promoting the social singing tradition of (mainly the north of) Ireland
This page will give the latest information about Ulstersongs and John Moulden:
new projects and the progress of old ones; new publications and new stock;
deletions and shortages. It will also give details of events and projects
in other areas.
New stock
Several items of great importance have been issued or reissued. Other items are listed because they are now in stock for the first time or their conditions of sale have changed. The heading under which each is listed in the appropriate section of the Ulstersongs catalogue is given in brackets.
Rita Gallagher: Eastersnow (Miscellaneous)
The wonderful lyrical Donegal singer, Rita Gallagher has issued her first
full album - previously she has been represented only by tracks on Comhaltas
records. This is the mature, full voiced, highly decorated Rita, who delights
her peers at singing festivals but who is little heard except in her own
area.
Rita comes from Ballymacahill, Frosses, Donegal and still lives and works
in the County. She is a three times winner of the Comhaltas Ceolto/iri/ E/ireann
all-Ireland title for female singing in English and toured Britain, Canada
and USA with the 1981 CCE/ Tour.
Hers is one of the most melifluous voices in the Irish tradition: low, beautifully articulated and of considerable range. Her decoration is reminiscent of the late Brigid Tunney of Belleek, Co Fermanagh and it is not surprising that she counts Brigid's famous son, Paddy among her most significant influences (items * in the list below were probably learned from the Tunney family.) Her appearances at Festivals and sessions in Ireland are much appreciated. Up to now her recorded voice has been heard only on compilations issued by CCE: The Green Groves (1981) and A Bar of a Song (CCL-7 undated). Her performances are mature, assured and rivetting.
Easter Snow was issued privately in May 1997 (cassette only) and is currently available only from Rita, at local outlets in Donegal and from Ulstersongs.
Brief notes are provided with the album.
There are 14 songs, all unaccompanied:
Going to Mass last Sunday
John Adair (About the Derryveagh evictions on late 19th Century)
Old Arboe (A beautiful performance)
Sweet Inniscarra
*Easter Snow
Lurgy Stream
*Edward on Lough Erne's Shore
Sheephaven Bay
The Blackbird
When my Love and I Parted
Blackwater Side
*Highland Mary
Dark is the Colour
*The Mountain Streams
Apart from the Tunneys, other singers acknowledged as sources of the songs are Jimmy McHugh, Des OHalloran, Pauline Sweeney, Tommy Burke, Bridin Doherty, John McCracken, Charlie Herron, Maire Ni Cathasaigh and Treasa Ni Channaigh. Mainly these singers are unknown outside Ireland and their own locality. This recording represents a network of singers, mainly ordinary, private people who love singing and who are quietly sustaining the age old tradition of singing in Ireland.
Frank Kelly (accompanied by Liam Deery): Memories of Hughie Gillespie
(Miscellaneous))
Frank Kelly, Rita Gallagher's husband, is a fiddler of some note and
accomplishment. In "Memories of Hughie Gillespie", he pays tribute to a cousin
who, although he came from Donegal, was among the great exponents of Sligo
style fiddling (see Green Linnet: GLCD3066 or CSIF3006 for "Classic Recordings"
of Hughie Gillespie). Larry Sanger - maintainer of the
Donegal
Fiddle Pages had this to say in an article in Irtrad-l about the album
which is again, only locally available, and only on cassette.
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 21:07:54 -0500
From: Larry Sanger <sanger.3@OSU.EDU>
Subject: Frank Kelly -- wow!
I just got a new cassette, by a fiddler from east Donegal named Frank Kelly, called "Memories of Hughie Gillespie." He is a cousin of Gillespie, whom he learned from directly after Gillespie moved back to Ireland. This is *great* fiddling! The best way to describe it is to compare it to Gillespie's style -- it is more of a Sligo style than a Donegal style, but it has the attack and drive typical of Donegal fiddlers. Kelly also has a wonderful, rich,clear tone (like Hughie Gillespie), nice swing, and really excellent technique. He's in his late 50's and evidently still in his prime; he won the All-Ireland in 1979.
The cassette is almost completely reels -- there are 12 sets of them, along side *two* sets of jigs, *one* set of hornpipes, and one set of strathspeys ("Stirling Castle Selection"). I don't know if I have any tape that is so reel-heavy! Almost all of the tunes on the tape are familiar Sligo (and hence, session) fare -- e.g., "Jenny's Welcome to Charlie," "Tell Her I Am" (a *great* rendition here), "Pidgeon on the Gate," "Jenny's Chickens," "Lord Gordon's," etc. There is guitar accompaniment by Liam Deery -- *really* excellent -- extremely tasteful, and beautiful.
I very highly recommend it. If the big mail order houses do not carry it, they should (I got my copy from John Moulden/Ulstersongs).
