21 Cbv."a nn Cb.01 TIr. hreann

N • .,l.thr of tbe Folk 1Iv.e1c Soc!..t, of Ireland

Beal taine

, Rsc.nt ".etingtl '

'Pi per s 1n London'

'.s1:l11 folk .. v.~lc '

o , T

, )

,., , , T

1I01i nahed' e Chronicles pl\ge 2

"hlk e r' . Hi bernian )fagaloine ' )

'Fa ulkner' " Jov.rne l'

'1Iv..1 0 on t .. o flute s ' 6 'Dubltn Cour"nt'

6

1

lO

10

'C~ercial recordine of Irisb trad itional .. uaic'

B wehh Folk-Song Society

Diecoer'"phy Selllinar , 'Rel1g10v.. f olk song' :

'}!v.sic of reUgious son gs 11 i n lr18h'

'Scotthb Ceel1 c pe .. 1.,,, ' 12 Eaeter ph, 14 ' B:reton Nati vity song' Id ' Bar dic religlov.s bymn e.nd 15 It a ,"uetc '

Discussion 16 Bro.de.!.de ' b.llads' 17 Sonea by Psddy Tunney 11

Tbe nut .... ting will b. a

~lNl'RODUCl' I OJl

'Tbe r ile l tn.di tion'. concert 17

' C.ol ' Y, 2 18 lilUe Clancy SlmVll e r School 19

Na Ploba!.r! Ullleann 19

' War acmga of tba O'By:rn ea ' 19

Art, Council 20

'Tba long note' :Xl

A. C. 11. 1982 :Xl

Double B I. 1 1 ,

TH E

FOR D E COL L E C T 1 0 II ~

C • , , 1 l " " l i , , 8 art,,1 , h

"T , , FE , S C 'Cl , " ,

I' , , S , , OS I Coo

, , e .. n d i " " 8 1\ t b n "' , SaturdeJ' 22 lI.ay 19B2 lit Bp . .. . , 15 Henri ll tb St DUBLlIf 1

For l h .. l .. s t mee ting of the seaaon eee las t page

, "Pi rerr< , " Lo n do n"

f' I l' FR S I , I,O NDON

Th~ 1";; )- :(' "e~"on ... a t. he(, .. m in tt,e Arts Building , 1'r1n1 t )'

Colle::~ , Dublin, on 3 Octobe r 1981 with " sboldng of the 001-

Our v; rle otll"e Pipers in Lonao'l gi ven in associa t ion with tI,e

Denn rtm .. nt of Irish in the college . The tal'<! 0;'11." recorded in

Bat t e rsea , 1.0ndoll, during the 'Sells " of lrelend' f esti va l .. hen

fClf Over thre" weeks Na P{oh/lir{ Uilleann , the soc i ety of uil­

l eann 1'1 pers, took OveT the Batters"'a Arts Ce n t re, mOUllting !!

T'iping exhibi ti on "nd reci t als "nd ettr!lcting piPi n g enthusi­

!lsts of every denomination from ell over Bri t "in , ae ~ell ae

lOcal ~chool ohildren and residents .

Tho e~hibltion oond"ted of h'e l ve s e ts of pipes , sh old

ones on loen from t he National Museum !lnd sir modern I ear ly

iconoe r aphic and modern photographi c displ ays ; and demonstra­

tions of p1Pe-mnJcing and r ee d-ma king. There w", .. casu"l un­

schfldu1ed piping during t he day , recitals at 1unch- ti."1e an d

at ni g ht , "nd a concert t o finish.

AS 1I'ell es evokin/,\' t his varied activity, the taPe contains

an introduction t o the ins t ru"'ent by Breandan Breathnach , de­

monstrations of the skills 01 pipe and reed-making by Dan

O'Dowd , snd p1ayin/,\' by Jimmy O' Brien-Mora n, Paddy Keen an, Li.am

6 Ploinn . IInd Seamus Enn!s . (See also no 16)

In the IInme moneth [May 15~~11l1so pa!lsed through the <:it­

io of London in warlike manner, to th<! number of seevon

hundrocl. Irishmen , having for their wellPons darts and

hnnguns .l'ith bagpipes before them: and 1n St Jllmes Park

b<!~i~es W<!!ltminster the,Y mustered before the Kin B' .

- Holin5hecl.'s Chronicles (in Ceol V i , 1981 , 22)

C e 0 I T { r e 21 1

Courten"y tho celebrntod performer on tbe Irish pipos died

lately in London of a droPey whicb. be wae uupposed to have

contractod by hard dri.nk i ng. 'I'he body was interred in tbe

churchyard of St blncras. 'I'he procoosion that attended tbe

body wao exceedingly numerous. The number of those in

mourning could not be lesa than 80 or 90 couples , who were

preceded by two Iri oh piPers, one of whom played on the

Union Pi Pee uBed fo""erly with such wonderful effect by Lbe

deceased. All the expenses of the funeral were defrayed by

CaPtain Leeson , into wbose corps be had some time since en­

listed a nd been appointed a ser geant.

