Irish Fridays

[Padraig]

One of my favourite bits of the rather excellent film 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' is Tom Waits as the grizzly, old-time prospector raiding the peace of a beautiful valley in search of gold; and then as he's leaving, breaking into this grizzled version of 'Mother Macree'. It's got Irish Friday written right through it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1IHp7eFc7A

Follow that!

OK - since you've opened the box!

Macree is of course 'mo chroi', 'my heart'; probably the most frequently used word, in any language, for love songs. 'A chuisle mo chroi' O pulse of my heart', is a very intense love song, better known as Macushla. And who better to give it that extra dramatic feeling than - you know who!

fyi the singer is addressing his love. The A in A chuisle is the vocative case in Irish grammar.



Macushla (2004 Remastered Version) - YouTube

[johncorrigan]

Follow that!

OK - since you've opened the box!

Macree is of course 'mo chroi', 'my heart'; probably the most frequently used word, in any language, for love songs. 'A chuisle mo chroi' O pulse of my heart', is a very intense love song, better known as Macushla. And who better to give it that extra dramatic feeling than - you know who!

fyi the singer is addressing his love. The A in A chuisle is the vocative case in Irish grammar.



Macushla (2004 Remastered Version) - YouTube

I knew you'd come up with the goods, Padraig. Thanks for the info re Macree. Mrs C was thoroughly impressed by this piece of language knowledge. And, of course, you can't do much better than the Count.

[Globaltruth]

I'll join in with JC here Padraig - thanks

on a lighter note, grammar references always remind me of my school days, with thanks to Ronald Searle and Nigel Molesworth of course.

gerund.jpg

[Globaltruth]

We may well have had this before, but it deserves repeating every few years or so...

Port Na bPúcaí, the Song of the Ghost (please correct this Padraig if I've got it wrong), this time on the accordion.
It's the right time of year.

Maybe that the tune is based on the song of the whales found around the Blaskets,

I have a whole story written down somewhere about the men who hunted whales for a few months every year, living on a remote beach in difficult conditions in the hopes of sighting a whale, rowing out to it, killing it and selling the oil. It's not the Blaskets though.

An excellent version by Tony McMahon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhrbs-7UQKo

[Padraig]

We may well have had this before, but it deserves repeating every few years or so...

Port Na bPúcaí, the Song of the Ghost (please correct this Padraig if I've got it wrong), this time on the accordion.
It's the right time of year.

Maybe that the tune is based on the song of the whales found around the Blaskets,

I have a whole story written down somewhere about the men who hunted whales for a few months every year, living on a remote beach in difficult conditions in the hopes of sighting a whale, rowing out to it, killing it and selling the oil. It's not the Blaskets though.

An excellent version by Tony McMahon



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhrbs-7UQKo

You're not wrong, Global.

There is some mystery about the word, and about the music, though.

Pucai, singular puca, a fairy, a Puck, a cunning fellow. There's a proverbial auld saying that goes - An rud a scriobhan an puca, leann se fein e - What the pooka writes the pooka can read (let the author interpret his own words).*

The music, as Heaney has it, an air out of the night, strange noises, spirit music; for fiddle, for pipes. And then the song of the whales, the wind form the sea.

The one thing you can be sure about is the other worldliness of the music that O Riada felt, and how well Tony Mc Mahon captures the mysteriousness of it in his accordion playing.

* Irish-English Dictionary (Focloir Gaeilge - Bearla) Niall O Donaill

[Globaltruth]

You're not wrong, Global.

There is some mystery about the word, and about the music, though.

Pucai, singular puca, a fairy, a Puck, a cunning fellow. There's a proverbial auld saying that goes - An rud a scriobhan an puca, leann se fein e - What the pooka writes the pooka can read (let the author interpret his own words).*

The music, as Heaney has it, an air out of the night, strange noises, spirit music; for fiddle, for pipes. And then the song of the whales, the wind form the sea.

The one thing you can be sure about is the other worldliness of the music that O Riada felt, and how well Tony Mc Mahon captures the mysteriousness of it in his accordion playing.

* Irish-English Dictionary (Focloir Gaeilge - Bearla) Niall O Donaill

Thanks Padraig - that's the description I wanted to read...

[johncorrigan]

A sad Irish Friday this week following the death of Shane MacGowan at the age of sixty-five. ere's 'A Pair of Brown Eyes'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNtQ5AnRlz8

[Padraig]

A sad Irish Friday this week following the death of Shane MacGowan at the age of sixty-five.

I like Fairy Tale with Kirsty McColl but otherwise not much of a fan, John. However my younger daughter knew him in London and has a great word for him, so that's me in my place.
Not in any way related, except it's Friday and, listening to Lunchtime Concert I heard Tom Moore's At the Mid Hour of Night in that dreadful Britten arrangement. I had to rinse out my ear with something soothing and recognisable, and the best I could find was this choral version.
Chacun . . . etc

Stanford - At the Mid Hour of Night - YouTube

[johncorrigan]

I have been enjoying The Breath this week and their new record 'Land of My Other'. The duo comprises flute player and singer, Riognach Connolly from Armagh and guitarist, Stuart McCallum. Some beautiful songs , mostly written by Connolly, as far as I can tell. The record is produced by Thomas Bartlett, he of Gloaming, and he plays piano on this moving and atmospheric record. Here's 'Cliona's Wave'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSgTEMmejC8

[Padraig]

Seeing that it's Christmas time, here is a young Muireann McAuley with Steve Cooney in an Irish Christmas song.


Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh |Steve Cooney |Oíche Nollag|Geantraí 2003 - YouTube

[johncorrigan]

Nick Cave and a band of fine musicians perform "A Rainy Night in Soho" at Shane MacGowan's Funeral today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHLqEdsrVk8

[Jazzrook]

Glen Hansard & Lisa O’Neill performing ‘Fairytale of New York’ at Shane MacGowan’s funeral:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=ptayWtW1So8

JR

[eighthobstruction]

.... I thought this was especially excellent....lovely voice, interesting range of instruments and Middle Eastern music in middle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmBG9g68SnY

[johncorrigan]

I went to see John Francis Flynn a couple of years back and although he may not be to everyone's taste, I really enjoyed his take on traditional tunes and sounds. He's a big guy...he appears briefly in the pub in this video which imagines the old Appalachian tune 'Mole in the Ground' as relating to the angriest ice-cream van man imaginable. I loved the tune from Flynn's new record, and I laughed a lot at the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r101tAT6mf0

Have some hundreds and thousands on your Irish Friday.

[Padraig]

You've heard it before, and here is a better version of the Christmas carol - in Irish and English.

Oíche Nollag - YouTube.

For the translation:

CHRISTMAS EVE - Máire Mhac an tSaoi - Ireland - Poetry International -

Click on the language you want.

Nollaig shona daoibh go leir.