Hello all,
I’m looking for a composition of the late Darach de Brun called O’Riordan’s Gain.
It was a tune he wrote for a friend of a friend as a wedding present in the early 80’s and the lady who got married then has never heard the tune since!
Any ideas out there.
I knew Darach was working on a book of his tunes at one point but did he ever get around to finish it?
Tommy
Maple leaf ?
Man of Aran ?
@Ralex: Those are the only two tunes of his I know, but Tommy Martin says the tune he is looking for is called O’Riordan’s Gain, so it is presumably another tune. I’d be interested to hear more of de Brun’s tunes, if they’re out there.
Considering that Maple Leaf and Man of Aran were recorded by Donncha O’Briain in 1979, I think we can safely rule them out of this quest. And yes, it would be great to see what else Darach de Brun wrote.
“The Maple Leaf was composed in 1976 for my own wedding. I had my reception in the Maples Hotel, Dublin, hence the name.”
- Darach de Brun
Ok my mistake… I knew maple leaf was composed for a wedding, I didn’t know it was for Sir Darach De Brun himself. Maple leaf was and still is one of my favorite reel !
I am also curious about this tune …
Hi Tommy - I thought I might be able to help you with this, but I’m afraid not. I met Darach on a couple of occasions at the Willie Clancy school, and he gave me the sheet music for quite a few of his recent compositions. I also went half the length of Scotland to see him and his band “Drantan” at the Irvine Folk Festival about 5 years ago. After he tragically died, I had some correspondence about Darach and his music with a few kind people who knew him through this website and was sent a scanned copy of a booklet of some of his tunes which I think was printed some time in the 1980s, and also a collection of jigs he had composed. I’ve had a look through both, but the tune you’re looking for doesn’t appear in either of those collections, nor in the tunes he gave to me.
“CMD” - on the sad anniversary of his passing this year, I posted 3 of the reels Darach gave to me. I felt justified in posting them here, because he categorically told me to “do what you like with them”. I’ve held off from posting any others because there was a rumour of a collection of his tunes being published in his memory, but I haven’t heard anything more about that ever happening.
There are 2 of his tunes which I think I could legitimately post here, as one was recorded by the Dublin band “Oisin”, and I have a recording of Darach playing it and another at a Willie Clancy Week whistle & flute recital in the 1980s. I mentioned these tunes to him, and he did say I could post them here if I wanted to, so watch this space. Darach was always just delighted that someone would want to play his tunes.
Tommy - best of luck in your search. I’ll contact the guys in “Drantan”, and see if they have any knowledge of the tune you’re looking for.
A’ the best, Kenny
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