Dear All,
Please could you let me know what ITM is available recorded from the early 20th century? I have lots of American TM recordings from then & wondered if there were any comparable collections…just picking your (collective) brains!
Thankyous
Julia c
Check out Wheels Of The World Vol. 1 and Wheels Of The World Vol. 2. They are compilations of old '20s-'30s records.
Cheers,
Aaron
There is a 4CD box set on the label Proper which contains a lot of Irish music recorded in America in the early 20th century. Proper is an English label but they price their sets so cheaply that they just about give them away.
I have the box on order currently but I would have heard a lot of what’s in it elsewhere so can recommend it sound unheard.
Here’s a link. Click on Proper Boxes, then on Farewell To Ireland. You’ll get full track listings.
Most re-issues of irish material are of commercial 78 rpms of the period. Few ‘field recordings’ are available commercially although material going as far back as 1898 is in circulation among players.
Viva Voce has released a good bit of material, Michael Coleman, William Mullaley’s concertinaplaying, flute wise John Mckenna springs to mind. There’s a number of complilations, Fluters of Old Erin, Past masters of Irish Dance Music and that sort of stuff. Shanachie during the 80 did a series of lps Michael Coleman again, Paddy Killoran, James Morrison etc.
the Michael Coleman archive in Sligo has a series of Cds with lovely material, mostly non commercial recordings, mostly later than the 20-30s but very worthwhile.
‘Field recordings’ and archival material of a slightly later period are available, of song and dance music alike. Mrs Crotty, Seamus Ennis, Labhras O Cadhla, Joe Heaney, Sorcha Ni Ghuairim, Elisabeth Cronin, Dennis Murphy, Padraic O Keeffe and many more, often from the 40s-50s.
Are they still in business?
I haven’t a clue, I think I saw some of their stuff in a shop recently but that could have been very old stock, great shop for rare stuff that one 
From Galway to Dublin and The Milestone at the Garden are two fantastic compilations that my friend Philippe Varlet put together a few years ago. Milestone is all fiddle music; From Galway has a bit of everything (including a wild recording of Leo Rowesome playing “The Dawn,” sailing way up into the third octave of the pipes). They’re both on Rounder Records.
I tried to find them a while ago, but their Web site was dead. It’s still dead… but there’s some contact information here that i didn’t try:
Viva Voce:
http://www.dirtynelson.com/linen/feature/68vivavoce.html
Dear guys,
Many thanks indeed for all your kind suggestions. I knew you would deluge me with good CDs to find - now just the delightful problem of where to start…
Julia C