Around the Hills o Clare : double CD

Trad Irish Music
1

I just spent a few hours at the launch of a double Cd of local singers, recordings made over the past 30 years of local singers by Pat Mckenzie and Jim Carroll and release in cooperation with An Goilin singer’s club. the CD is called Around](http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/clare.htm%22%3EAround) the Hills of Clare.

Tom Munnelly, launching the CD, reflected about the dying tradition of singing. Singing is not longer what it was, a pasttime in the kitchen, a social interaction but is now much confined to the stage and to performance. The CD catches a glimpse of what was, Tom told that he remembered being present when one of the tracks was recorded, when he heard back the recording after twenty or more years he realised that the white noise on the recording was not actually that but it was the sound of a kettle and pots boiling on the range while the singer sang.

A must have for those interested in traditional singing, as it was.
All proceeds of sales go to ITMA, the Irish Traditional Music Archive.

The launch was a lovely night by the way, singers sang, Ollie Conway was impressive as ever tim Dennehy sang his usual, Kitty Hayes was lovely (we played at the end of the launch), many more sang, Roisin White, Gerry Reilly of An Goilin and other whose name escapes me now including wonderful Sean Nos from Connemara.

2

Well now,that link takes ye to one very serious website. Excellent stuff.

For far too many years now,Singing has been the poor relation of Irish music.It has been something that happens when the musicians go to the toilet.Hopefully this CD might redress the balance somewhat and restore singing back to it’s rightful place as an equal member of the Tradition.

Just reading the sleeve notes alone has taught me a few things that I never knew and made me think again about some things that I thought I knew.

Many people think of Irish music has an expression of a poor people and there is some truth in that but before pipes and fiddles and all that there was the one thing that even the poorest could use - the voice.

Nice one Peter.


Slan,
D.

3

I used to attend an Irish singing class for a few years, before moving onto playing tunes. I left when the teacher changed for the third time, and I just didn’t like the new teacher’s style. Maybe that interest had also run it’s course, and If I had to sing Spencil freaking Hill once more I’d not be responsible for my actions.

A friend I know from Ireland used to have a repertoire of about 50 songs, some in Irish, most in English, but had trouble remembering them all - that’s a lot of verses. She attended a singing session once a month, where I got to meet Dan Milner & Bob Conroy, two Americans with Irish roots who sing with guitar/banjo accompaniment.

I wonder if, after a lapse of a few decades, singing may come back into fashion in the same way as playing ITM has resurfaced? Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long.

4

I can’t wait to read the extensive notes when I get home from work. And words to the songs included!

I don’t know if singing will come back into fashion anywhere…I think we’ve become a world of “listeners” not singers.

Susan

5

But everyone is here because they’re playing music, not just listening to it. The fact that most people -are- listeners and not singers doesn’t mean that everyone -wants- to be that way.

And I have a handful of guitar chords so I can do the sing-and-play thing, and I’m always
happy to provide flute accompaniment when someone knows the words to an irish song

(Well, okay, the words to one of, Star of the County Down, Red is the Rose, She Moves Through the Fair, and Down by the Sally Gardens… oh, and Maeri’s Wedding… but I’m willing to add more airs to my repertoire! :slight_smile: )

There is a lot of resistance to people making their own music in any form, of course, but still.

–Chris

6

Chris, I was thinking more of people who sing without even thinking about it. For instance, the last person I know who would sing around the house, without even realizing she was doing it, was my grandmother some 30+ years ago - hymns, old Danish songs, etc. I’m not talking about people who sit down with a guitar and sing, learning or practicing for their next performance, but who sing as easily as they talk. I’m probably not expressing that very well…

I’m not certain I understand what you mean by that. Could you elaborate?

Susan

7

I try not to elaborate, as it makes me sound like a raving lunatic condemning the conspiracy of government, big business, and teenage fashion for controlling our minds… but, anyway, what I mean is that, we are constantly subjected to recorded ‘popular’ music, and when younger, socially required to know that music thoroughly. Among other things, it’s difficult to find a place other than one’s own home or the deep woods where one is not surrounded by wired-in pre-recorded music (while driving, of course, one is only intermittently subjected to it, and then often in competing flavors at the same time.) In our popular fiction, which is to say, TV and the movies, there are only two kinds of musically inclined characters: the comically bad, or the ‘next star’. It’s practically and ingrained social belief that anyone actually -good- at music would be a professional, and therefore everyone else is obviously bad, and should be made fun of.

This is not helped by the fact that people in the various musical traditions openly scoff at other forms of music, eg. classical musicians disdain for other music generally and ‘show’ music in particular, itm session players disdain for singing, etc. I have my suspicions that the scoffers are in the minority, really, but nonetheless, I’d be reluctant to admit to knowing ‘Arthur MacBride’ anywhere near a session, or to confess to knowing ‘Moses Supposes’ to a classical musican. I’m not sure there’s anywhere it would be safe to admit to knowing all the male parts in the Buffy Musical…

Anyway, even supposing that one is completely immune to socialization and peer pressure, and looks scoffers in the eye and informs them that there’s nothing wrong with music of type X, still, there’s very little chance to have musical recreation unless one is ‘performing’. I think, ITM is surviving better because it has its own time and place reserved for it, but the ‘time and place’ for all other forms of non-professional music was the living room or the kitchen in the evening, and that has been displaced by the television and the radio.

