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The latest CD by Josephine Keegan, the prolific Co Armagh fiddle and piano player, composer in the traditional idiom, and collector and publisher of Irish traditional music, was launched in the Poitín Stil pub and restaurant, Rathcoole, Co Dublin, on 25 May 2011. Entitled A Few Tunes ‘Now and Then’, the CD features traditional tunes and new compositions by Josephine on fiddle, accompanied on piano by Kathleen Gavin McLoughlin, by Sean Maguire, and by Josephine herself, and it was introduced to the crowded attendance by Dublin singer Phil Callery and Cork fiddle player John Daly.
Organised by her friend and fellow fiddle player Ita Garvey as part of the regular Wednesday night traditional-music session in the Poitín Stil, the launch was attended by musicians from Sligo, Clare, Cork, Kildare, Dublin, and the North, who joined for hours in an impromptu session of music in the old style led by Josephine herself, with the occasional song. The selections given below will give a flavour of the proceedings, which were recorded for the Irish Traditional Music Archive by Danny Diamond and Nicholas Carolan, and which can be heard in full by visitors to the Archive. There are over 40 commercial recordings (in different formats) featuring Josephine Keegan and 5 books by her in the ITMA collections.
With thanks to Josephine Keegan, Ita Garvey, and all the other musicians and singers featured here for their cooperation on the night.
Nicholas Carolan & Danny Diamond, 1 August 2011
