Here's a tune recorded for "The Tale of Déin" from "Tunes of The Munster Pipers Vol 2"; compiled by James Goodman in the 1860s. "The Tale of Déin" is an audiobook written and narrated by Kilian O'Flanagan which is set to be released on bandcamp (https://podrecords.bandcamp.com/) this coming St. Patrick's Day. 

"The Tale of Déin" promotional video is available on YouTube now (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAqpGaX7-rs).

This track was debuted on Sinéad Kennedy's radio show "The Queen of The Rushes". Listen back here: https://www.mixcloud.com/do_you_radio/the-queen-of-the-rushes-w-sinead-wednesday-090322/

And catch upcoming episodes on Wednesday's from 8-9pm here: https://doyou.world/

This tune is connected to a song which references William of Orange's victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 over King James II (the brother of King Charles II, who the song, and subsequent set dance, The Blackbird is attributed to).

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Kilian O'Flanagan.

Rise, Sons of William, Rise (Goodman Collection)

Here's The Bunch of Keys (also known as Sarah Flynn's Favourite) sandwiched between a pair of belters I learned while in isolation from the playing of Pee Fitzpatrick of Mohill, Leitrim. There's a bunch of great stuff on the Michael McNamara Sound Collection which ITMA put together at the link below... Up Leitrim!

https://www.itma.ie/michaelmcnamara/explore/alll-performers/pee-fitzpatrick

Leitrim Belters (The Aughavas Reel / The Bunch of Keys / Gan Ainm)

Here is a solo fiddle recording from "Another One From The Set List", a recent recital held in The Cobblestone Backroom where I shared the stage with the divine, debonair, dazzling duo that is @aoifeandliam (Aoife Nic Dhomnaill and Liam Lonergan). The set is taken from my recent EP Farewell to the Highlands. 

The EP can be heard in full on cathalcaulfield.bandcamp.com/album/farewell-to-the-highlands-ep

Farewell to the Highlands is an EP of fiddle music from the making of Kú's recent audiobook The Tale of Déin. The pieces date back to the 19th / early 20th centuries and are thought to be older still.

The tunes were sourced from 6 different collectors and adapted to the themes of Kú's audiobook, a reimagining of the story of Déin MacCécht, the healer of the Tuatha Dé Dannan. The themes include loss of place, otherworldly magic, abuse of power, betrayal, fierce anger, sorrow, grief and reconciliation.

Ceó Druídheachta was found in the Petrie collection (1902). The old Irish spelling of "Druídheachta" draws on the link between the words “Druid” and “Draíocht” (magic). The beauty of the air and its link to the mystical made it an easy choice for the opening piece to the audiobook The Tale of Déin.

The melancholic title track, Farewell to the Highlands, is a march that was with us from the beginning of our manuscript meanderings and has found a home at last in this EP. It was found in Tunes of the Munster Pipers vol. 2 from Canon J. Goodman's manuscripts (1860s).

Thank you to Liam Longergan for the recording !

Ceo Druídheachta & Farewell to the Highlands: Live @ The Cobblestone Backroom

Recorded informally by Mr. Hajime Takahashi.

I learned this song from John Doherty's album "The Celebrated Recordings". I was listening to Pádraig O' Keeffe non-stop at the time and was amazed by his playing of the air "The Old Man Rocking the Cradle" on the album "Kerry Fiddles". It struck me as more of a descriptive piece than an air. Especially because of the "wa-wa"/"ma-ma" cry of the baby that Pádraig created by holding an old metal key in his mouth and placing it on the bridge of the fiddle. 
I thought that the air and the song belonged together and so I attempted to structure the air as a descriptive piece depicting the mood of the song.

The Old Man Rocking The Cradle (Song)

Recorded informally by Mr. Hajime Takahashi.

I learned this song from a recording of Tom Lenihan which can be found on Clare County Library's website. Around the time of learning I was becoming progressively more and more influenced by the madness of Neillidh Boyle's slow air playing. So much so that I began hearing his elaborate style in my head while listening to the ornamentation styles of certain singers, of whom Tom Lenihan was one. For this reason, it made sense (at the time at least) to put the two together.