And yes, for a computer professional, I sound an awful lot like a luddite, sorry. :wink:

8

True.

In my case, my dad played a bit of guitar, and my mom was the church organist, but neither of them would sing around the house. In grade-school, I learned from my peers that only sissies (aka “girlie-men” in modern parlance) sing, so I avoided learning music. I didn’t discover my love for music and singing until I was in college. I’m still very shy about singing where others can hear me, even though I’ve had voice lessons and sung in choirs in the past. I wish now that I’d just ignored those bozos in grade-school who poo-pooed music.

Other than church or community choirs, there’s not much opportunity to sing with others. Some areas have “song circles”, but they’re not common. I guess I’ll just continue singing in the shower…

9

I actually -do- sing around the house, and in the car, and (in the warmer seasons when going out into the woods isn’t insane) around the campfire.

10

Hello

In ITM singing and music playing have been strange bed fellows. There are very few who are in both camps. Seamus Creagh and Eamonn Brophy are two that spring to mind.
I was very fortunate that, when I started playing music, I fell in with a group of musicians that included a singer (Dick Hogan). We travelled all over Ireland and Dick was welcomed everywhere we went (usually by the great old musicians that were still alive back then; they all seemed to have liked the songs and the crack that went with them). I visited Tom Lenihan at his house, collected Nicholas Tobín from Ring and brought him to a fleadh and paid coutless visits to the Gaelteacht areas.
My musical life was made a whole lot richer by being involved with singers.

Cheers

John Moran

11

I’m a house singer :blush:

12

Any idea why? I’ve often wondered why ITM sessions (in the US, at least) are usually intrumental music only. Why have the singers been left out?

13

I think it’s because sessioneers are very defensive against any chance of their session
turning into a pub-sing, which is understandable. It would be hard to reclaim the flow of things if half the pub was singing. (But, given earlier remarks about people not really singing socially anymore, I doubt if to-day more than a couple people would actually know the words to any given song, except Auld Lang Syne.)

14

The earlier remarks referred to something completely different than ‘pub singalong’ and ‘sessions’, it refered to traditional singing.

15

Peter, perhaps you should explain what that means -the setting, the occasion, the singing, etc. In other words, describe what you mean by “singing” versus pub-sing-alongs, so that others can compare to see if they have even witnessed what you are referring to versus their own experiences.

Thx,

djm

16

David, the CD’s sleeve notes which you can find following the link above give some introduction to the context of traditional singing. The Musical Traditions website has some more articles discussing traditional singing and singerss: go here</a](http://www.mustrad.org.uk/">here</a)> and find them.

17

Thanks, Peter, I have read this, but it refers to times past. I guess I was asking about what is happening now. The CD notes refer to singing sessions. Do these still go on in your area? The CD notes also say a lot of this singing was done in the home. Is that still the case? If so, how does it get spread around, or does it anymore?

Thx,

djm

18

Singing has come to our slow/fast session on Thursday night. Roughly the first hour and a half it is session tunes, with everybody getting a chance to lead a set. The second half is also tunes but now everybody is encouraged to sing individually as we round the room.

For years I sang at home for myself, never knowing which key or other that I sang in, my parents sang at home all the time but never in public. So about a year ago one of our leaders started working with us with the guitar (which I don’t play) and piano to help us each work in our vocal range. I have come to love singing a cappella and will on Thursday night sing unaccompanied.

The songs don’t have to be traditional or Irish, although that is encouraged but those who want to sing (and who have never sang in public) can sing songs that they are familiar and comfortable with.

I commit my songs to memory, below is a list of the songs I sing now:

The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Tommy Makem’s version
Red is the Rose
A Walk in the Irish Rain
Getting Dark Again, Buddy MacDonald
Away From the Roll of the Sea, Alister MacGillivray
Here’s To Song
Homeward Bound
Two Brothers
The Flower of Scotland
The Skye Boat Song
Haul Her Along (Ennis Sisters)
Raglan Road
Le Canadien Errant, learning to sing it in French
Come By the Hills
The Foggy Dew
'Twas Pretty To Be In Ballinderry

It doesn’t turn into a pub-sing-along either, because by the time we get to singing, this little B&B pub is emptying (Paul’s been there!), which is fine with us.

I find that singing adds another dimension to the playing of music, phrasing, breathing, tempo, artistic interpretation..license all come into it, especially when you sing a cappella. My fun for this summer is to learn a few simple tunes in Irish. You don’t need a ton of songs for a session!

I usually sing to myself when walking to and from work, and even on my break and lunch hour outside.

I think I will purchase above CD, always looking for new material.

Thanks for the heads up Peter.

MarkB

19

I’ll have to be brief for lack of time:

What is described has not yet completely disappeared. SInging sessions are still going, the session in Gleeson’s we used to play always had a good number of locals singing after the music, there was a lot of singing (as I described in the initial post) at the CD launch, there are still a considerable number of singers i nthe area. having Mick Fynn walk in and sing a few songs during a saturday night is always a musical treat or Vincent Boyle singing 'the Little Bit of ‘lastic’ about women’s knickers and Ollie Conway singing An Bonnan Bui can still lift you out of your seat.