Blarney Pilgrims Irish Music Podcast - Episodes Tagged with “Fiddle”

Episode 92: Gráinne Brady Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:00:00 +1100

From Cavan to Glasgow. Party houses and late night tapes. Finding your feet in sessions that suit. Creating your own space to play. The Navvy poet Patrick MacGill, The Road Across The Hill, Newcomer and The Children Of The Dead End.

In this episode we play:

The Road Across the Hills
Newcomer
By and By
Atone

To listen, stream or download simply click a link below:

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To buy Gráinne's music go here: https://grainnebrady.bandcamp.com/

Visit her website here: https://www.grainnebradyfiddle.com/

And to follow on socials go here:
https://facebook.com/grainnebradyfiddle
https://instagram.com/grainnebradyfiddle
https://twitter.com/grainnebrady
https://www.youtube.com/user/bradyg6/featured

The artist that I spoke about that designed Gráinne's covers is called Somhairle MacDonald and you'll find him here:
https://www.somhairle.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/fatherofschmo/?hl=en

Thanks fo much for this Gráinne. I can't wait to hear what's next.

Cheers

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And that, my friend, is a hell-of-a-nice thing to do.

Darren & Dom

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Episode 89: Maċa Interview (Fiddle, guitar, bodhran)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 18:00:00 +1100

Buying your first guitar with your confirmation money. Playing 182 tunes in two hours. Winning Réalta agus Gaolta. Cutting your teeth in Raglan Road Orlando. Finding a mentor in Kíla's Rónán Ó Snodaigh. Translating the craic. Avoiding the abyss of lockdown and a casual Disney Princess flex.

In this episode Maċa play:

Devil's Den
Something Blue
Feel Like Home
Call On You

Buy Maċa's new album 'Spiral' here:
https://macaofficial.com/

Follow them on the socials here:
https://www.facebook.com/macaceol
https://www.instagram.com/ceol.maca/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1L87V_SmApBE1phXvDw8_g

Catch Maċa live during the Irish Music Magazine's St. Patrick's Day From Home Facebook Live gig.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2823877824517871

Finally here's that link to the Paddy Glackin and Jolyon Jackson 'Hidden Ground' album I mention at the top of the podcast. NOT TO BE MISSED!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UTjsLyEgog&ab_channel=PereGrino

To listen, stream or download this episode simply click a link below:

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Or alternatively, simply search your favourite podcast app for the Blarney Pilgrims.

Saoirse, Naoise and Ciara thank you so much for everything getting this chat together. Legends!

Cheers,
Darren

Become a Patron Saint of the Blarney Pilgrims Podcast.

So, for the price of a pint, or a half pint for that matter, you can help keep this show on the road and be safe in the knowledge you have a halo above your head.

For your good deed you will secure your place in traditional Irish music podcast heaven. But most importantly, you’ll have helped pay for the other 99% of listeners that don’t or can’t chip in.

And that, my friend, is a hell-of-a-nice thing to do.

Darren & Dom

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Episode 88: Shane Lestideau Interview (Fiddle, baroque violin, violin d'amore)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 12:00:00 +1100

Finding Michael Jackson in the Blue Mountains after ten years in a Buddhist Bush community. A year of four hour nights. Mozart with a Sligo lilt. Ten hour train trips for one hour lessons. Scottish baroque music, modal tunes, violin d'amore, and combining art music and folk music.

Catch Shane Lestideau in Queenscliff during the Boxwood Festival from the 19th to the 21st of Feb 2021. Joining Shane at Boxwood are Maggie Carty, Máirtín Staunton, Andy Rigby, Aifric Boylan, Chris Norman and Coral Reid.

For tickets, online registration and Zoom Huddle info, go here:
www.boxwood.org

In this episode Shane plays:

Capricorn Rising
Castle Kelly's / The Ivy Leaf / The Otter’s Holt / The Glass of Beer
The Horseman's Port
Tam Lin / The Juggler
Sonata on the Lea Rig

To listen, stream or download simply click a link below:

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Or alternatively, simply search your favourite podcast app for the Blarney Pilgrims.

To Find out more about Shane go here:
https://www.shanelestideau.com/

To follow Shane online go here:
https://www.facebook.com/shane.lestideau/

Shane, thank you so much for this.

Cheers,

Become a Patron Saint of the Blarney Pilgrims Podcast.

So, for the price of a pint, or a half pint for that matter, you can help keep this show on the road and be safe in the knowledge you have a halo above your head.

For your good deed you will secure your place in traditional Irish music podcast heaven. But most importantly, you’ll have helped pay for the other 99% of listeners that don’t or can’t chip in.

And that, my friend, is a hell-of-a-nice thing to do.

Darren & Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
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Episode 86: Rus Bradburd Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 16:00:00 +1100

Digging into tunes. Paddy Jones. The Draoicht. Sports and music, and finding your place in both. Coaching basketball in Ireland and the Tralee Tigers. Carl Hardebeck, The Blind Bard of Belfast. The fiddle as an old person's instrument. Sliabh Luachra. Padraig O'Keeffe. Paddy on the Hardwood. Slow airs in sessions and New Mexico polkas.

In this episode Rus plays:

Westfort Gals
The Pikeman's / Down The Glen (Marches)
Farewell To Whiskey / The Dark Girl In The Blue Dress
Leaving Lerwick (Paddy Jones Slow Air)
Kerry Polka / Purple Lillies

To listen, stream or download simply click a link below:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.com
iTunes: https://apple.co/2A6tUPm
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3eIwBFy

Or alternatively, simply search your favourite podcast app for the Blarney Pilgrims.

You can find out more about Rus on his website here:
https://www.rusbradburd.com/

You'll find Rus's book 'Paddy on The Hardwood' here or ask about it at your local book shop:
https://unmpress.com/books/paddy-hardwood/9780826340276

Paddy Jones 6 YouTube videos. Absolutely worth a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEMlutJrUsOZnj84sQ-aVbsTNpUxqw7pt

During the interview Rus mentions Carl Hardebeck. This is a great piece about him here:
The Blind Bard of Belfast: Carl Gilbert Hardebeck:
https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/the-blind-bard-of-belfast-carl-gilbert-hardebeck-1869-1945/

Become a Patron Saint of the Blarney Pilgrims Podcast.

So, for the price of a pint, or a half pint for that matter, you can help keep this show on the road and be safe in the knowledge you have a halo above your head.

For your good deed you will secure your place in traditional Irish music podcast heaven. But most importantly, you’ll have helped pay for the other 99% of listeners that don’t or can’t chip in.

And that, my friend, is a hell-of-a-nice thing to do.

Darren & Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
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Episode 84: Aoife Kelly Interview (Concertina)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 21:00:00 +1100

We ARE the source.' John Kelly of Capel Street and Scattery Island. Hiding the fiddle under your jacket in Dublin in the rare oul times. Strange hornpipes, slip jigs, slides. Patsy Geary, Jimmy O'Donahue and Kilfenora's three bakeries. The memory palace and preserving a life. Ireland, Australia, Tommy Potts posters and the evocative power of seagulls. Searching out the music in Darwin. Sydney, Melbourne and going back home.

