A Job Of Journeywork

Details below from Tom Sawyer in session.org - I heartily concur with his closing comments. The original cassette had a lot of chat by Ciarán Mac Mathúna about the players and tunes which I must have removed so as to get the whole thing onto a CD, which with hindsight is a pity. What amuses me is the fact that not far from where this was going on the whole 60's music / culture explosion was taking place with no effect at all on things here.

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Irish Traditional Music of New York and Philadelphia

RTE 124 cassette, with commentary by Ciarán Mac Mathúna between tracks, presumably originally broadcast on his radio show The Job of Journeywork.

Recordings from 1962 & 1966.

Fiddle-player and tune-maker Larry Redican, (sometimes spelt Redigan, Reddican, Reddigan, Rhattigan) died in 1975.
Cassette released in the 1980s I think. No date in the notes.

Artists:

FIDDLES

Larry Redican
Mary Brennan-Grant
Paddy Reynolds
Andy McGann
John Vesey
Denis Murphy
Paul Ryan
Vincent Harrison
Paddy Sullivan
Joe Lamont

FLUTES

Jack Coen
Eddie Meehan
Mick Flynn
Jimmie Smyth

PIPES

Thomas Standeven

CONCERTINA

Charlie Mulvhill

BOX

Sean McGlynn
Joe Madden
Gene Kelly
Charlie Mulvihill

PIANO

Felix Dolan
Geraldine Mulvihill
Thomas Standeven
Bill Greenall

with others as well on the final track.

Highlights include:

several solos by Larry Redican: his own reel The Culfada, to which he gives a verbal introduction; Jenny's Welcome to Charlie, and a nice version of the Harvest Home;

Redican duets with Coen; with McGann, backed by Dolan, and Vesey backed by Standeven;

several solo performances and an interview by Mary Brennan-Grant, friend of Michael Coleman and first teacher of Andy McGann;

a solo by Paul Ryan (friend of Paddy Killoran) & a duet with Vincent Harrison;

Denis Murphy on a couple of tunes with the Mulvihills (can you guess the track?);

solo box by McGlynn & Madden, and a duet of Kelly & Lamont;

the Mulvihills (father and daughter) on a lovely Co. Clare-style concertina/piano duet;

Reynolds, Sullivan and Smyth playing Lad O'Beirne's,

and a Vesey/Standeven duet not featured on Sligo Fiddler.

The RTE archives must be loaded with music of this quality. A pity they don't release much of it--a slow trickle at best. It would be easy enough to put mp3s up on a web site.

Yet the attitude of some archives towards the music seems to be that of of some players of old: don't let others have it.

I don't think releasing old music would hurt living professional traditional musicians one bit. Only musicianers would buy the old stuff anyway and they buy everything, old and new. Besides, this is supposed to be folk music, not just a commercial phenomenon.

RTE and ITMA for example could easily produce an audio collection to rival and surpass the book collections of the early 20th century, with comparable influence. Why not? It's the 21st century.

They should all take a lesson from Captain Francis O'Neill.