Breandán Breathnach Collection. Reel-to-Reel 336 [sound recording] / [various performers]
- BBR-18712/1/258893
- Unidad documental simple
- n.d.
Parte deBreandán Breathnach Collection
Performers:
Ennis, Seamus, Dublin, whistle solo A2, 4, 8;
speech in English and Irish throughout;
singing in Irish A6, 13;
pipes solo A10, 12, 14, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 32;
singing in English A16–17;
Mac Mathuna, Ciaran, Limerick / Dublin, speech in English and Irish throughout
Running Order:
1. Tone Signal: Untitled
2. Reel: The Sack of Potatoes / An Mala Fatai / The Bag of Spuds [The Bag of Potatoes; short version to begin the 1st edition of 'Ceolta Tire' on this tape; full version at track A4]
3. Speech: Untitled [Topics include: the tune at tracks A2 and A4 was learned by SE in 1941 from a man named Geoghegan, a member of the Gardai Siochana in Salthill, Galway; superstition about sowing potatoes on Good Friday; the reel just played was a favourite of the Ballinakill Ceili Band; dependency on potatoes in Connemara; fairy story relating to the potato crop during the famine, told to SE by Colm O Caoidheain, Glinsce, Connemara; story includes mention of Fionnbhara, the king of the good fairies, and the Siafra, the queen of the bad fairies]
4. Reel: The Sack of Potatoes / An Mala Fatai / The Bag of Spuds [The Bag of Potatoes; short version at track A2]
5. Speech: Untitled [Topics include: the background to the song that follows; stories about the fairy folk spiriting away cows or newly-wed women to serve their need for milk]
6. Song with Speech: Amhran na Bo Baine [Song about the spiriting away of a white cow by the fairies, with explanatory speech interjections by SE; includes mention of a 'snaidhm bua' (a charmed knot)]
7. Speech: Untitled [Topics include: snuff and its healing properties; story that is the background to the next tune]
8. Reel: The Pinch of Snuff / An Pinsin Snaoisin [End of 1st edition of 'Ceolta Tire' on this tape]
9. Tone signal
10. Reel: Ceol na Ceartan / The Music of the Forge [The Pretty Girls of Mayo; short version to begin the 2nd edition of 'Ceolta Tire' on this tape; full version at A12; clipped at start]
11. Speech: Untitled
12. Reel: Ceol na Ceartan / The Music of the Forge [The Pretty Girls of Mayo; short version at track A10]
13. Speech with Singing: Untitled [A poet asks a blacksmith for the loan of a spade and is refused; he responds by writing a song cursing all blacksmiths and then gets the loan of the spade; SE first heard the reel The Merry Blacksmith in 1925]
14. Speech, Reel: Untitled, An Gabha Aerach / The Merry Blacksmith
15. Speech: Untitled [About SE's home place, Baile Sheamais / Jamestown; his father and forebears lived in the Naul; ancestors came originally from Scotland; an ancestor had been a stable-boy in Scotland and had eloped with the daughter of his master and with her jewels; with those riches they bought a farm in the Naul; introduction to the next song, one that was sung by SE's grandfather only after dinner on Christmas Day]
16. Song, Speech: Untitled [First line: 'My name is McCarty, I'm a native of Trim'], Untitled [Introduction to the next song, which also was sung by SE's grandfather]
17. Song: Untitled ['Bonnie bonnie bairn']
18. Speech, Air: Untitled, Untitled [Melody of the song fragment just sung, 'Bonnie bonnie bairn']
19. Speech: Untitled [The tune that follows was learned from the Drogheda piper Pat Ward, who played a double chanter]
20. Reel: Diuc Goran / Lord Gordon [End of 2nd edition of 'Ceolta Tire' on this tape]
21. Tone signal
22. Air: Mo Ghra-Sa an Jug Mor is e Lan / Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo [Short version to begin the 3rd and last edition of 'Ceolta Tire' on this tape; full version at track A24]
23. Speech: Untitled [Information about the tune just played; in the old days it was banned by the clergy because a priest was delayed through listening to the song while on his way to a sick call; the song was performed by the devil in the form of a young woman milking a cow; story about Saint Patrick and the devil; the tune just played is the melody of a song sung by Cait Ni Mhuimhneachain of Beal Atha an Ghaorthaigh / Ballingeary, Co Cork; some of the words of that song]
24. Air: Mo Ghra-Sa an Jug Mor is e Lan / Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo [Short version at track A22]
25. Speech: Untitled [SE met a spalpeen / spailpin recently; introduction to the air to be played next]
26. Air: The Maid from Ballingarry / An Spailpin Fanach [The Maid of Ballingarry; said by SE to be a version of An Spailpin Fanach; the melody of a ballad in English, learned from the singing of John Connell of Baile Mhuirne]
27. Speech: Untitled [Hiring fairs in Athenry and Ballinasloe, Co Galway]
28. Speech, Jig: Untitled, The Rambling Pitchfork
29. Speech: Untitled [Seanchas / folklore from Colm O Caoidheain, Connemara; any poet or musician who wants anything from a blacksmith should get it without payment; story that is the background to that belief, connected with the song that follows]
30. Song: Untitled [About a poet who was refused a request by a blacksmith]
31. Speech: Untitled [Music connected with the forge]
32. Reel: Ceol na Ceartan / The Music of the Forge [End of 3rd edition of 'Ceolta Tire' on this tape] [END OF BAND ONE]
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