Comments on: GREAT IRISH BANDS, PART 21: SEÁN Ó RIADA

By: David Lewis

David Lewis — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:59:43 +0000

Re Sean O,Riada, Has anyone any tapes of the radio programmes put out by Sean O, Riada of his” Reacearacht an Riada”programme,particularly Ceoltoiri Cualanns version of “Rolling in the rye grass”which I was trying to explain to some musician friends about.I taped it so others must have done.all lost like mine?I have the LP of the programm but it doesnt have this tune on it.
Dave Lewis.

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 09:18:13 +0000

Hi soubresauts, I tried the video link and it seems to be working fine. But thanks for the link to the Kate Bush version, it´s pretty good as well!

By: soubresauts

soubresauts — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:28:56 +0000

The YouTube video linked above is no longer available. I’m fond of the Kate Bush version of the song (as Gaeilge!), which is available:
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=VpMGWOAAKs4

Maybe some lost Sean Ó Riada videotapes will turn up on YouTube sometime!

By: Chaleur

Chaleur — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:57:55 +0000

JMI - Journal of Music in Ireland, is where you can find lively chat and debate about folk, classical and ‘contemporary’ music. Shaun Davey with The Brendan Voyage et. seq. has been following creatively in O’Riada’s deep footsteps. Some day we’ll be lucky to hear the Great Irish Symphony.

http://www.thejmi.com

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:35:21 +0000

I’m not at all. As I said, the point I’m making is about respectability and pretentions. By the way, the 112th annual Feis ceoil is taking place in Dublin this week, not exactly an event known for pushing the boundries. And it’s interesting to read about Sean Nós and the debate between original composition and preservation. Irish traditional music is no Arcadia, but in terms of social attitudes to same it’s interesting to see parallels between what constitutes “art” in the 1950s and “art” today.

By: Seán Báite

Seán Báite — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:00:28 +0000

Don’t exclude O Riada as one of the mullahs Conor, I think he had fairly rigid ideas about how trad Irish music should be played. That famous comment about the accordeon and the penknife is his, isn’t it ? (Best way to play an…) Later adapted to the bodhrán

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:29:02 +0000

There are, of course, Irish musical mullahs out there who see any deviation from traditional structures as a crime worthy of decapitation. However, it is true that by the 1950s Irish music in the Republic was looked down upon by the lace curtain crowd as “low balladry”, and certainly not an art form. It took the whiff of classical music respectability from Ó Riada to make it alright for them to listen to it.

By: Seán Báite

Seán Báite — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:05:53 +0000

Conor, if I listen to this, will it clash with my lace curtains ? …. As I remember from the Nicholas Carolan clip - he stated that (about the wiped tapes) before playing a clip of O Riada from Danish TV, I believe - only interview / outdoor footage from around his home in Coolea (wasn’t it ?).
Bear in mind that the cost of video tape in those days (late 60s) was probably a bit closer to the price of a gaff wherever the delicious Celia resides.
Could listen to Mná na hEireann all day - and of course the Chieftains are an outgrowth of sorts from Ceoltóirí Chualann. Don’t forget the son (Peadar) who is to be thanked for having brought traditional (and indeed Classical) musical practise onto a university curriculum on this island - can never remember if it’s Cork or Limerick he’s at..
I’m sure his father would have done the same had he not been taken from us so early in his life.