- Walker ' s Ulbernian magazine Dublin 1794, P. 287

W E L S U F 0 L K LI U SIC

Tbo folk music of en other country io alwaYs of in t erest, bOLb

for its own Bak e and f'or the lig bt thrown on our muaic. When

the country io our close Celtic neighbour thie intereot ia

especially keen. D. Ray Saor , flond of tbe Folkloro Dept in

the Welsh Folk Museum, Cardiff, presented an illuminati ng sur­

vey of Welsh f olk music at a meeting on 14 November in Bus­

well'e Hotel, Dublin . Mr Saer joined the Museum in the early

1960s and since tben be hae collected ex t ensively from Welab­

l anguage eingere . He is ed! tor of the Welsh Folk Song fuc1ety

Journal and has publiahed a collection of songs from oral tra­

dition snd articles on Carol singing .

Ch the evidence of twentieth-century recordings tbe Irish

and Welsb ethnic vocal traditions a re s trikingly dissimilar.

The styl e of WelR~16nguaee singers recorded in the field does

not greatly alter that impression . Whether male or fema-Ie

tbey have large resonant voices, pitched low, with forceful

projection, often e lot of vibrato , and a leisurely tempo.

"'11' e 1 " h f 0 1 k lII u s i c"

lJynsml<: va riation end ftn c, nim.'\htd emoHon,,} deHve ry li r e comm­

On . IIhytla t e Pa U ernB a r e Bimple end melodJ' 11ne" undecor at­

ed. There 111 lit t le rubato.

There i " , howeve r, eome evidence thftt before 1650 t he t wo

t rftditlcma wer e IOore alik e . .e16h al nging la'Iderwent !I dr ..... '"""

tic ch~nf:e In the Vlctor lftn Period . This W(1.8 brough t about

by ths promotion of con6Tegll tlona l a in g i ng In the eervice"

and f en tivah of t he Hon- Con fol1lli et Chapel, the church o f

!no"t l 'e18 h spe/l.kers. The Ideal W/l.II dow, firmly projected ,

uniform s ing ing direc ted by a p r ecentor. Variation wc,,, f or­

b idden. Slurring "nd n ll$a llty were to be eradicated . The i n­

troduction of tonic eolf" In the ch"pel-based char,.} eooi~

ti es f rom 1661 brought sbout wl deepr ead mU ll lcal I lterlloy. The

oral w~a deprecieted , and by th't end of the century the bulk

of the nat i on wall wlIII vllreed i n the trad itl0ll9 of er t lIuslc.

The Elnteddfod movement , beSlnnlng In 1615 ftnd oPera ting from

vilh,r,c to notlon,, 1 level , fo~tored a ge l f-c onsci ou9 and for.,..

81 at t itud e t o lIulIlc-m"klng throue:h the anll1.J'aee And pro­

nounce .. entn of 1 te adjudicator s. Seculsr singing even In the

or ll l t radition wss e ffected .

Tbe r e is plentJ' of ei gh teenth and nlneteentb-centurJ' evi­

dence of ethnicall y dietln c tlve , o r llll,1 tr"nsmiU ed IIO nga

which l'I\o s ed from region to reGion and deve l oped 10clll veri­

IIntll. Such nre o Ull ~o be found in lIIanuacrl pt, In t he .ehb

Polk Rong Socte tJ' Journal , and In the BBC and WPM " rehivee .

Love eong" predo .. l n"te, ... 1 th som" humorous longs IInd quite (I

few rltu~ 1 sel\90nsl e0ll8a . "ela~l",ngu"e:e 00llg<! Are IOO" U.v

IJ' r lc"} l l ong na rr" tive bsll"ds li r e rare .

Homo formo of tradltl on{l. l olngl ng "e re pr ee erved by Church

,,"d oh"pel. The tr(ldltton of cnrol Ring ing wna verJ' vlgofou"

in th". ch ... peh of Nor th "nleo , wh i ch h"d unique enrlJ' 1I0rnlng

(5 o 'c.) enrol service s . The r eol htton of blhli cel texta to

C e 0 1 T { l' e , orally rece ived 'tunes' in t~e Sunday schools may be medievel

in o r igin . Hwyl , the me lod ic chanting of t he ~ore emotional

Parts of a sermon. is a t leaet aB old as the eighteenth cen­

tury .

The eiateddfodllu preeerved peni l1~ si nging , the d ngi ng

of traditional utaJIza s t o harp accompaniment. Originally the

si nge r .se re ~uired to match his vers es spontaneously to any

tWle the ha r per might play . but no'. tile proCtlss is formali sed

and complex har moni sed a rrangemen t s ar e tb e rule .

Tbe ins tru~ental traditi on withered with the sln~ng and in

so:!!e places disappeared . The medieval beI'dic tradit i on r e coS""

ni eed tile hlyn and the c"th - th e lIat'P and the crowd _ but

bo tb declin ed with t he end ing of arie tocratic patronaa' in the

ei gh t een th cen tury , and the ha rp, havi ng changed trom a Gotlli c

to the l a r ge triple harp form do~lnant in North Wales , only

eurvived because of the elsteddfodau . The re wss a strong

fiddle tradit i on in the eifhteent h and nineteenth c enturies,

eepecially in the South- lfellt . The bagpipes were etill played

in .eddine proceseions in the late nineteenth century . The

eingle- reed pibgorn or bor npipe W/l1I played into the nineteent!l

century . Recauee of its aseociation with dancing, instrument.­

al music wall suppress&d by tbe churches and bad ~lmos\ disaP­

Peared by 1900.

~r Sae r plsyed 9 wide rang& of recorded &X9mples: an early

humorQUS song cf proteFt in tb e concert styl e. a narrative

' $ t llble-loft s ong ', " Cbri ot mas c"rol 1n thret'- P"rt lI11rmony,

8 cbl\nted biblical te:rt, a !!..!.t!.. an enrly "nil a late penl11ion.

so",e triple-barD pieces. revival lIinMn£:. and tbe crowd at

Cardiff Arms r"rk 8in&1n6 n hJ= in 'll'ell'<h.