Also, maybe young kids shouldn't listen to the intro of this ep. There's a bit of Santa chat in there they might wanna miss.

Thanks to Bill Martin of Geelong for helping make this episode possible.

Mary Brennan's (after Aoife's great, great grandmother from Scattery Island)
Hornpipes - The Ebb Tide and John Kelly's Hornpipe
Jigs - Bimish Ag Ol, Patsy Gearys and Brian O'Lynn's
Two reels - The Cabin Hunter and Delia Crowley's
Three jigs - Scattery Island, Siney Crotty's and John Kelly's Slide

The amazing website Aoife created archiving the music and work of her grandfather, John Kelly, is here:
http://johnkellycapelstreet.ie/

And you can find Aoife's web design work here:
https://www.aoifekelly.com

You can find more info about Mise Fosta here:
https://www.instagram.com/misefosta/
'We aim to change the culture of abuse and harassment within the Irish traditional music & dance scene.
Contact us at misefostarunda@gmail.com'

And you'll find FairPlé here:
https://www.fairple.com/
'FairPlé aims to achieve gender balance in the production, performance, promotion, and development of Irish traditional and folk music. We advocate for equal opportunity and balanced representation for all.'

To listen, stream or download simply click a link below:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.com
iTunes: https://apple.co/2A6tUPm
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3eIwBFy

Or alternatively, simply search your favourite podcast app for the Blarney Pilgrims.

Become a Patron Saint of the Blarney Pilgrims Podcast.

So, for the price of a pint, or a half pint for that matter, you can help keep this show on the road and be safe in the knowledge you have a halo above your head.

For your good deed you will secure your place in traditional Irish music podcast heaven. But most importantly, you’ll have helped pay for the other 99% of listeners that don’t or can’t chip in.

And that, my friend, is a hell-of-a-nice thing to do.

Darren & Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.twitter.com/BlarneyPodcast

Episode 78: Liam Thomas Bailey Interview (Fiddle, five-string banjo, singing)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 14:00:00 +1100

Stories of a life in music, so far. Ancient tunes and new ones, losing a loved one and finding her again through tunes. The Irish connection. Out of The Wind, Into the Sun: depression, loss, and the therapeutic power of psilocybin mushrooms. Recovery into music. All of everything in a single tune. 'Keeping myself in the air as an artist.' Country song-smithing, Darren's unending love of pop, Dom's unending love of neon COLD BEER signs. The road, the weight, a writer not writing. Bruce Springsteen, Cillian Vallely, Jon Bon Jovi and a little bit o' John Denver.

The tunes:
Castle Kelly's and Brelydian (Bob Brozeman and Donal O'Connor)
Two Bird Stone
The Broken Parts + The Maids of Michelstown
Sinead Maire’s Jig (Cillian Vallely) and the Sporting Pitchfork
Lucy Farr's and 'The 99'

To listen, stream or download simply click a link below:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.com
iTunes: https://apple.co/2A6tUPm
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3eIwBFy

Or alternatively, simply search your favourite podcast app for the Blarney Pilgrims.

You can listen to Liam's other podcast about depression, psilocybin mushrooms, psychedelics and recovery over here: https://soundcloud.com/thecuriosityhourpodcast/s08-e156-liam_thomas_bailey

You can buy Liam's music and band (Two Bird Stone) from here: https://liamthomasbailey.com/

And you can follow him here:
https://www.facebook.com/liam.bailey.338
https://www.instagram.com/liamthomasbailey/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnj_ugXbIK0y0PvpqaYXtaA?view_as=subscriber

Finally, the Triúr series by Máirtín Hayes, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Peadar Ó Riada that Liam mentioned can be bought here: http://www.peadaroriada.ie/shopstoresiopa/

Thanks Liam. This was a cracker.

Become a Patron Saint of the Blarney Pilgrims Podcast.

So, for the price of a pint, or a half pint for that matter, you can help keep this show on the road and be safe in the knowledge you have a halo above your head.

For your good deed you will secure your place in traditional Irish music podcast heaven. But most importantly, you’ll have helped pay for the other 99% of listeners that don’t or can’t chip in.

And that, my friend, is a hell-of-a-nice thing to do.

Darren & Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
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Episode 71: Cli Donnellan Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 11:00:00 +1100

The elusive nya! Making tunes your own, ornamentation and phrasing and the old East Clare style. Francie Donnellan, Seamus Bugler, Martin Woods and a tune by the stove. Learning, loving, leaving the music, and returning. 'Songs My Father Sang,' the journey, knowing yourself and the truth in music.

The tunes Cli plays this week:

The Corner House and The Glen Allen (two reels)

The Binder Twine (Lifted from the 'Songs My Father Sang' album)

Caisleán An Óir

The Trip To London

and The Legacy (written by Cli Donnellan)

You can buy Cli's CD from her website: https://www.clicreativechange.com

Or if you're so inclined it's also available from Cli's Bandcamp here: clidonnellan.bandcamp.com

While you're there make sure you check out 'Songs My Father Sang'. A collection of 13 songs put together by Cli of her father Sean Donnellan.

You can also join Cli every Sunday at 12 Noon (Irish time) on The Morning Dew Trad Music Radio Show over at Scariff Bay Radio: http://www.scariffbayradio.com/

Thank you Cli, for such an immersive, beautiful conversation.

...

To listen, stream or download simply click a link below:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.com
iTunes: https://apple.co/2A6tUPm
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3eIwBFy

Or alternatively, simply search your favourite podcast app for the Blarney Pilgrims.

Become a Patron Saint of the Blarney Pilgrims Podcast.

So, for the price of a pint, or a half pint for that matter, you can help keep this show on the road and be safe in the knowledge you have a halo above your head.

For your good deed you will secure your place in traditional Irish music podcast heaven. But most importantly, you’ll have helped pay for the other 99% of listeners that don’t or can’t chip in.

And that, my friend, is a hell-of-a-nice thing to do.

Darren & Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.twitter.com/BlarneyPodcast

Episode 70: Mary McEvilly-Butler Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +1100

A Supergroup at the National Celtic Festival. Remembering and forgetting the names of tunes. Ballintubber, County Mayo and musicians in the house. The freedom of the open road, to Boston and Australia. Maintaining a love of kids even when you've been teaching for twenty years or so, and fostering a growth mindset - in children, and yourself.

Thanks to Una McAlinden of the National Celtic Festival at Portarlington for giving us the opportunity to hang out in 2019 when we first met Mary. And thanks to Mark Butler for his technical help with the recording.

