ENNIS FLEADH NUA - Comhaltas Archive

INFORMATION ONRECORDINGSReetwerder 22050 Hamburg 80WEST GERMANYI am sure you will be of some help tome. In my spare time I am wo rking ona list of recordings of Irish traditionalmusic, i.e. commercial recordings, infirst place LPs, and I would like to makeit as complete as possible, from theearly ' recordings (for example JohnKimmel) till today and worldwide.Most records will, of course, come fromIreland, U.S.A. and England. But theremust be some having been produced,lets say, in Australia and in loads ofother countries. I know at least tengroups in Germany who did produceLPs with Irish traditional music, noteven being Irish themselves or just occasionallyhaving a real Irishman amongtheir members. And I am sure the samething counts for other Europeancountries. I wouldn't be surprised ifthere would be a recording of Irish traditionalmusic in China and all theChinese playing it. Please let me knowsoon, how you can help me . All thebest for now.ERNST GRIEGOLEITSOL USLILLIS'Solus' Lillis of Clonreddan, Co oraclarewho died earlier this year was oneof the leading concertina players in WestClare for many decades. He was a popularperformer at house-dances andweddings around Cooraclare andKilmihil through the 30's and 40's andwhen the Fleadh era came along in theearly 50's he was one of those who travelledregularly to venues such asLoughrea, Ennis, Longford, Dungarvan,etc. In fact, he figured in the first threeon more than one occasion, even thoughhe rarely played his best music in a competitiveor formal setting.A couple of selec;tions which he recordedin duet with Tommy Carey ofCree, may be heard on a Topic L.P.'Irish Traditional Concertina Styles'.Their 'Heathery Breeze' selection in particularis grand old-style concertinamusic. He also recorded some selectionsfor the Comhaltas archives.An oft-repeated story tells how Soluswas playing in a competition at one ofthose early Fleadhanna. He was playingwell, but eventually the tension of theoccasion took effect and he hit a wrongnote just before he fmished the ' lasttune. He held the concertina up beforehim and looked at it with mingled affectionand despair. "Wisha blasht you" hesaid "If I had you at home in my ownhob, I'd knock music out of you".Beannacht De len a anam agus leh-anaman na marbh go leir.TRIBUTE TOMARTINMULVIHILLA musical tribute to the late MartinMulvihill, the renowned Limerick bornIrish traditional fiddler and musicteacher, was held at the Eagle Tavern,14th St. at Ninth Ave., on Saturday,September 26.Martin was to have performed thatmonth at the Eagle Tavern with hisComhaltas representatives pictured with GAYBYRNE (RTE), FEARGAL QU INN, (anPost),. the 1987 Rose of Tralee and En nisU.D.e. Chairperson at the launch of theFleadh Nua stamp in Tralee.long-time musical associate MikeRafferty, a flute player originally fromBallinakill, Galway. Instead, the Eaglepresented a musical tribut to MartinMulvihill featuring some of the musicianswho learned from and played withMartin.The trio of Mary Rafferty (flute),Kenneth Vesey (fiddle) and Martin" Buddy" Connolly (button accordion),opened the show. These three teenagersare some of the most outstandingyoung Irish musicians in the UnitedStates and took thrid place in the triocompetition at the All-Ireland FleadhCheoil. Buddy Connolly took firstplace in button accordion competitionfor 15- 18 year olds.Mike Rafferty, a flute player whoepitomizes the stately and old-fashionedEast Galway style of traditional music,was joined by other musical associatesof Martin Mulvihill and was accompaniedby Don Meade, All-Irelandchampion harmonica player andbanjoist.20