Dé Domhnaigh 5 Nollaig 2021
Faoiseamh 2
Another series of compositions commissioned by the Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio and supported by ITMA.
The first series of Faoiseamh involved 10 composers and the tunes that they had composed during the 2020 lockdown. This second series features another 10 composers, who between them have submitted 17 tunes to the project.
The tunes on this page will be broadcast on the Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio on Sunday 5 December, with the remaining tunes to follow on Sunday 12 December.
The Rolling Wave is presented and produced by Aoife Nic Cormaic.
The first series of Faoiseamh involved 10 composers and the tunes that they had composed during the 2020 lockdown. This second series features another 10 composers, who between them have submitted 17 tunes to the project.
The tunes on this page will be broadcast on the Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio on Sunday 5 December, with the remaining tunes to follow on Sunday 12 December.
The Rolling Wave is broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 at 9pm every Sunday evening. It is presented and produced by Aoife Nic Cormaic.
Our thanks to RTÉ, the Rolling Wave and all the performers for permission to publish the recordings.
Composers, 5 December 2021
Faoiseamh [comp. Bríd Harper], reel ; In ómós do na héisteoirí dílis [comp. Bríd Harper], barndance / Bríd Harper, fiddle
Day to day [comp. David Munnelly], air / David Munnelly, accordion ; Shane McGowan, guitar
Listen: Playlist featuring the first five composers
Learn: Interactive scores of the first 10 tunes in the series
Download: Tune book of transcriptions of the first 10 tunes in the series
Fintan Vallely
The Cocoonery [comp. Fintan Vallely], jig ; The Chateau [comp. Fintan Vallely], jig / Fintan Valley, flute ; Caoimhín Vallely, piano
The Cocoonery [comp. Fintan Vallely], jig
This reel started life as an exploration favoured E-minor riffs and sounds in Irish music, with a notion of syncopation and finger ‘drumming’, as in highland and uilleann piping techniques. This creeps in to vary note repetitions (bars 14 - 16) in places where the more typical Irish thing to do is to play rolls (as in bars 10-13). It ended up as a three-parter because the melody seemed to need to go further before arriving comfortably back to the beginning. It is named for the ill-considered, ageist, PR-hype buzzword that emerged in the early Covid-response months of 2020. A cocoon is a place of transformation, inside which small creatures metamorphose, typically a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Locked-in, we all did somewhat metamorphose nightly, yes, aided by various substances. And the tune did emerge from transformation - a burbling crawl on part one, taking off to risking adventure, and flying as far as it dares before turning for home …
Interactive Score - Transcription
The Château [comp. Fintan Vallely], jig
This tune has been adapted from another tune of mine, the reel Maisie Friel’s, in the way in which many Irish melodies are used to create different song, jig, reel, hornpipe and march tempos, which, with necessary timing and melody adjustments make for a new tune. Some jigs fit a reel mould well, but most don’t, and quite a lot of re-arrangement can be required, as in the case of this one. The original tune was heralded at the Forkhill Singers’ weekend in 1995, played for one of its organisers Gerry O’Hanlon, the last part eliciting an explosive, critical utterance from Ciaran Carson … It was then worked on in 2016 in the tranquility of a 12th-century crypt church under Chateau L’Anglais in Puisseguin, St. Emilion, France in the company of a reclining giant steel and copper skeletal sculpture created by artist Patricia Molins. The jig version here is the result of worrying it again during the 2021 lockdown months, aided by five dozen Puisseguin St. Emilion reds couriered over by wine-maker Gérard Dupuy, owner of the said chateau …
Interactive Score - Transcription
Caitlín Nic Gabhann
An tUasal Ó Floinn [comp. Caitlín Nic Gabhann], jig ; Port Odhráin [comp. Caitlín Nic Gabhann], jig / Caitlín Nic Gabhann, concertina
I wrote these two jigs for my new nephew Ódhrán Ó Floinn. He's half Cork so I thought a few slide-type jigs would suit. I was trying to come up with a tune for Faoiseamh for a few weeks, and nothing was coming, and then on the day he was born in July, I wrote the first part of this first jig. He's the inspiration.
An tUasal Ó Floinn [comp. Caitlín Nic Gabhann], jig
Interactive score - Transcription
Port Odhráin [comp. Caitlín Nic Gabhann], jig
Interactive score - Transcription
Bríd Harper
Faoiseamh [comp. Bríd Harper], reel ; In ómós do na héisteoirí dílis [comp. Bríd Harper], barndance / Bríd Harper, fiddle
Faoiseamh [comp. Bríd Harper], reel
A reel written during the summer while I was on a break away from everything and everyone! I was in Gleann Cholm Cille in SW Donegal and spent an evening down by the Murlin river listening to the water, birdsong and the breeze. This is the story the river told on that particular day bringing "Faoiseamh".
Interactive score - Transcription
In ómós do na héisteoirí dílis [comp. Bríd Harper], barndance
A good many loyal followers/listeners passed away during the pandemic, go ndeana Dia trócaire orthu. I wrote this tune to remember them and in gratitude for their support. I choose a barndance as it's a common type of tune in the Donegal music repertoire and are predominantly happy, upbeat tunes.
Interactive score - Transcription
Dave Munnelly
Day to day [comp. David Munnelly], air / David Munnelly, accordion ; Shane McGowan, guitar
Day to day [comp. David Munnelly], air
The tune is called “day to day” and the idea of it came about after a brief chat with Aoife Nic Cormaic about being a musician during these pandemic times and how we, as self-employed full-time musicians, live. The phrase was mentioned at some stage in our chat and for some reason stayed with me.
Interactive Score - Transcription
Carl Hession
The Bridge Mills [comp. Carl Hession], reel ; Nun's Island [comp. Carl Hession], reel ; University Road [comp. Carl Hession], reel / Tara Breen, fiddle ; Carl Hession, piano
