Sunday, July 31, 2011

Biddy Mulligan

Biddy Mulligan the Pride of the Coombe (sometimes just called Biddy Mulligan) is a song written by Seamas Kavanagh in the 1930s, and made famous by the performances of the musichall singer and comedian Jimmy O'Dea, who also took on the persona of the charismatic stall-holder.


Friday, July 29, 2011

AIR (J.S. Bach)

This lovely tune which I like to play on bouzouki.

You find here the sheet music with piano. play teh bouzouki with capo on the second fret.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

A Kiss in the Morning Early

A song brought by the Canadian folk group McGinty.
The year 2007 was the “30th Anniversary Year” for McGinty. John Ferguson, Don Moore and Dave Hickey have been performing together for over 30 years with an ease that is rare in traditional maritime music. They have a way of taking standards and subtly turning them into energetic romps or melancholy ballads, yet each tune is unmistakably McGinty.
Throughout their career McGinty has shared the stage with some of the legends of folk music including Liam Clancy, Tom Paxton, John Prine, The Chieftans and The Kingston Trio. They have taken their show to every corner of Canada including the arctic, south of the border to the U.S.A. and have performed in Iceland and Ireland.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Ordinary Man

A song by Christie Moore

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Only Remembered

A very nice song from "Coope Boyes & Simpson"


Monday, July 18, 2011

Farewell to Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia (pronounced /ˌnoʊvə ˈskoʊʃə/; French: Nouvelle-Écosse) is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of 55,284 square kilometres (21,300 sq mi). As of 2009, the population is 940,397, which makes Nova Scotia the second-most-densely populated province.

The province includes regions of the Mi'kmaq nation of Mi'kma'ki(mi'gama'gi). Nova Scotia was already home to the Mi'kmaq people when the first European colonists arrived. In 1604, French colonists established the first permanent European settlement in Canada and the first north of Florida at Port Royal, founding what would become known as Acadia.
The British Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. At this time the Capital Port Royal was renamed Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. The capital of Nova Scotia moved from Annapolis Royal to the newly established Halifax in 1749.
In 1763 Cape Breton Island and St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island) became part of Nova Scotia. In 1769, St. John's Island became a separate colony. Nova Scotia included present-day New Brunswick until that province was established in 1784.
In 1867 Nova Scotia was one of the four founding provinces of the Canadian Confederation. Along with a large population who descended from Scotland, there are also Mi'kmaq, English, Irish, Acadian, African-Nova Scotians, German, Italian and many other peoples in Nova Scotia.

"Farewell to Nova Scotia" is a popular folk song from Nova Scotia of unknown authorship, collected by folklorist Helen Creighton. It is believed to have been written just prior to or during the First World War. "Farewell to Nova Scotia" brings the listener back to an age when Nova Scotia was renowned for "wooden ships and iron men". The song appears in the Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs. In 1808 a Glasgow newspaper printed "The Soldier's Adieu", attributed to Robert Tannahill. It has several lines and phrases in it that suggest it was a source of inspiration for the song.


Friday, July 15, 2011

Moran's Return

This slow piece is included in the Joyce 1909 Collection Old Irish Music and Songs – A Collection of 842 Irish Airs and Songs Hitherto Unpublished. Patrick Weston Joyce was not only a pivotally important music collector he was also a highly regarded historian, Irish language scholar and educationalist. His 1909 collection was one of two music collections that he published – the first collection in 1873 consisted of One Hundred Tunes Hitherto Unpublishedand like his substantive 1909 Collection if included many interesting notes to the tunes. In 1888 PW Joyce also published a less spoken about collection of Irish Music and Song,a collection of Gaelic Songs which significantly matched the syllables of the words to the actual melody of the songs. This latter publication was actually undertaken for the Society for The Preservation of the Irish Language. The all-round scholar’s 1909 Collection included tunes from his own memory and his own collections but also from the Forde and Pigott Collections in addition to tunes he had obtained from his antiquarian colleagues, such as Petrie- who actually published many tunes he had obtained from Joyce and other similarly motivated people with whom he had been in communication during the second half of the nineteenth century.Joyce had notated many airs and melodies from singers and ‘Moran’s Return’is one such tune,the footnote to which stated that he had written it down from singers about 1844.


Dominique Rivière made a beautifull transcription for bouzouki (http://riviere.auzeau.org/video/cittern%20web.html), I made a little easier and putted a second line for low whistle.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Mason's Apron

The Mason’s Apron is a traditional Irish reel, also known as Braes Of Glenorchy, Isla, Lowrie Tarrell, and Mason Laddie. Originally an eighteenth century English tune, it has long been popular in Ireland and appears to have been first recorded by New York accordion player John J. Kimmel in 1915. The earliest published version is found in Riley's Flute Melodies Vol 2 (New York : 1814 -1830), compiled by Edward Riley (1769-1829).
You hear the version of Matt Molloy together with The chieftains.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Lord of the Dance

This well-known song, AKA the theme by the Dancegroup Riverdance, here brougth by the Dubliners.


Friday, July 8, 2011

Lord McDonald's Reel

Here played by flute by the Lagan trio.
It's a reel that sounds bery beautifull on bouzouki too.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Kalondour

A lovely song by Gilles Servat.
Gilles Servat is a French singer, born in Tarbes in southern France in 1945, into a family whose roots lay in the Nantes region of Brittany.

He spent his early childhood around Nantes and Cholet. His music evoques the Isle of Groix, off the coast of Morbihan.
His music was originally inspired by the works of Breton musicians Glenmor and Alan Stivell. The title song from his first album, La blanche Hermine, the White Ermine being the national emblem of Brittany, became an anthem for Bretons.
In the 1990s he became part of the Héritage des Celtes, led by Dan Ar Braz and featuring the most famous names in Celtic music.
In 1998 he released the album "Touche pas à la Blanche Hermine" ("Don't Touch The White Ermine") as a defiant stand against the French National Front who had used Servat's song La blanche Hermine during its meetings.
Servat sings in Breton, French and English.
Servat is also an actor and writer; he has authored several novels inspired by Celtic myths and legends. He is also a campaigner for the Breton language and a supporter of the Skol Diwan Breton language schools.

Friday, July 1, 2011

High Germany

England was involved in several wars on the continent. In 1702 England and The Netherlands declared war on France and Spain. England's involvement in the War of Spanish Succession lasted until 1711. In 1718 Britain entered into the Quadruple Alliance with France, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Emperor in opposition to Philip V of Spain. In 1725 Great Britain was again involved with war on the continent. One source dates this to the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). The Seven Years' War was fought between a coalition of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and Saxony and Prussia (led by Frederick the Great). England allied with Prussia. The American theater of the Seven Years' War is known as the French and Indian War.