Please identify this tune played by Kate McNamara

A lovely session recording of concertina player Kate McNamara at the Catskills Irish Arts Week was posted on concertina.net. Listed to it here: http://www.metayer.info/mp3/R09_0066.MP3

I’d like to get a name for the first tune, which I’ve transcribed below. The Reverend’s tune-finder came up empty-handed.

X: 1
T: (? Kate McNamara’s)
M: C|
L: 1/8
R: Reel
K: D
A | BAdB AF ~F2 | DEFD EFDB, | DEFA BABd | ABdf eBdA |
BAdB AF ~F2 | DEFD EFDB, | DEFA fece | dBAG FAD :|
|: A | fd ~d2 Adfb | bafb afeg | fd ~d2 adfa | baaf e2de |
f2fd edfa | bafb afed | ABde fece | dBAG FAD :]

I have no idea of the tune name but whatever it is the playing is gorgeous. Any more info on this musician?

https://thesession.org/recordings/3033
Some information here, Tony. Can’t help you with the tune title, “boxist”, but it’s a good one, and very nice playing. You should post it in the tunes section, and someone might identify it from there.

Tony, Kate is from East Clare and was taught I believe originally by Mary McNamara(no relation).She has recently brought out a CD called Are You The Concertina Player and it also features some of her siblings.

This is listed as “Road to Sligo” on her album.

She was taught my Mary MacNamara not Mary McNamara (different person altogether).

Ok then Bernie.Mary MacNamara the concertina player from Tulla.Not Mary that works in the Co-Op or Mary that works in Easons etc ! What Mary Mac(Mc) Namara did you think I meant? The one that teaches the Highland Pipes?????

Thanks for the ID, snorre – I’ll post it under that name.

Kate has a small MySpace site (just one track), where she lists Mary McNamara (sic) as one of her influences.

I first heard Kate’s playing a few years ago when some tracks she recorded at age 16 were included on the compilation CD set “Anglo International” – see http://www.angloconcertina.co.uk/.

In the Anglo International booklet (downloadable from the above site), Mary’s and Kate’s bios and photos appear on facing pages. Initially I assumed they were mother and daughter – I didn’t even notice the different spellings of their last names.

Mary also used to teach tin whistle in Feakle, the same one right? or was that Kate?

So Kate is sending CDs to the Button Box in Massachusetts, just letting you know, it will probably be much cheaper than getting them from Ireland if you’re in the US or Canada.

By the way I’m the one hosting the clip posted above, thank God I have a good hosting plan or I think my bandwidth would have busted by now 🙂

Sorry about the bandwidth, Azalin! And I’m glad it didn’t crash your site. Though maybe even that would have been worth the exposure you’ve given to Kate. 🙂

I’ve posted the ABCs to the tune section under the title “Road to Sligo.”

Azalin, the file you put up was pretty big–about 7-8 MB, if I recall. Next time, you might use Audacity to make it much smaller, by exporting it as a 64K mp3. The sound quality is compromised a bit, but people could still hear the tune well enough.

p.s. I don’t mean the file size would be only 64K–I mean the compression, bits per second, whatever. I just know that 192K is near album quality, 128K is pretty good, and so on–24K is like a cell phone call over a very bad connection.

Forrest, thanks for the tip, but yeah I know about bit rates but I didn’t mind putting a big file out there, I think I can transfer up to a GB a month with my hosting plan so it should be good. I don’t like compromises, maybe that’s why I’m single? 🙂

The Edirol is doing a very good job with live recordings, I think it’s one of the best purchase I ever made… after Kate’s CD, that is 😉

PS: Oops I can transfer up to 250GB a month, and right now I’m at 1.8GB, I should be OK 🙂

Whew! Fair play, then.

Although I’m glad I don’t have only a dial-up connection. (Or is that a thng of the past?)

Kate is a great young concertina player. I’ve pasted in a review of her CD from a recent Treoir which gives a bit more information on her musical beginnings.

“Are you the Concertina Player?
Kate McNamara

Kate McNamara, a highly talented young concertina player from Tulla in Co. Clare, has just recorded her first CD. The recording - “Are you the Concertina Player?” - was launched as part of the 2008 Fleadh Cheoil an Chláir also in Tulla on 20th June by Comhaltas Ardstiúrthóir, Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú.

Kate started playing traditional music on tin whistle at the age of five in Broadford where her teacher was East Clare musician, Paula McMahon. At the age of nine she switched to concertina and was taught by renowned Clare concertina player, Mary McNamara. Mary’s distinguishing East Clare style has had a major influence on Kate’s playing and accounts for her own distinctive traditional approach to the music. The music on the CD is played in characteristic East Clare fashion where the ornamentation is sparing and subtle, while the pace is un-hurried. For a young musician who regularly plays with such celebrated East Clare musicians as Paddy Donohue, Vincent Griffin, Séamus Bugler to name but a few, what else would you expect?

The choice of repertoire on the CD which consists of reels, jigs, barn dances and slip jigs, is excellent and includes many of the traditional standards that have stood the test of time. In fact the first reel, John Brennan’s (also known as Dick Sherlock’s) is an all time favourite while jigs such as Joannie Madden’s, The Cat’s Meow and Junior Crehan’s, Luachrachan (also known as the Lurgadán) should, in my opinion anyway, be part of every self-respecting traditional musician’s repertoire!

Kate is joined on the CD by her brother, Gearóid McNamara on tin whistle and her sister, Amy McNamara on fiddle. Also on the recording are Michael Landers (guitar), Mary Corry (piano), James Conheady (Fiddle), and Quentin Cooper (Bass, Bouzouki, 5 String Banjo and Slide Guitar). Multi instrumentalist, Quentin also recorded, mixed and mastered the CD at his Lahinch Studio.

Overall this is a lovely concertina album and is a “must have” for all lovers of Irish traditional music and in particular those who appreciate and enjoy the unique East Clare style of music.

Contacts:
http://www.myspace.com/katemcnamara
http://www.custysmusic.com“

http://www.myspace.com/katemcnamara0
So many people, so few names.

Thanks, now I know what the style of concertina playing that I like is called.

You can also email Kate at kate dot concertina at gmail.com. It’s the email address listed on her CD.

Thanks David_h for the URL correction; the Kate referred to in the link I pasted is definitely not “our Kate” - I must have lost the zero on the end somehow!

Extremely nice playing…. What was the thump thump thump?

Mind you, it’s a very steady thump thump, doesn’t obviously speed up until 5min 30sec in!

I think it was Kate’s foot!

Seemed like the prime suspect!

I saw her play live a few times in the Catskills this summer, it was definitely her foot. Amazing playing, and that little slippered foot is better than a bass drum.

I absolutely love this album. I learned the tune Joe Bane’s but it doesn’t seem to be the same tune that is posted here. Maybe I will post it, though I learned it on the banjo so it’s banjofied.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxPa-ul5JqU

play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWXWD2sVe8E

play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F1_0r8a0Og

play video