verge of rioting. It took him several minutes to realize that what he was hearing was the expression of their enthusiasm. A rough quality recording of the song " Raggle Taggle Gypsy " from this concert
4005-452: The band's fifth album, The Woman I Loved So Well , at Windmill Lane Studios for two sessions: 23–29 April and 16–19 May. The album was wrapped up with a reception at Windmill Lane Studios on 9 June 1980. The band began touring as a four-piece during the summer of 1980, playing a tour of Italian castles in July and returning to The Boys of Ballisodare Festival on 9 August, joined by Whelan and
4094-542: The break-up, Moynihan retreated into obscurity, continuing to perform occasionally, but rarely recording. Irvine and Brady toured together as a duo and, in August 1976 recorded an album at the Rockfield Studios , Andy Irvine/Paul Brady , produced by Lunny who also plays on most tracks, and with Kevin Burke on fiddle. For a while, Irvine continued to tour with Brady in Ireland and in the UK, and also with Mick Hanly, predominantly in Europe. In 1978, Brady released
4183-417: The countryside to the town. Unaccompanied vocals are called sean nós ("in the old style") and are considered the ultimate expression of traditional singing. This is usually performed solo (very occasionally as a duet). Sean-nós singing is highly ornamented and the voice is placed towards the top of the range. A true sean-nós singer, such as Tom Lenihan , will vary the melody of every verse, but not to
4272-437: The dance tunes and song airs of Irish traditional music, along with such old harp tunes as they could find, and applied to them techniques derived from the orchestral (pedal) harp and an approach to rhythm, arrangement, and tempo that often had more in common with mainstream classical music than with either the old harping tradition or the living tradition of Irish music. A separate Belfast tradition of harp-accompanied folk-singing
4361-704: The end of the 18th century, and was played by gentlemen pipers such as the mid-18th century piper Jackson from Limerick and the Tandragee pipemaker William Kennedy, the Anglican clergyman Canon James Goodman (1828–1896) and his friend John Hingston from Skibbereen . These were followed in the 20th century by the likes of Séamus Ennis , Leo Rowsome and Willie Clancy , playing refined and ornate pieces, as well as showy, ornamented forms played by travelling pipers like John Cash and Johnny Doran . The uilleann piping tradition had nearly died before being re-popularized by
4450-685: The end of the Second World War until the late fifties folk music was held in low regard. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (an Irish traditional music association) and the popularity of the Fleadh Cheoil (music festival) helped lead the revival of the music. Following the success of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem in the US in 1959, Irish folk music became fashionable again. The lush sentimental style of singers such as Delia Murphy
4539-449: The fiddle, tin whistle, flute and Uilleann pipes . Instruments such as button accordion and concertina made their appearances in Irish traditional music late in the 19th century. The 4-string tenor banjo , first used by Irish musicians in the US in the 1920s, is now fully accepted. The guitar was used as far back as the 1930s first appearing on some of the recordings of Michael Coleman and his contemporaries. The bouzouki only entered
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#17328008021464628-519: The following Saturday, 22 January 1972, and played their first show on 6 March 1972, a 30-minute set at The Mugs Gig on a bill that included balladeer Paddy Reilly . They then assumed a weekly residency at The Mugs Gig, began rehearsing, and started playing live around Ireland . The group's first major performance–opening for Donovan at the Hangar in Galway , at Easter 1972–was a huge success. Neither
4717-506: The importance placed on the melody in Irish music, harmony is typically kept simple or absent. Usually, instruments are played in strict unison , always following the leading player. True counterpoint is mostly unknown to traditional music, although a form of improvised " countermelody " is often used in the accompaniments of bouzouki and guitar players. In contrast to many kinds of western folk music, there are no set chord progressions to tunes; many accompanists use power chords to let
4806-520: The inaugural gig at Dublin's Vicar Street , of a quartet including three members of the original Planxty. They called themselves 'LAPD', after the initials of their first names: Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, Paddy Glackin , and Dónal Lunny. They played a set combining tunes and songs from the repertoires of: In June of 2012, at a pair of concerts to mark Andy Irvine's 70th birthday , LAPD performed two songs that had been Planxty standards, "The West Coast of Clare" and "The Blacksmith", which were included on
4895-475: The language used. Modern Irish songs are written in English and Irish . Most of the oldest songs and tunes are rural in origin and come from the older Irish language tradition. Modern songs and tunes often come from cities and towns, Irish songs went from the Irish language to the English language. In the late 1900s Frank Harte composed more ribald songs for the urban pub scene; the genre moved effortlessly from
