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The Galway Early Music Festival May 8 - 11, 2014 Spell Weaving and Spilt Blood Ancient Songs and Music of Gaelic Scotland
coracle Thursday, May 8, 2014 20:00 St Nicholas Collegiate Church
Samuel L. Westerman Foundation
Galway Early Music would like to thank its sponsors and friends, without whose support the Festival would not happen.
SUPPORTED
BY
Samuel L. Westerman Foundation
MEDIA SPONSOR GOLD PATRONS Adare Guesthouse The Stop
SILVER PATRONS Tom Grealy
Seán & Lois Tobin
FRIENDS & FUNDIT SUPPORTERS Michael & Claire Cuddy June Grey Smith Anam Theatre Máire Ní Chionna Ronan Browne Matthew Walsh Seán Ó Meallaigh
Gwen Dring Brendan Murray Deirdre Ní Conghaile Máire Greaney Daly Ann Mallaghan John Rogers Ionia Ní Chróínín
Kate Costello Jo Cummins Jacopo Bisagni Birrell Walsh Ruth Frederico Maria Caswell Seven Anonymous Patrons
Tonight’s programme was developed with support from ‘Bass Culture in Scottish Musical Traditions’, a 3-year AHRC-funded research project involving the Universities of Glasgow and Cambridge and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO St Nicholas Collegiate Church, Nuns of the Poor Clares, Nuns Island, Augustinian Church, Middle St Galway Early Music
@gwy_earlymusic
See our general Festival Promo on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fveRZSI1pi8 or scan this QR code:
St Nicholas Collegiate Church, Galway, 8 May 2014, 8pm
Coracle Spell Weaving and Spilt Blood Griogair Labhruidh – òranaiche (voice) Siobhán Armstrong – early Gaelic harp Barnaby Brown – triplepipes, lyre & Highland great pipe
Plundering treasure troves of Gaelic poetry, bagpipe music and sean nós singing, Coracle is inspired by epic survivals in traditional culture. In Spell Weaving and Spilt Blood, Coracle applies the principles of experimental archaeology to traces of musical magnificence from the 600s to the 1600s. Using early field recordings, these musical adventurers breathe vivid life into texts and notations from a remote past: harmonic cycles possibly established at Glendalough before 1119, Fenian lays collected at various points since 1530, canntaireachd transcriptions of pibroch made in the late 1700s, and Edward Bunting’s transcriptions from the blind harper Dennis O’Hampsey, who in 1792 was ‘a living fossil’.
Programme Triplepipe solo: Fàilte Eleanor Murray (world premiere) Voice & harp: Teanntachd Mhòr na Fèinne (Fenian lay) Voice & lyre: Laudate Dominum (Psalm 150) Voice & triplepipe: Òran na h-Eala (Song of the Swan) Harp solo: A’ Ghleus (PS 146) – Camerons’ Gathering (PS 162) Voice & harp: Mi am bothan nam ònrachd With audience: Cò bha Caoin am Beinn a’ Cheò? INTERVAL Voice solo: Bruadar Dheirdre (Fenian lay) Triplepipe solo: Mac Vic Toromod’s Gathering (PS 16) Voice & harp: Cath Ghlinn Freòin (1604, PS 13) With audience: Seathann Mac Rìgh Èireann Voice & triplepipe: Togail nam Bò (PS 161) Voice & harp: Bàs Fhraoich (Fenian lay) Great pipe solo: Port na Strigh (The Tune of Strife, PS 107)
The pibroch sources can be found online at altpibroch.com/tunes/psXX — replace XX with the Piobaireachd Society (PS) number.
Programme Notes & Song Translations Fàilte Eleanor Murray (world premiere) A solo for Westminster triplepipe on the cycle Korsgoloff, one of 24 measures ‘drawn out from music at the request of four master musicians… in order to compose music, to remember it, to perform it correctly and to classify it’. According to the Welsh historian Gruffudd Hiraethog, this council took place at Glendalough under the aegis of the king of Munster, Muirchertach Ua Briain (d. 1119). Korsgoloff survives in a music syllabus of 1480 and is unusual in comprising eleven units: 11O11 OO1O11, where 1 is consonant and O is dissonant. Teanntachd Mhòr na Fèinne (The Great Hardship of the Fianna) Aonghas Mac Iosaig, Cape Breton, recorded this lay for John Lorne Campbell in 1937. Mac Iosaig’s family had emigrated from Moidart and the battle between the Fianna and the Scandinavians referred to took place at Ballachullish. The night St Patrick went to Oisinn’s dwelling There was merriment, drinking and music; He went to see Oisinn of the Fianna For he has the finest voice. Oisinn: ‘O cleric who sings the psalms, To me your senses are numbed. Won’t you listen a while to my story of the Fianna Which you have never heard? Pàdruig: I will not listen a while to your story Of the Fianna that I’ve never heard With the taste of the Psalms on my lips: That is the best music to me.
