Na Fili - Na Fili 3

Na Fili ( meaning the poets in Gaelic) was a group built around Tomás Ó Canainn in the late 1960s. Ó Canainn was a uilleann piper, accordion player, singer, composer, researcher, writer and lecturer in both electrical engineering and music. He was a founder of the group Na Fili with fiddler Matt Cranitch and whistle player Tom Barry. They gained considerable popularity and recorded several albums. The NME in 1974 voted them the best Folk group and a further reviewer at that time commented that "no one, but no one can touch them". So judge for yourself....xx

1 Gander In The Pratie Hole/Humours Of Donnybrook/Why So
2 Ar Eireann Ni nEosfainn Ce Hi
3 Beal Atha hAmhnais
4 De Bharr Na gCnoc
5 Caitlin Triall
6 Dia Do Bheatha
7 The Foggy Dew
8 Cis Liathain/Is Maith Le Nora
9 Caoineadh Na dTi Muire
10 Leitrim Fancy/The Blackbird
11 Don Oiche Ud I mBeithil
12 Dalaigh's/Captain Byng/An Bhfaca Tu Mo Sheamaisin?

link to the free album

Na Fili - Na Fili 3

Bobby Casey - Casey in the Cowhouse

Recorded on a Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder in a converted shed behind Junior Crehan's house in 1959, this is the finest example of Bobby Casey's playing to be made available commercially. Four of the tracks were recorded by Bill Leader in 1971, but the greater part of the album was made when Casey was in his early-thirties, playing for friends in a relaxed, informal setting and  the spontaneity, freedom, and immediacy in Casey's playing makes 'Casey in the Cowhouse' stand out from every other recording of this great fiddler that I have heard. Casey is joined by Tommy McCarthy on concertina for two tracks, and by his son Seán Casey, who plays mandolin on the final track.

1. The Glen of Aherlow/Rolling in the Barrel [Reels]

2. Jenny's Welcome to Charlie [Reel]

3. My Love is Fair and Handsome [Reel]

4. The Musical Priest [Reel]

5. The Shores of Lough Rea/Clancy's Dream/Scully Casey's/The Banks of Lough Gowna/Brian O'Lynn [Jigs]

6. Paddy Ryan's Dream [Reel]

7. Toss the Feathers [Reel]

8. Poll Ha'penny/Murphy's [Hornpipes]

9. The Yellow Tinker/The Bunch of Keys [Reels]

10. The College Groves/Toss the Feathers [Reels]

11. Hurry the Jug [Set Dance]

12. Gerry Daly's/Scully Casey's/The Cuckoo/The Western [Hornpipes]

13. Banish Misfortune/Kitty's Rambles [Jigs]

14. The Old Wheels of the World/The Green Fields of America [Reels]

15. Connemara Stockings/The Ships are Sailing [Reels]

16. The Gallowglass/The Legacy [Jigs]

17. Miss McDonald [Reel]

18/ Farewell to Miltown/The Star of Munster [Reels]

link to the free album

Bobby Casey - Casey in the Cowhouse

Dick Gaughan - Live in Edinburgh 1984

Scottish Folk singer Dick Gaughan recorded live in the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh during the 1984 Edinburgh International Festival.

In early January 1984, I (Dick Gaughan) was doing a gig in the Star Club in Glasgow. I got to the second verse of the second song and my voice went. It was 5 months before I could speak and 7 months before I could sing again. This concert was the first I had given and I was absolutely terrified. Edinburgh being my home town, the audience that night was largely friends who knew how I felt and when I walked out on the stage, the emotional support from them was like a large pair of arms giving me a huge hug; one of the most remarkable and wonderful moments of my life.

01 - Revolution

02 - Now Westlin Winds

03 - Which Side Are You On

04 - Victor Jara Of Chile

05 - Companeros

06 - Workers Song

07 - Your Daughters And Your Sons

08 - Four Green Fields

09 - Ballad Of Accounting

10 - Jamie Foyers

11 - Glenlogie

12 - World Turned Upside Down

link to the free album

Dick Gaughan - Live in Edinburgh 1984

Bill Sawyer - Fiddling For Fun

Bill Sawyer started out in his musical career playing for local jamborees and dances in and around his home town of Carlisle, Quebec. what is perhaps remarkable about this, is that at this time in his life he wasn’t as yet even in his teens! Whenever word went out that “Little Billy Sawyer” was appearing, people from miles around the community would gather to see and hear this fiddle playing boy wonder. This 1973 album will more than satisfy fiddle fans everywhere.

