Fidleir's Airs: Caoineadh na dTrí Muire

With some time in hand, I have it in mind to embark on a musical project that has been percolating for a while. I have always enjoyed playing the slow airs associated with the Irish bardic tradition. I plan to take a closer look at this treasure trove with a view to expanding my own repertoire and delving a little into the provenance of the tunes and so on. My main source is Tomás Ó Cannain's Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland which has over a hundred airs . The first video specifically for this project was recorded on Good Friday and looking for a suitable air to chime with  the day, I chose No 10, Caoineadh na dTrí Muire. I think it was Séamus Ennis who said the key to playing slow airs was to know at least a couple of lines of the sean nós version. I tried to match the phrasing of Iarla O Lionaird's version. The song was particularly associated with Joe Heaney and I include an extract from the Joe Heaney's archive website. A different air appears under the title in the Veritas Hymnal but the tune turns up later in the volume in another Easter hymn, An tAiséirí. In a verse in the Veritas version, Mary calls on two women who share her name,   to assist in the keening "Gabh i leith a dhá Mhuire go gcaoine sibh mo ghrá liom"  

The video setting was a Marian Grotto in Tramore in my neighbourhood. I hadn't visited this garden before the corona virus made me look more closely at what was on my doorstep. The garden is a lovely tranquil space tended by Mr Tony Hanlon.

"As Angela Partridge points out, the title by which this lament is known in Joe’s native Carna is Caoineadh na Páise (The Passion Lament). However, he accepted the title Caoineadh na dTrí Muire, which was given to the song following his first public performance of it in Dublin (Partridge, op. cit., 31). Caoineadh na dTrí Muire was a title associated with the song/poem in County Mayo. Versions from Donegal, Clare, Cavan, Kerry and Cork have also been recorded.

The song is best understood as a conversation between a number of participants including Peter, Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, and the Roman soldiers. This device advances the story with the greatest possible economy, allowing us to focus on the emotional intensity of each moment, from the viciousness of the soldiers to the disbelief and distress of Mary and finally to the quiet stoicism of Jesus, offering comfort to his distraught mother.

This is surely the most famous of the songs that Joe brought to public notice, and one of his own favourites. Along with Amhrán na Páise and Oíche Nollag, this lament reveals his deep reverence both for the spirituality of the subject-matter and for the tradition that his grandmother and others like her held up for her grandchildren and her community every year. As Máirtín Ó Cadhain wrote following Joe’s first public performance of this song in Dublin, In Caoineadh na dtrí Muire he brings home to us the joys and sorrows of Mary with the intimacy and poignancy of a Fra Angelico painting (quoted in Angela Partridge, Caoineadh na dTrí Muire: Téama na Páise i bhFilíocht Bhéil na Gaeilge, Dublin 1983, 4)."

Detail of vVctorian stained glass church window in Fringford depicting St. Mary with two other women under the cross on the first Good Friday 

https://songsinirish.com/caoineadh-na-dtri-mhuire-lyrics/

A Pheadair, a Aspail,
An bhfaca tú mo ghrá geal?
Óchón agus óchón-ó!
Chonaic mé ar ball é,
Gá chéasadh ag an ngarda.
Óchón agus óchón-ó!

Cé hé an fear breá sin
Ar Chrann na Páise?
Óchón agus óchón-ó!
An é n-aithníonn tú do Mhac,
A Mháthrín?
Óchón agus óchón-ó!

An é sin an Maicín
A hoileadh in ucht Mháire?
Óchón agus óchón-ó!
An é sin an Maicín
A rugadh insan stábla?
Óchón agus óchón-ó!

An é sin an Maicín
A d'iompair mé trí ráithe?
Óchón agus óchón-ó!
A Mhicín mhúirneach,
Tá do bhéal 's do shróinín gearrtha,
Óchón agus óchón-ó!

Cuireadh tairní maola
trína chosa 's trína lámha,
Óchón agus óchón-ó!
Cuireadh an tsleá
Trína bhrollach álainn.
Óchón agus óchón-ó!
Óchón agus óchón-ó

Hometown Launch Gig at Coastguard, Tramore

 

 

I caught the first gig of a newly formed ensemble, Hometown at the Coastguard Centre in Tramore on Saturday night. A strong line up  included stalwarts, Gerry Madden on mandolin, guitarist Paul Grant and  Richie McDonald on bass. The group fully exploited the potential for a variety of timbres and  delivered an appealing and  eclectic  programme of jazz, folk and world music to a full house. Suzanne Rowe added a 'café orchestra' vibe on accordion. A new face to me was American singer , Bobby Carey who impressed with her classy renditions of jazz and folk numbers.   Set against the ensemble efforts, it was good to hear reduced instrumentation  such as a waltz on accordion, a guitar treatment of Gabriel's oboe and the Latin American riffs of bass and guitar. Highlights were the bossa nova version of folk standard, Black is the Colour and original  songs by  band member Paul Grant and Paul Foskin who was in the audience.

My sources tell me that you might catch members of the band in a more informal session on Tuesdays in Downes' Bar, Waterford.

