Flute-player Michael Hurley was brought up in Leeds, England in a musical family with roots in Kiltullagh, Co. Galway and Aughamore, Co. Mayo. He has been living in Ballymote, Co. Sligo now for many years. He is accompanied on some of the recordings of his compositions by his daughter, Deirdre, also a flute player, and guitarist John Blake.

1. Mr Monaghan's reel [comp. Michael Hurley]
2. Deirdre Hurley's jig [comp. Michael Hurley]
3. The 2-step from Blacklion to Belcoo [comp. Michael Hurley]
4. The outsider [comp. Michael Hurley], jig
5. The insider [comp. Michael Hurley], reel
6. The Las Vegas reel [comp. Michael Hurley]
7. Micheal Hurley's No. 10 [comp. Michael Hurley], jig
8. The ploughman's breakfast [comp. Michael Hurley], reel
9. Turas Mullaghmore [comp. Michael Hurley], air

LISTEN: An audio playlist of Michael Hurley playing his own compositions, accompanied on some tracks by Deirdre Hurley and John Blake.

LEARN: Interactive scores of Michael Hurley's compositions, with playback, ABC notation and more (see user guide for more details).

READ: Transcriptions of compositions, composed and transcribed by Michael Hurley

Mr Monaghan's reel [comp. Michael Hurley]

My brother, Drew, moved to Monaghan town a number of years ago around the time I wrote this tune. One of my favourite reels is Miss Monaghan. I don’t know who she was, but we renamed Drew 'Mr Monaghan', and called the tune after him.

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Deirdre Hurley's jig [comp. Michael Hurley]

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The 2-step from Blacklion to Belcoo [comp. Michael Hurley]

In 2015 I wrote a suite of music for a Cross Border initiative, ‘Between the jigs and the marches’, celebrating the similarities between music in North Connacht and that of the Ulster Scots. To me, this 2-step tune has a happy, optimistic kind of feeling where people from whichever cultural or sectarian background can move or dance freely from one part of the island to the other.

Blacklion and Belcoo are two villages between Sligo and Enniskillen, on the Republic and Northern Ireland border, ‘two steps’ apart, separated only by a bridge over the Belcoo River. Today people can move without restrictions between the two places. That was not always the case.

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The outsider [comp. Michael Hurley], jig

It’s happened to most people some time or other, and it’s not a good feeling when you think you are part of a situation, then suddenly find out you are not. There may be perfectly good reasons for the actions or decisions, but it is hard to think it through rationally at the time.

When I wrote the Outsider it was meant to be aggressive and angry, with the long high Ds in the first part being particularly punchy. Maybe that’s not a very typical Irish Traditional Music kind of thing, but it did reflect my mood at the time.

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The insider [comp. Michael Hurley], reel

Sometime after composing the Outsider Jig, with it’s pessimistic tones, I realised just how incredibly lucky I am to have a life revolving around Irish music, which has given me so much joy and happiness all my life. This reel is meant to be optimistic, upbeat and full of jolly G rolls for the fluters. I called it the Insider as that seems to be the logical opposite of the Outsider.

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The Las Vegas reel [comp. Michael Hurley]

Las Vegas, in the United States, is one of the most surreal places I have ever visited. My brother, Kev, and his wife Marie were married there, and I had the honour of being accompanied by Elvis on ‘Love Me Tender’ as they walked down the aisle.

This reel was written for them in what I perceive to be an older Irish-American style, in that there are lots of triplet runs which are not found as often elsewhere.

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Micheal Hurley's No. 10 [comp. Michael Hurley], jig

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The ploughman's breakfast [comp. Michael Hurley], reel

Back in 2005 I was involved in a project for the Arts Department of Sligo County Council, along with singer and flute player Colm O’Donnell, to write some music based around the relatively recently written traditional song, ‘Horses and Plough’. As the song mentions Ploughmen, I was reminded of the Ploughman’s Lunch which was a meat, bread and cheese meal popular in British pubs from the 1970s, before sophistication set in. I, of course, wondered what they ate for the breakfast.

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Turas Mullaghmore [comp. Michael Hurley], air

My 2015 commission to write a suite of music ‘Between the Jigs and the Marches’ for a cross-border initiative between musicians from Connacht and Ulster-Scots, was premiered at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Sligo. Despite a troubled history, the two cultures on the island of Ireland have very much in common, including music.

The practices for the performance were held in the County Sligo seaside village of Mullaghmore, which played a significant, tragic part in the ‘Troubles’. The country is at peace once again thankfully, and musicians from both traditions are able to play in harmony.

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About Michael Hurley

Michael is primarily a flute, whistle and fiddle player who has lived in Ballymote, Co Sligo, for the last 35 years. He also dabbles with the dark arts of piping, banjo, mandola, guitar, accordions and bodhran. He has been known to dance a set or two.

He is 2^nd generation Irish raised in Leeds, UK. His father, also Michael, was a flute player from Kiltullagh, Co Galway, who was a contemporary of Paddy Carty and the Brodericks. His mother, Eileen, is from Aughamore, Co. Mayo, and has also music in the family.

Michael and his 3 brothers; Des, Kev and Drew, started music lessons in the Irish Centre in Leeds in the early 70s with the newly formed Leeds branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. Locally, his main influences in the Leeds sessions would have been musicians from North Connacht, in particular Mayo, the men who rebuilt England after the 2^nd World War.