"Robert Emmett, who was executed in 1803 for his part in an abortive uprising which took place earlier that year, inspired several songs. This one takes the form of a ‘goodnight ballad’, a genre of song long established in England, where a condemned man employed a ‘broadside hack’ to take down the details of his life and turn them into verse form; they were often sold on song-sheets at public hangings. According to the writer, Daniel Defoe, the term ‘goodnight ballad’ originated from the practice of those viewing the execution calling out ‘goodnight' as the rope tightened around the condemned man’s neck. Tom learned the song from his mother."

Reference:
Mount Callan Garland Tom Munnelly (ed.) Comhairle Bhéaloideas Eireann 1994

Emmet's Farewell (Song)

Accompanied on guitar and informally recorded by Mr. Hajime Takahashi. 

I learned the set dance, The Job of Journeywork, from the great uillean piper Johnny Doran's album "Johnny Doran: The Master Pipers. Volume 1". I have always been jealous of pipers because they have the gift of the regulators while the fiddler does not. Johnny Doran's regwork is some of the most exciting regwork I have heard and it was while listening to him that I started trying to emulate the sound of the regs on the fiddle (as so many better musicians have done in the past).   

I learned The Irish Girl when I was very young from the playing of Michael Coleman, the master fiddler from Sligo. The tune has stuck with me throughout the years and is becoming a favourite all over again!

The Job of Journeywork / The Irish Girl (Set Dance / Reel)

Accompanied on guitar and informally recorded by Mr. Hajime Takahashi.

The first tune features on the late Ben Lennon's album Dog Big Dog Little. I was drawn to the tune immediately by the feeling of slowly going mad whilst listening to it. This has left a negative taste for some others but I love it! I would highly recommend listening to Dog Big Dog Little. It is full of life and genius and the music of such a kind and generous master as Ben Lennon must be cherished.

I paired the second tune with Ben Lennon's to put the Leitrim stamp on the set. Drumshanbo holds a special place in my heart and I would associate Ben Lennon most with seeing him play over the years at the annual recital at the Joe Mooney Summer School. R.I.P Ben Lennon.

Ben Lennon's / The Leitrim Fancy (Hornpipes)

Accompanied on guitar and informally recorded by Mr. Hajime Takahashi.

The Mist on the Mountain was a tune I heard in sessions over the years but the first time I sat down to learn it was when listening to a selection of Junior Crehan recordings. I was excited by his fiddle playing and more excited still to hear that it was his own composition.

The second tune is a version of The Blooming Meadows which I got from a recording of Séamus Ennis. Séamus has a fantastic ability for regwork, often holding back but sometimes lashing into it. In this recording he would play a G on the regulators with the B note in the third part running into an F# on the regs when playing the C natural. For me, this added a wildness to the sound whilst also playing up the hoppy rhythm of the third part. I ran away with the idea in this tune.

Junior Crehan's Mist on the Mountain / Séamus Ennis' Blooming Meadows (Jigs)

Informally recorded by Mr. Hajime Takahashi.

This is a nonsense song I got from the singing and pipering of Séamus Ennis where the lyrics would have been invented fadó fadó ago as a means of keeping the tune alive... 

But, that being said, if you did want to overthink it and make sense of nonsense, you could interpret the song as a coming of age summer number. Imagine a young maid full of all the joys that the first weekend of summer brings. She finally sees herself as a young woman. Now imagine this young woman sitting across the table from a mother who looks back at her with very different eyes that see the same babby that has been dependent on her for so many's the year.  

The daughter falls in love with a soldier that rolls into town. But, she understands that their love is fleeting and is tied up with the summery feeling of wanting to be young and free. Her greatest intention is to go out into the world and make something of her life. 

