Inisheer, traditional tune by Thomas Moore.
Very Nice Dusty! I love this tune, we play it sometimes at our Folksession in Holland Your mandolin has a nice round tone, I love it.. Can you tell me something about it?
Love this dusty. Reminds me of the theme tune from Belle et Sebastian, a tear jerking tune from childhood holiday TV viewing. Beautiful tone from the mandolin - all rather moving
Simply beautiful, dustyamps! I agree with luurtie, your mandolin tone and crisp, clean picking has me enthralled.
I recently discovered this tune on John Kelly's Soundcloud site and had to give it a go myself. As can be seen from this thread the tune has been on the cafe for over 3 years now with a recent reprisal by Dusty with his wonderful clear tone. John's Soundcloud clip is here: http://snd.sc/kZbFRK Here's my go with mandolin, guitar and accordion.
Nicely done Bob, you've inspired me to redo the video to my original post, long since removed. I played a Sobell mandolin, Wheatstone Aeola English concertina, Santa Cruz OM guitar and bowed a double bass.
David - that was fantastic!! Your pieces always have that evocative Irish/Scot nature to them that is just wonderful. The OM work is fabulous and the bowed bass really adds a lot to the piece. A lot of thought went into it. Thanks for posting it, I had wondered why people were commenting about your version but I had looked and couldn't find it.
I play in a trio consisting of fiddle, mandolin (me), and guitar. I thought Inisheer would be nice for us to do. In slow tunes, due to the lack of sustain on a mandolin and my tremolo is non-existent, the fiddle generally gets the 'good' part. Tunes sound good when we both play melody together but can also sound good if I play a harmony part. I therefore wrote a harmony part for Inisheer. I don't know if this is blasphemous for the traditionalists. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions you can make for improving the harmony. Here's the harmony track added to my previous recording: X:1 T: Inisheer - Harmony Part - 01/03/14 - Bob Anderson M: 3/4 L: 1/16 K: G D4|: "G" G6 F2 G2B2 | "Bm" G6 F2 G2B2 | "C" C6 E2 F2E2 | "D" A,6 G2 F2E2 | "G" G6 F2 G2B2 | "Bm" G6 F2 G2B2 | "C" E6 G2 "D" FE D2 |2 "G" D6 B,2B,2 D2 :|3 "G" D6 F2 G2B2 |] "C" c6 c2 c2G2 | "G" G6 F2 G2B2 | "Em(C)" B2B2B2 G2 GG G2 | "Em" B6 E2 G2G2 | "C" c6 c2 c2G2 | "G" G6 F2 G2B2 | "D" D6 D2 DDD2 | "G" D6 F2 G2B2 | "C" c6 c2 c2G2 | "G" G6 F2 G2B2 | "Em(C)" c2c2 c2B2 GAB2 | "Em" c6 E2 G2G2 | "C" c6 c2 c2G2 | "G" G6 F2 G2G2 | "D" A,6 F2 FDD2 | "G" G12 ||
I was sure this one had been an "official" song of the week, but apparently not. This Irish slow air was written by Thomas Walsh. My recording uses a harmony by Mary Radspinner and Constance Braden, which I got some years ago by Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni (I don't think it's in any of her books, as it's not her harmony part). Different arrangement from my old one uploaded in 2013. Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin (x2) Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Martin
One of my favourites too Martin. Thanks for that.
Lovely arrangement and playing, Martin.
I had forgotten that I recorded this air only last year -- this is a quite different arrangement, with a harmony from: http://www.kiwifolk.com/dfc/DSFO%20Violin.pdf The first time round it's just mandolin and tenor guitar, with harmonies and a simple bass line coming in on the repeat. 1921 Gibson Ajr mandolin (x2) Vintage Viaten tenor guitar Suzuki MC-815 mandocello https://youtu.be/zGfCUxUeyCo Martin
It is such a beautiful melody that I could not resist ... I hope the purists of traditional Irish music will forgive me ...
Very nice!
Very nice renditions Martin and Jairo! Martin, your Jr. really rings out in this and I love the arrangement and the " Band " played wonderfully! Jairo, yours is beautifully done and I would not worry about purity. We all play like we play and " that's " the purity.
Martin, a jaunty waltz feel to this one, almost syncopated. Different and interesting delivery and arrangment. Nice delivery, Jairo. As Frank says, we play it like we play it!
Martin – I like this full arrangement. Jairo – Nice tone of your mandolin, too!
Thanks, Frank, John and Frithjof. Jairo: great tone. What's the accompaniment? Sound like a quite percussive guitar, or a quite melodic percussion. Martin
My version features a fine young Scottish fiddler and Gaelic singer, my good friend Jemma Johnson, taking the lead on fiddle. We recorded the tune a while back and I have taken Jemma's track from our original duet and remixed it with mandolin, guitar and piano. And, I play mandolin tremolo around 1:50 on this one! The photos are of the Firth of Clyde from above Ardnadam, near my home. I tried the revised method of posting the video, using the Insert Video link but when I previewed it the screen was blank, so I reverted to using the YouTube button and adding the YT link below my text. I am using Windows 10, not any Apple iOS. https://youtu.be/DlF1XgehNac
Definitely John, you are the ONE ... I have no words to describe what I hear, exquisite perhaps? If you will allow me, I will use a phrase my father used to describe something so excellent that it was beyond description: De Castilla! and he made a gesture like blowing an air kiss ... Although here you betray yourself, you used tremolo in a slow air ...
Delicious! Incredibly beautiful! Thanks John and Jemma. The right music to settle back and enjoy in the late evening.
Nicely done John and Jemma. The song should be called "John Plays Tremolo" - and very well too ! Is Jemma still in Edinburgh?
