Irish Fridays

[johncorrigan]

Happy St Brigid's Day one and all.

On St. Brigid's Day the new life could be entered
By going through her girdle of straw rope
The proper way for men was right leg first
Then right arm and right shoulder, head, then left
Shoulder, arm and leg.
Women drew it down
Over the body and stepped out of it
The open they came into by these moves
Stood opener, hoops came off the world
They could feel the February air
Still soft above their heads and imagine
The limp rope fray and flare like wind-born gleanings
Or an unhindered goldfinch over ploughland.
Seamus Heaney

[johncorrigan]

It was extremely enjoyable to see Martin Hayes in Glasgow last weekend in a venue I had never encountered before. Celtic Connections regularly seem to come up with new venues in the city. The old Barony Church was very imposing if the seating was less than comfortable. I never tire of listening to him play. One of the songs He and Common Ground played was 'The Glen of Aherlow' which he said was also known as 'Lafferty's Reel' - that caught my attention, my old Mum having been a Lafferty. However, I came upon the lyrics for 'The Glen of Aherlow' and a sad wee tale it tells.

My name is Patrick Sheehan, and my years are thirty-four;
Tipperary is my native place, not far from Galtymore;
I came of honest parents, but now they're lying low;
Though' many's the pleasant days we spent in the Glen of Aherlow.

My father died; I closed his eyes, outside the cabin door;
For the landlord and the sheriff too, were there the day before,
And then my lovin' mother, and my sisters three, also,
Were forced to go with broken hearts, from the Glen of Aherlow

For three long months, in search of work, I wandered far and near;
I then went to the poorhouse to see my mother dear;
The news I heard near broke my heart, but still in all my woe,
I blessed the friends who made their graves in the Glen of Aherlow.

Bereft of home and kith and kin, with plenty all around,
I starved within my cabin, and slept upon the ground;
But cruel as my lot was, I never did hardship know,
Till I joined the English army, far away from Aherlow.

"Rouse up there, " cried the corporal, "Ya lazy Irish hound!
Why don't you hear the bugle, its call to arms to sound? "
I found I had been dreaming of the days long, long ago,
And I woke upon Sebastopol, and not in Aherlow

I tried to find my musket, how dark I thought the night!
O blessed God! It wasn't dark, it was the broad daylight!
And when I found that I was blind, my tears began to flow,
And I longed for even a pauper's grave in the Glen of Aherlow.

A poor neglected mendicant, I wander Dublin's streets
My nine months' pension it being out, I beg from all I meet;
As I joined my country's tyrants, my face I can never show,
Amongst my dear old neighbors in the Glen of Aherlow.

So Irish youths, dear countrymen, take heed in what I say;
For if you join the English ranks, you'll surely rue the day
And whenever you're tempted, a-soldiering to go.
Remember poor blind Sheehan from the Glen of Aherlow.

Hope you have a cheerier Irish Friday. Here's Common Ground's version of the tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3DjpCimNSA

[Padraig]

John, interesting post and the bold Martin turns up yet again in another guise! But I had already found an item from that Glasgow
Celtic Connections concert, and I just decided to amaze you with that. In addition I include an old Bothy Band item just to spice up the amazement. I'll leave you to work out what the blazes I'm on about!

The Bothy Band - Rip the Calico Set - Glasgow Celtic Connections January 22nd 2024. - YouTube

The Bothy Band - Pretty Peg And Craig’s Pipes (1976) - YouTube

[Padraig]

Here is another puzzle then: What have these three 'Come to the Bowers' got in common?

Come to the Bower

My hands come, touched
B sweetbriar and tender vetch,
Foraging past the burst gizzards
Of coin-hoards

To where the dark-bowered queen,
Whom I unpin,
Is waiting. Out of the black maw
Of the peat, sharpened willow

Withdraws gently.
I unwrap skins and see
The pot of the skull,
The damp tuck of each curl

Reddish as a fox's brush
A mark of a gorget in the flesh
Of her throat. And spring water
Starts to rise around her.

I reach past
The riverbed's washed
Dream of gold to the bullion
Of her Venus bone.

