A while ago I discovered a lovely CD of harp music by solo Irish harpist Grainne Hambly, The Thorn Tree. I'm really keen on all traditional music and Grainne's a top-class exponent.
One of the criticisms of traditional music is that "all those tunes sound alike". Grainne's CD is the antithesis of this. All the tunes seem to have been very carefully chosen to provide a balance between slow airs and lively jigs and reels with each tune very distinct from the last.
Those (like me) who love the compositions of the great 17th-18th C. harpist Turlough O'Carolan will find him here, namely the pieces 'Sir Arthur Shaen' and 'Carolan's Quarrel With The Landlady'.
In 'Travelling Through Blarney' and 'The Stack of Barley' Grainne gives a great rendition of fairly well-known tunes with her own special interpretation.
There is one stand-out contemporary piece, Grainne's own slip jig, The Thorn Tree, and as someone who knows Birmingham (UK) fairly well, it was nice to hear The Spotted Dog, a tune named after a pub there, and arranged by Grainne herself.
The CD comes with some very detailed sleeve notes which if you click, you can read online as well.
With musicianship of the highest quality, this CD would be a lovely introduction to the Irish harp for anyone just discovering traditional music, or wanting to know more. Those already familiar will certainly find delightful Irish/Scottish tunes that they hadn't heard before - Grainne really seems to have sourced widely within Irish music for this CD,
A smashing box of tunes, beautifully played, and available to buy online .
((hugs))) And, wishing you a great weekend....are you doing anything special?.....Hope my message finds you fit and well, dear friend....blessings Katy
The pic below I took at Bedes World in Jarrow Tyne and Wear a good few years ago......its a great place to visitif your ever up North..
Paul Potts having been Artist of the Week for quite some time, I thought it was time for a change. The pictured artist is the late Ross Greenwell who died in August. You can listen to Ross's music at the music page of his Lost in Dreams website. ("Lost in Dreams" was the title of a song written by Ross)
I'd like to suggest a wonderful Irish tenor for a new Artist of the Week. He's Derek Moloney. I just saw him on the "If You're Irish..." tour. He's got an amazing voice and is a really nice person on top of that.
His website is www.derek-moloney.com. He's just released a new self-titled CD called Derek.
You can see him performing my favorite of his songs live on RTE's Late Late Show here: http://www...5,null,228
Hi I have a new music artist of the week to share . Its my four year old son killian and you can see him sing on youtube elizdeu@youtube.com thats my address.thank you.
elizadolittle
ON TV HERE IN THE STATES I saw a group with an Irish sound. I think the name was planet was there such a group and where they Irish? I wanted to purchase the music they put out.
thanks ED
Oh Disallowance..... please stop posting this stupid "Variant" thingy on here.... it doesn't say anything, therefore it's not interesting and has absolutely NOTHING to do with Music!!
I have found myself listening again to the recordings of the late Frank Harte. He went around Ireland from 1959 collecting songs of all types. If you look at the sleeve notes on Dubliners, Planxty and many other groups CDs you will find that Frank has been credited as the source of many of the songs recorded.
He was generous with his songs and was happy to hear other people singing them.
His CDs can be obtained from Claddagh Records or Amazon among others.