The tunes:

Last Night's Fun and The Bank of Ireland (as single reels)
Old Joe's Jig, The Maid on the Green and Sweet Biddy Daly (from the playing of Mary's dad)
The Sailor on The Rock, Sporting Paddy and John Henry's (reels)
The Blackberry Blossom and The Gatehouse Maid (reels)
The Connaghtman's Rambles (a gorgeous version) and Out on the Ocean

Beautiful. Cracking chat and tunes. Thank you Mary, for that hour and a half of your time, and for giving us so much to think about.

--
To listen, stream or download simply click a link below:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.com
iTunes: https://apple.co/2A6tUPm
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3eIwBFy

Or alternatively, simply search your favourite podcast app for the Blarney Pilgrims.

Become a Patron Saint of the Blarney Pilgrims Podcast.

So, for the price of a pint, or a half pint for that matter, you can help keep this show on the road and be safe in the knowledge you have a halo above your head.

For your good deed you will secure your place in traditional Irish music podcast heaven. But most importantly, you’ll have helped pay for the other 99% of listeners that don’t or can’t chip in.

And that, my friend, is a hell-of-a-nice thing to do.

Darren & Dom

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.twitter.com/BlarneyPodcast

Episode 57: Aifric Boylan Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 19:00:00 +1000

Competing in your first Fleadh, hearing the ocean in the music and searching out the rarest old tunes. Learning from older players, driving to sessions with your dad and a road trip to a Belfast terraced house in search of a fiddle.

In this episode Aifric plays:
The Golden Castle / Mickey Callaghan's Fancy
Rolling in the Ryegrass and Woman of the House (Thanks Jond from the session.org for your help with the names)
O'Donnell's Lament
The Battle of Aughrim
Fitzgerald's / An Paistin Fionn (The Fair Haired Child)

To listen, stream or download simply click a link below:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm
iTunes: https://apple.co/2A6tUPm
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3eIwBFy

Or alternatively, simply search your favourite podcast app for the Blarney Pilgrims.

We know it's a tough time so we hope you can hang in there with us. If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

If you can't afford to pledge on Patreon, and we totally understand if you can't, all is not lost. You can still support the show by sharing it on your socials, posting about it in your favourite forums or simply by telling your mates about it down the pub.

www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.facebook.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
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Episode 51: Caity Brennan Interview (Fiddle) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 26 May 2020 17:00:00 +1000

On growing up with traditional Irish music, on taking ownership, on finding festivals, on 92.7 Fresh Fm, on Austral and creating a dance party, and losing yourself at Woodford Folk Festival .

Way, way back in June last year we caught up with Austral during the National Celtic Festival. During that interview we said we'd love to sit down and chat with Caity Brennan. Well, 12 months and one global pandemic later, we've finally done it and it's everything we'd hoped it would be.

In this episode Caity plays:
Roll Out The Barrel / Christmas Eve / Castle Kelly
The Orphan / Princess Nancy
Dr. Gilbert's / Siobhan O'Donnell's
The Sheiling Song
Original composition followed by two reels.

During our chat we drop a few names and many of those have also appeared on the Blarney Pilgrims. To make life a little easier we thought we'd list them here for your clicking pleasure.

Caity's Dad, Jack Brennan (Uilleann pipes, whistle): https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/31
Caity's partner, Angus Barbary (Fiddle): https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/16
Caity's band Austral: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/7

Also, as mentioned in the episode, Austral just reached their pozible target which means there'll be an album coming sometime down the road - Watch this space! In the meantime here's a cracking video clip of the band recorded from last year's Lake School of Celtic Music Song and Dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr3Ztlftarg

If the playing during the episode doesn't convince you that Caity and Austral can bring the (MF) ruckus, then check out this instagram clip of them at the Melbourne Vic Night Markets earlier this year. https://instagram.com/p/B5reS3Egvet/

To keep up with Caity and Austral you can follow them here:

Website: https://www.australband.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/australmusic/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austral.music/

And most importantly, you can buy Austral's music here (including a craicin' live version of Hoedown Throwdown lifted from the episode we recorded last year: https://australtradmusic.bandcamp.com/

I think that's about it for this week,

Right, go on. Goodluck!
Darren & Dom

...

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www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
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Episode 49: Ewen Baker Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 12 May 2020 23:00:00 +1000

'When you're playing with other people...and you get that feeling that is above and beyond life, in a sense. Where you just go, this is why I exist. This is as happy as this bunch of cells can be, right now, on this planet.'

If there’s a better way to spend an hour and a bit of your day than listening to this week's episode with Ewen Baker, I’ve not heard of it.

Ewen’s a fiddle player, arranger, multi instrumentalist and teacher, and he takes us on a journey to find the music-induced tingly feeling, via The Oils, J. S. Bach and Kerry Slides; St Anne’s Reel and The Bushwhackers; collaboration and individualism; coming to terms with our own imperfections but still getting stuff done. And we don’t even get around to talking about working with songwriters, at which Ewen’s an acknowledged master. Still, it gives us an excuse to do a second episode down the line.

In this episode Ewen plays the following tunes:

Merrily Kissed the Quaker’s Wife
Brian Boru's March
St Anne’s Reel
Sheehan's Reel
The Australian Waters
Mama's Reel

Ewen’s collaborated with a huge range of musicians over the course of his career, but it was only a couple of years ago that he released his first CD, ‘The Inch Before The Saw.’ As in, the only thing in life you really need to be worrying about is…’the inch before the saw.’ You can find the CD here, and as we say in the episode, it’s a cracker:

https://ewenbaker.com.au/store

'It's a session in your speakers.' Ewen’s collaboration with Paddy Fitzgerald, Jack Brennan and Geoff McArthur is called Lisnacrieve, and you can find the gofundme page here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/paddy-fitzgerald-cd

As always, the episode is free to download or stream from everywhere you get podcasts:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/49
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3fM61MG
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2T1il26

We'd also like to say a huge thank you to today's episode sponsor, Ceol.fm. This is a bloody brilliant service. So do yourself a favour and head over there and check it out. www.ceol.fm

Ewen, thanks for a cracking chat.
And with that, we’re away.

Darren & Dom

...

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www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
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Episode 47: Mick Doherty Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 19:00:00 +1000

There's a single story or a thousand stories in this week's episode. The story of Mick Doherty, Donegal fiddle player of the famed Doherty family of tinsmiths, travelers and musicians. The story of his father's music, and of his grandfather's music. And woven in and around it all the figure of Johnny Doherty - Mick's uncle - one of the iconic Irish fiddle players, a tinsmith himself, and traveling man.
Johnny was the subject of a documentary in 1972, a film called Fiddler on the Road. Produced by Ulster Television, it's a fascinating document of a moment in his life and, like all the best documentaries, it shifts a little each time you watch it. In fact, if you watch really closely, you'll notice how with the passing of time the film itself has assumed a strange, elastic quality. So the background behind Johnny as he plays seems to sway in places and elongate and contract, as if it's about to come loose from its moorings. Listen to Mick speaking of his uncle Johnny, and that effect is amplified.

