Sliabh Luachra Music Trail
The Conifers will launch their debut album in Tureencahill. It’s the homeplace of the band’s accordion player the great Bryan O’Leary so you should try to book your seats early.
For anyone who hasn’t been able to make the launch, the new album can be purchased online from theconifers.bandcamp.com
Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch are in Concert in Bruach Na Carraige Rockchapel on Saturday the 15th of December at 8pm.
Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch are acknowledged masters of the rich musical tradition of Sliabh Luachra in the southwest of Ireland. This culturally unique area on the Cork / Kerry border is renowned for its distinctive style of playing, special repertoire, and as a source of inspiration for both Jackie and Matt. Their most recent album, Rolling On, draws upon this rich legacy. As Dan Neely said in the NY Irish Echo, “Separately, they are brilliant to hear but together they are sublime.” A recording sure to become a reference point of the tradition, it offers a wide range of tunes, old and new, from slides and polkas to reels and airs, played in the wonderfully expressive manner for which Matt and Jackie are justly famous.
Matt and Jackie are the benchmark of the current generation of Sliabh Luachra musicians. … This is the definitive voice of Sliabh Luachra in our generation.
– Sally Sommers Smith, Irish Music Magazine
Jackie and Matt have performed around the world individually and with groups who have set the standard for Irish traditional music. They have established enviable individual reputations, but their playing together, on CD and in live performances, displays not only virtuosity, but their respect, love and deep understanding of this vibrant musical tradition.
It’s a rare thing how easily and naturally Daly and Cranitch’s music articulates together, and through it one can sense the rare reverence they not only have for each other, but for the shared tradition they represent.
– Dan Neely, Irish Echo, NY
We’ve made a free A3 calendar that lists all the Sliabh Luachra music festivals of 2019. It will be available in public libraries in county Limerick, Kerry and Cork and will be given out to school children around Sliabh Luachra.
If you’d like a printable copy
SLMT-Calendar-2019_finito_
The image of the fiddler on our calendar was taken from the photo above. The girl is the late Nora Mai Herlihy from Park in Knocknagree. She was later to marry and become Murphy. The woman on the far left is her mother and the man in the middle is the famous blind fiddle teacher Tom Billy Murphy. Nora learned fiddle from Tom and she was the original owner of the photo – which was borrowed by a certain local publication and never returned. We think that with the fiddle on her shoulder and that great smile that she is the perfect positive image to publicise music from Sliabh Luachra.
The RTE radio one programme ‘Ceilí House’ will come from Bruach na Carraige, Rockchapel, on Saturday, 20th and Saturday, 27th October after the 9pm News. It will feature the Rockchapel Ceoltas based group, Ceoltoirí Sliabh Luachra, performing some of Sliabh Luachra’s oldest music. Much of this music comes from the manuscripts of Dave Dan Curtin of Stagmount, Rockchapel and the manuscripts of his father, Dan Curtin that go back to before 1850, and contain an older layer of Sliabh Luachra music that predates the polkas and slides that characterise the area now, and also from the manuscripts of Dave Leahy of Mountcollins who died in 1907.
RTE Ceili House: https://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceili-house/
Bruach na Carraige, Rockchapel: http://sliabhluachra.com
As you know the position of Sliabh Luachra Musician in Residence was advertised earlier this Summer. We are pleased to let you know that musician Eoin O’Sullivan has been appointed to this role and is just beginning work on this residency programme for the Sliabh Luachra area.
Over the next 12 months Eoin will be working with children in schools in Sliabh Luachra promoting awareness of the region’s vast musical heritage. Eoin will also engage with music festivals, music, singing and set dance groups, local musicians and music teachers to help promote the excellent work that is being done by these groups. Eoin has an exciting and intensive programme of work ahead of him over the next year. We are looking forward to working with Eoin in his new role over the next twelve months and through this residency, to continuing to develop our commitment to work with local musicians, festivals, and venues throughout Sliabh Luachra.
Eoin has been immersed in the music and history of Sliabh Luachra since childhood, mainly thanks to his father, the fiddle playing local historian Raymond O’Sullivan. He has worked as musician since the age of sixteen and, while his own musical life has been diverse and colourful, he is most passionate about the music and culture of the area where he grew up. In 2013 he started a small school teaching local music to people of all ages and that year he also took on the role of director of Scullys Fest and has helped grow the festival to be one of the highlights of the Sliabh Luachra musical calendar.
The Sliabh Luachra Traditional Musician in Residence is a partnership with Cork and Kerry County Council, Limerick City and County Council, the Irish traditional Music Archive and is supported by the Arts Council.
Students of the Sliabh Luachra Summer School, Tureencahill & their tutors will perform Sliabh Luachra music in Scotts Courtyard, Killarney at 1pm on Thurs July 26. Free entry
Sliabh Luachra Music Summerschool In Tureencahill Community Centre From 23rd July To 26th July – For All Details Contact 085 1741551
