February sees another anniversary of the death of Micho Russell. 2015 also is the centenary of Micho’s birth.
It’s good for that reason that a long standing project has come to fruition: Bill Ochs’ compilation of archive recordings of Micho’s playing (and singing) , from a wide variety of sources. The result of years of painstaking research, Bill has at long last (I ws sworn to secrecy for maybe the last decade) produced a two CD set under the title 'Micho Russell : Rarities & Old Favourites 1949-1993 :Tin whistle, Flute and songs from North Clare and Beyond.
Available as (double) CD and download. (best, cut out the meddlemen, bought direct from Bill’s website but available elsewhere)
I’ll be seeing Bill tomorrow and I’ll post some more detail once I have taken in my own copy of the CD.
Bill will be on Paula Carroll’s programme on Clare FM to talk about the project (see the Clare FM podcast).
In the run up to the Russell memorial weekend the Clare People (one of the local papers) is carrying a twelve page spread about MIcho and his music this week (if you can get your hands on that, not sure if they will put it on-line).
I’ve always felt a love for his music, and a certain connexion too, because my first teacher/mentor had spent some time in Clare in the 1970s and had picked up a number of tunes directly from Micho, which he taught to me.
Whenever I play one of these at a session people just sit… nobody knows them, and they’re just session-busters. I don’t have names for them.
One of them strikes me as a setting of The Boy In The Gap, but only the second part is recognisable.
Eugene Lambe was traveling to Germany with Micho around 1982 They sent word and we arranged to meet them at a musical instrument market that was part of an Old Music festival somewhere along their way to Germany. In the lobby of the building I got the pipes out and played a few tunes with Micho. After we finished the first few he stopped, looked at me and after thinking for a bit he said: ‘You have been listening to me a good bit haven’t you?’
I always thought that was intresting, I knew his music from recordings and I did listen to him a good bit but I never consciously tried to learn to play like him. I first met him during the Willie Clancy week of 1980. I remember him walking in with an ice-cream cone in his hand and sitting down next to me, pulling out the whistle and joining with the music.
Writing this I also realise it’s a whopping thirty years this year since I traveled with Micho in the winter of 1985 to play a few festivals and concerts. Time flies.
Clare FM’s podcasts for the traditional music programmes are here Paula Carroll’s show was on yesterday so that would be this one (I didn’t catch it, Bill just mentioned he would be on).
I suppose you could say we wet the baby’s head tonight during a gathering in the birthplace of the Russells nestled into the Cliffs of Moher above Fisherstreet. The house has been very nicely restored and there was a bit of reminiscing about how it used to be.
There was a swarm of photographers from local papers buzzing around organising people, photos with instruments were required so yours truly ended up beside the fireplace with the pipes in the company of a young Miltown Malbay fiddleplayer. We didn’t really arrive with the intention of playing but as we met (as they used to say) the two of us ended up playing all night with some help from Bill Ochs towards the end. And it was nice too. At some point a half set took to the floor and what else could we play there but the Doonagore reel?
I certainly hope that there is a video, photos, or at least an audio track.
I’m sure the whole weekend will be abuzz. During the radio interview from Wed 2/25 with Bill Ochs there wasn’t mention of official CD launch so I hope that there will be something formally arranged (during Russell Memorial weekend) with possibly a few future launches. Ochs had stated the CD availability was iffy leading up to the Doolin weekend. Perhaps an official CD launch in the US as well.
Another point Ochs mentioned during this radio interview was that he had amassed nearly two thousand recordings of Micho Russell. Various field recordings, house concerts private or otherwise, official performance recordings, and so forth which I hope would someday become available or access to from a library collection. With two thousand recordings in various levels of “quality” for the technology of the time one would hope that there are enough recordings to possibly offer at least another fifty tracks or so on CD.
And, Bill Ochs did mention that a book is forthcoming hopefully later this year (2015).
So there’s a lot happening Micho Russell whistling and there is certainly one big fan here.
I ordered mine from BCH. Bill Ochs website posted above says at the bottom of the page that CD will be available from CDbaby too, but, it is not available yet. So maybe the downloadables will become available after a few hard copies are sold off.
I’m buying multiple copies from various sources… spreading the wealth. 'Tis better to give than to receive.
Just received a message from Bill Ochs about the write up in the Clare People and pictures from the Russell Cottage gathering on Friday night. Can’t find the article on-line. And it seems the photos don’t work with a direct link but they’re here: Bill Ochs, Music by the fire (there are a few more on the site but this will do I suppose. You can navigate the gallery from the pic page anyway).
[edit:]
Here are the two images linked above, there was a way around the site’s anti linking strategy after all:
What would be nice with the Micho Russell double-CD now available is a tune/song book of the forty-nine tracks. Ear learning may be the best way but only goes so far, while sheet/ABC music helps those individuals that rely on learning it that way. Whatever method is used its about getting the music in your head.
The CDs are wonderful listening and I especially enjoy just hearing Micho speak.
A fair number of Micho’s tunes appear in Breandan Breathnach’s collections, especially CRE 2. And another few in Michael Coady’s ‘Well of spring Water’. His songs can be found in Micho’s Dozen, compiled by the late Tom Munnelly for the Ennistymon Festival of Traditional Singing.
There is also “The Piper’s Chair: a collection of tunes, songs, and folklore from Micho Russell”. From Ossian Publications (1989) with 22 tunes “transcribed from Micho’s Tin Whistle-playing by Barbara Wygol.” I’ve seen references to a second volume but never actually laid eyes on it.
The Piper’s Chair seems to be out of print but maybe inter-library loan or used book sellers might come up with a copy.
And, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill Ochs isn’t considering something along these lines anyway.
There is also “The Piper’s Chair: a collection of tunes, songs, and folklore from Micho Russell”. From Ossian Publications (1989) with 22 tunes “transcribed from Micho’s Tin Whistle-playing by Barbara Wygol.” I’ve seen references to a second volume but never actually laid eyes on it.
I keep forgetting those ones : Micho was also forever trying to flog little photocopied booklets like that with a few tunes, a few pictures and a bit of song and story in them (“The Piper’s Chair”, “The Piper’s Chair No. 2”, “The road to Aran” etc). Ossian took one of those up I believe. They’d be hard to find nowadays although I have seen them on ebay a few times. Dennis Winter’s 1990 Doolin’s Micho Russell had similar production values. No tunes in that though.