The mother is totally disapproving of her request to head off with the soldier and asks her several questions. She asks her what she'll do if the soldier dies in the ocean. The following questions clearly portray how childish the mother's view is of her young daughter. She hopes that her daughter will reconsider her request when she understands her inability to stand on her own two feet. This is of course tied up with a deep feeling of concern and worry at the loss of her daughter, her closest companion for so many's the year. She does not view the daughter as being capable of looking after herself. Even the simple task of boiling a kettle seems to her to be above the capabilities of her little babby.

The tune The Frost Is All Over is played to accentuate the feeling of pure freedom and delight that has come over the young maid and it is left up to the listener to decide the outcome of this encounter between mother and daughter.

But, then again, it's probably just a load of summery nonsense anyway...

What Would You Do If You Married A Soldier? (Song)

Accompanied on guitar and informally recorded by Mr. Hajime Takahashi.

I learned the first tune from the playing of Martin Rochford, a fantastic Clare fiddle player and piper. Martin is my favourite fiddler at the moment and his version of this reel is also my favourite tune. The second tune is a version of The Woman of the House that I learned from the pipering of Tommy Reck. The final reel I got from the fiddle playing of the great Kerry fiddler, Denis Murphy.

Martin Rochford's / The Mistress of the House / The New Post Office (Reels)

Informally recorded by Mr. Hajime Takahashi.

I first heard this song on a recording of Dominic Kelly on the Góilín Song Project and was instantly taken with the air. It was one of the first songs I learned and I keep coming back to it. Naturally, when I started including the fiddle into my singing this was the first song I thought of. It is an emigration song whilst also being a song in the category of "Love of Place". The lyrics are beautifully descriptive and the introduction of a fiddle drone slowly building up to a powerful wave-like sound depicting the strength and depth of the ocean between the singer and his/her homeland seemed like the best way to bring the song to life. Similarly, the slow air was included to describe the "angel's song" that is said to be heard along the banks of the Winding River Roe.

This piece was inspired by the slow air playing of both Frank Cassidy of Donegal and Padraig O'Keeffe of Sliabh Luachra.

The Winding River Roe (Song)

The Fatal Sisters: An Ode (1768)
BY THOMAS GRAY
(FROM THE NORSE TONGUE)

Now the storm begins to lower,
(Haste, the loom of Hell prepare.)
Iron-sleet of arrowy shower
Hurtles in the darken'd air.

Glitt'ring lances are the loom,
Where the dusky warp we strain,
Weaving many a soldier's doom,
Orkney's woe, and Randver's bane.

See the grisly texture grow,
('Tis of human entrails made,)
And the weights, that play below,
Each a gasping warrior's head.

Shafts for shuttles, dipt in gore,
Shoot the trembling cords along.
Sword, that once a monarch bore,
Keep the tissue close and strong.

Mista black, terrific maid,
Sangrida, and Hilda see,
Join the wayward work to aid:
Tis the woof of victory.

Ere the ruddy sun be set,
Pikes must shiver, javelins sing,
Blade with clatt'ring buckler meet,
Hauberk crash, and helmet ring.

(Weave the crimson web of war)
Let us go, and let us fly,
Where our friends the conflict share,
Where they triumph, where they die.

As the paths of fate we tread,
Wading thro' th' ensanguin'd field:
Gondula, and Geira, spread
O'er the youthful king your shield.

We the reins to slaughter give,
Ours to kill, and ours to spare:
Spite of danger he shall live.
(Weave the crimson web of war.)

They, whom once the desert-beach
Pent within its bleak domain,
Soon their ample sway shall stretch
O'er the plenty of the plain.

Low the dauntless earl is laid
Gor'd with many a gaping wound:
Fate demands a nobler head;
Soon a king shall bite the ground.

Long his loss shall Erin weep,
Ne'er again his likeness see;
Long her strains in sorrow steep,
Strains of immortality.

Horror covers all the heath,
Clouds of carnage blot the sun.
Sisters, weave the web of death;
Sisters, cease, the work is done.

Hail the task, and hail the hands!
Songs of joy and triumph sing!
Joy to the victorious bands;
Triumph to the younger king.

Mortal, thou that hear'st the tale,
Learn the tenor of our song.
Scotland thro' each winding vale
Far and wide the notes prolong.

