Just a question about Séamus Ennis.
I have an old album called “Forty Years of Irish Piping” and on it there is a cut where Seamus tells a story… short one called “First You Must Learn The Grip”. He is a wonderful storyteller and I sure would like to find more stories that he may have recorded.
Does anyone here know a source I could go to, or would anyone here want to list some records or CDs where I might hear him telling stories.
He is not a bad piper either is he…heh heh.
There was a CD released last year called Ceol, Amhrain, scealta (Irish for music, songs and stories). It contains several stories. However, everything is in Irish. The inlay card contains translations of the stories - almost word for word. It’s quite good.
There are spoken stories on several of Ennis’ albums. IIRC check out The Bonnie Bunch of Roses, The Fairy Piper, Music at the Gates.
djm
If you have a tape player you could snatch this up from an Amazon seller
http://www.amazon.com/Feidlim-Tonn-Castle-King-Irelands/dp/B000XA14ZC
I have the LP version…it’s Ennis telling a long folk tale with musical interludes.
I also have one copy of Bonny Bunch of Roses in stock at
http://www.bagpipediscs.travelingpiper.com/product_info.php?cPath=23_30&products_id=527
Ian
I was also going to recommennd “Feidlim Tonn Ri’s Castle” which is more story than music, and as a bonus has on the cover the most accurate known picture of the great master himself:
That’s a good one. It looks like he’s saying, “first you must learn the grip…”
I don’t think that there are stories on the Bonny Bunch of Roses album. There are a few humorous songs, some piping tunes and some whistle tunes, but no stories (IIRC).
There’s an out-of-print album Seamus Ennis made for Leader Records in about 1969 in the Masters of Irish Music series they put out. On this album, every tune is preceded by a story associated with the tune. It includes gems such as the story behind The Gold Ring, The Pinch of Snuff, and The Lark’s March /Lark in the Morning. If you can find a copy, buy it.
Tom Ryan
I want to say thanks for all the responses. Sorry I didn’t get back sooner but I just had a DSL line installed and I have been off the air. I am still working on it but you guys have come up with a lot of sources. I always felt that ITM is not just playing session music but it is also sitting around the fire with other musicians and sometime inbetween sets hearing a story.
Jim