Set Dances Of Ireland, Volume I

By Various Artists


  1. The Foxhunter’s
  2. The Maid Of Mountcisco
  3. The Limerick Lassies
    The Steampacket
  4. The Boys Of Ballisodare
    Rolling In The Ryegrass
  5. Sporting Nell
    Tomeen O’Dea’s
    The Ballykett Courthouse
  6. The New Copperplate
    The Old Copperplate
    The Mountain Top
  7. The Stack Of Wheat
    The Rights Of Man
  8. The Maid Behind The Bar
    Craig’s Pipes
  9. Single Time
    Mind Yourself Of The Turkey Cock
    Nóra Críona
  10. Over The Moor To Maggie
  11. I Have A Bonnet Trimmed With Blue
    Paddy Doyle’s Ass
    Maggie In The Wood
  12. Happy To Meet And Sorry To Part
    Jimmy Ward’s
  13. The Old Silver Spear
    Castle Kelly
  14. The Stack Of Barley
    Bantry Bay

Nine comments

“Set Dances Of Ireland, Volume I” ~ Séadna 001, 1992

Produced by & notes by ~ Larry Lynch
Sound Engineer: Harry Bradshaw

Set: The Myserks
Figures 1 - 6, reels
Figure 7, hornpipes

Musicians:
Eamon McGivney - fiddle
Michael Tubridy - flute
Tommy McCarthy - concertina

Set: The Orange & Green
Figure 1, 3 & 6 ~ reels
Figure 2 ~ single jigs
Figure 4 ~ polkas
Figure 5 ~ jigs

Musicians:
Junior Crehan - fiddle
Eamon McGivney - fiddle
Michael Tubridy - flute
Tommy McCarthy - concertina

Dance: The Stack of Barley

Musicians:
Eamon McGivney - fiddle
Michael Tubridy - flute
Tommy McCarthy - concertina

“Set Dances of Ireland: Tradition & Evolution” by Larry Lynch ~ the book!

Seádna Books & Dal gCais Publications, 1989
A4 format, 323 pages
ISBN: 0-9623366-0-2 (U.S.A.)
ISBN: 0-9514848-0-X (Ireland)

Seádna Books
88 Walter Street
San Francisco, California 94114
U.S.A.
2nd Printing, 1991

John O’Donnell
c/o The Connacht Tribune
15 Market Street
Galway, Eire / Ireland

Highly recommended, as this is the only publication on the subject that I feel makes a resonable attempt to incorporate in it’s pages and story something of the people the dances were collected from, with pictures and some quotes. This weighty tome has more heart than the many other publications that tend to just amass dances and figures and with short and limited references to sources. I admit my bias, I am interested in more than just the mechanics of the dance. We both like to read and see the heart and context of a tradition, and YES!, that can be done in print, and even better if it also has pictures to go along with the weave… For us, this is about ‘quality’ rather than ‘quantity’, heart and community rather than flash and competition…

For the inexperienced the notations might be confusing, but I love it. He tries to further represent his sources by using their descriptions of the dances, their terminology. At the back of the book is a glossary of terms and movements with illustrations, to help…

Availabiity

So, Ceolachan,

Where can I obtain these recordings and book? Do you have a source?

The only search link returned from google and kartoo came back to this listing.

Larry Lunch seems to have some of the original tapes left, I bought the four dance cassettes some time ago (and it must be some time ago as I remember paying in punt: £2.50 each, a give away) during the Willie Clancy week where he usually puts up a bunch for sale.

Claddagh has released one CD I believe with some of the material from the tapes and some other musicians as well, I am not certain about that now.

Posted .

That should have been ‘ Lynch’, obviously.

Posted .

Your answer is in the post ed veras, as is further comment in the ‘comments’ for recording #2… Somewhere I’ve misplaced Larry Lynch’s address, as I had wanted to try and chase up a copy of the 4th which I never managed to find…

Note, for whatever reason, tape shrinkage? ~ all the recordings I have, even the CD, are a full step sharp / sped up… This is, I believe, along with a ton of other recordings of similar raised speed one of the contributors to why dancers have grown used to and increasingly asked for more speed…to the detrement of both music and dance…