Larry Sanger
Various Singers: Flower of Dunaff Hill (Inishowen Traditional Singers'
Circle)
Recorded in August 1990 by Jimmy McBride, whose efforts to sustain the singing
tradition of the Inishowen peninsula of north Donegal deserve great praise,
this cassette preserves fourteen performances by fourteen singers, many of
whom have since died. Its re-issue is very welcome.
These are performances by ordinary people, who have lived their lives in
a society where singing is a commonplace. They are supported by the experience
of a lifetime, by a living, lively tradition within a flourishing local
community. Some of them are among the best performances it has been my pleasure
to hear; the songs are representative of the north Ulster repertory and together
they show a wide variety of style from the old, deliberate, deceptively simple
ones of Denis and Cornie McDaid to the strong almost traveller style of Charlie
McGonigle - Ulster traditional singing at its best.
A book of the same name, edited by Jimmy McBride comprising 70 songs (including
these 14) is also available.
Contents:
Paddy Doherty: Another man's wedding
Corney McDaid: As I roved out
Bridie Doherty: Ballintown Brae
Maggie McGee: The bonnie green tree
Paddy Hegarty: The flower of Corby's mill
Charlie McGonigle: General Owen Roe
Owen Kelly: Father Tom ONeill
Mary A Canny: The flower of Dunaff Hill
Mack Devlin: November Keady Fair
Jimmy Grant: How Paddy stole the rope
Jim McGonigle: Jimmy Leeburn
Denis McDaid: The Shamrock Shore
Jimmy Houten: A lady fair
Dan McGonigle: Erin's lovely home
Folktracks Cassettes
Ulstersongs now stocks an extended range of these; a movement towards a policy
of stocking traditional style singing from the whole of Ireland and
all traditional style performances of music from Ulster.
New items are:
60-079 Seamus Ennis - the great piper, singing and playing c 1954.
60-098 Cecelia Costello - Birmingham singer of Irish parentage and
repertory.
60-160 Elizabeth Cronin - from Ballyvourney, West Cork: an often mentioned
but little heard singer, perhaps the greatest stylist from the south of Ireland
to be recorded in the period 1947-1954. Great songs, performed in the most
consummately artistic way.
60-301 Mouth Music -from England, Ireland, Scotland - every aspiring traditional
singer should learn some of this, if only for the sake of control of articulation
and breathing.
60-375 The Mason's Apron - recordings of Belfast's great fiddlers of the
fifties
Martin and Christine Dowling and Dathi Sproule: A Thousand Farewells
(Miscellaneous)
Fiddle and Flute Music from the Belfast based (but Chicago originated) Husband
and Wife Accompanied by Daithi Sproule on Guitar and with three tracks of
unaccompanied singing from Christine - the more I listen to this the more
I like it. Recorded live at a concert in Madison Wisconsin, 1996.
Kevin Mitchell: I sang that sweet refrain (Miscellaneous)
Derry's loss: Glasgow's gain. A beautiful voice, elgantly phrased and decorated
singing which carries an understated but powerful emotional charge. These
are the first recordings of Kevin since his Topic album twenty years ago.
No experience of Ulster style is complete without experience of Kevin in
full flight.
Marcas O Murchu: O Bheal go Beal (Clo Iar Chonnachta)
Flute playing of the finest; fully grounded in tradition, innovative
and exploiting many of the qualities of the wooden, simple system flute -
including some of its deficiencies. Marcas gives performances which explore
the tunes, musically and emotionally, using all the tricks of the old and
regional flute players. Some, particularly Fintan Vallely, have violently
disliked this album; I disagree - Marcas plays the music on the flute; not
just the flute. There are three vocal tracks which show Marcas to be less
accomplished in this area. The whole is very tastefully accompanied
by Eoghan OBrien (guitar and harp) and Seamus OKane (bodhran). Two tracks
are ensembles with Maurice Bradley (fiddle), Peter Gallagher (accordion)
and Brid McNally (piano); these are a delight. The notes are full and informative
but a touch eulogistic.
John Campbell: The dealin' men from Crossmaglen (Outlet Archive)
Early (1970s) recording of humorous songs from the now world renowned
story-teller; unexpectedly available again. John is from Mullaghbawn in South
Armagh, home of a still flourishing tradition of music, song and stories.
Tim Dennehy: Farewell to Milltown Malbay (Sceilig)
Third album from Tim, released in mid 1997; traditional songs and his own
songs, accompanied and unaccompanied sung by the man, who despite a stubbornly
quiet delivery gives some of the most arresting performances in the genre.
Tim lives in Mullagh, Co Clare but hails from Caherciveen, Co Kerry and draws
on the traditions of his birth-place and of his adoptive home.
