Micho Russell

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 9:53 am

A few weeks ago Bill wrote he had had very little time to work on it and it would be a while yet.
Meanwhile Michael Coady's 'The well of spring water' is a nice read with two separate articles on both Packie and Micho.

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 10:52 am

Hi,Peter.'The well of spring water' sounds like a fascinating book.Can you tell me where i can get a copy? I did a swift search just there of Custy's on-line shop,but couldn't see it. a general search did lead me to a site called 'MUSICAL TRADITIONS' which gives an in-depth review; ukonline.co.uk/mustrad/reviews/russells.htm ,for anyone thats interested(sorry i'm too much of a computer buffoon to do all this fancy links stuff at present-comeon,its enough to keep me going just to learn to play the whistle!)Thanks for the info. Peter.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 11:14 am

I bought it locally some years ago, it was published in 1996 but has no name for the publisher. If Custy's doesn't list it, I am not sure, maybe the trad mus shop in Doolin has it. If not maybe the edition is sold out.
Another one supposedly nice is Denis Winter's Micho Russell- a portrait at the time available from Winter himself at po box 161 Cotehill NY 12419. I never got hold of that one [suppose I should]and I am not sure the address is still the correct one.

[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2002-07-14 13:18 ]

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 11:53 am

Thanks for your time Peter.Whist checking Custys' booklist, i came across 'A place called Doolin' which seems to be mainly a selection of 50 photos of the village and environs- it does have a whistle player on the cover(!).Also, they have Seamus Tansey's 'The bardic apostles of Innisfree'which is described as "Tansey's controversial listing of Sligo musicians past and present" and describes Tansey as a man who "likes to call a spade a spade"! has anyone read this one? The reason i ask is that i am about to undertake some research into a Sligo based whistler called JIM DONAGHUE,who is a major influence on Tansey's playing.sounds like this fellow could be another of my 'old masters'! apparently he lived from 1910-90,and specialised in playing the Clarke C whistle.The interesting thing is that he 'humoured'the wooden fipple with a heated hack-saw blade!- who said that the whistle was for wusses?-lol!alledgedly,he had a sound as strong as a concert flute! I have an album featuring Jim, on order(The Coleman archives vol. 1),and will let you all know what i think after i,ve heard it.Does anyone know anything more about this musician, and especially his intriguing fipple 'tweaking' method?

tkelly · Post by **tkelly** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 12:26 pm

I recently read a mention of Jim Donoghue -- said he played a C whistle out of the side of his mouth -- like a flute, I guess. It was in a short bit about Tansey, so it must be the same guy.

Tery

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 1:22 pm

The Doolin booklet is a nice collection of photographs by the German photographer Ilsa Thielan who is presently working from Lisdoonvarna. She used to own the Doolin tea-shop/restaurant at the corner of Fisherstreet until about three years ago and has lived in the area for many years. The whistler on the cover is Gussie, inside a few more 'musicianers' appear; Paddy Killourhy, Micho, Kevin Griffin, Eoin O Neill Terry Bingham and a very young Sharon Shannon playing with Michel Bonamy. Essentially the Doolin scene of the day. Lovely little publication if maybe a bit geared towards the tourist market [but very much worth it's 6 euros]

I have read Tansey's book. It is hilarious and in a lot of ways his observations are very much correct, it is a bit much though. I gave it away but as far as I recall there are some bits on Jim Donohue. He also gets a mention and som etunes in Bernard Flaherty's Trip to Sligo. Also a nice collection that would have benefitted from some rigourous editing.
Donohue appeared on the lp [now re-issued] Music from the Coleman country. I have seen some footage of him playing for a tv programme in the archive series 'Come west along the road' that bit may [or may not] be available on the Come west.. video that is still available from RTE and some music outlets.

[edit]
His two tracks on the Coleman archive CD are nice too, like on the tv footage I mentioned he has his son playing the bodhran on one track. Real music that, as Clare fiddle player John Kelly sometimes put it, has 'the smell of the mountain' about it. Good stuff

[ This Message was edited by: Peter Laban on 2002-07-15 11:42 ]

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 3:46 pm

"Music from the Coleman Country" is a fabulous record for anyone interested in "the real thing". The single track of Jim Donohue is alone worth the price of the album, but the fiddle/flute duets of Fred Finn/Peter Horan and Andrew Davy/Séamus Tansey are lovely.

(On the CD reissue, as I mentioned in an earlier post, there is a track of commentary by Tansey between almost each cut. Some interesting information in there, but it would have been better put in a single track after the music. Or in the liner notes.)

Peter, Flaherty's is not the only ITM book that would have benefited from a good editing job. Last year I bought the Ossian re-edition of Carolan's Life and Times, and the thing is full of silly typos. A little hard to stomach in an elegant hardback intended to be a serious reference work and costing US$60.

