Pádraig O’Keeffe, Denis Murphy
& Julia Clifford
Kerry Fiddles – Traditional Fiddle
Music From Sliabh Luachra
Ossian OSS CD10; 49 minutes; 2003
Jackie Daly
Traditional Accordion And Concertina
Music From Sliabh Luachra
Ossian OSS CD 30; 43 minutes; 2003
These two wondrous reissues from the
Cork-based Ossian label serve as welcome reminders of just how fixed (perhaps
sometimes blinkered) our understanding of Ireland’s traditional music can be.
Whereas reels tend to dominate most of Ireland’s sessions, the area spanning
parts of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick around Sliabh Luachra (the “rushy
mountain”) is markedly different. Here reels are relegated to the bottom of the
pile, below polkas, double- and single-jigs (a.k.a. slides) and hornpipes and
even when played are done so in the remarkably plain, but ever rhythmic fashion
which characterizes the area’s music. This metrical emphasis and lack of
ornamentation reflected the needs of dancers and remains relatively unchanged
to this day thanks to the continuing influence of musicians such as the
accordionist Johnny O’Leary and the local popularity of set-dancing.
Kerry Fiddles was recorded by Séamus Ennis at Charlie
Horan’s bar in Castleisland in September, 1952 and features three of the most
acclaimed Sliabh Luachra musicians. Pádraig O’Keeffe was for much of his life
an itinerant fiddle-teacher and numbered Julia Clifford and her brother, Denis
Murphy, amongst his most successful pupils. O’Keeffe was in his mid-sixties at
the time of this recording and the selection of tunes here to some extent
mirrors his own loathing of accompanying dancers, though draws more from his
extensive repertoire acquired from not only other musicians but published and
recorded sources. His meticulous styling is best heard on the solo pieces,
especially the air The Old Man Rocking the Cradle, while the trio cuts
are probably more typical of the Sliabh Luachra style.
Nowadays widely
known as a member of Patrick Street (and also at various times Arcady, De
Dannan and Buttons and Bows), Jacky Daly’s album of accordion and concertina
music is still rightly regarded as setting a benchmark for anyone wishing to
learn the Sliabh Luachra style. Totally unaided (or even unhindered) by
accompanists, Daly weaves his way effervescently through a series of strong and
inspirational tunes, kick-started by his classic juxtaposition of three polkas
(Tom Sullivan’s/Johnny Leary’s/Jim Keeffe’s) while never
venturing far from the Sliabh Luachra repertoire. His concertina-playing has
rarely figured in recent times so this unquestionably classic album offers the
chance to hear his mouth-watering rendition of one of Ireland’s best-known
session tunes Walsh’s hornpipe.
This
review by Geoff Wallis first appeared in fRoots magazine – www.frootsmag.com.
For more information about Ossian
visit www.ossian.ie.