Michael Russell’s slide

I first heard this tune in Michael McGoldrick & John McSherry’s recording “At First Light”. Then I thought it was a lovely lively tune. Later on I heard it again on a RTE TV documentary. From then on, the tune remained dancing in my brain until I learnt it.
I wonder if the CD notes were wrong and the tune is actually named after Micho Russell. I never heard of Michael Russell before. Anyone can put some light in this issue??

Yes, I’d like to know about that as well!

Zina

The tune you’ve posted is titled “Micho Russell’s” on the Patrick Street “Live” album and “The Eavesdropper” album by Burke/Daly. The same title is given on other tune finder sites for essentially the same slide submitted here. Perhaps the CD’s notes writer anglicized Micho’s name.

Great tune.

Isn’t ‘Micho’ a diminutive of ‘Michael’? His family seemed to favour unconventional diminutives - his brothers were (are?) called Gussie (presumably Augustus) and Packie (Patrick).

Yes, Micho, also spelt Micko by some people. This is the first tune in the last set on Dervish’s “Playing With Fire”. According to the liner notes, Micho Russell was “often heard playing it but it is also known as Callaghan’s”.

Jackie Daly plays this as Callaghan’s Hornpipe on Music from Sliabh Luachra. It is also recorded as The Fairiy Hornpipe on Topic/Free Reed 12TFRS506, “Irish Traditional Concertina Styles”. It is played by Michael MacAogain.

I have a live recording of him playing this tune, it goes as follows
Key Amaj
|:A2AA2AABAF2E|DFA{d}B2A{d}B2AF2A|dcda2=gf2d{d}B2A|“1st”BdABABd3dcB:|“2nd”BdABABd3
d2A|:dcda2=gf2d{d}B2A|BdABdA{d}B2AF2A|dcda2=gf2d{d}B2A|“1st”BdABABd3d2A:|“2nd”BdABABd3dcB|
Good luck
Mikea

What I want to know is,why is it called the faeries hornpipe if it’s a slide???

Paraphrasing from Fintan Vallely’s “Companion to Irish Traditional Music” - Micho Russell was born in 1915 in Doonagore, Co. Clare. He started whistle at 11 and later played flute and sang. He grew up playing house dances and at Doolin area pubs, then pubs in Dublin, which led to radio and television work. He won All-Ireland on whistle in 1973 and toured Europe and the East coast USA. Micho was well known for his unaffected stage presence and great store of Clare tunes. Sadly, he was killed in a road accident in 1994. Many of today’s recording artists credit Micho for settings of tunes, and for embodying a melodically simple but rhtymically complex approach to the music.

You can also find Kevin Burke teaching this on DVD #1 of a pair:

“Learn to Play Irish Fiddle: Polkas, Jigs & Slides” ~ 90 minutes
Homespun Videos / DVDs
ISBN: 1-932964-44-4

https://thesession.org/recordings/2060

~ see above…
Here’s that transcription cleaned up and with the key signature corrected:

X: 2
T: Michael Russell’s
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: slide
Key Dmaj
|: dcB |\
A2 A A2 A ABA F2 E | DFA B2 A B2 A F2 A |
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BdA BAB d3 :|
|: d2 A |\
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BdA BdA B2 A F2 A |
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BdA BAB d3 d2 A :|

X: 2
T: Michael Russell’s
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: slide
Key Dmaj
|: dcB |\
A2 A A2 A ABA F2 E | DFA B2 A B2 A F2 A |
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BdA BAB d3 :|
|: d2 A |\
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BdA BdA B2 A F2 A |
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BdA BAB d3 :|

Can’t say much for the ABCs for the original submission. Here it is slightly edited. I’ll have to add some other takes on this lovely old slide later…

X: 1
T: Michael Russell’s
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: slide
K: Dmaj
|: dcB |\
A3 A2 F ABA F2 E | DFA B2 A B2 A F3 |
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BcA BAB d2 d :|
|: d3 |\
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BcA BcA B2 A F3 |
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 A | BcA BAB d3 :|

Discussion: Unknown slide..??.
# Posted on June 15th 2008 by FIDDLE4
~ /discussions/18100

I learned this one from Kevin Burke’s instructional videos, where he plays a really nice version of it. It’s become one of my favorite tunes, very lively and beautiful.