Fiddler On The Road:
https://bit.ly/3bMLQfx

Mick Doherty recorded his one and only CD in partnership with his student and friend Rob Zielinski, of Perth, Western Australia. Mick lived in WA until his death in 2014, and we have Rob to thank for the tunes preserved on that CD, the echoes of Mick's father and grandfather in the playing, and for the recordings that make up today's episode.

In collaboration with Rob, in 2009 Kevin Bradley at the National Museum in Canberra recorded five separate sessions in conversation with Mick, sessions covering his life story, family history and musical lineage. It's thanks to them we have this treasure to share with you today. Truth be told, Mick's speaking voice is a long, unspooling melody itself, with a cadence and rhythm that carry within them the man as he was in 2009 and the lives he had lived up to that point.

We've re-arranged some segments of the original archive recordings so they play sequentially in this episode. And we feel it's true to the spirit of Mick's story, his voice and his playing. If you'd like to dive into the entire series of recordings, go here:
https://bit.ly/3bZ1dBi

And please check out Mick Doherty's CD recorded with Rob Zielinski. It's essential listening really:
https://www.robertzielinskimusic.com/shop

And as we mention during the show, our heartfelt thanks to Kevin Bradley and Rob Zielinski for all their help with this episode.

We hope you're all keeping well, and we'll see you next week.

Darren and Dom

...

Well, we know it's a tough time so we hope you can hang in there with us, and we'll do the same for you. So if you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

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www.blarneypilgrims.com
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Episode 46: Hannah Harris Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 11:00:00 +1000

On the Swannanoa Gathering with Finn Magill, on ethnomusicology, on the difference between Irish and Celtic, on her time in Cork and finding lock-down inspiration in Quarantunes.

Hailing from North Carolina and now residing in North Michigan, Hannah Harris is a wonderful fiddle player and ethnomusicologist. Hannah recently recorded her first album which hopefully will be released in the coming weeks.

In this episode Hannah plays:

Alice's Reel / Maudabawn Chapel
Citi na gCumman
The Blarney Castle Hotel Set (If someone knows the names please send them in thanks)
John Brosnan's Reel / Martin Wynne's No 2
Sunday's Well

To keep up to date and follow Hannah go here:
https://www.facebook.com/hannahharrisceol

To follow Hannah on Instragram go here:
https://www.instagram.com/hannahharrisceol/

As always the episode is free to download or stream from our website or any podcast app:

Our website: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/46
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2KlfSuH
Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Stitcher: https://bit.ly/2XVl68c
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KoNQhL

Right that's it, enjoy!
Darren & Dom

...

Well, it's a tough time, so we hope you can hang in there with us, and we'll do the same for you. So if you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
www.facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
https://www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast/

Episode 41: Emma Lewis Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 15:00:00 +1100

Emma Lewis on how tunes connect us all. On being a woman in the traditional music scene, travels in Ireland and random festival invites. On friendships and learning tunes and on returning home to Australia.

Emma plays the following tunes:
East Clare Reel / Martin Wynne's Number 4 / The Liffey Banks
Dwyer's Jig / O'Sullivan's March / untitled jig
The Old Wooden Bridge / The Road to Ballymote / The Mayo Lasses
The Drunken Tinker / Tie The Bonnet / O'Donnell's Sligo Maid (or The Glendowan Fancy)

Thanks Emma, for a great afternoon's chat and playing.
...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

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Episode 40: Rob Zielinski Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 07:00:00 +1100

Today's episode is, in part, the story of Rob's friendship with the Donegal fiddle player, Mick Doherty. It's the story of Rob's quest to both learn the music and preserve something of Mick's playing for posterity. It's about playing with sweetness and 'thundering out the tunes.' About accidental discoveries and epiphanies. And it's about learning and teaching with generosity in your heart.

It's a beautiful story from Perth to Donegal and back again.

In this episode Rob plays:

Black Mare of Fannett / The Yellow Heifer
Mickey Mor's March / Corn Rigs
Brays of Mass / Untitled Mick Doherty Tune
Bush On The Hill / Jackson's Morning

As mentioned in the interview, Kevin Bradley of The National Library of Australia recorded over 5 hours of interviews with Mick Doherty back in 2008. You can listen to the 5 interviews in full here: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-211708617/listen

You can buy Mick and Rob's album "Out West" here: https://www.robertzielinskimusic.com/shop

Also thank you to Boxwood Australia 2020 for bringing Rob's to Victoria. You can find out more about Boxwood Australia here: www.boxwood.org. Boxwood Australia was made possible with support from Culture Ireland, promoting Irish arts worldwide.

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom
...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge at any level over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

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www.blarneypilgrims.com
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@BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Episode 37: Hajime Takahashi and Kaoru Sumitomo Interview (Guitar and Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 18:45:00 +1100

The Mountains of Pomeroy with Eileen O'Brien at 4 in the morning, the session as a conversation, finding your own style, Junji Shirota, Japanese folk songs and Good Times in O'Hara's

In this episode Hajime and Kaoru play:

The Mountains of Pomeroy
O'Carolins Dream
Rolling In The Ryegrass / Dairy Maid / Heather breeze
Slieve Russell / Munster Jig
Bonny Blue Eyed Nancy / untitled
(Untitled set to end)

To keep up to date with Hajime go here:
https://www.facebook.com/hajime.takahashi.108
https://twitter.com/hajimeruhajime?lang=en

To keep up to date with Kaoru go here:
https://www.facebook.com/kaoru.sumitomo

To find out what's happening at Seamus O'Hara go here:
https://www.facebook.com/seamus.ohara.irishpub/

Thanks so much for your time and tunes Hajime and Kaoru.

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
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@BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Episode 28: Tracey McKeague Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 18:00:00 +1100

Music in Strabane; Donegal fiddle playing; life before Riverdance; Trinity College and Dublin; homesickness and music.

Thanks for this great chat Tracey. Also thanks to Gerry McKeague for the lovely accompaniment.

In this episode Tracy plays:

The Boys of Blue Hill, The Home Ruler
John Doherty’s or Petticoat Loop
Gráinne's Jig
The Tax Max Mazurkas
The Cobbler's Daughter

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

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www.blarneypilgrims.com
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Episode 23: Davydd McDonald Interview (Fiddle - with Kit Joyce on accordion)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 11:00:00 +1100

Line dance; Riverdance; competitive dance and finding the fiddle. How Davydd McDonald found the music via his feet.

Approaching midnight, in a tiny cabin, nestled in the rolling hills of the Otway Ranges, Davydd McDonald and Kit Joyce take time away from the QuasiTrad Tunes Camp session to talk all things dance and music.