6 "11 u , i e o " • wo f lutes"

I(ordecai Ployd hath hken the Red Lion Inn at Con_a,y 1n

Csrn s T'van shtra, between Chaster and nollyhe~d, which 1,

v&r y well furn i s hed wi th all Naoeollsriell for Man end Horse ,

a nd 18 a ve ry good ~t!l8ter of tbe Welch Harp, on 'O'bleh I~

IItrump.nt he P},a,yll very well, and 111$ Wife l s a most excell­

ent Cook, 88 lIIany Gentlemen in tlll8 Country can 1.8'U(y • .•

- Paulkner' , Dublin journal, :n July-l! Augus t 1750

At the V.USI CK-HALL 1n Fi shamble Street For t he Benefit of

Mr . Evans, a Pe rformer on the WELCH HARP On Monday the

ll!th of ~8rch wl11 be performed several favou rit e Pi ecee

of Musick on th t In 8 tr~~ent , of Coreli, Vlvaldi , and Han­

del " Works , and Iri s h, Scotch and WelCh Airs, with Vari­

ations, after wbi ch a SALL . To begin a t 1 0' clock Pre­

ciae1y. Tick.ete at 5e . 5d . t o be had a t the ".usiek.-Hall,

a nd of Mr . Evens a t Mr . Dowl an'~, raper Stain er, Temple­

bar , where any co~ands lef t will be punctually obeyed on

timely Notice . N .B . Mr. Evans hae had the Honou r of pe r­

for~ing be f ore the Royel f amily , end ",oe t of the prinCiPal

Nobl 11 ty in Great Eri t a in , a nd waa educated und er the di­

rection of Lord Le Deipencer . Ti ckets of t he 7 th will he

hken the Illth.

- Faulkner ' " Dub lin journ .. l, 20-23 Februa ry 1768

14 U S I C o. TO 0 F L U TES

When the itineran t h~rPflr Artn.ur O'N e ill visited IIr Irwin'e

houae in Streams~own, co . Sligo, in the 1780e , the forty-oix

mUlli ciBns preeent inCluded 'lix 'ge'ltlemen flute,,'. A gen eta­

tion Ot so later, after s century o f popu1a ri ty, the flute ba-

8"an to 1011110 favour in euch well-to-do ci rcles and to find Ita

_aY increas ingl , into the hande of poorer country mueiclnn" •

• hil e flu t es deecr ibed e e 'coarRe ' were being imported into

C e 0 1 T f r e 7

Ireland in the mid-seventeenth century , the i nstrumen t s of the

Strssmstown gentlemen would heve been of the traneverse , coni­

cal, keyed type developed by the court musicjans of Louis XIV

at the end of the 16008, a tyPe known variously in Ireland as

the Ger~an, timber or concert Clute. The dispersel oC the in­

s trument among traditional players took place a l l over the

country, hut, for reeeons no one seems able to ex plain, t r ad i­

tional flute-playing is no .. e t its strongest in the counties

of Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon .

Prank Jordan, a flut e- player (lnd e farmer from near Castle­

rea , Roscommon , gave a recital at a meeting on 5 December in

15 Henrie tta St , Dub lin, and in conversation with Breand~n

Breathnach spoke of his life and music. In many ways Frank

is typical of traditional mueicians who grew up in the 1930s

and 40s. Havin& learn ed first from his father and older local

mUsicians , he emigrated to Birmingham and played there with

musicians from a ll over Ireland . For some t ime he was a mem­

ber of the Birmingham Ceili Band . Since returning to Ireland

he has played regularly at sessions in cC . iioscommon and fur­

ther afield . He has a strong , confident , rolling style , and

his repertory. mostly reel'!, ranges from the set tune s of bis

youth througb the stand"rd ceili b;U1d tunes to material learnt

from recent records .

Frank .,.".s accomp"nied i n much of his recital by Frank Con­

neoly , ",nother flute-player frcm ne~r C:Hltleren with ~hom he

usually plaYs in dUet .

L09 t on the 8 th of this Inct . October , t be fore FArt of an

r.bony Germen Flute tipt wi th Sil ver. Whoever has found

the s .Jme and brins s it to my Lord Drogheda's . Shall h~ve

three na I f Cro .. ns Reward .

- The Dublin cnur" n t. 10 October l721

8 "Comlllercial r e cording"

THE CO:l J.lEIICIAI. REC O R D llOG " IR I SH TR ADITI ONAL MUSIC 1900 - 1980

~n lJl\l~tl 'llt e d t l\ ll< on the history of t he commerei"l "ound re­

cardinc of Iri 'lh tradl ttonP.l mueie ,,:as gi ven on 30 Jnnuary l')82

1n 15 Hen r i etta St\ Dublin . by Nicho1n" Carolan , .... ho ie co~

pi ling (l d i~cograPhy o f Irish t r "dlt1on.d Illude under the .!I.U~

pieu of the Soci ety .