4984-592: The late 18th century, and was revived by the McPeake Family of Belfast, Derek Bell , Mary O'Hara and others in the mid-20th century. Although often encountered, it plays a fringe role in Irish Traditional dance music. The piano is commonly used for accompaniment. In the early 20th century piano accompaniment was prevalent on the 78rpm records featuring Michael Coleman, James Morrison, John McKenna, PJ Conlon and many more. On many of these recordings
5073-484: The likes of Paddy Moloney (of the Chieftains ), and the formation of Na Píobairí Uilleann , an organisation open to pipers that included such players as Rowsome and Ennis, as well as researcher and collector Breandán Breathnach . Liam O'Flynn is one of the most popular of modern performers along with Paddy Keenan , Davy Spillane , Jerry O'Sullivan , and Mick O'Brien . Many Pavee (Traveller) families, such as
5162-467: The many pipers famous in their day; Paddy Keenan and Davy Spillane play these traditional airs today, among many others. The harp is among the chief symbols of Ireland. The Celtic harp, seen on Irish coinage and used in Guinness advertising, was played as long ago as the 10th century. In ancient times, the harpers were greatly respected and, along with poets and scribes, assigned a high place amongst
5251-706: The melodeon is still played in some parts of Ireland, in particular in Connemara by Johnny Connolly . Edinburgh Festival This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh , Scotland . The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which runs alongside it. The latter
5340-450: The melody define the tonality or use partial chords in combination with ringing drone strings to emphasize the tonal center . Many guitarists use DADGAD tuning because it offers flexibility in using these approaches, as does the GDAD tuning for bouzouki. Like all traditional music , Irish folk music has changed slowly. Most folk songs are less than 200 years old. One measure of its age is
5429-436: The melody. (Virtually all uilleann pipers begin playing with a half set, lacking the regulators and consisting of only bellows, bag, chanter, and drones. Some choose never to play the full set, and many make little use of the regulators.) The bag is filled with air by a bellows held between the piper's elbow and side, rather than by the performer's lungs as in the highland pipes and almost all other forms of bagpipe, aside from
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#17328008021465518-501: The metal was initially driven by the fact that, being "outdated" castoffs, the old flutes were available cheaply second-hand, the wooden instrument has a distinct sound and continues to be commonly preferred by traditional musicians to this day. A number of players— Joanie Madden being perhaps the best known—use the Western concert flute , but many others find that the simple system flute best suits traditional fluting. Original flutes from
5607-611: The middle of the 19th century, when art musicians largely abandoned the wooden simple-system flute (having a conical bore, and fewer keys) for the metal Boehm system flutes of present-day classical music. Factory-made whistles started to be manufactured in Manchester in 1840, and the Feadóg Irish tin whistle was the most popular mass-produced model in Ireland. Although the choice of the Albert-system, wooden flute over
5696-508: The modern harp include Derek Bell (of the Chieftains ), Laoise Kelly (of the Bumblebees), Gráinne Hambly , Máire Ní Chathasaigh , Mary O'Hara , Antoinette McKenna , Áine Minogue , and Patrick Ball . However, the harp continues to occupy a niche in Irish traditional music, mainly for solo instrumental performance, or as the only accompaniment for an individual singer. Its melodic foreground role and background accompaniment role as
5785-523: The most significant retainers of the old Gaelic order of lords and chieftains. Perhaps the best known representative of this tradition of harping today is Turlough Ó Carolan , a blind 18th century harper who is often considered the unofficial national composer of Ireland. Thomas Connellan , a slightly earlier County Sligo harper, composed such well known airs as " The Dawning of the Day " / "Raglan Road" and "Carolan's Dream" . The native Irish harping tradition
5874-472: The night throughout" There's a 17th century reference to children in Cork being taught the Irish fiddle When the fiddle was being mass-produced in Ireland, as opposed to more local makers, starting in Dublin, with the likes of Thomas Perry (luthier) , Thomas Molineux (luthier) and John Neal they heavily based their craft on the English violin makers and most were imported into Dublin from England An instrument
5963-645: The other three guys. Definitely the time is right. Let's go for it". On Tuesday, 7 October 2003, O'Toole received a postcard from Moore reading: "There might be something of interest happening on Saturday. I'll be in touch". It turned out that Paddy Doherty, owner of the Royal Spa Hotel in Lisdoonvarna (and co-founder of the Lisdoonvarna Festival), had arranged for the band's use of the hotel's old dining room for rehearsals, which led to