Sisters, hence with spurs of speed:
Each her thund'ring falchion wield;
Each bestride her sable steed.
Hurry, hurry to the field.

The Norse original of The Fatal Sisters. An Ode is found in chapter 157 of Njáls saga (13th century). The poem relates to the Battle of Clontarff, near Dublin in 1014. It centres on the image of the Valkyries, who are singing about the outcome of this battle. The song is recorded by a passer- by.

The original is known as Darraðarljóð (“Lay of Darts”). Through metaphoric association, the Valkyries’ weaving and cutting of human lives on the loom of fate is compared to the web of arrows in the air over the battlefield. The type of loom referred to in the poem used a movable rod connected with loops to the back threads; this rod is called skapt, which is the word also used for the pole of a spear or other weapon (as in ON spjótskapt, “spear-shaft”). In fact, the poem is a major documentary source for information about weaving in Scandinavia. [1] But Gray is primarily interested in its imaginative effects and the horrific image of female deities weaving a cloth from human intestines on a loom weighted by human heads.

Gray’s version is a rather free paraphrase of the original. Some lines bear no relationship to the Latin text, from which he worked. The first atmospheric stanza, for example, has no equivalent in the source. At other times, Gray can be seen to intensify the descriptions of the original. To mention just one example, the line: “Gored with many a gaping wound” (l. 42) adds colour to the simple description of being shot to death by arrows, where the Latin source simply has sagittis occubuit comes (“from arrows the Earl is dead”). Furthermore, Gray liberally interpolates adjectives such as “griesly”, “gasping”, and “trembling” throughout. For comparison, Gray’s Latin source text and the Icelandic original can be seen here.

The Fatal Sisters - Studio 10

Here is another track recorded in Studio 10, Wicklow St. I associate the playing of Bímis Ag Ól with the fiddle playing of the great Bobby Casey of West Clare. Kissing and Drinking I found online when looking for a good partner to the former.

Bímis Ag Ól / Kissing And Drinking (Jigs) - Studio 10, Wicklow St

I learned the air Caoineadh UÍ Néill from the fiddle playing of Denis Murphy.  I believe Seamus Ennis collected Caoineadh Uí Néill from Padraig O' Keeffe (Murphy's fiddle teacher) during Ennis' stint as a collector for the Folklore Commission. The air is supposedly a lament for Hugh O' Néill the Earl of Tyrone. Feel free to call me out on all that now. That's Hugh in the picture anyways! The reel that follows is Sean Ryan's setting of the common tune Miss Monaghan's. He puts a nice twist on it that makes it feel more like a hornpipe.

Caoineadh Uí Néill / Miss Monaghan's (Air / Reel)

Here is a set of belters with a heavy influence from uilleann pipering and reg playing.

Contentment Is Wealth / Flowers Of Spring (Jigs)

Two polkas; The Return of Spring and Up and Away. 

I'd associate these tunes with the Sligo fiddle masters Morrison, Killoran and Coleman. I've been playing the second one quite a lot lately as I am finding myself inspired by Coleman all over again. There has been a lot of excitement recently over the unheard tracks that were released by ITMA with the great support of the late Joe Burke (R.I.P) and Lad O' Beirne's son James O' Beirne. I didn't know Joe personally but his contribution to the tradition has been truly immense and beyond measure. I am indebted to him for these new recordings which reveal Coleman's playing in a previously inaccessible manner.

The Return of Spring (Polkas)

NEW EP OUT NOW --> Bandcamp Link: cathalcaulfield.bandcamp.com

Cathal Caulfield is a traditional folk singer / fiddle player from Dublin whose sound is strongly influenced by the Irish fiddling tradition, as he attempts to imitate the ethereal tone and intricate ornamentation of the instrument in his singing.

Naturally, this led to the inclusion of the fiddle itself. Expect to hear delicate vocals interwoven with gentle drones and wailing instrumentals. Followed by varied sets of traditional tunes which are full of life and energy while showing great respect to the origins of the music and the music makers.

Cathal Caulfield

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