Edition ' s invention in 1811 of a mecil!ne that both r e cord ed

and re produced Bound ga ve ri8" in the 1890" to the 1118u1n8 of

commercl " l recordin gs on cyli nder and diac . Al though'lrl oh

80ngs ' .... e re included in " Columbia catalogue of 1891 and Irt8~

,,"en w"re a ctive 1n America from the s tart of 00="r01 ,,1 recoNT

ing. the first figure of traditional in terest waa Patsy Toulley,

the o1'n1'''8,,1 ooa1 ul11ellnn pipe r, who ad vertised a 111/1.11 order

"erviee " t the turn of the century by ... hlch a buyer could s e­

lect t unM from a 11 8 t of 150 for recordlne on cyli nder .

From the bet:lnnlng dnnce music .'M ,,'ell :'!erved by tb , medi­

mll . .. bile sinE;ine wae neehcted untU the late 1950s , though

1I0000e com~ sll-yes .. e re published in Dlgland in 1900. Virtuoso

pIa.yeu reproduced the dllsh and 11 f e o f t he music pl!!yecl in

the city COlll!Tlunltiu o f lrloh America as IIdequa tely e8 the

technoloey ~llowed . but those few tr"dlt1on" l :'!ongs t hat .. e re

recordftd - including a few in lri~, h datina from 19(M . 1916 .

:\nrl ellflec hlly thft 1920s - ... !!re perfoI"'lllld by concert Bolohtfl

in e non-traditional manner .

Co="rchl recordin g came of at':e in t he 1920s , the decade

of electric recording . wi th spec i al Iri nh ",!!ries from the big

Americ"n campan! !!s . IIml\ll Irish-American specialist comPanie ll .

lnerflalled recor d ing of Iri sh pe rformers in l.ondon, r ecording

t ours in Ireland . tentative steps t oward s an I r isb recording

industry , ,.nd "bove all g r aa t virtuoso players. The r ecordo

C a 0 1 T f r a 21 9 -----------------------------of Conlon, Ennis , Cole~n, the Norriaons , and a dozen others,

sold in thOusands and helped destroy Iri s h regional styl es .

Ireland it1'lelf waa , for ,,]most fifty years , a impl y 1'1 rr~

vlnciel market of the English and Engli s h-basad American com­

Panies. A few small and desultory efforts were made to se t UP

lrieh cOftlpantes in tha 1920s , hut they were short--lived. Tile

i mpor t tariff policies of Se~n Lemus finally forced 00 and

Decca to f ound Irish-hll s ed operations in tha late 1 93011 . These

specialist c~P8nle8 .

t"o cmpanies dominllted the ~ark. e t with

Amarioan r e- i ss ue!! and incr easi ngly

with I r ish instrumentalists , 'ba11ao­

singera' and cei11 banda until the end

of the Irish 18 ara in 1960 . The ~t

Iris~ olmed r ecord company after the

1920s waa Walton' s , founded In 1952.

Tbe recording of the mus i c In Ame!""

iea never prOPerly recovered after

the Depression , II nd a lthou!;h the e;reIIt

reoor ds of the 1920s are s till re­

issued and bought II nd great playere

have since a risen, the big American

Companies eventulllly t"etreated from

the shrunken mark.et and 1IIitll the

changeover to mic rogroove rscordinSs

in tile eerly 1950s left it to the

Thll h.st tIoenty-five ye ll r s has been the best period for tbe

pubHe!l.tion of tbe music in IIOWld . Some .... merican-publillhed

field recordln{"fl ,. .. r e the fornrunners of the 1951 Gael-I,inn

1811 e. nd since then, through the aeU,,1 tie ll of GMI-Linn , Topic,

Cl addlle;h , CCE , Lelld er, Fre~Reed, QIIL ,et . Sb81laehie e tc. , hun­

dreds of hours of a uthentic mus ic hav~ belln made availabla.

10 Di e c 0 e Ta p h y

Hard l y a re f!1.ona l traditi on re"'aine Wlupreeen ted. Thil! Per­

iod of re-dhcovery , reviva l and 1 .. 1tation hlls also u,en much

tha t i s eTaat?. concepte of record production that are i ni ",i­

cal to the material, and a rate of IIx l'uimen t ation and forc ed

cllange tha t devs lues tt .

F.lIBt'lplee were given from the pla,ylnB,/lI1nglng of P"hy To~

bey , John Xillltlel, Itioha!!l Coleman , John .11.0081.11£81'1, Leo Ro ......

SomB , Ka thleen Collins , ~lia lIu rphy, .th .. !merald Calli Band ,

J'lanxty and JOB Cooley.

NiCholne Car OlsI'!

W E L S H F OL X-S ONO SO CIETY

CYIIDEITHAS ,I, LA 1II'O lf G 7I'ERIN CYIIRU

Following Hoy Sasr ' e excellent leetllre 11'1 Nove=ber (see p. } )

1t was felt very de ai r able to t ry and sUBt ai n contact be­

tween our Society and the "-81311 Folk-Song Society. Any of

our member s who want informa tion "bout the 'Welah Society

can g~ t it initially from Our Sacret/lry , or Can write dir­

ect to W. Boy Sae r , Head of t h e De pt of Folklore

Amguedd f a Werin Cvmru

'!!'alsh Folk ),l usaUIII , S t Fagen:; , C:lrdlff CF5 6';B .

DISC OGRAPHY

We c onrr atulate our Kon . Secretary Nleho l"" Carol!!n nn the

n"'"lrd of IIn ... r t~ Council bursary to enab le hi!!! to J»Iroue fur­

ther 3f.eld his 'Work on d i n c o(;ra rh,y (lIee p . 8) . Thi!! !lUlIIIIer he

will vl ~ it institution" In Britain and America . Th e projec t

dosl! wi th lrts h fol k music and will eove r the whole period of

recor d nubliBhlne from the beglnntn!:: of t he cen t ury do"n to

the pr e.~ ent .