Oisinn: If it was your psalms that were desired By the Fianna of the naked weapons, O cleric, I would not think much Of removing your head from your body. Pàdruig: Woe to me, you are welcome! We came on a journey to ask you, What is the hardest fight the Fianna fought Since you were conceived of their race? Oisinn: We were one day on the mountain of hunting (And the hunt never proved successful) When we saw a thousand boats Had landed upon the shore. The son of the king of Scandinavia was there, vexed; What is the point of concealing it? He cannot be kept from Fionn without taking Fionn’s young wife and his dog away with him. Lord, I would not give my wife To any man under the sun And I will not give Bran away till the end of time Or until death comes upon my own self. Psalm 150 The traditional Gaelic psalm singing of Murdina MacDonald, recorded on the Isle of Harris by Thorkild Knudsen in 1964–5, inspired this setting by Barnaby. Alleluia! Praise God in his holiness; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him according to his manifold greatness. Praise him with the trumpet’s sound; praise him with psaltery and lyre.
Praise him with drums and dancing; praise him with strings and pipes. Praise him with well-sounding cymbals; praise him with joyful cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Alleluia! An Eala Bhàn – Guth na h-Eala (The White Swan – Voice of the Swan) These two songs appear in Carmina Gadelica without melodies. Griogair composed a tune for the first in Connemara in 2010; the second was collected in Cape Breton by John Lorne Campbell in 1937. An Eala Bhàn (The White Swan) Columba went out one early mild morning He saw a white swan guile guile Down on the strand guile guile With a dirge of death guile guile A white swan wounded, wounded A white swan bruised, bruised The white swan of the two visions guile guile The white swan of the two omens guile guile Life and death guile guile, guile guile “Whence thy journey, swan of mourning?” Said Columba of love guile guile “From Éirinn my swimming guile guile From the Fianna my wounding guile guile The sharp wound of my death.” guile guile, guile guile “White swan of Éirinn, a friend am I to the needy The eye of Christ be on thy wound guile guile The eye of affection and of mercy guile guile The eye of kindness and love guile guile Making thee whole guile guile, guile guile
Swan of Éirinn guile guile No harm shall touch thee guile guile Whole be thy wounds guile guile Lady of the wave guile guile Lady of the dirge guile guile Lady of the melody guile guile To Christ thy glory guile guile To the Son of the Virgin guile guile To the great High-King guile guile To him be thy song guile guile To him be thy song” guile guile Guth na h-Eala (Voice of the Swan) Guiliog ì guiliog ò (7 times) Voice of the swan, voice of the bird Voice of the swan and she in the mist Voice of the swan and she in sadness Voice of the swan in the early morning Voice of the swan on the pool Voice of the swan in the sea Voice of the swan and she so cold Voice of the swan and she so hard Voice of the swan and she in the sea My black foot, my black foot My black foot marching My black foot at the front of the stream And one of them stumbling, frozen. A’ Ghleus (A Prelude) – Camerons’ Gathering The harpers never wrote their music down.These two compositions are from the Campbell Canntaireachd, a collection of 167 pibrochs transcribed by a professional piper in Argyll between 1782 and 1819.We have translated them for solo harp, applying some of the ‘graces for the treble hand’ collected by Edward Bunting from Dennis O’Hampsey (?1695-1807); the final variations use the Barrlúth Foscailte.
Mi am bothan nam ònrachd (I am in the bothy all alone) A band of MacGregor cattle raiders were being pursued by the Campbells.They took shelter in the house of a woman in Glenfalloch.When the Campbells arrived, she sang the opening of this song, giving the MacGregors time to escape out the back door.The melody is from Iain a’ Bhàird, Kilmonivaig (1876–1964). I am in the bothy all alone on the level space in the road, To see if there is a wanderer coming from Cruachan of the mist; Or if there are tidings of the MacGregors, Or if it is known which way they went. I have not seen them myself and I will not betray them to you. But if my informant is correct, they were yesterday at Stath Fillian Fair, In the Kirktown of Strath Fillian, drinking a toast to the nobles. Young Griogair Ruadh was there, whose strong hand wields well a sword. Carefree Griogair Mòr was there, the leader of our household, Who would spend a while playing the harp, And a while playing board-games before dawn, Who loved the fiddle, who filled the women with anticipation. You took the shiny black herd from the nooks of the houses, You made a sudden return to this side of Binnein of the mist. You left handsome Eòin lying there on the moor, Like a stepping stone across a bog-ditch After he had been torn apart with a sword, With his red blood branching out and infusing the terrain In his clean new shirt as he lay there. But may the King of the Elements protect you From the narrow venomous powder, From spark and from fire, From bullets and from arrows, From the point of the slender knife, From the sharp edge of swords.
