Fintan Vallely · Double CD of Compánach Concert Released

Compánach – Music from all the counties of Ireland

Irish-traditional tunes, song and dance performed on acoustic instruments, with Gaelic songs, ballads in English, and old-style percussive step-dance.

Two hours of music, song and dance named for each of the counties of nineteenth-century Ireland, music of the island from the pre-electric age. Fifteen different tune-types are played in thirty sets of solos, duets and trios, built out to tremendous richness by uilleann pipes drones, with rhythm marked in dance steps and historic tambourine. Older song-airs and laments are set alongside local jigs, reels and hornpipes, popular dance-forms like quickstep and barndance, continental rhythms polka and mazurka, and Scottish ‘highlands’. The performers are Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn on uilleann pipes; Gerry O’Connor, fiddle; Fintan Vallely, concert flute; Sibéal Davitt, old-style, hard-shoe step dance; and singers Karan Casey, Máire Ní Choilm, Róisín Chambers, Maurice Leyden, Stephanie Makem, and Roisín White.

All Traditional tunes arrangement © Fintan Vallely, Gerry O’Connor & Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn; all new tunes are © their composers – Josephine Keegan, Brendan McGlinchey, Ritchie Dwyer, Paddy Fahy, Martin Crehan, Ed Reavey, Martin Wynne, Arthur Kearney, Seán Ó Riada, Paddy O’Brien & Sean Ryan as acknowledged in the notes.

This is an independent project developed and financed by the work of the artistes, without State Arts funding. It has been aided considerably by the support of concert-goers in Ireland, Europe and Australia. The contribution by Culture Ireland to certain public performances abroad is gratefully acknowledged as part of development, as are the advice and artwork by Martin Gaffney, and the initiative of Cork University Press, publishers of Companion to Irish Traditional Music. Full information on all aspects of the project on comitm.com.

WHN 1801. Recorded in April, 2017 by Donal O’Connor at Red Box Studios, Belfast (redboxrecording.com); engineering and mastering by Donal O’Connor; dance recording by Brian at the Irish Traditional Music Archive, Dublin; Recording of Karan Casey by Crow Valley Music, Cork; Recording of Roisín White by John Howson, Veteran Records; produced by Compánach; sleeve-notes by Fintan Vallely; CD duplication by AxisPPM, Dublin, (axisppm.ie). Released by Whinstone, Dublin (whinstone.net) 2018.