Burke does a drone against the D string in the A part when he goes up to the B-A-B-A bit, which I think sounds fantastic. Give it a try and see how it strikes you.

# Posted on June 15th 2008 by Screetch

X: 3
T: Michael Russell’s
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: slide
Key Dmaj
|: dcB |\
A2 A ABA ABA F2 E | DFA B2 A B2 A FGA |
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 ^A | B2 A B^AB d3 :|
|: d2 A |\
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 ^A | B2 A B^AB B2 =A FF/G/A |
dcd a2 g f2 d B2 ^A | B2 A B^AB d3 :|

putting ceolachan’s submissions above into an ABC converter, you just need to replace the line that says “Key Dmaj” with “K: Dmaj”.

Thanks, ceolachan for your work on this interesting tune!

Sorry folks, that was from the original cut-and-paste of Mikea’s ABCs. I repeated it and was blind to the mistake until the last entry, ‘other ways’… I should have checked the headers… I still might have missed it. Thanks muspc, appreciated…

Nope, I screwed up that one too, ‘other ways’. It seems I only corrected it, probably on automatic, with the Toni Ribas repeat… I must be tired… 😏

http://www.rogermillington.com/
http://www.rogermillington.com/tunetoc/clareslide.html

Thanks for posting this tune Toni. It’s new to me and is nice and original.
I follow me nose on this one and play the repeated 1st line of the Sheetmusic as the 1st part of the tune. Which I vary accordingly… The rest of the lines make up the 2nd part.

Just been learning this as I’m a huge fan of Micho Russell and this is my favourite tune of his. On the only recording I’ve heard of Micho playing it (on the Rarities & Favourites album), he plays C naturals, not sharps, in the answering phrase of the B part. For me that’s what makes the tune. Well, that and all the fantastic grace notes he adds. I’d seriously urge anyone interested in the tune to hear Russell’s own recording of the tune - I don’t think any transcription could really do justice to the joyous, quirky, almost Indian-sounding treatment Russell gives it.

From the YouTube video posted by Comhaltas Saint John.

5 “settings” here already, the first posted 14 years ago.

https://thesession.org/tunes/958

Just has chords is all.

Very good - well done, but that makes it “Setting #6” of “Micho Russell’s” slide, not a new tune.

My mistake, I should’ve added it to the previous one as a new setting. I’ll see if Jeremy can move it over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbDFR21eEOM

play video

This is “Fanore” as printed in Treoir magazine some years back - might have been just after Micho Russell died. Fanore Strand is a lovely beach just south of Black Head and north of the Cliffs of Moher in Clare. Who named it “Michael Russell’s”? I’m sure Micho is chuckling over that - I’m guessing the last person to call him Michael was the priest who christened him!

Video of Micho playing this at the Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy in 1990 just posted a few days ago by ITMA at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaixmGLEVJs&feature=youtu.be

play video

starts at 4:44
I also have a cassette, given to me years ago (thanks again to person who gave it), of him playing this at SSWC in 1974. He introduced it by calling it an old fashioned Clare Slide, and followed it with “Micky O’Callaghan’s Slide, from Kerry”, which is now more likely to be referred to as Patsy Geary’s
https://thesession.org/tunes/325

On second thoughts that could be intended to refer to the second tune, Patsy Geary’s, as the caption says “The Yellow Rose of Texas (Callaghan’s)”, and both are listed as alternative names for the tune at https://thesession.org/tunes/325 .
In which case they just haven’t named the first tune.