Cò bha Caoin am Beinn a’ Cheò? (Who was weeping in the mountain of mist?) A song with many versions found all over Gaelic Scotland.This one is from Iain Cellaidh Camaran, Ballachulish. Please join in! Cò bha caoin am beinn, am beinn, Cò bha caoin am beinn a’ cheò?
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Who was weeping in the mountain, in the mountain, Who was weeping in the mountain of mist? There is constant weeping in the mountain, in the mountain, There is constant weeping in the mountain of mist, There is constant weeping in the mountain, in the mountain Lamenting and weeping in the mountain of mist. There is constant weeping in Ben Lonan, There is constant weeping in the mountain of mist, There is constant weeping in Ben Lonan, Lamenting and weeping in the mountain of mist. There is constant weeping at the foot, at the foot, There is constant weeping at the foot of the cattle fold, There is constant weeping at the foot, at the foot One must crouch in the presence of the calves. INTERVAL Bruadar Dheirdre (Deirdre’s Vision) A conversation between Deirdre and Naois recorded by Calum Johnston, Barra, in 1953. Seen were the three doves white With the three mouthfuls Of honey in their mouths. O Naois, son of Uisne, Illuminate to me the darkness of my tale. It is but the disturbance of sleep And the melancholy of a woman, O Deirdre, my love.
Seen were the three hawks sullen With the three drops of blood, The cold blood of the braves. O Naois, son of Uisne, Illuminate to me the darkness of my tale. It is but the disturbance of sleep And the melancholy of a woman, O Deirdre, my love. Seen were the three ravens black With the three sad leaves Of the Yew tree of death. O Naois, son of Uisne, Illuminate to me the darkness of my tale. It is but the disturbance of sleep And the melancholy of a woman, O Deirdre, my love. Mac Vic Toromode’s Gathering This solo for Lethendy triplepipe is based on an untitled composition in the Campbell Canntaireachd, also transcribed by Neil MacLeod of Gesto from the singing of Iain Dubh MacCrimmon (?1731–1822). Gesto claimed it for his own family, writing: ‘Mac Vic Toromode’s Gathering and Battle Pipe Tune a very old one when he gathered his people to attack the invaders of that part of the Isle of Sky which then and still goes under the name of Shiel Toromod... consisting of the parishes of Bracadale and Minginish, Durinish and Waternish, and one half of the Parish of Snizort’. Cath Ghlinn Freòin (The Battle of Glenfruin) On 9 February 1603, the MacGregors routed a much larger force of Colquhouns near Loch Lomond.Their leader, Iain Dubh, was killed and in April, King James VI made it illegal for anyone to bear the name MacGregor. No music survives for the song commemorating this event, so we have reworked a bagpipe composition, ‘MacGrigor’s March / Ruag Glen froin’ which survives in the Campbell Canntaireachd. My locks have greyed, My cheeks have sunk, Fever and sorrow wound me.
To be lamenting the clan To which the high poets travelled Who raised me as a young lad. You were my weapons, you were my clothing, And my slender muskets, And the lavish bows of excellent hue. O goodly Mac Griogair of the banners, Who had wisdom and wealth, You are now in the narrow, locked kist in the earth. It was your custom from time to time To give a bright crown to Ruaraidh, Along with noble, fresh, rose-like clothes. When you climbed the embankment And you cried Bad Giuthais [the battle cry of Clan Griogair], The folk of black hats were dealt damage. I was present at the battle, As were your father and brothers, Where you felled the cloaked folk. There was panic and a complete rout At the hands of my beloved and loyal ones As they fled down both sides of Glen Fruin. Folk who would deal out blows Where others would scarcely stand, Yours was the honour and victory of every action. You inherited it from your grandfather, To be triumphant, manly and skilled; You would follow the pursuit in the battle. At the gates of Rossdhu Did your troop make their stand, Fearlessly, proudly, undamaged.