Seamus Heaney North 1975




youtube.com/watch?v=x5_jwdOHm8w



thomas moore will you come to the bower - Google Search

[Ein Heldenleben]

Possibly one of the greatest young voices I’ve ever heard…..
This youngster has a future in front of him…

https://twitter.com/ITVRugby/status/1756695121733570691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1756695121733570691%7Ctwgr%5E31333cb2315d2dcfe1c515e3d77589fd133203db%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Frugby-union%2F2024%2F02%2F11%2Fboy-8-stevie-mulrooney-sing-irelands-call-six-nations%2F

[Padraig]

Possibly one of the greatest young voices I’ve ever heard…..
This youngster has a future in front of him…

Thanks EH. I did not get a great reception from your link - my equipment? - and though I watched most of the match I missed the preliminaries. I'm sure your words of praise will find their way to that brave boy. Good on him!
I can't resist mentioning that the song was composed by the man from ' The Town I Loved So Well.'

[Padraig]

I can't resist mentioning that the song was composed by the man from ' The Town I Loved So Well.'

. . . and why not?

Phil Coulter & the people of Derry sing The Town I Loved So Well - YouTube

[johncorrigan]

Possibly one of the greatest young voices I’ve ever heard…..
This youngster has a future in front of him…

Bloomin' 'eck, EH, that was amazing. What a voice!

[johncorrigan]

BBC Radio Scotland's 'Travelling Folk' took a tour of Donegal last night.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001qm92

I didn't hear it all but I did hear Brian Danny Minnie Ó Domhnaill as I was travelling through the mist that blanketed the neighbourhood last night - very atmospheric - he sounded like a right laugh of a guy. Here he is, introduced by that fellow who used to turn up in videos a couple of years ago, performing 'Nil 'Na La (Siar an Bóthar / Come West Along the Road)'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To8vz3V3kEQ

[Ein Heldenleben]

Bloomin' 'eck, EH, that was amazing. What a voice!

That clip featured on the BBC National news the other night. He has one of the most powerful and tonally accurate singing voices I’ve ever heard in a youngster - I hope his voice develops into something special as an adult . We could do with another John McCormack !

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thanks EH. I did not get a great reception from your link - my equipment? - and though I watched most of the match I missed the preliminaries. I'm sure your words of praise will find their way to that brave boy. Good on him!
I can't resist mentioning that the song was composed by the man from ' The Town I Loved So Well.'

yes indeed it was . I won’t go into the interesting ins and outs of the anthem as you are no doubt familiar with them but there’s a very detailed wiki entry on it. If memory serves its one of the few anthems with a pop style up -a -tone key shift for the final chorus . I bet that’s caught out a few over the years.

[Padraig]

We could do with another John McCormack !

As I agree with you, E H, here is another John McCormack. By coincidence, it happens to celebrate a 'Genevieve' who, as far as I know, has never stood for election.

Sweet Genevieve - YouTube

[Globaltruth]

Possibly one of the greatest young voices I’ve ever heard…..
This youngster has a future in front of him…

https://twitter.com/ITVRugby/status/...six-nations%2F

Well, if ever anything deserved a repost that clip most certainly does. Absolutely terrific.

Well done Stevie Mulrooney from Kilkenny - 8 years old.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Well, if ever anything deserved a repost that clip most certainly does. Absolutely terrific.

Well done Stevie Mulrooney from Kilkenny - 8 years old.

Phil Coulter says it’s one of the best versions he’s ever heard and I bet he’s heard a few.
Theres a very interesting interview with him about it here.
I had no idea he’d written Congratulations for Cliff Richard

https://www.france24.com/en/20181117-eurovision-legend-coulter-answers-irelands-call

I was googling to see whether he got royalties for the anthem . It seems the royalties for the Eurovision song more or less paid for his childrens’ upbringing.Oh my there are six of them!

[Ein Heldenleben]

As I agree with you, E H, here is another John McCormack. By coincidence, it happens to celebrate a 'Genevieve' who, as far as I know, has never stood for election.

Sweet Genevieve - YouTube

It’s not just the purity of the voice is it ? It’s the extraordinarily clear diction.