Sweet Kingwilliamstown -Séamus MacMathúna  (Joe O'Connor)

Minnesotan fiddle player Joe De Georgeo performing his winning set, the reels 'The Primrose Lass' and 'The Bloom of Youth', at the Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal competition 2023 at the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on 3 February. Recording courtesy of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.

Joe De Georgeo – The Primrose Lass and The Bloom of Youth – Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal 2023

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

This was recorded but never published. Eamon calls it "At the Gate", a reference to his home in Mountcollins. Thanks to Eamon for his permission to post it here.

Eamon was born in Mountcollins, Co. Limerick, and quickly learned the accordion and fiddle while playing for dances in the area.

After a brief stint in London, Eamon immigrated to Massachusetts, US in 1959, where he played in the New State Ballroom Ceili Band with Paddy Cronin, Mike McHale, Sean McGlynn, and others. He then joined the Connacht Ceili Band with Tommy Sheridan, Martin McDonagh, Brendan Tonra, Jimmy Kelly, Paddy Cronin, Larry Reynolds, and others.

Eamon later moved to Vermont where he was a major influence on Hilari Farrington Koehler and Benedict Koehler among others. He now lives back at home in Mountcollins, where he is "the last of the Flynns".

Eamon Flynn: Davy Doody's Big Flute / My Cat Duke (jigs)

Joe Cooley (1924–1973) was one of the great masters of traditional Irish music on the button accordion. Cooley was born in Peterswell, Galway and began playing accordion as a child tutored by his parents. As he grew older he was regularly employed throughout the west of Ireland and in Dublin, performing arduous labor as was typical of the time. In Dublin he met Sonny Brogan and Johnny Doran and it is likely they influenced his music.

He was later recruited to join the Tulla Ceili Band and a recording of him can be heard on copies of the 1975 album "Cooley" on one of the tracks playing reels including "The Ships are Sailing" and "The Morning Star". Tony MacMahon, who idolized Cooley, picked this individual track because he thought it accurately shared Cooley's massive impact on the band's sound. The Tulla later went on to win multiple All-Ireland Medals and other awards.

In the 1950's Joe left Ireland, first visiting London and then leaving for America. He spent time in Boston (whose Comhaltas branch still bears his name [Reynolds-Hanafin-Cooley]), New York, Chicago, and eventually San Francisco, where he stayed for some time. He was rarely without his musical partner Kevin Keegan during these travels.

In 1973 Joe was severely ill with cancer. He toured and made several recordings for which we have Tony MacMahon and Des Mulkere to thank. Since he has influenced many great accordion players and is still, to my ear, unparalleled among boxplayers in his ability to combine emotion and wildness in his music.

I was given this recording with the hope that it would be shared. This seems like a good medium in which to do so.

Joe Cooley: (song)

Composed by James Ennis around 1913 or 1914, and often played by his son Seamus Ennis.

Photo: At the crossroads in Carna, Iorras Aithneach, Connemara, Co. Galway, July 2014.

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The Morning Thrush, composed by James Ennis - piano

Two great tunes composed by legendary Pianist and fiddle player Charlie Lennon. Charlie plays them as Barn dances on the fiddle and Piano acc. on his CD 'Musical Memories'.

Fergus Mc Gorman – Flute
Conor Connolly – Button Accordion
Andrea Palandri – Fiddle
Paddy Mc Evoy – Piano

Reels- Pedalling Patterns (COMP. Charlie Lennon) / Weaving Dreams (COMP. Charlie Lennon)

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)

5 - Ned O Connor, Dan Jeremiah O Connor, May 18 1995 at Flemings Bar

32 Recordings

Martin McMahon with Brian Mcgrath

Track 56: Paddy Canny: Aonach Bheal Atha Na Slua (reels)

Today's disc is from fiddler Paddy Canny with a set of solo reels - Lord McDonald's/Ballinasloe Fair. These were recorded in 1958 and released on the Gael Linn label (Gael Linn CE18).

From the Ted McGraw Collection, McGraw 78 01-279.

Eamon Flynn: Davy Doody's Big Flute / My Cat Duke (jigs)

Colin Kadis

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