I saw a CD today with this title. It says he was a noted Clare fiddler. I have never heard the name mentioned here. Can antone tell me about the merits of this CD?
Ron
No idea, but this Fiddler is renowned for his original and unique style of fiddling - definitely without equal in taking a new sound out of the instrument.
Get a clip and see how you like it. Great value for learning as well.
Canny, now in his eighties, is one of the greatest fiddlers around. he has one solo Cd from the later 90s and there’s the seminal ‘All ireland champions’ from 1962 which has been re-released in ireland as ‘Meet Paddy Canny with PJ Hayes peadar O LOughlin and Bridie Lafferty’ Which is no doubt his revenge for not being told about the US re-issue that took placew a few years earlier. Especially the last one is a beautiful straightforward recording. A classic.
As Peter says, the early recording is a classic although Bridie Lafferty, the pianist is an, … er …, acquired taste.
I’m very, very fond of the 90s recording and wish that there were more from the years in between. I’m very partial to Clare, Kerry and Donegal fiddling and he’s right up there amongst my absolute favourites.
There are a few 78 rpms from Gael Linn that were recently re-issued with the other G-L material, they show a rathe heavy influence by Michael Coleman and Tommie Potts. There’s quite a bit of material in circulation, his recordings with the tulla ceiliband and endless ‘samizdat’ tapes, private recordings from all sorts of occasions.
Last year a tribute to him was held at the Willie Clancy Summer School, all sorts of people turned up to pay tribute and play with him, a memorable afternoon. His granddaughter is a beautiful whsitleplayer and stepdancer, she comes to my neighbour for lessons. Last christmas I wasat a whsitle concert locally, the young girl played the Galway rambler and played it beautifully, paddy sat in the audience a few feet away from me, beaming with joy. He performed with the two grandchildren in Glor in Ennis last saturday week.
Lovely photo Peter.
It would be nice if some of that material floating around could be brought together for CD issue. Even if sound quality is poor, I can’t imagine that those of us who love his music would mind.
Thanks for the info. I guess I need to get this recording to broaden my education. I believe this is the solo cd. When I made my one and only trip to Ireland I loved the Kerry, Clare and Galway areas. I wish I had known more about the music then.
Ron
Listening to my copy of the 90s album right now. It had been a while since I listened to it, so I didn’t comment earlier on this thread. Today I randomly decided to listen to it during lunch.
I think it’s a hard album to approach for people who aren’t really immersed in the music. It really sounds like an old man playing, scratchy and with sometimes wandering intonation. (Though I suspect at least some of the latter is intentional!)
But his style is pure genius. This is great stuff. I see why Brock worships his playing. I’m going to have to remember to listen to it more often.
I’ll have to check this out. When I think of County Clare fiddlers it’s Martin Hayes who comes to mind. mike
On the All Ireland Champions album, Paddy Canny plays with P.J. Hayes, Martin’s father. Listening to a recent Martin Hayes album will definitely not give you much idea of the style of the more traditional Clare fiddlers.
Wombat, That’s very interesting. All the more reason that I’ll have to give Paddy Canny a listen. mike
Canny is Martin Hayes’ uncle (by marriage) and a very strong influence
For a long time those who had copies of a Canny LP would be hard pressed to admit it, much less share. I never did find out why all the hush until I met a traveling - Irish - fiddler in the early 80’s who picked a lot of strokes off of the master. That’s why I don’t know a thing about Paddy’s CD’s besides the odd RTE show I happened to catch, but, I do know a little about the uniqueness of his style.
BTW Peter isn’t that a photo of PJ Hayes?
No it’s not. It’s Paddy Canny with Peadar O Loughlin is sitting across from him being the out of focus presence in the background, I took it early october 1996 in Tulla, Co Clare.
here’s another one, maybe clearer, from september 1998:
Ok Peter now I see it!
Thanks for the second photo.
:0)