Martin O Connor Cordal is one of the rare remaining pupils still playing fiddle . Here he is joined by a great young fiddler Seán Michael Redican  from Tralee ..

Martin O Connor Cordal Pupil Of Padraig O Keeffe And Sean Michael Redican Tralee

Con Moynihan, Sean Abeyta, Mick Culloty, Colleen Freeman at Fagins Bar

John Brosnan- Master Box Player - Concert Set From Scartaglin

Brothers Paddy and Willie O Connell from Cordal were 2 of Pádraig O Keeffe’s pupils and were hugely influential to many younger musicians in the Castleisland area , generous with their manuscripts and tunes to anyone who called.

The Long Note

Pigeon on the Gate

A great piece featuring Castleisland local musicians and fiddle pupils of Pádraig O Keeffe Willie O Connell R.I.P and Ger Collins R.I.P . A very popular duo who played together for years around Castleisland and all over Sliabh Luachra  they were known for having a great and varied repertoire of tunes . It is a wonderful that Peter Browne had the foresight to record and interview them and thanks to Jerry Ahern who taped this at the time and now the young musicians of Sliabh Luachra can enjoy these two great Sliabh Luachra fiddlers who they would never have heard. Our thanks to Jerry Ahern for donating this treasure to the Archives.

Willie O'Connell And Jer Collins On RTE Programme Sounds Traditional Presented By Peter Browne

We are delighted to launch the first piece of music selected from the donated musical treasures that the family of Kathleen Fitzgerald have kindly allowed theSliabh Luachra world to hear .The Handed Down Sliabh Luachra Archive were helped on this project by Kerry ETB Funding which helped to save the tapes and digitise .We will release audio on October 29 on Soundcloud and on every Monday morning till mid March 2024

Bridgie Kelleher Playing Fiddle In  Lisheen Session

3. Padraig & Nora O’Keeffe | Glountane, near Castleisland, Co. Kerry, 1958

Nora and Padraig O’Keeffe were two of nine children born to John O’Keeffe of Boherbue, Co. Cork and Margaret O’Callaghan of Doonaslea, near Kiskeam Co. Cork. John was the principal of Glountane National school and he and his family lived in the house adjacent to the school. He was joined in the school by his daughter Nora as an assistant teacher in 1913 and when he died in 1915, his son Padraig became principal of the school. Padraig held that position until he resigned in 1920, after which he lived a life of a travelling music master - now recognized as the last and one of the greatest travelling music masters in the history of Irish traditional music. On 28th November 1918, Nora married Thomas Carmody, a farmer’s son from Knocknagoshel, and their son, Thomas (Sonny) was born in Castleisland on 21st November 1921. On 27th July 1948, Sonny married Eileen Sheehan in Birmingham, England; she was born on 17th  September 1925 at Tureencahill, Gneeveguilla, Rathmore, Co. Kerry. Sonny immigrated to the US in 1957, arriving in Detroit, Michigan on 30th January. Eileen and their young children joined him the following year, arriving in Detroit on 3rd March 1958. The family eventually moved to Chicago where they remained for the rest of their lives. 
Prior to Eileen’s departure to America in 1958, she and her children joined her in-laws, Nora and Padraig O’Keeffe and neighbors in Glountane, to make a recording of music and song to bring to her husband in America. Among those in attendance that evening were Nora Carmody (née O’Keeffe), Padraig O’Keeffe, Eileen Carmody (Sonny’s wife), Mrs. Sheehan (Eileen’s mother), Andrew (?), Noreen(?), Lizzy (?) and Eileen & Sonny’s young children.

9 Pádraig  And Nora Reels

Recorded by Charlie Mulvihill whose daughter also plays piano on some tunes. This was recorded shortly after Dr Corneilus P O Sullivan’s  return to New York where he was born .  Having gone to school in Gneeveguilla and Killarney before studying medicine in UCD he was a friend and devotee of Denis Murphy’s playing. This was recorded in the Bronx and posted  later to Denis Murphy’s apartment in the Bronx by Charle Mulvihill.

Lisheen Attic Tape  Cornelius P O Sullivan and Denis Murphy

Lisheen Attic Tape - Denis Murphy and Charlie Mulvihill Bronx Recording

Denis Murphy  And Mikey Duggan Polkas Recorded In Lyons Bar 1972

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Willie O'Connell And Jer Collins On RTE Programme Sounds Traditional Presented By Peter Browne

Handed Down Sliabh Luachra Audio Archive

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