C e 0 1 T , , 11

WRfLIGIOUS r 0 L K SOli G "

S~'U'o.l3y 27 hbr~ory 1982, 10 ~ .•. - 6 p ....

Na Piobaid UHloann , 15 H"nri~'ta Street, D<tblin

Our first all- day event proved 1I great success . It was lItten~

ed by a varied snd distinguished membership of ahout fifty­

five, .. ha t ook Part actively 1n discussions throughout the day.

The Ser.retary has provided the following , necessarily brief,

account of the proceedings. AS Part instigator of these, it

gives me great pleasure to prefix to hia account our best

thanks to all the contributors, and to Maevl! Csrolan for tak­

ing carl! of catering Ba .. ell .

The Committee plans to hold another all- day seminar in the

near future .

Hugh Shields

1I01r(n 1/ ( Riainl 'The musio of religious songs in Irish '

Noirln Ni Riain is the author of a thee is cn thie subjec t ,

,,'bich first caught her attention on account of the singularity

of a traditional Munster ve r sion of Seach'!. ndolas na M~ighd1n e

~\ui r e ( , Seven sorrows of Mary · ).

From her o .. -n collecting , from printed sources, priVate and

archival tapee , commercial recordin~ and same manuscripts,

she oom piled a bnd.;' of mateti,.l com ;:> risins teference e to ne .. ly

eomponed songs , ~onf;S in whioh text and tune .. 'ere united only

by the editor, :lnd (1 re presen t ative colleetion of about forty­

five authenti c sones .

Th'lse inst fell into three eatel:Ories, songs in I!.mh r~

.netre. numeric,.l ceral s and hall/lds . The IImhr~n songs, co ....

p03ed by lmo"n poe t s to prll'""exisdng tunes , .. e re tern ~ ry in

fol'Tll .. ith four re"ul,. r phrll."es in the verse nnd no r efrain.

l? "Re ligious rill k ~ 0 n g"

T,,~hl': Oaehch b S~Uleabh;in ' 8 Arei T 18 lilt! s r. .. sehnal!!h is "

t ypi cal "x~"'i>l" . The numeriClll ca r oI. include only ~

ndol~8 n il 1:"1glld1",, Muif'lt ,. nd 5" .. <;:lIt .,udlcfI n .. loIaigbdlne

Hut:-e ( ' Seven joys ••• ') . Th"ae ha ve " r e!r ,,!n which r epea ts

t hfl tWO-Phr ase mus ic of the verae . The b" l l"d e , such ae

Hym Dhomhnach Callca '- " ver eion ot the Cherr:r: tree carol

vs :-y 1n fOI"nl and music but are united 1n having narrative r~

1181ou8 con tent.

The tunes of reli g iClus aon gs b"ve connections "lth thOS8 of

other form" of tradi tionll l song. Tbo~e used in narra tives

euc b. aB An bhllinh posh." hId i eC~n" ( ' Wedding feast.t

Cllna ' ) .. " re s11l0 used f or the Ossiantc laYSI the elghteent~

centur.y religiou8 poets u lled such popular IIecul"r tun ee "e

Se~n 6 Duibhir an ghl n nn s; s nd there h II r ue",bh.ncf! i n

8 t yl e a nd s tructure between t he c a 01nte on religious subjec t .

an~ .eeular ca01nte Or l&mf!nts for tile dead .

Illus t r a ti ons SWlg by Nolr!n herself we re' A R{ a n Domn­

!!A!.!:E, Csoinesdh Wh\l1re and Se acht ndolo.s na liIa i ghdin , lI\li r e .

Te r encl/ McC!\ughey, 'The Sc"t tish GIII/UC pssl m,,'

Th i ~ I'.per . illu.1 t uted by rp.cordin /'3 , d""l t with the hi Qtory

pnd ch"racter o f t hl/ GaeUc me tr ica l plla lmod .v still u3 ed 1n

th~ Sco tt inh Highlnnda ~d ir,l~nj~ .

C e 0 1 T { r e 21 1]

It _s a principle of Jean Ca\vln , .. ho walJ very mudeal,

that since praise had t o be given bacle to the people , the dif­

fi cult proae PSalma and canticles should b, translated into

the vernacular in metrical versions . One note was to be lJet

to one lIy llable , to facllihte even tholle with little musical

sleill. In the mid- lIixteen th century. trane lators and mu,i­

cbnlJ were se t to work in Geneva and PIJ,1 tera were produced .

Thelle metriclIl psalmll wllre the only form of lIinging ulled in

tha Reformed Church in Sco tland aft er 1560 .

The translation of the psa lm'" into Gllelic In tbe seventeenth

century presented difficulti ell , as the combination of lIyllllb ic

melodies and fixed II trellll met re waa very a trange t o Caelic

eara. Eventus lly in 1694 a good metriCal v,rlJion of the 150

PlJalma waa prodUced , employing only twelve different tunes.

Since the majority of aaelic apeakers were illiterate they

were instructed in t he PSalms by a precentor who intoned a

l ine and was t hen Imita ted by the congregation . The chant .

ulJed were not the cOlI\II!on-metr e tune" but lee", to have been

largely pre-Reformation ones remembered by the precentors. The

imported tunelJ were made moda l and pentatonic. The baatc

principle of one note to a ayllable "a" ignored .

