These 10 tunes are just a selection of Jackie Daly's compositions. A book of 224 of his compositions will be published in the coming weeks.

Compositions

1. McGurk's jig [comp. Jackie Daly]
2. St Laichtín's reel [comp. Jackie Daly]
3. The living stream [comp. Jackie Daly], slide
4. Jim Mac Mahon's polka [comp. Jackie Daly]
5. The groves of Kanturk [comp. Jackie Daly], hornpipe
6. P.J. Teahan's jig [comp. Jackie Daly]
7. Mary's Roughty refuge [comp. Jackie Daly], polka
8. Planxty Luachra [comp. Jackie Daly]
9. Séamus Creagh's slide [comp. Jackie Daly]
10. Eoin Ó Riabhaigh's reel [comp. Jackie Daly]

Listen: A playlist of all Jackie Daly's compositions, played by Jackie Daly, accordion, and Matt Cranitch, fiddle

Learn: Interactive scores of Jackie Daly's compositions, with the tunes played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch

Read: Transcriptions of compositions, composed and transcribed by Jackie Daly

Watch: Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch play a selection of slides.

The living stream [comp. Jackie Daly], slide ; Séamus Creagh's slide [comp. Jackie Daly] / Jackie Daly, accordion ; Matt Cranitch, fiddle

Watch: A selection of polkas

Mary's Roughty refuge [comp. Jackie Daly], polka ; Jim Mac Mahon's polka [comp. Jackie Daly] / Jackie Daly, accordion ; Matt Cranitch, fiddle

McGurk's jig [comp. Jackie Daly]

McGurk’s was a pub in the states in St. Louis that had Irish music organised by the legendary Joe Burke. I used to do it for many years, and stay for six weeks at a time. It was no place for faint hearts!

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

St Laichtíns reel [comp. Jackie Daly]

This saint is associated with Miltown Malbay where I now live. In fact there used to be an old céilí band called St. Laichtín’s.

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

The living stream [comp. Jackie Daly], slide

The name of this tune becomes An Ghlaise Bheo in Irish. In our area of north Cork, the word ‘glaise’ was used in English as well, meaning small river or big stream.

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

Jim Mac Mahon's polka [comp. Jackie Daly]

Jim was a great friend of mine, and God rest him.

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

The groves of Kanturk [comp. Jackie Daly], hornpipe

There is a fine town park with pedestrian bridge with shady groves nearby

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

P.J. Teahan's jig [comp. Jackie Daly]

PJ is from Castleisland and he promotes Sliabh Luachra music with great concerts and a fiddle festival in Scartaglen every year.

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

Mary's Roughty refuge [comp. Jackie Daly], polka

I have a good friend in Kilgarvan called Mary Donegan who has a fine haven in the peaky capital! The Roughty river flows by there to Kenmare.

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

Planxty Luachra [comp. Jackie Daly]

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

Séamus Creagh's slide [comp. Jackie Daly]

Séamus and myself played together for many years and recorded in the seventies.

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

Eoin Ó Riabhaigh's reel [comp. Jackie Daly]

Eoin is a great piper from Cork that I often had a tune with, and will again with the help of God.

Learn the tune:

Interactive score, with the tune played slowly by Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch
Transcription of the tune (PDF)

About Jackie Daly

I wasn’t born on a calm night so I got into music at an early age, and got my first melodeon when I was seven years old.

In my early teens, I used to play with the Seán Lynch Céilí Band, and one of the gigs was at a crossroads platform at Knocknacolon, about a mile outside Kanturk in north Cork. It was run by Bill Sullivan, a wonderful local man, who used to show us how to dance as well.

I got a lot of music from Jim Keeffe who played fiddle with us, and he had been a pupil of the great Pádraig O’Keeffe. So it was Sliabh Luachra all the way, and I learned to read that distinctive fiddle notation.

In 1974, I won the All-Ireland accordion contest in Listowel. But I don’t play the usual style. My instrument is in C#/D rather than B/C.

Back in the seventies, I started to play with Séamus Creagh, and we had some great times together, and made an album in 1977.

I’ve played with a few different groups, Buttons and Bows, De Dannan, Arcady, Patrick Street, and duets with Kevin Burke and Matt Cranitch. When people ask me why so many, I say because I’m cheap!

Down the years, I’ve been exposed to many different styles, but it’s the music of Sliabh Luachra that has had the greatest impression on me. So, I’ll carry on till I’m carried out, and I might be good yet!

Jackie Daly, October 2021

About Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch

Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch are acknowledged masters of the rich musical tradition of Sliabh Luachra in the southwest of Ireland. This culturally unique area on the Cork/Kerry border is renowned for its distinctive style of playing and special repertoire of tunes, and
has been for many years a source of inspiration for both Jackie and Matt. In both their performances and on their recordings, they draw upon this rich legacy.

Matt and Jackie are the benchmark of the current generation of Sliabh Luachra musicians. … This is the definitive voice of Sliabh Luachra in our generation. – Sally Sommers Smith, Irish Music Magazine.

Jackie and Matt have performed throughout the world, individually and with groups who have set the standard for Irish traditional music. They have established enviable personal reputations. Their playing together, on CD and in live performances, displays not only virtuosity, but their respect, love and deep understanding of this vibrant musical tradition.

Presented by Treasa Harkin, October 2021, with thanks to Jackie Daly, Matt Cranitch and Eoin Stan O'Sullivan, Sliabh Luachra Musician-in-Residence. All tracks recorded at Cultúrlann MacAmhlaoibh, Newmarket, Co. Cork.