Seathann Mac Rìgh Èireann (Seathan, Son of the King of Ireland) A song collected by Alasdair Mac ’ille Mhìcheil for Carmina Gadelica and recorded by Calum Johnson, Barra, in 1949. Please join in! O Seathan, o Seathan of the souls, Hù rù na hur i bhi ò Own son to my King from Tir Chonaill Na bhi hao bhò hao bhi ò an Oft have I lain beneath thy cloak; If I did it was not in a homestead, But in a green hollow in a tree-sheltered field, Under the slope of the rugged blue peaks, The wind from the glens with a sough taking Its fill from the first burgeoning of spring. Many a glen and ben we traversed, I was in Islay I was in Mull with you, I was in the land of the nuns with you, I was in Ireland, I was in Latium with you I traversed Brittany and Burgundy with you, I traversed the Mainland and the Mearns with you I traversed the Boyne, I traversed Munster with you, I heard mass in Cill Chumha with you, I heard the music of the fairy mansions with you, I drank a draught from the well of wandering with you. O brown-haired Seathan, thou gentle hero, Small is the place in which I would put thee, Between Brìde and her soft kerchief, Between a fair virgin and her silken mantle, But Seathan is in the lonely chamber, Without drinking of cups or goblets, Without drinking to music, without kiss from seductive women, But strait bands on his shoulders And looped bands on the bier poles. I am a sister of Aodh and yellow-haired Brian, I am a kinswoman of Fionn Mac Cumhaill, I am the wife of brown haired Seathan the wanderer, I am a poor, sad, mournful, sorrowful wife.
Togail nam Bò (The Macfarlanes’ Cattle-Raiding Song) The MacFarlanes were famous for lifting cattle by the light of the moon; so much so that the full moon was called ‘MacFarlane’s Lantern’. This heroic song from the Loch Lomond area is said to be composed by Aindrea Triath nam Pàrlanach, chieftain of the MacFarlanes between 1514 and 1544. We have combined it with a bagpipe composition on the same melody, ‘The Macfarlanes’ Gathering’, which survives in the Campbell Canntaireachd. To lift the cattle, to lift the cattle, To lift the cattle we go; To lift the cattle, in rain and mist, Up the moor of Glen Croe we go. To lift the cattle, to lift the cattle, To lift the cattle we go; To lift the cattle, in rain and mist, Up the moor of Glen Croe we go. To make the raids, to deal the blows, To make the raids we go; To make the raids, to deal the blows, To make the raids we go. To make the raids, to deal the blows, To make the raids we go; To lift the cattle, in rain and mist, Up the moor of Glen Croe we go. Lifting the cattle up through the passes, Lifting the cattle up by the heights, Lifting the cattle by the light of the moon, Fifty head of spotted cattle being driven by lads. Lifting the cattle up through the passes, Lifting the cattle up by the heights, Lifting the cattle by the light of the moon, Fifty head of spotted cattle being driven by lads.
Bàs Fhraoich (The Death of Fraoch) A segment from the heroic tale collected from Ceit Labhruidh in 1864 by Alasdair Mac ’ille Mhìcheil.The melody is based on ‘Laoidh Fhraoich’, recorded by Rev William Matheson, North Uist, in 1954. Fraoch, son of Maothaich of the sharp arms, Who approached the beast without her knowledge With a load of the red rowan Where Maoidh was in need. And although you took with you the red rowan, Maoidh of the whitest countenance spoke: “The only thing that will suffice for me, fierce hero, Is the thicket out from the bottom.” Fraoch moved on his ill-fated path To pluck, it swimming on the loch, And he found the beast in a deep sleep, Her beastly mouth up by the thicket. He then grabbed the top of the tree, He ripped the tree from its roots, Taking his feet out to land, The great beast swiftly pursuing him. He then grabbed the jaw of the beast, Shouting for the hero’s blade, But the hero was killed in the conflict, Alas, my Lord! And Fraoch had no knife. They struggled there, blasting heavily, No ground under the soles of their feet, Until they fell, sole by sole, On the shore of the bare rocks here. Oh, a pity that Fraoch did not fall in the conflict Of heroes, before I shed a tear, But falling here with the beast, My complete ruination that you don’t survive!
Beloved is a chief, beloved is a peasant, Beloved is every cheek which rose reddened; But more beloved than that, a mouth which was rejected kinship To whom the women offer kisses. You would be stronger than the frame of your shield, Many’s the noble was dejected, Many’s the young maiden who was after The hero who died on the wave. More beautiful thou than the brightest snow, Whiter your skin than the tree’s white spots; A better swimmer than Fraoch Never stretched his side to a current. The top of your hair is blacker than the raven, Whiter than the soft curds your breast, Redder than the rowan your two cheeks; A pity that Fraoch had no knife! We shall now lift from Fraoch’s field The hero’s corpse in its bier; A shame that Fraoch did not fall in the conflict Of heroes, before I shed a tear. Port na Strigh (The Tune of Strife) A great pipe solo from the Campbell Canntaireachd.
