Our first of a series of mini podcasts that just contain a little info on a song and then the song itself. We’ve rustled this one up for International Women’s Day in honour of revolutionary Irish poet Ethna Carberry.

There are plans in the pipeline for longer form podcasts, video workshops and other lovely content all made available through our Patreon page. If you want to check it out head over to www.patreon.com/yevagabonds.

Ethna Carberry's Moorlough Mary

Hello everyone,

The song we've chosen for this week is Castle Gardens - a song from Inishowen which deals with eviction, forced emigration, loss and hope for the future, with a few St Patrick references in there for good measure. Thanks a million to Alan Woods at the Irish Traditional Music Archive for his help on this one. We first heard this song sung by our dear friend Andreas Schultz, a brilliant singer based in Berlin who we have missed a lot over the past year of lockdown. 

If you'd like to hear the source recording of the song, you can hear Charlie McGonigle on the Inishowen Song Project here. That's an amazing resource that we highly recommend exploring: https://www.itma.ie/inishowen/song/castle_gardens_charlie_mcgonigle_james_eoghain

We'd also recommend checking out the Inishowen Traditional Singers Circle, whose hugely significant festival is going online this year - http://inishowensinging.ie/

As far as we're concerned, St Patrick's Day is an ideal opportunity for us all to welcome people to our shores when they're forced to emigrate from their homes in times of hardship. You can find out about supporting the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland here if you're interested: https://www.masi.ie/

Hope you enjoy the mini-podcast! Happy St Patrick's Day to you all.

Brían & Diarmuid

Mini-Podcast #2 - Castle Gardens

The third instalment in our new series of mini podcasts where we tell you a bit about a song and then we sing you the song. This week Diarmuid has unearthed some dark Dublin slang songs related to ‘The Night Before Larry Was Stretched’ and he’s chosen one, ‘The Kilmainham Minuet’ to sing. These podcasts are funded by our patreon page. For more detailed info on the song visit www.patreon.com/yevagabonds

Mini-Podcast #3 - The Nearly Lost Legends Of Luke & Larry

This week, Brían sings a 400 year old song about an unfortunate and hilarious altercation between a woman, her husband and a crab, which ended up in her chamber pot. There are loads of versions of this song out there, but this one is drawn from two separate songs from a book called Old Dublin Songs, by Hugh Shields, the first song being A Combat Between an Ale-Wife and a Sea Crab, and the second part The Tryal and Condemnation of the Sea Crab. It's as good as it sounds. 

The oldest version of the song I could found is from 1620 from an old English manuscript called Bishop Percy's Folio. I should mention that the lyrics are very explicit in that one!

Mini-Podcast #4 - The Ale-Wife And The Sea Crab

Hi folks!  Here’s episode five of our mini podcast series. The second installment in the story of Luke Caffrey. Luke’s ghost returns to haunt his friends. Thanks for the continued support. Hope you all enjoy it.   -Diarmuid

Mini-Podcast #5 - Luke Caffrey's Ghost

I decided to change direction for mini cast seven. I'm taking a break from the Dublin Slang Songs for now and instead giving you a rendition of Derry Gaol as sung by the wonderful Sarah Makem.

Ye Vagabonds

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