For anyone looking for tunes in Brisbane check out:
https://www.facebook.com/GilhooleysBrisbane/
https://www.facebook.com/BrisbaneTradSession/

Or to follow Davydd on Facebook go here:
https://www.facebook.com/davydd.mcdonald

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Episode 22: Liz Carroll Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 16:00:00 +1100

Liz Carroll takes some time out from the QuasiTrad Tunes Camp. Along the way she plays us some tunes, demonstrate some basics, and chats to us about her incredible journey through the music.

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom

To buy Liz's records or follow her, go here:
https://www.lizcarroll.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Liz-Carroll-230562170312283/

To find out more and follow QuasiTrad, go here:
https://quasitrad.com/
https://www.facebook.com/quasitrad/

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Episode 21: Ado Barker Interview (Fiddle)

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 07:00:00 +1100

The mystery of Irish music; Yehudi Menuhin playing the shit out of Stephane Grappelli arrangements; late night sessions in Canberra and Ennis; the fear of learning to learn a tune by ear; and Six Degrees of Gerry McKeague.

Truth be told this is the second ever episode we recorded. Back when Darren had a strictly non-speaking role. For a long time we thought it wasn't right, then upon revisiting, we realised what a cracker it is.

Ado plays the following tunes during the episode:

The Golden Keyboard
The Oak Tree
The Porthole of The Kelp
...a reel we never got the name of, and...
The London Jig

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

...

Dom's Notes

Once upon a time I spent a few nights kipping in an orange VW van that was parked just down the hill from Stirling Castle in Scotland. I was between jobs, and between (very shitty) houses, and the van was a refuge offered to me by my friends Frank and Linda. In the days when I wasn't sleeping in it, I'd look out for that van every time I was wondering across the top of the town, because if it was around it meant they were around, and if they were around it meant mugs of tea and music and a bit of crack. I loved that van. I kipped in it after gigs up the west of Scotland - ('Do ye dae any Rangers songs?' 'Naw, we're not that kind of blues band') - or Frank would drive us out to Cambusbarron or somewhere to pass a rainy afternoon talking about books and politics and quoits and a guy called 'Skin Bone' from Fallin who was the local champion. But more than the van, I loved being with Frank, Linda and their kids, Gregor, Neil, Peter and Emily.

I used to work in a wine and whiskey shop in Stirling, just down the hill from Frank and Linda's house, which is how I first got to know them. I worked there for a good few years, and one of the perks was that I could play whatever music I wanted all day long on the shop stereo system. (Another perk was naptime in the cellar on delivery day). When there weren't many customers (Tuesday mornings) I'd drink mugs of instant coffee and construct complicated doodles on the wrapping paper stacked on the counter, daydreaming, wondering where in the world I'd be in some far off year like 2019, wondering if I'd look back fondly to working in a wine and whiskey shop in Stirling, Scotland, doodling and daydreaming.

Frank was a regular visitor, shopping bags bursting on his way back up the hill from the shops, always with an eager ear out for what I was listening to - Dr Wu by Steely Dan, Songs of the Auvergne sung by Gill Gomez, The Bothy Band Live (Afterhours, that epic of epic albums) or Yank Rachell, on casette or CD.

We'd talk about trains, railway signal box design (Frank was a former signalman), beer (Efes Pilsener, Sam Smith's Nut Brown Ale, Redback), Walter Becker's hair and the engineer who supposedly accidentally wiped the original masters of the famously painstakingly assembled Countdown To Ecstasy, an album I knew from my brother Gerard's collection. We'd talk about whiskey and wine and mandolins and blues music and sausage rolls and Ye Jacobites By Name (Lend an ear, Lend an ear). And we ended up playing together on and off for years, in folk bands which always felt a bit ill fitting for Frank and blues-rock-ish bands which always felt a bit ill fitting for me. He is, I should say, because he wouldn't say it himself, a fabulous musician. He has the chops, but more than that, he has such heart, such a feel for music. He's the unassuming center of any band he plays in, basically.

So the McCullough's house was my home away from home, their kids like my own nephews and nieces. How do you quantify a friendship like that? Why would you even try? It's enough to say it's here, even now after...how many years? It'll always be with me, permanently wrapped around my heart.

So, when Ado Barker and Kate Burke and Beth McCracken and virtually everyone else we've spoken to mention that it feels strange to sit and play a tune in isolation, detached from its usual social setting, I know exactly what they mean. So much of what me and Ado talked about, even before we started recording, was about how music connects us to others, and to deeper parts of ourselves that we are only able to articulate through it. It was music that first connected me to Frank and Linda (well, music and my staff discount on cases of Portuguese lager). And it was music connected me with so, so many other friends besides.

As Ado was talking about going deep into the music I was remembering playing with Frank in a bar called The Tollbooth where we had a regular gig, him singing Back of My Mind (John Hiatt) or Steady Rollin' Man, bottleneck ratting on his Yamaha acoustic, me playing a mandolin borrowed from a friend ten years previous and never returned, a mandolin missing two of its tuning pegs. On those nights, and many others, especially working on some of Frank's own songs - brilliant, beautiful, melodic, and mostly unrecorded - I was often lost in what we were playing (in a good way, like). I mean, we'd be gone (in a good way, like).

In the way that Ado describes.

Thanks Ado.

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Episode 17: David Game Interview (Fiddle) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 20:00:00 +1000

Thank you so much to David Game for your time and lovely tunes. Also a huge thanks to the Guildford Corner Store for the use of your back room to record in.

The tunes played in this episode are:

The Mountain Road (Trad)
The Rose in the Heather (Trad)
Paddy's Trip to Scotland (Trad)
Mullingar Races (Trad)

For more info on the Canberra Irish Club go here: https://www.irishclub.com.au/
For more info on Comhaltas Canberra go here: https://www.facebook.com/Comhaltas-Canberra-580450142467295/

...

Dom's notes:

I really love this conversation. We very easily found our way into the stuff that gets me going - the ephemeral nature of the experience of playing music, the naming and honoring of players we used to listen to, and - of all things - The Brass Fiddle.

I have no certain memory of how I came across that CD of Donegal fiddle music that we talk about. But on first listening to it, I remember I was blown away by its elemental nature. It's not just that the recordings are plain and true. It's that the playing itself is completely unfussy and unafraid. In fact, what it is, now that I think about it, is authentic. It IS what it is.

Doodley Doodley Dank is the Con Cassidy track David hums, I think. I thought I was cool having that rarity of a CD that I got from who knows where, but as if to prove our point about how you can get everything everywhere now, you can listen to The Brass Fiddle on Spotify. So I'm slightly less cool now. Anyway, check it out.

