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:

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.

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.

We want the podcast to be free to listen to for as many people as possible. But without the support from at least some of you we couldn’t keep putting out an episode a week. That’s why we’re asking you to become a Patron (Saint) of the podcast. www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims

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

Tunes:
Darren plays Sandy River Belle and Morphine
Dominic sings Please Tell My Brother
and
Gerry sings Sailing Southwards from Rathlin Island

During the episode Darren spoke about his good friend Jae Mulder the urban explorer. This is one of the last posts Jae made to Reddit before he moved on. He was always a very careful guy when it came to sharing as he didn't want to get in trouble with the law. Well in the end that didn't really matter so he shared his adventures with us all. RIP Jae man. HOONK HOOOOONK!

Photo album: https://imgur.com/a/WOS0G
Reddit Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/comments/8480df/over_10_years_ago_i_used_to_be_heavily_into_urban/

Darren also mentioned a place called 610 Anne Street in Brisbane that the DIY punk and noise scene was based around for a time. Here's a great article that brings some of it to life. https://gladrappa.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/610-ann-street-circa-2005/?fbclid=IwAR0AGbPH6-5DFO6aKj3UYIx-n5WYAoui8YRI5g1o7FtFl_t08N7WpvNcfqU

--

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.

We want the podcast to be free to listen to for as many people as possible. But without the support from at least some of you we couldn’t keep putting out an episode a week. That’s why we’re asking you to become a Patron (Saint) of the podcast. www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims

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

Ken Fleming's such an easy going guy, but when you hear his story you'll realize he's driven. I mean, you can't get an Irish music festival up and running in Texas without some amazing combination of vision, commitment and a willingness to take a punt. It's probably not an exaggeration to say that without Ken's work over the past forty years, the Irish music scene there would be a shadow of what it's now become (thriving).

So - here's The North Texas Irish Festival, of which Ken was a key founder:
https://ntif.org/

And you can find The O'Flaherty Irish Music retreat here:
https://oflahertyretreat.org/

Check out their list of past guest musicians and you'll get an idea of the calibre of the weekend: 
https://oflahertyretreat.org/instructor_role/core-classes/

Thank you, Ken, for hacking through the long distance digital thickets with us to get this episode up and out. And thanks for your tunes and your chat.

As always the episode is free to stream or download from all the usual spots:
Our Website: https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/52
iTunes: https://apple.co/2XsbLo0
Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/3cPTkis
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3aFuOPa

So - this is our 52nd episode. We launched last year at the National Celtic Festival and it was awesome. Thanks to Una McAlinden for that amazing kick start to the project. We got to hang out with...

Mary MacNamara and Eileen O'Brien
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/4
Maggie Carty
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/5
Beth McCracken
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/8
Austral
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/7
and
Bush Gothic
https://blarneypilgrims.fireside.fm/10

Not bad for a first weekend...

Now, Covid-19 notwithstanding, The Celtic Festival will be hosting a series of events online this year to mark the moment and take a breath before we start the journey towards next year's festival. Look for them here:

https://www.facebook.com/nationalcelticfestival

And finally, thanks to you all for supporting us to get this far. Keep it up and hopefully we'll have another year's worth of great chat and tunes by this time next year.

Love,

Darren and Dom

--

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
www.instagram.com/blarneypilgrimspodcast
www.twitter.com/BlarneyPodcast

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.

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

Here is the translation Kate mentions, a version of Donal Og that's startling and strange in the ways that only really great translations can be. (He said, knowing very little about translations, really). (Though I'll correct myself and say that it's probably true that really bad translations can be startling and strange too...)

Donal Og
It is late last night the dog was speaking of you;
the snipe was speaking of you in her deep marsh.
It is you are the lonely bird through the woods;
and that you may be without a mate until you find me.

You promised me, and you said a lie to me,
that you would be before me where the sheep are flocked;
I gave a whistle and three hundred cries to you,
and I found nothing there but a bleating lamb.

You promised me a thing that was hard for you,
a ship of gold under a silver mast;
twelve towns with a market in all of them,
and a fine white court by the side of the sea.

You promised me a thing that is not possible,
that you would give me gloves of the skin of a fish;
that you would give me shoes of the skin of a bird;
and a suit of the dearest silk in Ireland.

When I go by myself to the Well of Loneliness,
I sit down and I go through my trouble;
when I see the world and do not see my boy,
he that has an amber shade in his hair.

It was on that Sunday I gave my love to you;
the Sunday that is last before Easter Sunday
and myself on my knees reading the Passion;
and my two eyes giving love to you for ever.

My mother has said to me not to be talking with you today,
or tomorrow, or on the Sunday;
it was a bad time she took for telling me that;
it was shutting the door after the house was robbed.

My heart is as black as the blackness of the sloe,
or as the black coal that is on the smith's forge;
or as the sole of a shoe left in white halls;
it was you put that darkness over my life.

You have taken the east from me, you have taken the west from me;
you have taken what is before me and what is behind me;
you have taken the moon, you have taken the sun from me;
and my fear is great that you have taken God from me!

(Shades of St Patrick's prayer in that last verse...)