Nowadays in church , .. ban t he mini s ter has rend out the en­

Hre PSalm , the precentor bep;ins singing the first bo lines.

The conereeaticn joins 1n by de greea ae it recogni ses the

chll1lt sel ected. giving a swell ing effect . The third and eub­

sequent lines are eunC twice , first by the precentor , then by

the group. The Ilinginp; 18 not unison but heterophony . ?ople

delibera tely s1ng elower or faster then their neighbOUr , de­

corate diffe ren tly, and enjoy the dieeonances created. The re­

lIult ie e unique blend of the individual end the communal ,

with the s himmering eff.ct creR te~ followed by a e rea t etill­

neel . Even among HighlAnd exil e" in the citiee the tradition

" "R e 1 i g i 0 U B f 0 1 k son g"

rema in s s trong .

In re ply to que(ltiona : Inc truction in tbe psa lms is oral.

Tbey s re used in all reformed oburches except the EPiscopalian .

E a s t e r pIa y

The morning ended with a performance of tbe Dublin liturgical

Easter d ra~a preserved in manuscript from the fourteenth cen­

tury. Thi s play .. as as socia ted .. ith S.t John's churoh (nea r

Ch r is t Church) an d belongs to the tradition of European reli­

gious d l'ama. in La tin obent . It represents a subject po pular

in folk s ong = the Res urrection, with the three I.!arys a t the

tomb , t he An gel a nd the d hciples Peter and John. It would

normally have been performed a t an e a rly bour before Matins

on East er DaY .

The singers were s tuden t s a nd staff of Trinity Coll ege , Du~

lin , Be~ trice Aird, Orainne O' Dwyer, Bernie O'Sul11van , Niall

Le on" r d , Fr Earnonn J.j cCa rt hy , Hugh Shiel ds , a ss i s ted by Tom

M\lllnell ~· .

Don 3. tien La urent : ' .~ Breton Na tivi ty s ong '

The o f t"rn oon s ession was opened by Donat ien Lauren t , Director

of the Centre d 'Rthn o logie de l e: Fr'l1lce , Brest . He pres ented

11 lI"t i vity " OI'lg in Sreton pn p"l n r befor .. t he Sec ond ',I'orl d 'A'a r ,

an d GPoke of its antecedent s . It oms us e d as" beegin g s ong

by y OllJl {' people goin/; r OW1 d hou11 e" on Chrir,tmnr; Or New Ye nr's

Eve, a nd tell s how Ms ry fIn d Joseph , fri endleGs in Bethlehem ,

were asr< i s t e d hy B,r idge t, a s ervant g irl without eyes, nos e or

nrn:S . f, cting ss ,",, !'y ' s mid.tife she waa rewa rded b.y becomi ng

whol e, nnd ... ' a~ a. ~si gn ed " fe aa t d:!y pr eceding th"t of Ma ry.

"he p ~me stor y i s f ound i n :: coth n ~ ~nd I r e1on<l. Thi s Bridee t

is "n ~e rstood by Breton a t o be th e Iri sh Sa int - of chil dbirth

emon /,: ot.h er thincs - ... ·ho ,"'an 1'<><>"l" r in llrittu ny . The lec end

C e 0 1 T { r e 21 15

has element!! too of BriEtln tl ll. , th e widespread Celtic goddess

who pre s i ded over the bi rth of mankin d .

Donatien pleY l'Id t ... o ver si on s o f the 8Ong, both in the Vanne s

dielect of South Bri tt any. One waa aung by tenor end choir ,

the usual manner of hymn-ainging in church. He r ecor ded the

:'I econd one some yaa r a ago from a ~/oman born in 1907 ",ho had 1 t

from her gr andmother throueh her f A ther. It is very full , has

an interesting melotl.y with a pent atonic second Part, and a text

in r hythmic prose for the narrative and in sPoKen and sung

ver8e f o r the dialogue: a sort of Chantefable . It derive s

from a play populAr in Vsnnes in the seven teenth century . But

the Bridge t episode di d not appear in tha pl ay and waa ob vi ous­

l y inaert ed b.y the people . It muat ba I!fl cient and maY have

come from Ireland . The mirRcle of t he midwi fe is at leas t sa

e!lrly liS the e econd c en tury and i a IIIso fOWld 1 n medie vd

French . The eone is 8 fusion of Judaeo- Cbr is tt an and Celtic

elements of popula r religion .

I n re ply to questions : The miracle of the midwife occurs

in some continental ballad versione o f the ~i r8cle of \he

borlne tre e (' Cherry- \ree enr ol ' ) , bu t this c ombi nation i s not

kn o'Olf! 1n Brinany . Tbe !li neer uneri l1~tle variati on in recit.­

ing the prose !I11 T-t.

Bre llnd~n 6 M l'Id !l.g~in : 'A bardic reli Gi ous poem and i t s mudc '

Pro!. 6 Ma dagai n presented a recent discovery which bringa to-­

gether the t e xt and muaic of 8 bar dic religi ous hymn some cen­

turi ee old .

I n e previous t a lk to t he Society (Ceo.l Tire 18) be bad

concluded that the sa~ind of ,"us ic - recihtive chant - waa

ua ed in I rela.nd for t he ver Be p"r t of the ea oineadh or folk

l/1ment , the s tres!'ed marbhnll. o r learned elegy , the syllabic

mltrbhnll. , th e li!oithe or Oflsinni c lay a , nnd bardic r eligious

16 ~R e 1 i « i 0 U $ f 0 1 k S 0 1\ g "

3nd other ver ae .