1 Soldier’s Joy
2 Blue Water Hornpipe
3 Kevin’s Jig
4 Flowers Of Edinburgh
5 Faded Love
6 Sawyer’s Hornpipe
7 Daryl’s Hornpipe
8 Smash The Window
9 Joys of Québec
10 St. Anne’s Reel
11 Rippling Water Jig
12 Rubber Dolly

link to the free album

Bill Sawyer - Fiddling For Fun

Ballycotton - Fairytale

Ballycotton's 1997 release Fairytale showed considerable growth, as the group expanded its influences beyond those of traditional Irish music. "The Irish Opera" introduces Middle Eastern sounds to the Celtic foundation in a manner perfected years earlier by the Austrian Band. "Whispering" is a gentle contemporary instrumental piece possessing no distinct cultural origins. "The Horny, Drunken Wife" is a lively Irish-sounding number featuring fiddle and bouzouki. The traditional numbers "Michael Gormans," "Sweet Little Pussycat," "Ships Are Sailing," and "Home With the Girls" demonstrate musical preferences that still lie with the Celtic persuasion, while revealing subtle Middle Eastern, gypsy, and new age touches that make Ballycotton a more interesting group. "Sexy Pin-Up Girl," with its unusual rhythms and unique melody, is indicative of the band's growth and expansion. [From an online review]

Ballycotton are;
Alex König - Gitarre, Bouzouki, Mandoline
Christina Gaismeier - Violine
Harald G. Binder - Percussion
Robert Polsterer - Gitarre, Bass, Obertongesang
Peter Beinhofer - Akkordeon, Gesang

1 The Irish Opera

2 Her Nasty Daughter

3 Whispering

4 The Horny, Drunken Wife

5 Joanna´s Wedding

6 Michael Gorman´s

7 Sweet Little Pussycat

8 Ships Are Sailing

9 Sexy Pin Up Girl

10 Home With The Girls

11 Fairytale

link to the free album

Ballycotton - Fairytale

Gordon Highlanders - Bagpipes & Drums Of Scotland

Since the raising of The Gordon Highlanders in 1794, the sound of the Regiment’s bagpipes and drums has echoed throughout the world. Unusually, the section of men who play these instruments are called the Drums and Pipes in The Gordon Highlanders, rather than the more familiar Pipes and Drums in other Scottish regiments. This gives the Drummers precedence as having been in the ranks of the Regiment for longer. While Pipers have played in Scotland for centuries, the first mention of them in the Regiment is 1796; 2 years after the first soldiers were recruited.

The traditional role of Drummers and Buglers from Napoleonic times was to send signals and keep order by the beat of their drum. But by the time of the First World War, Drummers were used as runners, taking messages between different parts of the Battalion, and as stretcher-bearers, whose job it was to retrieve their wounded and dead comrades from the battlefield. This role continued into the Second World War.

Gordon Highlanders Pipers are renowned for playing their comrades into battle, inspiring them on, as well as terrifying the enemy.

Amazing grace

Battle on the tyne

My home in the hills

Pio braireachd

Regimental march

Pipe Set 1

Route march

When the battle is over

Conundrum

Regimental company march

Pipe Set 2

Reveille

Miss kirkwood

Scotland the Brave

link to the free album

Gordon Highlanders - Bagpipes & Drums Of Scotland

Leo Rowsome - Classics of Irish Piping

This collection is a compilation of two Topic albums, Leo Rowsome, Classics of Irish Piping Volume 1 and Volume 3, released in 1975 and 1977. These in turn were taken from recordings made between 1926 and 1948 for the Rex, HMV and Columbia labels. Rowsome was one of the great style-makers of Irish pipe music. ‘Everywhere he went,’ writes his friend Sean Reid in the notes, ‘he added glamour to a unique, expressive and truly native instrument, a living link with the historic Irish nation.’ This collection exhibits his highly personal approach in a programme of tunes both familiar and rare.

01. Boil the Breakfast Early / The Heather Breeze reels (3.21)

02. Savourneen Deelish / Clare's Dragoons air & march (3.09)

03. The Blackbird (3.13)

04. St. Patrick's Day (3.10)

05. Boulavogue / The Old Bog Road airs (3.02)

06. The Boys of Wexford / Kelly the Boy from Killane marches (2.47)

07. Rights of Man / Wexford / Dunphy's Hornpipe hornpipes (2.45)

08. The Broom / Star of Munster / The Milliner's Daughter reels (2.54)

09. Day Dreams / The Low Backed Car waltzes (2.49)

10. Kitty's Rambles / Donnybrook Fair / The Butcher's March jigs (2.49)

11. The Plains of Boyle / Bantry Bay Hornpipe hornpipes (3.14)

12. The Collier's Reel / The Maid of Tramore reels (3.14)

13. Gillian's Apples / The Maid of Tramore jigs (2.55)

14. The Independent Hornpipe / The Star Hornpipe hornpipes (2.50)

15. The Frieze Breeches seven part jig (2.55)

16. Tomorrow Morning / The Cloone Hornpipe hornpipes (2.58)

17. The Cook in the Kitchen / Rakes of Kildare jigs (2.55)

18. The Sweep's Hornpipe / The Friendly Visit hornpipes (2.59)

19. Jockey to the Fair set dance (2.40)

20. My Darling Asleep / Tongues of Fire jigs (2.50)

21. Higgin's Hornpipe / The Queen of May hornpipes (2.55)

22. The Fairie's Revels / I Won't Be a Nun marches (2.52)

23. Shandon Bells / Haste to the Wedding jigs (3.02)

24. Rocky Road to Dublin slip jig (2.51)

Tracks 1-12 are from Classics of Irish Piping Volume 1 (12T259, 1975);
Tracks 13-24 are from Classics of Irish Piping Volume 3 (12T322, 1977)

link to the free album

Leo Rowsome - Classics of Irish Piping