Kathleen Loughnane Harp
with
Sharon Shannon - accordian (tr. 3,5)
Catriona Cannon - accordian (tr. 7)
Jacqueline McCarthy - concertina (tr. 7)
Martina Goggin - djembe (tr.1,2,7,9,11,12)
Dearbhaill Standún - fiddle (tr. 12)
Brian McGrath - keyboard (tr.1,2,8)
Jimmy Higgins - trumpet (tr.12)
Séamus Begley - vocals (tr.6)
Sean Ryan - whistle (tr.8)
Mary Bergin - whistle (tr.12)
Cormac Cannon - whistle (tr. 7,9,11), uilleann pipes (tr.9,11)
Alec Finn - guitar (tr.3), bouzouki (tr. all except 2,8,12)

Programme Notes

MARIE’S WELCOME
A piece I wrote with the warmth and generosity of my sister Marie in mind.

THE QUEEN OF THE RUSHES
A jig popular with pipers.

THE QUEEN OF THE WEST
I learned this hornpipe from the playing of the great Donegal fiddle player, Tommy Peoples.

ELEANOR PLUNKETT
A slow air composed by Turlough O'Carolan. Donal O’Sullivan, in The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper, describes a tragic incident in which thirty of Eleanor’s relatives died at their castle near Robertstown, Co. Meath, leaving Eleanor as the sole survivor of her family. The tune, never resting on the tonic, has a haunting quality. I have chosen to emphasise its quality as a lament.

AN CATHAIR GEAL / BRIGHT CITY
Walking back into Galway on a sunny day brought to mind The Road to Brightcity. The title of this book of translations of Máirtín Ó Cadhain short stories refers to a name used in Connemara for Galway. I had just finished writing this waltz and the name seemed right.

MARGARET O'CARROLL
A waltz written by the noted whistle player Sean Ryan in honour of Margaret, wife of one of the powerful chiefs of Offaly. Famous in medieval times for her learning, she hosted gatherings of musicians and poets. Sean lives in her castle at Leap, Co. Offaly, where he continues the tradition of hospitality!

CHACONNE IN C (VARIATIONS 1,2,3)
Composed by G. F Handel.

AN TONACHÁN TRÁ / THE SANDHOPPER
I named this hop jig, or slip jig, having read Cillian Roden’s introduction to The Shores of Connemara. He quotes the naturalist Ed Ricketts:

‘Observers with a trace of sympathy for bohemian life should walk with a flashlight along a familiar surfy beach at half tide on a quiet evening. The huge hoppers will he holding carnival - leaping about with vast enthusiasm and pausing to wiggle their antennae over likely bits of flotsam seaweed”

(From The Shores of Connemara by Seamus Mac an Iomaire, translated by Padraic de Bhaldraithe)

BEAN DUBH AN GHLEANNA
(The Dark Woman of the Glen). I first heard this great love song in Kerty when I was 14, being sung by Séamus Begley. It is a great pleasure, just a few years later(!), to have Séamus sing it on the album.

EFTERKALKEN
A Swedish waulking tune from the repertoire of the legendary fiddler, Hjort Anders Ollson. I learned it from Mary Staunton, who in turn learned it from an album called The American Swedish Spellmans Trio.

BEN HILL
I learned this tune from my daughter Catriona who was taught it by the great accordian player Joe Burke.

AISLING AN ÓIGFHEAR
A lament written by the blind harper Ruairi Dali Ó Catháin (1550-1660) after the confiscation of Ó Catháin lands in the Plantation of Ulster. A variant of this air was collected by Jane Ross from a blind fiddle player in Limavady, Co. Derry, in 1851. It was appropriate that she should preserve the air for it was to her ancestors the Ó Catháin lands were granted. The tune has evolved to become the well known Derry Air. I am grateful to Sean Ryan for drawing my attention to Jim Hunter’s publication Jane Ross and the Londonderry Air.

GRÁINNE'S JIG
Written by Tommy Peoples.

THE WHEELS OF THE WORLD
A jig taken from Breandán Breathnach’s Ceol Rinnce na hÉireann (Vols. I and 3).

LAMENT FOR Ó DOMHNAILL
I learned this tune from the playing of the wonderful Sliabh Luachra fiddle player Pádraig O'Keeffe. Named after Red Hugh O’Donnell, whose departure into exile after the battle of Kinsale, 1601 heralded the demise of the clan system in Ireland.

THE THREE SEA CAPTAINS
A popular set dance.

RÍL AN GABHA / THE BLACKSMITH’S DAUGHTER
A reel from Breandán Breathnach’s Ceol Rinnce na hÉireann (Vol.1).