 |
|
|
Sleeve Notes
Eugene O'Donnell (62), Seamus Egan (23) and myself (48) represent three generations of Irish traditional music in Philadelphia. Eugene and I have been playing together for twenty years and for the last ten we have been joined by Seamus. We've often talked about making a recording together. Finally we got around to it.
Mick Moloney
Philadelphia, March 15, 1993.
The popularity of this trio has spread from their early appearances in Irish community settings to large audiences all across the country. Their recovery of a whole two centuries of Irish-American musical lore, their revelation of the links between Appalachian music and the Irish tradition and their attention to the works of contemporary Irish composers and arrangers has been a vivid exhibition of performance and ingenuity. Although they have been in demand for performance everywhere from Smithsonian Institution concerts in the nation's capitol to West Coast concerts and festivals, they remain very much part of Philadelphia's Irish community. The city's two hundred years of Irish-American history provides a rich setting for then musical energies, and announcement of their appearances brings out Irish-Americans in devoted throngs. In the city where the Irish first fought in the American Revolution, where they have danced and sung their own music, for generations, Moloney, O'Donnell and Egan are names that will command toasts of honor wherever glasses are lifted.
Denis Clark
Philadelphia, March 12, 1993
Polkas: Mulholland's Fancy — Eugene got this selection of polkas from Derry musician and dancer Patricia Mulholland before he left Derry for Philadelphia in 1957.
Song: McKeown And I — This powerful, poignant song was written by Mickey and Cormac McConnell. Though the two characters in the song are from Belfast they could just as easily be from the South Bronx, North Philadelphia, East LA. or Cabrini Green.
Air & Reel: Gan Ainm & Emily's — Seamus has no idea where he first heard the air that begins this selection. The reel was composed by Cape Breton fiddler Otis Tomas.
Air & Hornpipe: Oilean Mannan (The Isle Of Man)/ Brighid Of Knock — Eugene got this from his friend and fellow Derryman Eamon Timoney who was a great enthusiast of Celtic music. We follow with a hornpipe composed by the late Ed Reavy, a native of Barnagrove Co. Cavan, who lived in Philadelphia for most of his 87 years and composed hundreds of beautiful tunes.
Barn Dances: Mrs Kenny's & The Donegal Barn Dance — These are two tunes we got from old 78 rpm recordings. Airs Kenny's was recorded in New York by legendary Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman in 1929. The Donegal Barn Dance we got from a 1946 Shamrock label recording of fiddler Tommy Caulfield's Erin's Pride Orchestra. Tommy, an emigrant from County Roscommon who passed away in 1987, was secretary of the Irish Musicians Union in Philadelphia for over forty years.
Song: Uncle Dan McCann — A popular Irish-American stage song in the early years of the century. A version close to this was recorded by singer and uilleann piper Shaun O'Nolan back in the 1930s. I started singing it myself when I was asked to give an illustrated talk on Irish Songs of the American Civil War by the 69th Regiment in New York City. The last verse of the song made it pertinent for the occasion.
Set Dance: Planxty Hugh O'Donnell — Eugene learned this tune from the Edward Bunting Collection.
Reels: The Maid Of Mount Kisco & Dowd's #9 — Two great old reels that we have been fond of since we first began playing together.
Jigs: Rambling Boy & The Sprig Of Shillelah — Seamus and I picked up these unusual tunes at the Great Banjo Meltdown in Lebanon State Park Tennessee in 1993 from minstrel banjoist Joe Ayers from Virginia. They were both published in 1861 in the Converse Banjo book, one of the first tutors published for the minstrel banjo. Both tunes have an unusual twist. The first is a jig with a single A part and a doubled B part. The second is clearly an old set dance piece with an A part six bars long, followed by a B part with 10 bars. A song with the same name sung to this tune was very popular on the late 19th century American stage.
Song: The Man With The Cap — Colum Sands wrote this song. I'll never forget the first time I heard him sing it at the Fiddlers Green Festival in Rostrevor Co. Down with the rest of the Sands Family joining in on the chorus along with the audience packed into the community hall on a fine August evening.
Reels: John Doherty's, Crowley's & Gan Ainm — Seamus picked up the first two tunes playing in sessions here and there. The third tune is from the vast repertoire of Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster.
Air: The Sally Gardens — This slow air, the tune to Yeats's beautiful lyric poem, is one of Eugene's favorite concert performance pieces.
Flings: Four Provinces Flings — These great old dance tunes were recorded in the late 1920s and early 1930s by The Four Provinces Orchestra, a dance band that played for over forty years in Philadelphia between the early 1920s and the mid 1960s. The band was renowned for its repertoire of unusual flings, schottisches and barn dances which it performed on radio and in the Irish dance halls which thrived In the city during these years.
Song: The Galbally Farmer — A song very popular in the North Munster area where I grew up. It represents the ultimate revenge a spailpin (wandering laborer) could exact on his oppressor; to write a song that would outlast both parties.
Air & Waltz: Margaret Mary Robinson — Eugene learned this tune at the Cuyahoga Valley Folk Festival from Cape Breton fiddler John Campbell who now lives in Boston. He plays it first as an air and then quickens the tempo up to waltz time.