6052-423: The piano accompaniment was woeful because the backers were unfamiliar with Irish music. However, Morrison avoided using the studio piano players and hand-picked his own. The vamping style used by these piano backers has largely remained. There has been a few recent innovators such as Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Brian McGrath, Liam Bradley, Josephine Keegan, Ryan Molloy and others. One of the most important instruments in
6141-478: The point of interfering with the words, which are considered to have as much importance as the melody. Sean-nós can include non-lexical vocables , called lilting , also referred to by the sounds, such as "diddly die-dely". Non- sean-nós traditional singing, even when accompaniment is used, uses patterns of ornamentation and melodic freedom derived from sean-nós singing , and, generally, a similar voice placement. Caoineadh ( Irish: [kˠiːnʲə(w)] )
6230-598: The popularity of American-based performers like Michael Coleman , James Morrison and Paddy Killoran . These fiddlers did much to popularise Irish music in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Other Sligo fiddlers included Martin Wynne and Fred Finn . Notable fiddlers from Clare include Mary Custy , Paddy Canny , Patrick Kelly , Peadar O'Loughlin , and Martin Hayes . Donegal has produced James Byrne , John Doherty , and Tommy Peoples . Sliabh Luachra,
6319-431: The pre-Boehm era continue in use, but since the 1960s a number of craftspeople have revived the art of wooden flute making. Some flutes are even made of PVC ; these are especially popular with new learners and as travelling instruments, being both less expensive than wooden instruments and far more resistant to changes in humidity. The tin whistle or metal whistle, which with its nearly identical fingering might be called
6408-443: The release of American recordings of Irish traditional musicians (e.g. Michael Coleman 1927) and increased communications and travel opportunities, regional styles have become more standardised. Regional playing styles remain nonetheless, as evidenced by the very different playing styles of musicians from Donegal (e.g. Tommy Peoples), Clare (e.g. brothers John & James Kelly) and Sliabh Luachra (e.g. Jacky Daly). Donegal fiddle playing
6497-440: The theatres and concert halls of Dublin. The harping tradition did not long outlast the native Gaelic aristocracy which supported it. By the early 19th century, the Irish harp and its music were, for all intents and purposes, dead. Tunes from the harping tradition survived only as unharmonised melodies which had been picked up by the folkloric tradition or were preserved as notated in collections such as Edward Bunting 's (he attended
6586-437: The tin whistle, just as school children in many other countries are taught the soprano recorder. At one time the whistle was thought of by many traditional musicians as merely a sort of "beginner's flute", but that attitude has disappeared in the face of talented whistlers such as Mary Bergin , whose classic early seventies recording Feadóga Stáin (with bouzouki accompaniment by Alec Finn ) is often credited with revolutionising
6675-544: The traditional Irish music world in the late 1960s. The word bodhrán , indicating a drum, is first mentioned in a translated English document in the 17th century. The saxophone featured in recordings from the early 20th century most notably in Paddy Killoran's Pride of Erin Orchestra. Cèilidh bands of the 1940s often included a drum set and stand-up bass as well as saxophones. Traditional harp-playing died out in
6764-507: The traditional repertoire, the fiddle (or violin – there is no physical difference) is played differently in widely varying regional styles. It uses the standard GDAE tuning. The best-known regional fiddling traditions are from Counties Donegal , Sligo , Clare as well as Sliabh Luachra . The fiddle has ancient roots in Ireland, The earliest reference to the fiddle in Ireland was during the 7th century by O'curry. In 1674 Richard Head wrote in reference to Ireland 'On Sundays: In every field
6853-762: The whistle's place in the tradition. The low whistle , a derivative of the common tin whistle, is also popular, although some musicians find it less agile for session playing than the flute or the ordinary D whistle. Notable present-day flute-players (sometimes called 'flautists' or 'fluters') include Matt Molloy , Kevin Crawford , Peter Horan , Michael McGoldrick , Desi Wilkinson, Conal O'Grada, James Carty, Emer Mayock, Joanie Madden , Michael Tubridy and Catherine McEvoy , while whistlers include Paddy Moloney , Carmel Gunning , Paddy Keenan , Seán Ryan , Andrea Corr , Mary Bergin , Packie Byrne and Cormac Breatnach. Uilleann pipes (pronounced ill-in or ill-yun ) are
6942-619: Was Moore, who had a desire to return to his solo career and perform from a larger repertoire of songs. The split was amicable, and while Paul Brady was recruited to fill the gap in September 1974, Moore stayed on with him in the band until October. After his departure, the Irvine/Moynihan/Brady/O’Flynn line-up toured extensively, but released no recordings before playing their final show in Brussels on 5 December 1975. After
