Can anyone tell me where he was born / died, the dates, and where (and from whom, if you know) he learned to play the music from?
Thanks.
–James
Do you mean Eddie Moloney from Ballinakil, Co. Galway?
Maybe, if so sorry about the misspelling.
Did he play a Radcliff system flute?
Thanks.
–James
Not that I am aware of. I only know of Paddy Carty playing the Radcliffe. I don’t have dates on Eddie Moloney, but he was active in the fifties, played with the Ballinakil (and also with the Tulla?) Ceili Band, and I seem to recall that he recorded with Peadar O’Loughlin; don’t think I’ve heard those. He has some tracks on the flute geezers.
Eddie Moloney’s son, Sean plays both boehm and simple system flutes. I actually think I photographed him last year playing a Radcliffe. He deals in instruments (flutes and fiddles) so it may be he was just playing an instrumetn he had for sale. From the Eddie Moloney tracks I heard I don’t think he played a Radclliffe. I had some contact with a guy who was writing a thesis for UCL on Eddie Moloney who was looking for information and recordings. He’d know, if only I could remember his name. :roll:
A wee bit of background, plus a WONDERFUL version of “Christmas Eve” … 
Edited to add: Two THOUSAND snaps to Peter Laban, who, you’ll notice at the top of the post, provided the notes and did the transcription. Thank you, Peter! (P.S. Thank you also for Patsy’s Killavil)
The Moloneys of E. Galway are a long line of flute players going back to the 1800s, starting with James Moloney who was originally from Limerick but settled in Ballinakill after living in Yorkshire and America. His son Stephen was a member of the original Ballinakill Ceili Band (late 1920s-1940s)
Eddie (one of Stephen Moloney’s sons) played in the “new” Ballinakill Band (1950s), as did his brother Ambrose.
As Peter mentioned, Eddie’s son Sean is also a well-known flute player. The two albums he put out last year on Claddagh, Music on the Wind and Potsticks, are a bit of a gold mine if you’re into the music of East Galway…there’s more than 40 tracks of music between the two CDs (one track actually appears on both!). Some great playing and some wonderful tunes, including a jig composed by Sean called “Missing the Wren” which I learned last month and cannot seem to stop playing.
Good stuff, guys! Thanks!!! 
Brad, you wouldn’t happen to have ABC’s for that tune that you could post would ya? (If not, no biggie…)
Thanks again!
–James
No, but I’ll post a clip once I have a few minutes to record it. I’m no good at transcribing tunes, but this one’s fairly easy to learn by ear. I’d never play it in a session, though, as it starts off like the Humours of Ballyloughlin and everyone would just assume it was that and jump in!
That’ll work…thanks!
–James
Sean Moloney ofcourse also recorded Bridging the gap with his uncle Kevin Moloney in 1997. Kevin played in the 1938 instalment of the Ballinakil band. On the inside cover of that CD is a photograph of Eddie Moloney, playing the fiddle.
Breandan Breathnach included six Eddie Moloney tunes in Ceol Rinnce vol 2.
I put a clip on my site of Missing The Wren (Sean Moloney composition), played on whistle…it sounds fine on the flute but to me it sits even better on the whistle, and I bet it would be great on the pipes too.
http://www.firescribble.net/mwren.mp3
The story behind the title is that he woke up with a bad cold on St. Stephen’s Day and thought he would end up having to miss the festivities. In the end, though, he recovered in time, so in fact he didn’t miss the wren after all!
Brad, that’s a lovely tune, and as always, you play it with lovely skill.
Curiosity: what whistle are you playing for that tune?
–James
It’s a Sindt D. It sounds much nicer in person 
You misunderstand; I thought it sounded pretty nice in the clip, myself.
–James
I actually remember Eddie playing the fiddle most of the time that I knew him. I grew up with Sean in Galway - we were good friends all the way through school - and played regularly in sessions with Sean and Eddie in the Cottage Bar in Galway in the late 70’s. Eddie always played the fiddle and Sean the flute (he used to play the concert flute as oposed to the Irish Flute). Great times!
I bet! Thank you for the memory; it makes me smile.