This afternoon I've been browsing Fintan Vallely's Companion to ITM and it too is woeful in the editing department. FV badly needs a copy editor/waffle cutter, and the attentions of a professional proofreader (if such people still exist) would have helped too!

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 4:16 pm

Hi Steve,i got most of my info about jim Donaghue from 'the companion..'though i do remember someone on this board mentioning the heated hacksaw bit (you could say it's burned into my memory.. or not!)The companion is a useful book,though as you say it does have some waffle,and some notable ommissions (packie Byrne isnt there!),but i suppose that it comes over as a bit of a compromise between a 'populist' book and an in-depth academic study,which would have needed to run to several(insert figure of choice)volumes.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sun Jul 14, 2002 7:44 pm

Well, Vallely's problem was that he was dealing with a very large number of contributors [and I think over half the people that were asked for submissions didn't respond] so he was really dealing with a mixed bag of material and funding for the project was such that it is a miracle they pulled it off in the first place. All things considered I think they did the best they could.

adriancarrington · Post by **adriancarrington** » Wed Jul 17, 2002 5:06 pm

Hi,
Just a quick message to voice my complete agreement with you, Micho is a treasure!!!
By the way, you may enjoy Josie McDermott's album "Darby's Farewell" as well.
People like these are almost shockingly different from some of the modern "trad" players (which is NOT to imply any offence to these people, btw). In some ways they seem to break the rules of the current trad orthodoxy, which is quite something to reflect upon, and a reminder not to worry TOO much about tongueing a few of your notes!!

Much love to Micho, God rest his soul.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Wed Jul 17, 2002 6:14 pm

On 2002-07-14 17:46, StevieJ wrote:
"Music from the Coleman Country" is a fabulous record for anyone interested in "the real thing". The single track of Jim Donohue is alone worth the price of the album, but the fiddle/flute duets of Fred Finn/Peter Horan and Andrew Davy/Séamus Tansey are lovely.

Can you tell us what tunes these guys play? The track listings I've found on-line don't break it down by musician.

Trying to track down this album just now, I ran into two others: "THE MOUNTAIN ROAD - TUNES POPULAR IN SOUTH SLIGO" and "THE COLEMAN ARCHIVE VOL. 1 - THE LIVING TRADITION". Has anyone heard these? They seem to all have the usual Sligo suspects on them, and I'm wondering if there is overlap in the actual recordings on each album.

(My credit card is dreading the answer...)

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Wed Jul 17, 2002 6:42 pm

On 2002-07-17 20:14, colomon wrote:
Can you tell us what tunes these guys play? The track listings I've found on-line don't break it down by musician.

Here you go:

O'Rourke's / The Wild Irishman: all

The Laurel Tree: FF & PH, w OK

The Blackthorn Stick: FF & PH, w OK

Willie Coleman's / Brendan Tone Rowe's No. 2: AD& ST, w TT

The Musical Priest: FF & PH, w OK

Trim The Velvet: FF & PH, w OK

The Cuckoo Hornpipe: all

Boys At The Lough / The Devils Of Dublin: all

The Wise Maid (aka Pinch of Snuff): AD& ST, w TT

Strike The Gay Harp / Lough Gowna Jigall

Lord Gordon's Reel AD & ST, w TT

The Fox Chase AD& ST, w TT

The Killavil Jig / The Lilting Banshee / The Kid On The Mountain JO'G, JJM, BF, SD

Miss McLeod's Reel JD

Michael Rilly's / Martin Wynnes No.s 2: AD & ST, w TT & OK

The Coolin / The Flowing Bowl / Never was piping so grand: JH

Anachuin: ST

The Morning Dew / The Woman Of The House / Rakish Paddy: all

Andrew Davey
Jim Donaghue
Bernie Finn
Fred Finn
Peter Horan
Johnny Henry
Oliver Killoran
John Joe Mooney
John O'Gara
Seamus Tansey
Tommy Toolan

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Wed Jul 17, 2002 6:50 pm

So four tracks with Peter Horan, six from Seamus Tansey, and five with both?!? Wow. Wow. Wow. I must have this CD.

Thanks!

kevin m. · Post by **kevin m.** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 1:29 pm

i just received a copy of 'THE COLEMAN ARCHIVE VOL. 1'(from scottish/irish)and all i can say is "WOW!!" if you enjoy real traditional Irish music then YOU MUST OWN THIS RECORDING- YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF!it contains 34 tracks of SHEER MAGIC! sorry if i sound/read a bit OTT,but i,m really knocked out by this one.the featured musicians are a 'who's who of Sligo players, many of them no longer with us, and YES,i finally got to hear JIM DONOGHUE (which kind of ties in nicely with the current clarkes tin whistle thread).We certainly seem to be getting lots of c.d. recommendations on the board at the moment-but there's no such thing as too much good music in my book!

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Sat Jul 20, 2002 1:50 pm

Oh no, I'm going to have to buy some more CDs. I hate it when this happens.