Comhaltas Members held a Session in the Conservatory at Assiniboine Park
September 29th & 30th
Promoting
Echoes of Erin Comhaltas Concert Tour of North America 2007
appearing in Winnipeg on October 13th, 2007
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Some of the selections of music from this year’s concert-programme included favourite reels such as The Ivy Leaf, Gillespies. The Master’s Return, The Foxhunter’s and The Stoney Steps but lesser known old tunes such as Briget McRory / The Market Town Jigs ensure that those musicians in the audience who are always listening out for “new” old repertoire were not disappointed. The opening piece of music was an arrangement of a melody “Barbara Needham” notated by The Limerick Collector P.W. Joyce nearly two hundred years ago. The programme included a wide variety of rhythms and in addition to reels, jigs and hornpipes it also featured barndances, flings and single jigs amongst other lesser-played rhythms. We included two old clan marches, one of which is the original ancient setting O’ Neill’s Cavalcade, with a piece from the Petrie Collection The Ladies March to The Ballroom to acknowledge the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls. The 100th anniversary of the O’ Neill’s 1001 Collection (The Dance Music of Ireland: O’ Neill’s 1001, commonly referred to as “The Book” amongst musicians) is also remembered by the inclusion of lesser known tunes from the collector’s works such as Down the Hill and Chief O’ Neill’s Visit. To reflect the enrichment of our traditional repertoire by more recent compositions we included tunes such as Paddy O’ Brien’s (Offaly) Sarah’s Delight, Junior Crehan’s Farewell to Miltown, Seán Ryan’s Trip to Nenagh, Martin Mulvihill’s High Road to Glin, Paddy O’ Brien ( Nenagh) Into the Woods, Joe Liddy’s Palmer’s Gate and Billy McComiskey’s The Palm Tree.
A variety of dances were featured. In addition to reels, which have always been a favourite with audiences, Echoes of Erin 2007 includes The Peeler and the Goat (Two-hand ceili dance), The Downfall of Paris, A Hurling Dance, Traditional Hornpipes as well as dance routines specifically created for certain pieces of music.
Singer Ella-Marie O’ Dwyer Sung a variety of both slow and quicker tempo unaccompanied songs such as The Dear Little Isle and A Song for Róisín Dubh Seán Ó Sé presents the concert in his unique informative yet humourous style and during the concert he sang a number of songs . These include An Maidrín Rua and Galway Bay and of course Seán also sings the two songs with which he is synonymous all over the world, the two classics Bhí Bean Uasal (Carrickfergus) and An Puc Ar Buile.
The sleeve-notes to the tour-album Echoes of Erin 2007 provided extensive information on much of the music and song presented during the concert.
Pictures below are of the promotion concert and the Echoes of Erin tour Concert and Sessions at the Irish Club
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