Since we started the Blarney Pilgrims, one of the revelations me and Darren have had is that the fiddle is an intensely physical instrument. The music is born of friction, which goes some way to explain the appeal of the instrument maybe, and the seemingly endless variety that's audibly apparent between different players. Even if they share the same background, draw on the same regional style of playing, no two people sound the same. And I wonder is it my imagination, or is the fiddle unique in how it allows players to express themselves with such individuality, because as Chris Fitzgerald says, playing it is a wrestling match. And then I wonder if other bowed instruments have the same quality. And I'm thinking about Jordi Savall, the amazing Catalan musician who plays the viola da gamba. If you've never heard that guy's music, you're missing out. His 1988 album Les Voix Humaines will blow your mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylpOO-7cyt0

I was introduced to this by two great friends, Jon and Mary Pritchard, when they lived in London, I lived in Scotland and we would spend every weekend we could manage hanging around drinking, eating and just having a completely beautiful time. As I did with Darren at the Banjo Jamboree in Guildford, Victoria.

David, thanks for taking time out from the festival to talk to us.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
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Episode 16: Angus Barbary Interview (Fiddle) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 17:00:00 +1000

The National Museum of Australia video where Angus plays his great-great grandfather's violin can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nGGPf_ZXdA

Angus plays fiddle with Caity Brennan, Connor Hoy and Rhys Crimmin in the band Austral which we caught up with in a previous episode. It's a banger, and definitely worth checking out. You'll find it here when you're ready: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/7

To Follow Angus on social go here:
https://www.facebook.com/australmusic/
https://www.facebook.com/gus.barnaby

To buy Austral's music, including "Hoedown Throwdown" go here: https://australtradmusic.bandcamp.com/

Again, thanks so much for your time Angus.

...

Now, here's Dom's notes.

Angus’ first tune, The Musical Priest, is one of the first tunes I ever learned. Me and Tony Murray used to play it as a whistle two-fer, with little fragments of harmony wound in and around the main strands of the melody. It’s a session staple, anchored around the B natural that gives it a sort of wintry quality, I always think. But as Angus plays it, it has a warmth to it and, as he says himself, a swing.

Anyway, when I was 16 or 17 that was a tune we’d play in The House Of McDonnell, more usually known as ‘Tom’s’ after the owner, Tom O’Neill. Our first regular gig as a band, in the tiny back room that’d regularly be crammed – and I mean crammed – with people down from Belfast for the holidays, or from Corrymeela (a sort of retreat center outside town where Catholic young people from troubled parts of the north could get together with Protestant young people from troubled parts of the north for cross-community groping sessions. Heavy petting for peace. ‘See? We ARE actually all the same after all!’) One of the youth workers accompanying them one night wore a mini skirt made from a black bin liner, and black leggings. I was entranced and frightened in equal measure. ‘So THAT’S why mum and dad are always talking about how dangerous it is in Belfast...’

Then for some reason I can’t remember, that gig ended. I was distraught, in a teenage kind of a way. And as was my habit in those days, I’d dive headfirst into my grief by lying on the dining room floor of our house with my head between the speakers of the ITT stereo system we’d inherited from Mrs Buntane, a friend of my dad’s. On the first Friday night after we no longer had a gig, in the throes of my despair, I was listening to Barclay James Harvest Live in Berlin (probably the most embarrassing thing I have yet admitted to in these notes to date) when I got a phone call to say we’d been asked to play in the Boyd Arms instead. Seriously? I was ecstatic.

In the Boyd Arms’ front room with its curved wall behind us, beside the fireplace, we played quiet Friday nights when a few punters would stick their heads around the door then head into the main bar, and other nights where you could hardly move for the people. It was great. Without that chance to play every Friday night, and the other gigs that came from it, I have no idea how I’d have spent my teenage Friday nights. Oh, wait, yes I do. Listening to Barclay James Harvest Live in Berlin.

Anyway, me and Darren often talk about having the chance to listen to players at close quarters and how cool that is. And that’s true – there’s something very unique about having the opportunity to really listen to a player working through a tune on their own. It’s dramatically different from the habitat of a session – it’s exposed and honest, a human being articulating what a tune is about for them, in that moment.

Thanks again, Angus Barbary.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
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Episode 15: Michelle Doyle and Mickey O'Donnell Interview (Harp & fiddle) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 18:00:00 +1000

First off, thanks to Mickey O'Donnell and Michelle Doyle for doing their interview with approximately two hours advance notice. They don't hang about, those two. Please go here to support their osteoporosis awareness campaign:

https://www.mickeymichelle.com/bone-health.html

And so. The Harp.

When I was at Uni my mates used to laugh at the fact that my passport had 'the Guinness symbol' on the front cover. I'd never really given it much thought up until then, the fact that the passport and the extra stout shared the same symbol. What was the actual mechanism by which the image of a harp ended up on the Irish passport, I wonder? Who decided? There must have been a committee. And given the tendency for committees to be agonizing and infuriating, and given the tendency for Irish republicans to disagree amongst themselves from time to time, I'm sure the decision wasn't arrived at easily. Come to think of it, humans in general have a great talent for separating themselves into different sects over pointless passions. I mean, I worked in a place once where there was a long running and spectacularly ill-tempered series of arguments about whether there should be an electric kettle in the new tearoom that people could switch on 'as and when' they need to make a cup of tea, or one of those giant shiny urns that keeps the water at a constant temperature of 3000 degrees so you can scald yourself instantly without having to wait for a minute and a half. So it'd be no surprise if deciding on the harp was a cause of angst in the early days of the Republic.

I looked it up in these antique things I have in my house called reference books, like an intellectual might do. But there was nothing there so I googled it and found this piece from The Irish Post, written by Mary Louise O'Donnell:

https://www.irishpost.com/life-style/history-irish-harp-symbol-ireland-57038

Giraldus Cambrensis how are ye!

And then there's Turlough O'Carolan. He was blind, a traveling harper and composed a whole rake (I just realized I don't know how to spell that word right) of tunes that are really quite strange to my ear. They have a European feel to them in places, quite elaborately ornamented, and as I think about it now there were two of his tunes I learned to play early on: Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór (The Little Fairy Hill and The Big Fairy Hill) and Fanny Power (emphasis on the second word.)

I mentioned Alan Stivell's 'Renaissance of the Celtic Harp' in our chat with Michelle and Mickey. It's one of those records that has the power to pull me back, in what feels like an almost physical experience, back to my youth. (I know, I know, I say that every week, but it's true, that really does happen to me every week, more than one time...it's a wonder I can get out of my scratcher at all some days...)

Anyway, the image I have of that album is of a cover with some sort of seascape on the front, kind of ghostly and weirdly Celtic-y, even though at that time I had no idea what that was even about, and still don't really. There were only five tracks on it and one of them took up the whole of Side 2 and had pretty much every 'trad' instrument I'd ever heard of crammed into it, and several I hadn't. And there was another track called 'Ys' that had sea sounds and whistles and a sort of ambient feel to it. It was weird, man.

I was introduced to that record by a radical priest who had arrived in our town. When I say radical, I mean he had long hair and a beard and a dog, and talked like a normal human being. And he told me there was this cool thing called General Absolution that meant you didn't have to actually go to confession, you could just have forgiveness bestowed upon you, kind of like having the holy water scattered on you at Easter but without you actually having to show up. He was great. He lent me Van Morrison's 'It's Too Late To Stop Now' (which I still have), 'Meddle' by Pink Floyd, Leonard Cohen's 'Songs From a Room' and loads of other music that was a lot more interesting to me at the time than the Celtic harp.