That is lovely John -- well done Jemma and you! My own renditions of this tune will always be more or less waltz-like, as you suggest, because I learned the tune first as a waltz and while I'm trying to ease up on the strict tempo timing and play it more loosely, that waltz character is imprinted in my inner ear. But it's good to hear it properly as a slow air from the two of you! Martin
Beautiful, John! De Castilla! Until I read the text, I thought that was you playing the fiddle. But your accompaniment is excellently done, a bit of tremolo is well placed, and I love those upward progressions. What really blew me away, though, is the photography. The images don't just suit the music very well, they're works of art in their own right. You have combined two of your passions to good effect here. The "Insert video" option didn't produce an image in the preview function for me either, but the video did appear when I actually posted. It may just be a problem with the preview function. I've actually recorded this tune before - it's lovely and it's slow, which are characteristics that have always brought a tune to the top of my list. My recording is 8 years old (!) and was previously posted in the Newbies group. Our old flat was pretty spacious! I remember seeing local folk music heroes Tim Edey and Brendan Power playing this tune at Canterbury's Westgate Hall. That was probably the first time I heard it. I got interested in folk music as a consequence of getting interested in the mandolin (not the other way round), so I would have already had my mandolin then and probably started practising this tune soon after.
Thanks, all, for very kind comments on both the music and the pictures. Jemma has always been a very fine interpreter of slow airs and they give so much scope to the players to express themselves. Jairo and Ginny, I felt I had to include some tremolo just to prove I could do it even though I tend to steer clear of it! For me, the fiddle is the supreme instrument for playing slow airs and I only wish I could play it with enough skill to deliver those airs. You are right about having an imprinted version of a tune in your head, Martin. This is something that is part of all of us and often comes from where and when we first heard the tune. At a local session here we often play a lovely air, Airthrey Castle, by the Shetland fiddler Tom Anderson. One of the regulars has been playing this as a Strathspey because he first heard it played that way by someone else. It sounds good too! Dennis, what a youthful figure you cut in your video in that spacious room - then you say it is an eight-year-old video! Great sound from your mandolin and a fine set there. What is the second tune you are playing?
Beautiful playing Gents, and good to hear the differences in each version - and with some nice stylistic surprises too.
Played with feeling, John, and with tremolo, too! The fiddle adds a lot to this tune. The revised posting method works if you insert the whole URL into the dialog field, not just the YT code.
Jhon, there are things in life that cannot be hidden and escaped ... the association for the preservation of Scottish and Irish music must already be informed about your tremolo in an air, and after organizing a file and filling the offense at one point or another you will be called upon to present your defense ... I wish you all the luck in the world!
Simon and Bertram, thanks for your comments. Bertram, when I tried inserting the whole URL into the Insert Video box then pressed Preview, I just got the URL appearing in the same form as the URL I added at the end as a link; no video window appeared. Perhaps had I continued and published this seemingly erroneous posting the video would have appeared as you have managed to do here. Are you using Windows 10? Thanks anyway for the larger picture area! Jairo, I am already heading for the hills wearing a suitable disguise and will reappear when I think it is safe to do so. Maybe I will have to attend a re-education session to rid me of the tremolo, or at least promise not to use it again without prior consultation.
John, this works for me in Chrome on Windows 10 as well as in Brave on MacOS. It didn't work in Safari on MacOS, though.
I enjoyed all the versions uploaded during December ‘21 (I haven’t gone back beyond this month)…the variations are obviously part of the interest…it may even be that the sign of a classic tune is one that stands up to various interpretations, playing styles and instruments…(?). One to add to my list…tremolos will be utilised if suitable…
https://youtu.be/N8_ZDR4D_9o I’ve resorted to just providing the link to the video on YT, as there are problems with the quality of the video, visually, when I upload here (using both the YT and ‘film strip’ icons), and I’ve not been able to rectify! Recorded in IMovie, and the ‘picture in picture’ sections looked blurred. If anyone else has experienced this, please let me know/advise. The mando harmony in the 2nd and 3rd ‘A’ Parts ‘broadly’ follows the 2nd violin dots in the music Martin referred to in his latest version of this tune, see: http://www.kiwifolk.com/dfc/DSFO%20Violin.pdf (Tune 61). Fylde Signature Touchstone Mandolin Phil Davidson Mandolin Gold Tone IT250 Tenor Banjo Faith Naked Mercury (parlour) Guitar
I like your playing on all the different instruments, John, as well as your video style.
Your video looked fine to me, John. A really good arrangement and playing of this lovely tune.
Sounds and looks fine, John.
Precise playing with sensitivity and nice feel John, and as others have said, the images are fine, and interesting.
Beautiful John!
Thanks to you all for the positive comments, on the playing and the video. I’m happy with the production of both…though I’m still convinced that the visual images, insert pictures, are fuzzy when uploaded here (I think Frank has kindly taken the trouble to upload the vid).
I’ve found the images aren’t so good when YT loads slowly. Sometimes I’ll get near the end of the tune and suddenly the image quality jumps up. Here it’s nice just to see all the concentration in your face John- yep, I know that feeling!
Had another listen to yours Mr Kelly, lovely pacing with the fiddle. We’re so lucky to be alive!
When we recorded this version, Simon, Jemma had only had the notation for the tune a short while before and was reading it as we recorded. She is a very fine young player. You are so right about being lucky to be alive, and especially being able to make and enjoy music and share it with others. Thanks again.
Another blast from the past, this tune! I don't play guitar, so it was interesting to see John play the guitar and mandolin in parallel. The arrangement works very well, and the whole beauty and atmosphere of the tune come out nicely.
