Word The Cat

The Irish pipes are known as uilleann pipes. They can make a wider range of sounds than the Scottish bagpipes and unlike the babpipes they are not blown, but operated by a set of bellows at the waist.

One of the most influential players of the uillean pipes in recent times was Séamus Ennis (above). He was born in north County Dublin in 1919. His father was a piper and a member of the Fingal Trio whose other members Frank O’Higgins (fiddle) and John Cawley (flute) were frequent visitors to the family home as he was growing up. Between 1942 and 47 the war caused a shortage of materials necessary to printing (the trade Séamus had taken up) so he took a job collecting folk songs in West Munster, Galway, Cavan, Mayo, Donegal and the Scottish Gaeltacht. From this he got a job in radio collecting folk songs and from 1951-57 he worked for the BBC doing the same. From this time until his death in the 1980s he recorded 7 LPs. The two pieces below are typically drone-heavy. The 13 minute long ‘Fox Chase’ from the album of the same name is hard and intense.

Séamus Ennis – The Fairy Boy 2.3mb

Séamus Ennis – The Fox Chase 12.3mb

Another instrument of note is the banjo. One of its most famous players in Ireland from the last century was Margaret Barry.

She was born in 1917 to a traveller family of street musicians. Her ballads could be heard in the Irish North London of the 50s. In the 1960s she returned to Ireland subsequently touring America. As the 70s drew on her performances became rarer until her death in 1990.

Margaret Barry – The Factory Girl 4.1mb

Margaret Barry – The Galway Shawl (Oranmore).mp3 5.2mb

Joe Heaney (Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) was born in Áird Thoir, Carna, in the Connemara Gaeltacht in 1919. This was the same parish of which the great folklorist Seán Ó Súilleabháin was to declare to an international gathering of his colleagues in 1950: “There are more folktales to be gathered in the parish of Carna than there are in the rest of Western Europe!”

After winning forst prize in the Oireachtas singing competition in 1942 he moved around, living in Glasgow, Dublin, London and America where he taught in the Ethnomusicology Department in the University of Seattle. These recording were made by singers, collectors and activists; Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in Beckenham (!) in 1964.

Joe Heaney – Bean Phaidin – Paidin’s Wife 2.2mb

Joe Heaney – The Widow From Mayo 7.6mb

Joe Heaney – Old Man Rocking the Cradle 3.9mb

The Irish style of singing is nearly always solo and a peformer by and large will concentrate on melodic ornamentation. The solo performance even excludes the audience in that the singer will often cover his eyes so as not to see his audience or sing into the corner of the room. English folk music on the other hand relies more on rhythm and harmony. Below are two pieces from English folk singers. Sam Larner, from Winterton, Norfolk sings unaccompanied sea songs, but more typical is the track by group, Blue Murder (who feature the Watersons and the Carthys – perhaps the most famous families in English folk music) which has tight rhythm and harmony.

Sam Larner – The Drowned Lover 7.8mb

Blue Murder – Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy 5.2mb