This month gives us another opportunity to delve into the unique Redican, Davis and MacMahon collections donated to the ITMA. Firstly, we revisit the 1950s in Dublin and New York. In a private recording made in the Piper’s Club, Dublin  (c1957), Leo Rowsome sends warm personal greetings to Larry Redican and fellow musicians in New York and follows with a lively ‘bucks of Oranmore’ (with lots of tight piping). From the same Piper’s Club recording, Kathleen Harrington and Elizabeth Crotty, two doyennes of traditional music at the time, give us a great rendition of the common reel ‘The bag of potatoes’ (with Paddy McElvaney doing his inimitable intros).

On the other side of the Atlantic, Larry Redican is joined by Andy McGann (fiddle) and Felix Dolan (piano) for two classic fiddle tunes, recorded to share with musicians back home in Ireland.

From 1995, comes Eileen O’Brien and friends at a live recording of a concert in University of Limerick.  Eileen, one of Ireland’s leading fiddle players, comes from Tipperary but in recent years spends much of her time in Miltown Malbay playing with local musicians, including Jackie Daly. Daughter of the legendary accordion player Paddy O’Brien, Eileen is joined on one track by an old family friend, the late Paddy Canny, from across the Shannon in East Clare (and of Tulla Ceilí Band fame). The other track includes Paddy and Eileen’s friends and musical colleagues Larry Gavin (accordion)and Deirdre McSherry (piano) playing a couple of powerful reels.

Valerie McManus a singer from the townland of Aughkillymaud, Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh was the wife of fiddle player John McManus. Valerie was a wonderful exponent of the beautiful Fermanagh style of singing with a great repertoire of songs from the shores of Lough Erne. 

Céilí Band competitions often provided the most drama and excitement at Fleadh Cheoil over the years and none more than this track of the Brosna Céilí band playing their winning selection at the Listowel All Ireland in 1972. I’m grateful to Mick Mulcahy (champion accordionist himself and member of the Brosna) for filling in the background to the popular win. We can credit Mick also with his historic recording of Tony MacMahon, playing with Tommie Potts on piano, not fiddle, in Slattery’s in 1967—again capturing two legends and the lively atmosphere of the Dublin folk club.

Another track features Tony, this time from Boston in the 1990s, accompanied by an old friend and fellow Clare man Séamus Connolly on the fiddle, with box and fiddle in perfect unison on two old jigs.

This month,  Kyle Macaulay and I recorded a podcast based on this playlist, which hopefully will be entertaining and give some more background to these recordings from ITMA.  -Pádraic