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Fiddle music from 1950s to 1980s
This month we decided to devote the entire playlist to fiddle music from three collections donated to ITMA including Larry Redican, Tom Davis and Tony MacMahon. These collections contain music from the 1950s up to 1980s and feature a range of distinguished fiddle players captured in informal private recordings and settings as varied as kitchens, the Pipers’ Club Dublin and US folk clubs.
The Pipers’ Club, Thomas St, Dublin was a major centre for traditional Irish music from the 1950s to the 1980s and is the venue for two outstanding recording from the 1950s, taken from the Redican and Davis collections. Firstly, two reels from Aggie Whyte from the Ballinakill Céili band East Galway and a leading musical figure in the 1950s and 60s. Tommie Potts is in great form at another session recorded especially to be sent to Larry Redican and friends in New York. Both recordings feature the inimitable voice of Paddy McElvaney, a Comhaltas stalwart, introducing the tunes and players.
Still in the 1950s, tunes from New York featuring Larry Redican himself and a young Seán Maguire giving a magnificent rendition of the ‘Boys of the Lough’.
As we move into the early 1960s, Ciarán Mac Mathúna introduces a young Brendan McGlinchey and friends playing a selection of reels in a tape made for Larry in New York.
In the 1970s, the Tradition Club in Slattery’s Dublin was a musical mecca and luckily Tom Davis captures the late Seán Keane in mighty form playing two sets of reels to an appreciative crowd. From Tony MacMahons collection, we chose some fine playing by Seán Ryan, another leading figure in Comhaltas since the 1950s.
From the 1980s, the MacMahon collection also has Joe Ryan from Clare who partnered another Clare man, John Kelly, in Dublin in O Donoghue’s and the Four Seasons. Sensitive accompaniment is provided by Eoin O’Neill (a Dubliner long established in Doolin and successful radio Clare FM presenter). Finally, we chose John’s son James Kelly playing a powerful Foxhunter’s reel, with his old friend Daithí Sproule recorded during a US tour with Tony MacMahon.
I hope you enjoy this selection of fiddle players for this month and I look forward to presenting more selections from these unique ITMA collections in the coming months. -Pádraic