Irish Voices (Topic)
A compilation of songs from earlier Topic records - ranging from Patrick
Street to the McPeakes and Len Graham.
David Hammond: The wee falloorie man (Tradition)
Reissue of a recording made for the Clancy Brothers label in 1959 by Belfast's
earliest revival singer. Davie has since been sidetracked into film direction
and production and has made only one other album though he has been involved
in others.
Clancy Children: So early in the morning (Tradition)
Somewhat contrived but nevertheless charming recording. There are beatiful
moments of authentic chidren's singing, informed only by their own experience
of the international currency of children's songs, rhymes and sayings, which
fortunately resist all the efforts of folklorists and teachers to describe,
control or steer. Originally issued 1962.
Joe Heaney: Say a song (Miscellaneous)
Recordings made while Joe was teacher of Irish traditional singing at Washingtom
State University on the west coast of USA. From Carna in Connemara, Joe was
the supreme sean nos singer of his generation.
Robbie Hannan: Irish Traditional Music Played on the Uilleann Pipes
(Claddagh)
Robbie is my preferred chanter player of this generation as Seamus Ennis
was of the last; what more need be said?
Where Songs do Thunder (Appletree Press)
I have secured a supply of Paddy Tunney's second book and can offer
them at only £4.00
The following items are almost out of stock, are not likely to be reissued and should be inquired about:
HH1 Songs and Crack from West Tyrone (Arts Council of NI)
EESR2 Shamrock Rose and Thistle 2 (European Ethnic)
Paddy Tunney: Stone Fiddle (book) (Appletree Press)
Sean McElgunn: Songs of the Winding Erne (Sean McElgunn)
Michael Flanagan: Lone Shanakyle (Outlet Archive)
Various: The Newcastle Fishing Disaster (Outlet Archive)
The following are out of stock and are proving difficult to track down
Singing Men of Ulster (Green Linnet)
Paddy Tunney: The Stone Fiddle (cassette) (Green Linnet)
John Lyons: The troubled man (Miscellaneous)
Desi WIlkinson: The three piece flute (Spring)
Paddy Gamble: Killeavey's Pride (Outlet Archive)
Various: Ring of Gullion CCE (Spring
John Moulden in 1998
My good intentions, regarding the issue of "Songs of the People: part two", have not yet landed me, other than on a well-paved, broad and winding road; other things keep getting in the way. Latest is a commission to research the connection between north-Irish song and commercial Country Music - a matter which is often stated and which can be easily substantiated by appeals to the particular - it is however more difficult to find sufficient evidence to support a general statement and to present it with sufficient clarity upon which to base a museum exhibition; which is what I have taken on - pray for me! I have been appointed to the Board of the Irish Traditional Music Archive and am also to give talks at the Inishowen International Folk Song and Ballad Seminar in late March and at the Slieve Gullion Festival of Traditional Singing in October. There are further possibilities in England in July and North Carolina in August. In the meantime the "Traditional Song Education Pack" in which I have been acting as consultant is close to completion (this is a pack for Primary and Secondary Schools on singing in the Ulster tradition) and I am awaiting the publication of four articles - on Anne Jane Thornton (Eigse Ceol Tire); One singer, two voices - Irish and Scottish style song in the work of Hugh McWilliams (Blas); The blooming bright star of Belleisle: Irish immigrant or American native (Proceedings of the Ulster-American Heritage Symposium) and Sing us a folksong, Mouldy (Cross-roads conference proceedings)
During the coming year Ulstersongs will be present at several festivals and other events, to sell books and albums, and to talk to anyone who will listen about north Irish songs and music - and to give information and help to other researchers. These will include:
Wexford (February)
Inishowen (March)
Derrytresk (Geordie Hanna Memorial) (April)
The (English) National (April)
Clare (Ennistymon) (June)
Feakle (June)
Willie Clancy Summer School (July)
Slieve Gullion Forkhill) Festival of Traditional Singing (October)
Derrygonnelly (October)
Watch this space!
Connections to Ulstersongs catalogue (January 1998);
the catalogue is in several parts:
Books for singers,
story tellers and students
Recordings
containing performances of traditional unaccompanied singing in
English
Recordings
containing singing in Irish
Popular items
in fact and in form (accompanied singing, groups etc.
Stories,
and the vernacular poetic tradition
Ballad Sheets
by the Bogside Ballad Company c. 1990
Unplayed or next
to unplayed vinyl lps of Ulster singers or musicians
Recordings containing
music
Return to Ulstersongs Homepage
The full catalogue with is available by e-mail to: John Moulden or may be downloaded.
The address for orders or to be sent a catalogue is:
Ulstersongs
10 Apollo Walk
Portrush
Co Antrim
Northern Ireland
BT56 8HQ
Pricing Ordering and Postage
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Major revision: 4th July1997 - update January 1998.