And yet, true story, diving once again through the boundless depths of Spotify one day looking for stuff to send to Darren, what did I find but that very album. And when I listened to the first few seconds of 'Ys,' with the waves and the opening notes and the harmonics, I was, like I say, pulled back towards my youth. That album was released in 1971 and even today it sounds pretty out there. Even when you're not stoned out of your gourd. You should give it a listen sometime.

On the way back from the interview with Mickey and Michelle, Darren and me were wondering how people so young have such confidence. Then we realized it's probably at least in part because they're ridiculously talented, and that's kind of lovely to witness. And truth be told, I think we were both a tiny wee bit jealous at the excitement and enthusiasm and joy they have for what's ahead of them - the music and the work and the travel. As a couple of cynics, we found it pretty inspiring.

Michelle, Mickey, thanks for the chat, and for the chance to listen to you play.

Michelle and Mickey's website and socials are here:
www.mickeymichelle.com
www.instagram.com/mickeyandmichelle
www.facebook.com/mickeymichellemusic

Also the Pozible crowdfunding campaign for their debut album finishes on Wednesday the 18th at 8pm. And here's the link for that: https://www.pozible.com/profile/michael-odonnell-3

Enjoy!
Darren & Dom

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims
www.blarneypilgrims.com
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Episode 12: John Carty Interview (Banjo) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 13:00:00 +1000

Banjo in Irish music, where "the session" was born, musical accents and so much more.

While in Drogheda to receive The Flanagan Brothers' Award, John Carty stopped past Darren's Mam and Dad's to sit down, chat and play us some tunes.

The tunes played in this episode are:

The Jolly Beggerman/(unknown)/Paddy McGinty's Goat
The Jug O' Punch/Eddie Kelly's
The Geese in the Bog
Peelers Creek/(Unknown - Verona Ryan Tune)

To follow John Carty go here:
https://www.facebook.com/Johnpatrickcarty
https://twitter.com/johncartymusic

To buy his amazing albums go here:
http://www.johncartymusic.com/music.asp

Thank you so much for your time John, and congrats again on the award.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

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Episode 11: Chris Fitzgerald Interview (Fiddle) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 20 Aug 2019 05:00:00 +1000

‘The Session is about what’s created during The Session.’

So I’m (me, Dom) sitting in The Last Jar on a Wednesday night, and the session is slowly coming to life. I’ve hidden myself away in a corner so I can listen, tentatively join in here and there, and hopefully not make an arse of myself. But mainly, I’m listening. And something happens…how can I describe this without it sounding over the top? Like, there are these simultaneous impressions washing around me. I’ve only been in Australia a few months, don’t feel like I know many people, I’m shy, introverted. And I’m hearing this music that’s familiar, yet distant because of how long it’s been since I played in any dedicated way. And there’s the smell of the beer and the rhythms of the chat and while I know rationally that I’m in Melbourne in 2018, in my blood – seriously, I don’t really talk about ‘blood’ type stuff but that’s what it felt like – in my blood I have these fleeting moments when feel like I’m in Ballycastle, in the Boyd Arms on a Friday night and it’s 1985. I mean, it’s so intense, and so momentary, I’m here, I’m there, I’m lost, I’m back again. And really, it’s totally brilliant. I mean, it’s so hard to walk back out into the everyday world after such that experience. Catching the train home seems so mundane after you’ve been set alight by this music all around you, and yet, that echoing music in your head is what you carry with you. And that’s why this stuff matters in the first place – because we it carry out into the world and hopefully that makes the world infinitesimally better somehow, even if you can’t put it into words, even if politics is shit and fascism’s on the march. Playing music, listening to music - it’s not quite manning the barricades but you have to hope and believe in your heart that it’s at least one tiny, tiny act of resistance. One tiny, tiny way of making a stand.

Thank you to Chris Fitzgerald and all the musicians at The Last Jar for their generosity and for… the tunes.

‘The Session is about what’s created during The Session.’

And thanks too to everybody who’s gone to patreon.com/blarneypilgrims and subscribed – we’re so grateful for your help in keeping this podcast rolling. I’m tempted to try out some oul’ public radio pledge drive lines from my past life in Seattle like, ‘You listen differently when you’re a subscriber.’

But I won’t.

If you can subscribe, great, and if you can’t that’s OK too.

Thank you for listening.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

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www.blarneypilgrims.com
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Episode 9: Kevin Burke Interview (Fiddle) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 15:00:00 +1000

In Portland, Oregon, Kevin Burke made me (Dom) a cup of tea and we sat in his living room for two hours on a sunny, Friday afternoon, and talked. It was delightful. What did we talk about? Being a boy in post war London; learning the fiddle from a lady called Ms. Kristofferson; bumping into Joe Burke at JFK after trying and failing to get Arlo Guthrie’s phone number from Directory Enquiries, and so much more. Including Michael Coleman.

‘That chap,’ said Ms. Kristofferson, ‘he really finds the soul of his instrument.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ZJVV1CGz4

Some of the other players Kevin mentions...

‘Probably the most shocking, the most uplifting and inspiring – like in the old fashioned sense of the word, awesome – was a guy called Brendan McGlinchey. I was completely awestruck when he sat down and started playing.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7rd-I25-eQ

Liam O’Hara from Sligo. Tommy and Ted McGowan and Tommy and Eddie Corcoran from Gortin. And most of the Liverpool Ceili Band. And if you want to get a really good feel for the vibe of that time in London when Kevin was growing up, get your hands on this collection. You’ll hear many of the musicians Kevin mentions, including Lucy Farr and Eddie Corcoran:

https://www.propermusic.com/shop/TopicRecords/view/226749-various-artists-it-was-great-altogether-the-continuing-tradition-of-irish-music-in-london-3cd

And Joe Burke:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erbFXptMpD4

This version of Paddy Tunney singing The lowlands of Holland is, as we discussed, mind blowingly beautiful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KjyRVd926s

Kevin played the following tunes:

1 Maudabawn Chapel, written by Ed Reavy, after whom there’s now an annual festival. Check it out here:

https://www.facebook.com/EdReavyTradFest/

2 The Sailor on the Rock.

‘It’s the first tune I learned just from hearing at a session. A fella called Con Curtin and and fella called Edmund Murphy played it one night. And I went home and I found I could play it, just from hearing them play it. And I was thrilled, that’s the first time that ever happened to me.‘

You can find out more about Con Curtin and the ‘Sliabh Luachra’ style of playing here:

http://concurtin.com/

3 Morrison’s Jig, which Kevin has just re-recorded with John Carty for his new album ‘Sligo Made’

4 Paris Nights, by Cal Scott

5 London Town, written by Kevin Burke and Cal Scott

and

6 Lucy’s Fling, from the playing of Lucy Farr

As will happen, I was hoking about looking for clips of the McGowan brothers when I came across this, featuring Seamus Tansey and James Murray. It’s pretty funny, entitled ‘Sligo Flute Controversy!’ – worth a gander:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1m1KMtIjWA

One last thing - thanks to Ruby Hoy for her help in making this episode happen, and to Bronnie Griffin.