Biographies Siobhán Armstrong feels very fortunate to perform and record 16th – 18th century opera, sacred and chamber music with some of Europe’s most prestigious historical musicians, and also to play with some of Ireland and Scotland’s best traditional musicians. She plays copies of single and multi-row harps from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the baroque era and is happiest when accompanying vocal music: plainchant to polyphony to sean-nós song to baroque opera. Siobhán was a professional choral singer, modern harpist and read Music at Trinity College, Dublin in the 1980s, before moving to Germany. She returned to Ireland in 1998, via Australia and London, and now lives in Kilkenny. She founded and directs The Historical Harp Society of Ireland. She had her 15 minutes of fame after she played the harp she is playing this evening—a copy of the late medieval Trinity College or Brian Boru harp, depicted in the national emblem—for H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, on the occasion of the latter’s visit to Trinity College in 2011. She has just returned from a visit to the USA as a soloist with The Irish Baroque Orchestra and a month in London with the Royal Opera House’s new runaway hit production of the opera L’Ormindo, at Shakespeare’s Globe. Barnaby Brown is the first Highland piper to apply the principles of the early music movement to pibroch. He began measuring historic instruments with Julian Goodacre in 1998 and plays a reproduction of a chanter from c.1680. His historically-informed performance style led to three appearances at the Edinburgh International Festival and his interest in early piping prompted him to revive the northern triplepipe, the bagpipe’s predecessor in Britain and Ireland. His activities as a performer, scholar and educator have helped to revolutionise the way pipers approach the sources of pibroch (1760–1850). He is currently writing a PhD thesis on the Campbell Canntaireachd at the University of Cambridge, funded by the AHRC project bassculture.info. Barnaby’s workshop speciality is the mouth music of the Highland bagpipe: using chanting and hand gestures, he makes challenging music accessible.
For six years, he led a variety of modules at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and he now teaches on the BA Scottish Music (Piping) programme at the National Piping Centre. Barnaby is a champion of intercultural collaboration, producing new music from eclectic roots in his ensembles Swagatam, Band-Re, The 4 Pipers, Coracle, and with Paul Goussot. Many of his publications are available at barnabybrown.info. Griogair Labhruidh is a Gaelic traditional singer, poet and piper belonging to the tradition of mainland Gaelic Scotland with a repertoire that also extends beyond his own tradition to that of the Hebrides and Ireland. He was brought up within a family piping tradition that goes back many generations and through his own research and exposure to many of the older generation of tradition bearers has worked up an extensive repertoire of material which he has performed alongside some of the most notable acts in Scottish and Irish music. Griogair has performed on many television productions both in Scotland and Ireland and has been a regular feature in the traditional/folk music festival scene globally for several years. He is currently writing a PhD which explores the influences of cultural colonization on the indigenous Gaelic musical traditions of Scotland and performs regularly with many musicians including the celebrated highland folk ensemble ‘Dàimh’. Griogair is an outspoken Gael of the Lochaber/Argyll tradition and through his own songwriting and academic work makes a statement about a tradition, still much undermined and misunderstood by many in contemporary Scotland.
AD*BC CORACLE May 8, 8pm, St Nicholas Church
ENSEMBLE MARE BALTICUM May 9, 8pm, St Nicholas Church
NORBERT RODENKIRCHEN
May 9, 1pm, Chapel of the Poor Clares
LUDI SCAENICI
ANCIENT MUSIC IRELAND
May 10, 8pm, St Nicholas Church
LUCERNARIUM May 11, 4pm, Augustinian Church
SIMON O’DWYER JOHN KENNY PETER HOLMES
May 9, pm, Mechanics Institute MOONFISH THEATRE May 10, 12pm, Kelly’s Bar
CAJSA LUND / ÅKE EGEVAD May 10, 3pm, Mechanics Institute ECSTATIC CULT OF CIONYSUS May 11, 2:30pm, Mechanics Institute
FREE APPS Carolan’s Lost Tune - Galway Ghost Hunt Musical Tour of Medieval Galway Throughout Festival and Beyond!
LEGION IRELAND May 10, 2-4pm, Streets & Museum
TICKET BOOKING Online: www.galwayearlymusic.com From 1 May: Charlie Byrnes Bookshop At door of concerts FESTIVAL TICKET: €56 / €45 concession (includes all concerts)