THE BEST OF BOBBY GARDINER

 THE BEST OF BOBBY GARDINER

COMHALTAS CEOLTÓIRÍ ÉIREANN, 1982

Born in 1939 in Co. Clare, B. Gardiner is another big name in Irish box playing.  His first album was published in 1958 in New York for Clare Records. This LP is the 4th one with Bobby at his best indeed.

His style is totally devoted to dancing and dancers don't need any other instruments as we can hear on tracks A1, A10 where he plays for a half set of West Clare dancers with the great Aidan Vaughan among them.  Bobby used the melodeon and  B/C and D/D# accordions. He's also an excellent lilter (tracks A4, A7, B3 and B7). He was backed by Charlie Lennon on piano on some tracks as well as by Patrick Murphy on bones. Strangely it seems that this LP was never published on CD as such or it's part of a compilation maybe. Anyway I'm sure you'll enjoy these 21 tracks of dynamite !

The notes and presentation of the tracks are in the scan.

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MILLADOIRO

 MILLADOIRO

ANTON SEOANE  RODRIGO ROMANI 

Premio de la Critica Gallega 1978

Zafiro, 1977, NLX - 1099

Milladoiro was one of the first Galician bands to launch the revivalist movement in Spain. This is their first album with A. Seoane on zanfona, crumhorn, gaita, citola, guitar, piano and R. Romani on ocarina, dulcimer, guitar, flute, percussions. The third member was Xosé V. Ferreirós on gaitas and percussions. This band started as an instrumental one. Not a single song on this LP.  Most of the tunes were composed by A. Seoane and R. Romani. There are only 3 traditional tunes.
The band got its name from  special places called ''milladoiros'' for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela during the Middle Ages. As far as I know their latest CD was issued in 2018. A nice career for a nice group.

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LA MUSIQUE DES PAYSANS DE GRECE

LA MUSIQUE DES PAYSANS DE GRECE

anthologie de la musique des peuples

AMP, 1981, 2909

THE MUSIC OF GREEK PEASANTS

German musicologist Wolf Dietrich spent many years travelling in balkanic countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, ... But he recorded extensively in Greece. Here again  is a panorama of different kinds of music played by traditional musicians in continental Greece mostly and 2 tracks from the islands. You will listen to the kementzes, the zurna, the violin, the clarinet and other country instruments like the karamouza played by Gypsies (track A5)  The notes are quite informative with some lyrics in Greek and English. Track B4 is interesting for its love song in Albanian by villagers of the Argolis district. Some parts of Greece were inhabited by Albanians who came there during the 15th century and in some places the albanian language was the only one spoken until at least the end of the 19th century. Now it is very rare and survives in 6 or 7 songs only in Argolis.

These recordings were made between 1969 and 1975 in taverns or musicians' home.
The Anthology of peoples' music was a very good French label which issued other very good albums like this one.

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THE FLOATING CROWBAR

 P.J. HERNON (Accordion) MARCUS HERNON (Flute)

THE FLOATING CROWBAR
Traditional Music of Ireland Reels, Jigs, Hornpipes

GTD Heritage Recordings CO. LTD, 1987 (?), HC 097

This time Marcus is fully involved with his brother on this cassette. Another very good production by GTD based in Co. Galway (Ballybane). It seems that the reel ''the floating crowbar'' was composed by Finbarr Dwyer according to his brother Richard. As for the title, everything is possible in Ireland ...  No mention of the piano player; could be Carl Hession again. Good solid dance music !

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P.J. HERNON

 P.J. HERNON Button Accordion

A dedication to Danny Smith

FIRST HOUSE IN CONNAUGHT

GTD, 1986, G.T.D. C. 075 PC

Cassettes published by GTD Heritage Recordings are like gems. Here P.J. Hernon is joined by his brother Marcus on flute on 2 tracks. P.J. recorded his first album in 1978 for Gael Linn and  after he recorded more long plays and CDs. But the cassettes he made with his brother are as good. This is pure box music from co. Galway, from Carna exactly. P.J. is accompanied by Carl Hession on piano and Eugene Kelly on guitar.
I don't know much about Danny Smith. He lived in co. Clare and was probably a mentor to P.J. 

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SIHE RUYI

SIHE RUYI (QIAO)

SILK AND BAMBOO MUSIC OF EAST CHINA 

四合如意 (桥)

江南丝竹

China Records, 1982,  HL-103

 

From the area called Jiangnan comes this lovely instrumental music played on er-hu, dizi/xiao, pipa, yangqin. The name ''silk and bambou'' refers to the kind of strings used in the past and the bamboo used to make flutes. This is music from the South of China where cities like Sizhou, Hanzhou or Shanghai lie. The musicians are Lu Chunglin on flutes (dizi/xiao), Zhou Hao on er-hu (bowed string instrument), Ma Shenlong on lute pipa and Zhou Hui on cymbalum yangqin. There are only 3 tunes on this cassette, 3 of 8 great pieces as they are called locally.

