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"How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 12:11 pm
by kenny
Following on from a recent discussion - recordings made by Ciaran MacMathuna in 1955.
https://youtu.be/gdnvyhr-qbE

Re: "How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 3:24 am
by Mr.Gumby
That is Ciarán Mac's 'Job of Journeyworkk' isn't it? I must revisit those tapes.

I am wondering if the bodhran player is the same Tom Hayes that ended up in Stockton's Wing but that would probably mean the music wasn't recorded in 1955.

Re: "How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:13 am
by PB+J
That's great--thank you for posting that.

Re: "How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 12:16 pm
by kenny
"Job Of Journeywork" isn't mentioned anywhere on either the tapes or the case insert with details. The recordings were released as a double-cassette tape set in 1987. MacMathuna clearly states the recording was made in 1955 - very skeptical that it could be the "Stockton's Wing" Tommy.

Re: "How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 2:22 pm
by Mr.Gumby
Job of Journeywork was a series of programs done around that time in which he looked back on his collecting days/travels. It was an interesting series with lovely material . I have just dug out the tapes and FWIW, there was no talk about bodhran making in the Kerry edition so it's not the same as the stuff you have. I imagine he amassed so much material he had enough for years of radio just drawing from the archive alone. I probably haven't a complete set of 'JoJ' but I have seven or so 45 minute programs on tape, covering Donegal, NI, the US, Galway, Kerry, Clare, Dublin and (probably/possibly) London. If you're interested.

Re: "How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:05 pm
by kenny
I posted the track list on "thesession.org" - does any of this look familiar ?
https://thesession.org/recordings/5800

Re: "How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 2:39 am
by Mr.Gumby
It's by and large, though not completely, the same set of characters featured in the 'Kerry' segment of the Job of Journeywork, obviously the people he met during the field trips. A similar but (I think, again, a largely but not completely) different selection of material.

Interesting it's all Kerry material and you have to wonder if they did similar tapes on the other areas he collected in. I revisited some of the tapes last night, after two decades in 'the box', and they are actually very interesting.

Re: "How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:29 am
by kenny
I have 2 double-cassette sets : "Ciaran MacMathuna introduces music from Clare & Kerry" [ 1987 ], and also "Ciaran MacMathuna introduces music from Galway & Limerick" [ 1988 ]. I'm not aware of any other similar sets which might exist.
I posted the track lists of the Clare tape : https://thesession.org/recordings/3638
and the Kerry tape : https://thesession.org/recordings/5800
on "thesession.org".
At some point in the future, I will do the same for the others.
There are some classic recordings here, from players who would be well-known "household names" in Irish music world-wide, and also players who would be totally obscure outside their own musical localities.

Re: "How to make a bodhran / Kiely's Slides" : 1955

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 8:33 am
by Mr.Gumby
Kenny has kindly made the Clare and Kerry recordings available to me. The material is indeed very similar to that broadcast as the series 'The Job of Journeywork' and while some introductions and reminiscences maybe be nearly the same , I am still not completely sure if it's the same or not. Perhaps a degree of overlap.

Today I am in the process of digitising the JoJwork tapes I have and am finding a renewed appreciation for Ciarán MacMathúna's collecting work and gentle presentation of the material and his reminiscences about the musicians he met along the way. The tapes have been sitting unplayed since the nineties and this thread brought me back to them, which is great as it's fascinating stuff, much of which I had little memory of.

Note, given the topic of this thread and the one that caused it, the earliest of MacMathúna's recordings in Clare, around 1955 iin the house of Peter O'Loughlin, featured a fair bit of bodhran playing, well before O'Riada.