So what do I ACTUALLY know about translation? Mostly what I remember from many long, wonderful (as in full of wonder), beery conversations with my pal, Ian Lavery. Poet, academic, punctuation pedant and a very, very funny man. Anyway, when he was doing his PhD on Northern Irish poetry I would regularly perform my friendly duty by insisting he come drinking with me when he should have been working. So it was Ian who witnessed me - two bottles of white wine to the wind and heading for a few pints - walking into the road and smashing the windscreen of an oncoming car with my head. All the classic accident shit went down - a local lad leaned over me shouting 'How many fingers can you see pal, how many FINGERS?' My shoe came off (just the one.) And I apparently garbled half remembered lines from Seamus Heaney's 'Station Island' all the way to the hospital. And yes, I do realize that makes me sound like a complete wanker.

Anyway, so, when Kate mentioned Donal Og I thought of Ian because he knows his translations. And because he's from Carrickfergus, and first turned me on to Louis MacNeice, also from Carrickfergus. Who worked at the BBC in London for many years and was friends with (seriously) Andy Irvine (check out this interview with Andy if you don't believe me):

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/rte-second-captains/second-captains-andy-irvine/

So thinking of friendship, and distance, and love, as Kate was singing Donal Og, and then and then...the song was over, and we talked some more about other things. And then Kate mentioned her children, and bringing them the see where she studied geology in Melbourne, and THAT'S when I sort of made my tangled, inarticulate attempt to say that...what...everything is everything. Music, songs, friendship, love, food, cars, biscuits, concertinas. All of it. Or, as the great Scottish songwriter Michael Marra might have said...The World is Phul o' A Number o' Things...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jz6LJXUqhI

Which isn't a million miles away from this:

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

If you're of a melancholy turn of mind, you need songs like these. I wrote to Kate the day after we finished recording to say thanks, and what a lovely way to spend an evening. And it's true.

Thanks Kate (and Ciaran O'Grady) for the chance to listen.

...

The New Graces (Kate Burke, Melanie Horsnell and Robyn Martin) have recently tracked and mastered their debut album at Sydney’s Rancom Street Studios, working with producer Garth Porter (Sherbet, Lee Kernaghan) and legendary engineer Ted Howard (Gurrumul, Paul Kelly & The Stormwater Boys). The album is due for release in early 2020. (Website coming soon)

To buy Kate's music go here:

lukeplumbandkateburke.com

kateandruth.com

troubleinthekitchen.com

...

To learn more about QuasiTrad go here:

https://quasitrad.com

...

And finally, as aways.

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.

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.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

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

To find out more about Tony's Irish Guitar Podcast go here.

https://irishguitarpod.com/

Thanks again for your time Tony.

Also thanks to the Guildford General Store for allowing is to record onsite during the Guildford Banjo Jamboree. You can find those guys here: https://www.facebook.com/guildfordgeneralstore

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.

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.

Till next time.
Darren & Dom

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

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.

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.

Right, that's it for today.

www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@blarneyPilgrimsPodcast

As mentioned in the interview, Jamie is one of the performers in The Good Girl Song Project - you can find it here: http://thegoodgirlsongproject.com/

In this episode Jamie plays:

Newry Town (Traditional)

The Curragh of Kildare (Traditional)

Matty (Wally Page)

Two Junior Crehan tunes

Down The Hall on a Saturday Night (Ken McMaster)

Untitled jig

I, me, (Dominic), refer in the interview to the story J. M Synge related in the preface to Playboy of the Western World, which I sort of half remembered:

"When I was writing The Shadow of the Glen some years ago I got more aid than any learning could have given me from a chink in the floor of the old Wicklow house where I was staying, that let me hear what was being said by the servant girls in the kitchen."

I also seem to remember reading something by Colm Toibin in 'New Ways to Kill Your Mother' that the story was sort of...em...not true. But don't quote me on that. It's a pretty great book though - essays on Irish writers and their relationship with their mothers, Ireland and each other. There's a review of the book here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/feb/26/ways-kill-your-mother-colm-toibin-review

Oddly enough, you'll see in this review, too, a reference to Blake Bailey’s biography of American writer John Cheever. Have to say, it’s a cracking book, even if you don't like biographies. It's a cracker. Grim, funny, horrible, fascinating. So. Yeah...fab.

For more information on the New Zealand Wars check out Te Ara,
The Encyclopedia of New Zealand:

https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars

...

If you liked this episode, please leave us a 5 star review on iTunes, it REALLY helps us getting the podcast out to more people.

You can also support The Blarney Pilgrims on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims

www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@blarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Special Guest: Jamie Molloy.

In this episode Gerry plays the following songs:

Fisherman's Day
(Written by Brian Connors)

Slieve Gallion Braes
(Traditional)

Voyage for Ireland
(Pierre Bensusan)

Shipyard Slips
(David Wilde of The Men of No Property)

Pride of the Springfield Road
(Traditional)

The Boston Burglar
(Traditional)

You can catch Gerry and his sister Mary live as “Innisfayle” at the National Celtic Festival on the weekend of the 7th - 10th June:

https://www.nationalcelticfestival.com/artists-2019/2019/2/19/gerry-amp-mary-mckeague

Thanks to the players and staff at The Last Jar for the jig we use at the opening and closing of the podcast.

...

If you liked this episode, please leave us a 5 star review on iTunes, it REALLY helps us getting the podcast out to more people and we absolutely appreciate your help with this.

You can also support The Blarney Pilgrims on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/blarneypilgrims

www.blarneypilgrims.com
facebook.com/BlarneyPilgrimsPodcast
@blarneyPilgrimsPodcast

Special Guest: Gerry McKeague.