Inspirational Cork figure supplied instruments to musicians

"Michael Crowley:�NOT SURPRISINGLY, musicians from all parts of Ireland attended the funeral of Michael Crowley, the owner of a Cork institution, Crowley’s Music Centre on McCurtain Street in the heart of the city, who has died at the age of 69.

It was from Michael Crowley that Rory Gallagher, renowned blues-rock electric guitar player, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader, got his first small acoustic guitar.

It was also at Crowley’s that 15-year-old Gallagher later bought the famous “Strat”, the emblematic 1961 Fender Stratocaster that became the trademark of his distinctive style. A sculpture of the much-battered and stained electric guitar, reputedly the first of its kind in Ireland, is to be seen in Paul Street on the other side of the Lee.

The story goes that Jim Connolly, a member of the Irish Show Band, originally ordered a cherry-red Strat and so, when a “sunburst” version arrived from Fender, he decided not to buy it. Crowley put the gleaming instrument in the shop window as secondhand, with a price tag of just under �100, a lot of money for a teenager in 1963."

Inspirational Cork figure supplied instruments to musicians - The Irish Times - Sat, Aug 21, 2010:

Too Long in This Condition

Alasdair Roberts & Friends: Too Long in This Condition | CD review | Music | The Guardian: "Scotsman Alasdair Roberts is a cult hero thanks to his highly individual, bleak or quirky songs – with influences that range from ancient Celtic ballads to Robin Williamson – and to his equally original treatment of traditional songs. Last year, he released an album of his own material, Spoils. Now comes a new and typically surprising album of folk songs. It's unexpected not only because of the songs he chooses – which include folk favourites such as Barbara Allen, The Golden Vanity and Long Lankin – but also the jaunty backing for what are often tragic or gory lyrics. He succeeds because he is a fine storyteller, making even the best-known song sound as if he wrote it, and he uses the instrumentation to good effect, so the almost cheerful fiddle work on Little Sir Hugh makes this story of child murder even more horrific. Elsewhere, Roberts mixes his own fine guitar playing and understated vocals with uilleann pipes on�Who Put the Blood on Your Right Shoulder, Son?, edges towards stomping folk-rock in The Burning of Auchindoun, and is helped by some impressive vocal back-up from Emily Portman on several songs, including The Daemon Lover. It's his most�accessible album to date."

Cillian Vallely playing the vPipes

The Sean Reid Society

"The Sean Reid society is dedicated to the study of the Irish Union or Uilleann pipes: their music, history, and science. The Society is independent and non-commercial. The Journal's aim is to ensure that the knowledge we have attained since Sean Reid made the statement above is not lost, and that it is published for the use of all with an interest in this most remarkable and advanced musical instrument."

The Sean Reid Society:

DIARMAID & DONNCHA MOYNIHAN

The Lights of Ranzanico
Own Label DMCD001
10 tracks, 40 minutes

www.diarmaidmoynihan.com


This recording is close to perfection. Cork piper Diarmaid Moynihan is one of the most talented players of his generation, and a prolific and respected composer, who gained global recognition with the band Calico. Donncha was also a key component of Calico, playing guitar and bouzouki, after a spell with all-girl group Calando. I think the beard gave him away in the end. Interestingly, his colleague in another band based on long blond hair has just surfaced with The London Lasses: Elma McElligott played flute with Donncha in the group Tassida. Be that as it may, the Moynihan brothers make a tight and intuitive duo here. Diarmaid’s pipes are in fantastic form - just listen to his air Pairc na Marbh, and Donncha’s accompaniment on the following reels is spot on. The guitar on Donncha’s own tune Long Haul Hush perfectly complements Diarmaid’s whistle. I could listen to their duets for the whole album: Diarmaid’s dreamy slow reel Ivory Lady recorded recently by Lúnasa, old reels and jigs incisively played on pipes and whistle, and another of Donncha’s airs on solo guitar. But there’s much, much more here.

First, the Moynihan lads are joined by ace Galician piper Anxo Lorenzo for a stupendous opening track. Tejedor’s great Spanish jig Barralin leads into the title tune (another of Diarmaid’s), and then Mairtin O’Connor’s supercharged Rockin’ the Boat. Somehow, just two pipers manage to sound like a full pipe band on the Breton march Pont de Loudeac. North Cregg’s box-player, Christy Leahy adds his mighty punch to another pair of Diarmaid’s tunes, La Tramontana and Shoulder Dancing, and to a set of traditional reels. There are also some nice touches of trumpet, piano, bass and percussion at various points. In between, Diarmaid delivers another gorgeous slow air and a rather funky reel, and the brothers are joined by their sister Deirdre for a fresh take on the Calico favourite Covering Ground. It’s all stirring stuff, and I can’t see how it could have been better, unless there was more of it.

The Lights of Ranzanico is an album to be seized upon, greedily devoured or lovingly cherished: a highlight of the year.

Alex Monaghan Irish Music Magazine