7031-480: Was an aristocratic art music with its own canon and rules for arrangement and compositional structure, only tangentially associated with the folkloric music of the common people which is the ancestor of present-day Irish traditional music. Some of the late exponents of the harping tradition, such as O'Carolan, were influenced by the Italian Baroque art music of such composers as Vivaldi, which could be heard in
7120-432: Was excavated during the 18th century in Dublin that was dated from the 11th century, it was made of dogwood with an animal carved on its tip, it was believed to have been the oldest bow in the world, however it's unclear what instrument the bow belonged too. There may also be a reference to the Irish fiddle in the book of Leinster (ca. 1160) The fiddling tradition of Sligo is perhaps most recognisable to outsiders, due to
7209-469: Was featured on Planxty's 1983 album Words & Music . ("Baker" appears to be a mondegreen for the "Beichan" of earlier versions.) Reilly died in 1969 at the age of 44, shortly after being found beneath his coats in the top room of his dwelling in Boyle by Tom Munnelly , who had originally collected his songs for archiving. The music of Turlough O'Carolan appeared on a number of Planxty albums (including
7298-521: Was in contact with Bill by phone once or twice. We had agreed to do more gigs in the autumn. I didn't get back till the middle of June and I found, to my surprise, that the band hadn't exactly split up, it had just fallen asunder. An unfortunate ending to the second coming... —Leagues O'Toole, The Humours of Planxty . Although Moore, Irvine, Lunny, and O'Flynn continued to meet from time to time and perform occasionally in various combinations during professional engagements—and even play together as
7387-632: Was included on the 2004 retrospective, Christy Moore – The Box Set: 1964–2004 , complete with the audience's reaction. Planxty's first single, "Three Drunken Maidens", was released by their manager Des Kelly's label, Ruby Records, reaching no. 7 in the Irish charts. The next single, a re-recording of " The Cliffs of Dooneen ", previously recorded for the Prosperous album, made it to no. 3. Two full albums followed: Planxty , recorded at Command Studios in London during September 1972, and The Well Below
7476-468: Was living in Japan was unavailable. After also shooting links at key landmarks from the Planxty history, the programme aired on 3 March 2003, receiving a phenomenal response from the public and very positive feedback from the Planxty members themselves. In a final comment about the constant speculation of the original line-up regrouping, Moore had said on camera: "There's nobody longs for it more than myself and
7565-491: Was on 31 January 2005. Christy Moore and Dónal Lunny had been friends since school days in Newbridge , County Kildare , Lunny having taught Moore how to play both guitar and bodhrán . Before the formation of Planxty, Lunny had been playing in a duet with Andy Irvine after the latter's return from Eastern Europe and they had also launched their own folk club, downstairs at Slattery's, called The Mugs Gig. Liam O'Flynn
7654-616: Was playing in public and on the radio, and was well respected in traditional folk circles. All members were familiar with one another's work to varying degrees, but were first brought together during the summer of 1971 to record Moore's second solo album, Prosperous , at his sister's house, in the village of the same name . In January 1972, the four joined forces to form Planxty, recording their first single, "Three Drunken Maidens"/"Sí-Bheag, Sí-Mhór", in Trend Studios on 18 January 1972. The band performed on RTÉ 's The Late, Late Show
7743-427: Was preserved by the McPeake Family. In present day, a revival of the early Irish harp has been growing, with replicas of the medieval instruments being played, using strings of brass, silver, and even gold. This revival grew through the work of a number of musicians including Arnold Dolmetsch in 1930s England, Alan Stivell in 1960s Brittany, and Ann Heymann in the US from the 1970s to the present. Notable players of
7832-470: Was replaced by guitar-driven male groups such as the Dubliners . Irish showbands presented a mixture of pop music and folk dance tunes, though these died out during the seventies. The international success of the Chieftains and subsequent musicians and groups has made Irish folk music a global brand. Historically much old-time music of the US grew out of the music of Ireland, England and Scotland, as
7921-422: Was the singing of Irish Traveller John "Jacko" Reilly who hailed from Boyle , County Roscommon . It was from Reilly that Moore learned " Raggle Taggle Gypsy ", which was recorded for the first Planxty album, in addition to " The Well Below the Valley ," which appeared on The Well Below the Valley. Moore later dipped into Reilly's songbook again for an updated version of the lengthy ballad " Lord Baker ," which
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