Hin evidence for itn una I n b $rdic reli giou$ verse was the

1873 statement by Eugene O' Curry that his father Eogb!lJl Mol'

niehtly eanB a t hirhenth-century bardic hymn to the B1esaed

Vi r gin t o the 'air of these O$s lanic pieces' . O' Curry wbo

claimed to know t he air extremely •• 11 did not name the hymn

hut gAve ite fir s t stanza _ Breandan found many copies of

the full poem among the R. I . A. manuBcripts . It le entitled

there SCie thluirsa ch I.!h uire ' Breastplate of lIary' and 111 essen­

tially in t he syllab i c r anna{ocbt bhse8 metre . GeaTgs Pat ria,

O' Curry' s clos8 friend end 8880c1ate , has preserved an ai r

wi th the 88me t1t le , and bie note that it is the melody of 'en

ancient hymn, al so the melody of 088 1an ' 8 poem of T. l1 s ' ~e8

csrtai n tha t it iB the ai r for the te~t ,

Breand;n Bans six verses o f the byrm , the -..ordB from 11. II:S

of Mi ch eal 6g 6 L ong~1n. Words and m" lody fitted togethe r

without diffieulty, The music fill I 11. i nto four ver ce lines , 1s

M1 xolydian and haB a chan~llke chara cter . The Waterford ain~

er Labhras 6 Cadblalgb ssng s fr agment of Caoineadb Airt U{

Laoir e to the Bame a ir, fu r the r evidence of the connect ionB

mentioned above.

D1ec u 6e io'n

Tbe 3eminnr ended wi th /'I dis cussion inl tiated b y Se&n Us c nea­lIIO) nn (IITr:) and Canon Coelett Quin , Seoin spok e of the place

of mUsic in rdieioue Practice and welCOIIIed oppor tuni ty f or • bett .. r a cqua.in t.o.nce ",ith old traditionll . Coslett recall ed

persona l e xperienoea collectin g rellc-loua aonga 1n lrioh in

DonflP"l fr om tho 1930a . AS well ,,3 ranging over t he 8 .. bjec~

matter of paPere , diacussi on eugeested thAt versions of r eli­

noua folk sone- IIho .. ld be lande /'Ivailable in pri nt fo r those

inh·rested 1n rev1vine t heir U8e .

C e 0 I '[' ! r e " 17

Brondoide 'balladll'

Th.r ee nIneteenth-century broadnideo ",ere reprinted for the 00"­

cosion by permiesion of the National Library end Trinity Coll­

IIge, Dublinl ' The new Christmas carol ' 1461'111, Belfallt ,

' Chrlotmas carol', n.".d. (1\nother ver{llon of the preceding) ,

end 'Christma!! carol'. n.p. d. (text in Irhh). A COP1 wa6

given to oach Partic.1P8llt and .. ill be lIen t to membera who "ere

n ot I1t the seminar. FUrther copiea will be available to pur­

ChAIIlI1 more of thie (n the next ne .. eletter.

Son g 11 b, Paddy Tunney

Dll1cuollion merged imperceptibly into 11 IIhort conc ludlna reclt­

el of reli gious eong8 end 60n8s of r eligious interest in g-,~

Hob, /JiveI' by Paddy TWlney from bia Pereonal eXPerience of

Ulnter tradition, llI1d introduced by him in n colllDentery.

t:be Real t:R.aDit:ioo A Concert of Irish Tf:1diCion:11 l\'lusic

The e8s6ntial neturalnees that 18 the hallmark of traditional

muaic hnll been over l a i d in recent yellr8 by the ar tif1c1slitiea

o f lar8e venues, amplification , 811lfconecl ouII ensllmblll playing

81Id the comOlunicationll mlld ia. Acoulltic functional music, non­

virtuoso and non-commerclnl , do;nestio In eca le, le nn 10"8er

the norm, although of course it eurvivea "'idely . There are no.

almost t",o broad types of traditiona l music, on e ex1eting in

the old ' nntural' a tate and the other in the surroundtnse of

the new technology .

A rsquest to the Society from the bOard of the ne .. National

Concert bnll to nrg..nille i te flrst promotion of 'relll' tradi­

tion",l music gl\ve nome 1nnight3 Into what t he music .,,0 3J'd

wbnt it hl\s bscome . ThoU8h the hall 18 very large it is tuned

to 1\ muaic acouotio and h3s 0 public nddres8 "ystsm. It 10

PlC Q 0 1" 11: 2

expensively decorated , well equipped with rehearsal and dres&­

ing room'l and hnn a1 r-eady in a fcw months hecome the leading

venue for- music ill Ireland.

" sub- conoml t t ee 0 f the Soci e ty decided on and engaged the

performers and organised the programme. A certain degree of

virtuosi ty was l ooked fori a concert audience demanda amaze­

men t ",i th i ts en tertainmen t, and they .. ere sk ill ed in p1 !lYing

to big audiences . Fireside performers could have been Over­

.. b(!lmed by the venue. To reduce the incong rllity of rnu3ic and

se tting the hell was darkened, the performers spotlighted and

tbe P.A . sys tem not llsed. ~'his worked moderately well. Music

and si ngi ng were quite audible though sPeech was often loot,

especially when Perfol'tllero named their tunes.