 

Mystery Man Paul Tiernan at the Coastguard Station

The name of singer songwriter Paul Tiernan was hitherto unknown to me. The poster pic of the artist in top hat and false music hall moustache suggested a performer with a theatrical sensibility and the addition of violinist Marja Gaynor, a major mover and shaker on the classical scene in Cork suggested a performer of some substance. The duo drew an near capacity house to the upstairs gallery at Tramore Coastguard Station on Friday night for a programme of bittersweet, elegant self penned songs (with a few covers) infused with the spirit of French chanson

A skilful player, Tiernan at times used his guitar like a percussion instrument, tapping the strings to release an eerie floating harmonic. His dark wry lyrics and appealing melodies reminded me at times of Randy Newman and Gilbert O Sullivan. He was wonderfully well-aided and abetted by the Gaynor who added mellifluous lines and Grapelli-esque riffs on violin. The whiff of a boulevard was evoked with interludes on a demonic melodica and drones on a gaudy concertina. Gaynor displayed her penchant for early music with a rumbustious Baroque partita.

Local lass, Anna McSweeney was in fine voice accompanying herself on guitar in a short supporting set.

A look through Tienan's biography shows an impressive music pedigree name checking big names among his  collaborators and citing excellent reviews from international music press.  He is promoting his 6th solo album, The Mystery of Others on this tour. If you've not heard him yet, let Paul Tiernan be a mystery to you no longer.  Do catch him on the remaining dates on this tour.


Thurs 25th Feb  White Horse Inn Ballincollig with Grainne Hunt and Marja Gaynor

Thurs 3rd March Hole in the Wall Kilkenny  with Marja Gaynor

Sunday 20th De Barras Clonakilty with The Vespertine Quartet
 

Tramore Promenade Festival

Oh I do like to be besde the seaside. I almost didn't make it to the prom. I dilly dallied and fell into the rose tinted hole that is  the Mother of Pearl Teashop where across the road, a  brass band  were adding a  diddly um pum pum  to the vintage  afternoon tea party. 'That's lovely music. No ding ding, bang bang like the modern stuff' said a passerby.  No sooner had the splendid boys and girls of the Barrack St Concert Band packed away their cornets than the Welsh Crew arrived. An disparate assembly of poets, troubadours and a dancer and the afternoon tea  morphed into a soirée. I loved hearing Dominic Williams read his poetry to dancing accompaniment and Anne Lister sang some terrific songs based on myths and folk tales. Captain Bob sang  comic song from his naval days. Eventually fortified by very good cake and sandwiches, I felt ready to venture to stroll along the prom, prom, prom. Too late for the airshow and sandcastles but I came across the splendid busking duo Richie and Jacob, two local young lads on guitar and mandolin and amps powered by audience pedalling who were going down a storm.(perhaps not the best metaphor for a weekend blessed with sunshine).
Well done director Sean Corcoran and team. Looking forward to next year already.

Check out the Tramore Prom Fest website  for more images and details.

 . Have a listen to  Richie andJacob them on audioboom clip

listen to ‘Tramore Prom Fest’ on audioBoom

Turning Japanesy: Lafcadio Hearn Gardens Open in Tramore

 'verily, even plants, and trees, rocks and stones, all shall enter into Nirvana'

Russell Library Maynooth

A couple of years ago, I visited the Russell Library in Maynooth. Among the Gothic arches and ancient tomes, there was an exhibition devoted to the unusual life of  Patrick Lafcadio Hearn. A penchant for  Japanese culture was very much in the zetgeist of the Victorian era.   Gilbert and Sullivan's  The Mikado, was and remains the most popular of the G&S oeuvre. In 1890, Lafcadio Hearn travelled to Japan for a journalistic assignment and became enamoured of all things Japanese. He stayed on in his adopted country, married a local and rose to become a professor in Tokyo University and was considered to be the West's great interpreter of Japan.

Lafcadio had family connections in Waterford and often came to Tramore for his childhood  holidays. He is quoted as saying that his happiest hours  were spent at the seaside town . Standing in the gardens dedicated to his memory, with the sun shining, white horses racing to the shore and the 'wind making the trees speak to each other', it was easy to believe it.

You can read more about the venture and the occasion of the official opening last week in a Munster Express article here .  The gardens, Agnes Aylward of Tramore Development Trust told us  'were created in a Japanese spirit' and in keeping with that  procedings were conducted with due  deference and decorum.
I specially enjoyed hearing poet, Thomas McCarthy read Sean Dunne's poem inspied by Hearn. You can listen to it in the audioboo below. The gentle strains of pizzicato guitar were in the air and Joey Whelan looked as though he was in his natural habitat nestled between the standing stones in the American Garden.. We heard Moore's melodies sung in Japanese by guest singer, Yuki.

The gardens are lovely with splendid views across, Tramore Bay . This season, visiting times are restricted to allow work to continue  but the gardens are open every Thurday 1to Sunday

More information on the Lafcadio Hearn Gardens here 

listen to ‘Thomas McCarthy reads Sean Dunne at the Lafcadio Hearn Garden opening’ on audioBoom