I got some information about this cassette from a blog I discovered when posting this article called http://huqinblog.blogspot.com and dedicated to traditional Chinese music and more specifically to bowed string instruments like huqin, erhu, etc...

 

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MUSIQUE DES ANDES PERUVIENNES

 MUSIQUE DES ANDES PERUVIENNES

Documents sonores recueillis et enregistrés par Gérard Kremer

BAM, 1970, LD 442 Série Club

MUSIC OF THE PERUVIAN ANDES
Audio documents collected and recorded by Gérard Kremer

Gérard Kremer was what was called in the 1970's a ''chasseur de sons'', a sound hunter. He travelled to Colombia, Thailand, Ireland, Bali, India etc.. and produced lots of vinyles. Recorded in 1968, this peruvian music was like a revelation to me as a teenager who took up the kena shortly before. There was a South-american wave in France at that time with bands like Los Incas and Los Calchakis. The music here was recorded in the streets in different parts of Peru and is a big contrast with the musical approach of those bands. I think this album is one of the best G. Kremer ever made. But some mistakes are present in the notes written by Kremer himself; for example on A2 he thinks he had recorded a charango while it is a mandolin which is widely played in Peru. In fact there is no charango at all on this LP. Another mistake on A3 where he says that the antara pan-pipes are played while they are conduct flutes; compare with antaras on B3. There is a superb example of brass band music on B7.

BAM stands for ''la boîte à musique'' meaning ''music box'' and was a very good French label for recordings in the field. 

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DÍSIRT TOLA

DÍSIRT TOLA

Traditional music from Clare and Dublin

1983, MC281832

A very good cassette produced by 2 of the musicians of the band, Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin and Garry Shannon. The band was a ceili band and every member was also a soloist playing sometimes in duets.
Most of these musicians are well known in the traditional irish milieu and beyond : James Cullinan on fiddle, Ronan Browne on pipes, Carol Talty on piano and singing among others.
I met Gearóid (concertina and pipes) in Paris where he lived for a while in the 1980's. I also met Garry (flute) a long time ago.  There are 6 tracks with the ceili band. We can listen to Sharon Shannon, Garry's sister, on the tin whistle at the beginning of her carreer.  
The band took its name from an old christian settlement going back to the 8th century. It lies near the Burren in North Clare.
Unfortunately side B was poorly edited; the sound is muffled a bit so you'll need to turn up the volume.

 

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DIE VIRTUOSE KLARINETTE GRIECHENLANDS

 DIE VIRTUOSE KLARINETTE GRIECHENLANDS

LE CLARINO VIRTUOSE DE LA GRECE

Disques Cellier, 1980, CA631 67.469

These recordings made by the German ethnomusicologist Wolf Dietrich focus on the clarinet (klarino in Greek). Introduced by the Gypsies during the 19th century it is played throughout  continental Greece. All the musicians except in B2 and B3 are Gypsies.
The majority of these recordings made in the field comes from Epirus and Macedonia two strongholds of clarinet playing.
Dietrich insists on the fact that this kind of music was fast disappearing when he was in Greece at the end of the 1970's. Entirely acoustic originally the musical practice evolved (too much for Dietrich) toward  an electric amplification with loud speakers always blasting for a maximum effect on the public to the cost of fine ornementations in singing and instrument playing. What Dietrich calls ''western gadgets'' can often damage the music, it is true.
Unfortunately none of the musicians are identified only the places are mentionned like Parakalamos a well known spot for good epirot music.
Marcel Cellier the publisher was an important actor in the diffusion of different musics from the Balkan; I'll talk about him when I post other field recordings of his.

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SET DANCES OF IRELAND

 SET DANCES OF IRELAND VOLUME 1 

Séadna, 1992, séadna 001

Another very good cassette with 4 of the finest Clare musicians : Michael Tubridy on flute, Junior Crehan on fiddle, Eamon McGivney on fiddle and Tommy McCarthy on concertina. They play for set dancing here  the Myserks, the Orange & Green and the Stack of Barley. This cassette is the first in a series of tapes to accompany the book Set Dances of Ireland Tradition & Evolution . The notes in the booklet are informative about the musicians and the sets. Sadly, Junior and Tommy passed away. Michael Tubridy is still alive as far as I know (may 2021) as well as Eamon who hails from Longford in fact but has been living in Clare for the last 40 years. Rudaí iontacha !

 

 

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CEOL CHOIS FHARRAIGE

 CEOL CHOIS FHARRAIGE

Traditional music at its best !

no label, no date

In spite of a cheap editing and a picture with a ''touristic'' look, this cassette is very good. All the musicians and singers are from that part of county Galway by the sea as the title in Irish says. Some are quite well known like P.J.Ó hIarnáin (Hernon) or Charlie Lennon , others are more locally valued. The good thing about this tape is that some room was made for the singers among them the great Tomás Ó Neachtain (Naughton); all the songs are in Irish in what is known as ''sean-nós singing''. There are 5 songs altogether for 9 sets of reels, jigs, hornpipes, etc.. I don't remember when I bought it but I believe it was during the 1980's.

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