A det " Ued record of the concert follows. It took place

a t 8 p. m. on Friday 12 MarCh 1982. Special admission ~teo a~

plied to stud(!flts and school Parties. The performers were:

I.!ary Bergin (Dublin/Oalway, .. histle)j Paddy Burns (Newry ,

flute)1 Seamas Glackin (Dublin, fiddle); Nan Chrialla1a (Car

w<IY, songo in Iri sh) ; Noel Hill (Clare, eoncertlna); Ben and

Ch(lrlie Lennon (Leitrim, fiddles); Liam 6 ~'loinn (Kildare,

unlennn Pipes); Jolmny Leary (Kerry, button accordion); set

dancero Rinceol r{ Chluain Tsrbh with solo s tep dancer Aidnn

Punch (Cork). The concert wa s compered by Frank Herte, who al­

(l0 lI['ln(; in Dl~liah r eplacing Ceordie Hanna (Tyrone) recently

relelllled from hospital. 700 attended and seemed happy with

the entertainment. l1ich0111.3 Caro1an

"Ceoi"VI2

Hot on the heels of VI} comes V:2 with a subs tantial range of

articles: Sean Donnelly .. rites the second of three on the hi8'"

t ory of the piPes , and {\ note on musicians in the diocese of

Elphin; Maev ut Ghl!.llchoir contributes anotber children's

C e 0 1 T 1 r e 19

g llme; Cathal CoMl gives t.o tnterell ting 1I0nr:s in IriSh frol!!

lIe11 11 11 1 Dh<)!II!maill , Rl\na fa s t; B reand ~n Brea thna ch pree ent s

SellmUIl Enn!s and a IJ election of hi ll music , and .rites on the

nineteent~century piper Johnny Pa tter60n.

' fl et"een <h • J ig !I • " d , b • r eel s '

Under thi a titl e BrellJld~n als o outlines the ..orKi ngs of the

index of dance mua ic he ha" been en gaged on for many yeaTa

and IIppeals for help with informa tion or loan of materi a l.

There is no causa more deIJervin g of our aupport .

WILL18 CLANcr S U J.! J.l E R SCH O OL

The School will take place during the .eelt 3-10 July, at 11/11-

town Malbas aa us ua l, where as u llu"l information may be ob­

t"ined from "'utri! 6 Roch~in ( phone 1J 1ltown, co. Clare , 68 ) .

Contributors "ill include Breand~n Brea thnach , Seoi r se So~

ley , Protn!lias 6 Conlualn, Datth{ 6 h6g a, in , Padraig 6 Fian­

nachta; the usual cl as lles .111 b e held , witb a ne. one on

dancing given by JOe Donovan.

N A U ILLSANN

The headquarterIJ of the PIpers ",t 15 Henrlet t a St "ill b e cf­

flclally opened by the Lord ""ayor of Dublin on 28 1Ia,Y . Aa far

aa .. e e r e c oncerned , t hey have, o f cours e, been open f o r a

I ons ti me . \l'e tak e t hi s opportun i t y of th anking t he Piper s

for their ho!': plt lLlity I'lIld congratul a ting them on an ach I ev~

ment tha t no one c ou l d hev e t hought poa ll t b le a fe" yea r s agO.

!dean.hile , 8 n ew number of their news letter An P!oba1re - not

s urpri sin gly - hRs j u !< t IJPpell:red .

". A R S 011 G S O F T i! E O' S YRllE C L A N'

II r " il U !!m G. lIy me wr1 t en f:r om ChicR60 t:ryin t to trece a book

A nnual General ". eetin g

with th\ $ ti tl e fro~ which 'in 1958 , while vi si ting a aong fe~

tiv/ll /I t 1,11\11£:011 en , 'II'alea , I hea rd a quartet of Iri sh contes~

Ants 8ing ~ sel e ction ' an d of whieb 'one Amer i can Irish 8cholar

does have 1\ vAgue lIIelllory ' ,

Any info r mation reader s can send will be for war ded to him ,

A RT S G OU NCIL

The variety of our programme over the Paat year i s due in

lar ge mel\511r e to the enoouragement and DUpport of the Arts

Council "nd i t s Tradi tional !o\usic officer .

We 8ck nowlede;e with pleasure and appreciation the gr ant

which th e Council made available to cover loss in connec­

tion with tbe runn i ng cos t 8 of our activitie8 .

' T H E 1, 0 N G N OT E'

Thin 8e880n it has been pleas ant to ~'elcome to our prograllll'le

the producer and Preaenter of the 'Long Note ' , Harry Brsdshaw

and E~monn F"itzeerald . They recorded for transDliseiOl'l itellla

frOll! tbree meetingll l Roscommon flut ell , rel1g1ous folic: song,

end the concert . The sub8equent broadcasts got wide at ten­

tion ~nd could be listened to by members unabl e to b s at the

meetinPfI. The ' Long Note ' is the main radio pr ograllllle on IT­

iah folk musi c and goes out on Mondays a t 7 . 03 p.m . on RTE

r a dio 1 , 529m . med i um wave . We gl adly recommend it.

MEETI N G A. G, W. I 9 a 2

Don't for'}e t the lact meeting of the sell90n , the A. G, M,

on Saturd'lY 26 June lit 8 p.m. in 15 Henrietta St, Dublin I

A no tice about 1t 1& enclos ed wi th thi s newsle t ter and to

IHlve pos t sge 11 0 OrHF:iI IIOTICE WILL BE S~IT.