And thank you Kevin Burke.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got some worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims.

Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

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Episode 8: Beth McCracken Interview (Flute) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 30 Jul 2019 19:00:00 +1000

Playing from the page, versus playing by ear, Beth McCracken talks about her transition from classical flute to traditional Irish music. Through her personal story, Beth highlights just how different these two worlds can be.

Thanks again to Beth for taking the time to sit down with us. Also thanks to Declan Simpson for the accompaniment, maybe next time you'll join us in the hot seat?

The session Beth mentions is on in the Drunken Poet on Friday evenings. You can find out more about that here: https://www.facebook.com/drunkenpoetmusic/

Finally, thanks again to Una McAlinden for the chance to record on location at the National Celtic Festival.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got a dollar or two's worth from it, then please pledge $2 over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims. Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

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Episode 7: Connor Hoy and Austral Interview (Uilleann pipes, fiddles, guitar, didgeridoo) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 19:00:00 +1000

Uilleann pipes and sub-drops. Connor Hoy and Austral share their infectious energy live at the National Celtic Festival.

Let's start off with who Austral are:
On uilleann pipes and whistle we have Connor Hoy, on fiddle, bouzouki and vocals we have Angus Barbary, on fiddle also we have Caity Brennan, and finally, on guitar, didgeridoo (didgeribone?), cajon, tambourine and other assorted wizardry we have Rhys Crimmin.

To follow Austral and to witness the magic for yourself go here:
www.australband.com
www.facebook.com/australmusic/
www.instagram.com/austral.music/

To buy Austral's music, go here:
https://australtradmusic.bandcamp.com/album/austral

...

We were so lucky to have a chance to spend an hour with these four at the National Celtic Festival. They even brought a few beers with them. And we started off chatting with Connor about his background because he was in from Adelaide, and it was a good chance to nab him. But the chat soon wondered on to some more other areas - specifically, the momentum and dynamics the band work so hard to create during their live gigs. And which they totally pulled off in front of our audience at the Bendigo Bank Community Room.

And as is customary in Blarney Pilgrim interviews, we scored a direct hit on the Planxty Bingo - the first mention of Liam Og O'Flynn, piper and whistle player, and towering figure in traditional music. (The current tally, since you ask, is something like Andy Irvine 572 mentions, Donal Lunny 16, Liam O'Flynn 1, and Christy Moore 1.)

So Liam O'Flynn - a carrier of the (uileann) piping tradition into the modern era, through his Planxty work and solo projects. One of which was a double header with poet Seamus Heaney at the Royal Concert Hall (I think) in Glasgow. I was there (I think.) On a cold autumn night listening to Liam play unaccompanied, and Seamus Heaney read - that's an intensely lyrical experience. It's hard to put into words (which doesn't mean I won't give it a shot...heh...) But it was...what...the traditions playing off each other seems too narrow a way of describing it, even though that's what was going on. But there was a tonality to it, the combination of the tone of Liam O'Flynn's pipes, and the timbre of Heaney's voice, his intonation and rhythm and swing. In fact, the common ways of describing music and poetry - tone, rhythm, swing - give you an idea of what it was like. One of those experiences that echoes through your system for a long time after.

So hearing Connor mention Liam O'Flynn's impact on him as a young player was really great. And it's always cool to hear the uileann pipes at close quarters. They really work in a room setting - very different to the (Scottish) bagpipes, which a friend of mine used to play in a tiny stone cavern of a bar years ago as a party piece after we finished our main set. Sending the tourists reeling ecstatically out into the night air with ringing ears and blood thundering around their beery bodies. Awesome, fearsome.

And it was so, so great to have a live audience with us - thank you everyone who came along. Including Connor's grandmother, who we'll be chatting with in a future episode. She joined us on stage for a quick tune, and we're really excited about talking to her when we make it to Adelaide in the months to come. Look out, too, for an interview with Angus from the band in a future episode, and with Caity too.

Thanks again to Austral. Find them when you can, and go see 'em - they're not to be missed. And thanks also to the National Celtic Festival, and Una McAlinden in particular, for the chance to record on location.

...

If you liked this episode and think you got a dollar or two's worth from it, then please pledge $2 an episode over at www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims. Of course, you don't have to become a patron to listen, but we guarantee you'll enjoy each episode more because you'll be safe in the knowledge that you're a deadset legend.

Right, that's it for today.

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Episode 4: Mary MacNamara & Eileen O'Brien Interview (Fiddle, concertina, lilting) - The Blarney Pilgrims Traditional Irish Music Podcast

Darren O'Mahony, Dominic Black — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 03:00:00 +1000

"Nobody listens! Nobody. They think they're listening, but they're not actually listening."

Recorded live at the National Celtic Festival in Portarlington, two of Irelands greatest traditional players share their love of the music, teaching and the art of listening.

Joining Mary and Eileen on guitar is previous guest of the show, Gerry Mc Keague. Gerry, actually just came along to listen but when asked by Mary and Eileen to join in, he jumped at the chance. What a legend.

...

Mary and Eileen played a selection of tunes, a couple of which we didn't catch the names of. I mean, it was a festival weekend after all...

So the first set of tunes we don't have names for.

Eileen lilts, The Wise Maid.

Geaghan's and Dan Breen's

Third set: The Coming of Spring and The Battering Ram

And the last set is Joe Bane's and The Green Gowned Lass

Links and extras:

Thoughts on the origins of East Clare music:
http://www.marymacnamara.net/marys_view.html

Here's a great selection of tunes played by Eileen O'Brien's father, Paddy O'Brien.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqOdBdSNl0A&t=125s

From 1981, here's Mary MacNamara and Martin Hayes playing John Nauyghton's Reel and Tommy Coen's Reel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F1_0r8a0Og

Also if you'd like to know more about Eileen's father, there's a great resourse here: http://www.paddyobrienbook.com/?fbclid=IwAR3OkdxcYh3E1y3hd8bSPTfLlz614CtP0tDRkY5m7V8XjHLbTy6lcdOLMa0

...

Thanks so much to Mary, Eileen and Gerry for your time. We absolutely loved this chat.

Also, a big thank you to Una McAlinden and the National Celtic Festival Australia Official for all your support and inviting us to record at your amazing festival.

...

You can find Mary here:
http://www.marymacnamara.net/
https://www.facebook.com/mary.macnamara.376

And you can find Eileen here:
https://www.facebook.com/eileen.obrien.165

...

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