When the first record player came into the house it was the records of Seamus Tansey, Joe Burke, Finbarr Dwyer, Brendan McGlinchey, the Shaskeen, and the Tulla Ceili Band, which were the biggest influences. In the golden era of Traditional music in the mid to late 70s, Matt Molloy and the Bothy Band, Planxty, Frankie Gavin and De Danann were all tremendous influences. About the same time, Roscommon fiddle player, Paddy Ryan who was then living in Birmingham gave the family a cassette tape of old 78 records of Michael Coleman, James Morrison and more of the 1920s and 30s greats, pure musical gold.

There was a thriving folk scene in the North of England at the time. Many young people came to study at Leeds University and became involved in the Irish music scene. At school, Michael played in Folk and Folk Rock groups, and later a bit of Country and Irish, which was popular in the Irish pubs and clubs. Thankfully, no known recordings exist from this era.

In 1987, Michael, his young wife Patricia and 2 infants, Mairead and Dermot, moved to Ireland. This was for a better quality of life in “the land of saints and scholars”, but also a land of emigration, depression, and comparative poverty. They decided to buy a business - a newsagent’s shop in Ballymote. Before he left Leeds, he recorded a cassette tape with his brother Des, called ‘Over the Water’.

Michael had not been playing many sessions before the move, but the session scene in South Sligo Coleman Country was vibrant at the time, so he felt compelled to go out almost every night to play and support the music.

Some time later he was asked to do some music teaching and after receiving the TTCT music teaching diploma from Comhaltas he went on to teach all over South Sligo in both National Schools and CCE branches. Many of his pupils went on to become All Ireland champions. He has coached many groups and ceili bands with considerable success. After selling the shop in 2004 he took up music full time. He was awarded a ‘Ceannródai’ at the Sligo All Ireland Fleadh in 2015 in recognition of his services to Irish Music teaching and promotion.

He has been a regular tutor at many festivals and summer schools including the South Sligo Summer School, Tubbercurry, Joe Mooney Drumshanbo, Seosamh Mac Gabhann Summer School Kilmovee, the O’Carolan School, Keadue and Scoil Eigse.

Ceili Bands have always been one of Michael’s passions, as a band member and a trainer. In 1992, chatting to PJ Hernon after competing in the senior band competition, they decided to form a band to actually play for céilithe. Set dancing was getting very popular at the time and so the Swallow’s Tail Ceili Band was hatched. The original members with Michael and PJ were - John McHugh on fiddle and Maria Lynn on piano, Michael Sheridan on drums, joining soon after was Jim Corry sharing keyboard duty with Maria. PJ left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Tom Doherty from Foxford. They continue to be one of Ireland’s top bands for dancers playing classy, rhythmic, melodious West of Ireland music.

Michael is also a founder member of Ceoltoíri Coleman, which is the in-house music group of the Coleman Centre in Gurteen, where Michael works part time as a teacher and resident musician. He played in the group, ‘Misneach’, alongside PJ Hernon, Declan Folan, Junior Davey and Brian Lofthouse, which itself grew out of Ceoltoiri Coleman.

Michael has toured extensively all over Europe and the USA.

His most recent project was the compilation of a book of tunes for the Coleman Centre called ‘Where the Owenmore Flows’ , 100 traditional musical gems from North Connacht and beyond. The collection comprises lesser-known tunes from local musicians, using the extensive resources of the Coleman Centre archive. The book and accompanying CDs was launched in Summer 2022.

Michael and Patricia have 5 children, Mairead, Diarmuid, Eileen, Deirdre and Sean, all of whom play a small bit of music.

Composing

Michael proudly played the first tune he wrote, as a 16 year old, at the Grove session in Leeds. Amazingly or rather, embarrassingly, most of the other musicians joined in. It was, basically, a tune on Matt Molloy’s recently released record. These things happen, so it wasn’t his first tune after all.

He used some of his own compositions for bands and groups he was training. The Sligo senior band at the 1990 All Ireland Fleadh played his march, which was later used by the Ennis Ceili Band winning their 3^rd title.

Michael featured on a track for the epic ‘Wooden Flute Obsession’ collection, playing 2 of his own jigs. One of which was ‘Deirdre Hurley’s Jig’ named after his daughter. Tina Eck and her band ‘Lilt’ recorded this and made it quite well known in the USA.

In 2005/6 Sligo County Council Arts department commissioned Colm O’Donnell to put together a programme based on the old song ‘Horses and Plough’, to which Michael contributed a number of tunes, some of which are included here.

The International Fund for Ireland funded a project during the 2015 Fleadh Cheoil in Sligo called ‘Between the Jigs and the Marches, - Exchanging Musical Traditions.’ This was a cross-border initiative, aiming to bring together the 2 sides of the divide in Ulster and North Connacht. Michael was Musical Director and Composer of a suite of tunes performed by Irish Traditional and Ulster Scots musicians several times during the Fleadh. Again, some of the pieces are featured here for ITMA.

Currently, Michael is working on gathering together all his compositions, with a view to recording them as a full collection in the future.

His favourite composers are Charlie Lennon, Josie McDermott, Vincent Broderick and whoever wrote ‘Jenny’s Chickens’.