Sean Corcoran Reconstructs Music From Our Past

Old Drogheda Society

Sean Corcoran with some advice on accessing reconstructions of songs from the Irish music and song tradition.  

Go to this site and click on "Sean Corcoran"

Patrick Weston Joyce was a major collector of Irish Music and Song in the 19th century and one of the first to publish English language texts along with the melodies noted down from vernacular singers.

 

In 1965 I got my hands on an original copy of his 1909 publication OLD IRISH FOLK MUSIC AND SONGS and released a lot of songs from it back into the world of living music.

 

The Irish Traditional Music Archive asked me to recall some of  these "reconstructions" as part of their P.W. Joyce Commemorative Micro-Site. I sing them here as closely as possible to the original published versions.

 

Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage, Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

Echoes of 1916

Old Drogheda Society

Upstate Theatre Project in conjunction with Drogheda Local Voices Oral History Project will launch a new project Echoes of 1916 on Thursday next, May 15th in the Governor's House, Millmount at 8pm.

The Echoes programme will initiate a community research project to investigate the whereabouts of people’s ancestors in 1916. It is hoped that this open-ended question will result in the exploration of a variety of family histories and in turn present a broad portrait of the community in 1916. As well as people with ancestors in Ireland during 1916, it is also hoped that new communities in Drogheda will join the programme and present their own personal histories from the period, no matter which country they hail from.

The project will host a number of local experts, historian Brendan Matthews and Sean Corcoran of Drogheda Museum Millmount and Drogheda Local Voices, alongside Notre Dame’s Conor McNamara and Upstate Theatre Project’s Chairman, Dr. Matthew Stout. While the initial phase of the project will have a distinctly historical research edge, Upstate will later work to develop the material using the latest mobile technology, turning it into an artistic experience.

What happened in Ireland between 1912 and 1922 happened in a global context, a period that was a very turbulent time in human history. Through this project we hope to begin to uncover this period of commemoration and explore the humanity of our shared histories.

The launch night on May 15th is an opportunity for people to learn more about the project and register for future workshops in the programme. The programme will be intergenerational in nature, and everyone from 15 to 115 is welcome to take part. Thanks to the PEACE III Programme, participation will be free, and no experience is necessary – just commitment and interest!

This project is delivered by Upstate Theatre Project and is supported by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation PEACE III Programme manage

Drogheda Museum

Millmount Governor's House,

Millmount,

Drogheda

0419833097

The Musical Priest

Chairperson of the Old Drogheda Society, Seán Corcoran, has just produced a radio documentary on an aspect of Irish Music History and it is now available on SoundCloud.

Sean Corcoran at play

This fine production, The Musical Priest, was first broadcast @ 7pm Sun 29th December 2013 on Waterford Local Radio FM (WLRFM.com. A 48min radio documentary it was funded by the BAI Sound & Vision scheme and surveys the extraordinary life of Richard Henebry of Portlaw (1863-1916): funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence Fee.

Richard Henebry, a farmer’s son from Portlaw, Co. Waterford became one of the leading figures internationally in the fields of Celtic Studies and of Irish Music studies at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

Richard Henebry

Ordained a priest in 1892 he spent most of his life researching Irish Music and Celtic languages. An accomplished fiddler and a piper, Irish music was one of the great passions of his life and his historic contribution was that he was the first to carry out field recordings of country musicians and singers using the newly invented phonograph in 1903.

Edison Standard

This programme uses interviews with family members and experts and drama-documentary techniques to re-create the life of this extraordinary character.

Phonograph horn

• Writer, director, producer and presenter: Seán Corcoran
• Sound design:  Ronan Browne
• Actors: Diarmuid DeFaoite, Fred McCloskey
• Fiddle: Breda Keville
• Uilleann pipes: Ronan Browne
• Mandocello and vocals :- Seán Corcoran
• Music from Henebry adapted and arranged by Seán Corcoran

•  Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage - Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097 & 041-9833097

Sucessful Launch of the ODS Journal.

Last night saw the 20th issue of the Old Drogheda Society Journal launched at the Governor's House in the Millmount quarter.

The event drew a large audience. The chair of the Old Drogheda Society, Sean Corcoran, opened the session and introduced the Journal's editor, local historian Brendan Matthews who launched the journal.  Brendan had two pieces included in this year's publication and has been in a driving force behind the recovery of local historical knowledge. In the weeks prior to last night's launch he was kept busy ensuring that everything would be fine on the night and that no last minute hitches would disrupt proceedings.

Brendan thanked all involved before going on to speak a bit about each article and its author. His coverage was so comprehensive that there was a bit of banter at the end to the effect that there was now no read to read the journal!

Brendan certainly wheted the appetite and it is hoped that the reading public and those with an interest in the local history of our town will purchase the journal.

There was a nice wine and food buffet laid on by the ODS and in those memorable words a good time was had by all.

• Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage, Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

Heritage Council Meeting

Sean Corcoran with a few tidbits on the Heritage Council extended meeting in Drogheda Museum Millmount

Folks,

Drogheda Museum Millmount was the venue for a 2 day meeting of the Heritage Council on Tues and Wed of this week (18th and 19th June 2013). They lunched each day in the Tower Restaurant and the only break they took from their heavy meeting schedule was to visit the Little Tern Project in Baltray.

I just thought I'd share with you some of the thoughs of Louth Heritage Officer Brendan McSherry. They make for interesting consideration.

Brendan said theevent was a 'wonderful success'. All who took part 'very much enjoyed the visit and many of them were very pleasantly surprised by Drogheda and by the Boyne estuary generally.'

Brendan added that the venue was well thought of and that the food coupled with the sunshine made it a hugely beneficial experience.

He finished off by encouraging even greater work by all involved to promote 'the wonderful heritage resource in Drogheda, the Boyne Valley and Louth.'

Blogging From The Banks of the Boyne

Almost situated on the banks of the famous River Boyne, the Old Drogheda Society has made a substantial contribution to public understanding over the decades that it has been in existence. It is forever trying to find new means of conveying greater amounts of knowledge to the public in the spirit once articulated by the West Belfast priest, Des Wilson, who vigorously made the point that people are enriched by knowing more rather than less. For this reason the blog is an addendum to an already well established ODS project and it is hoped that more than the 'usual suspects' will feature on its pages.

The blog will seek to keep readers informed of upcoming events and activities. It hopes to run podcasts and galleries while linking to articles of general historical value or interest. Any ODS member that finds something worthwhile is invited to bring the link to our attention so that others may benefit from it.

Additionally the blog will feature interviews with those involved in local history retrieval and archivists. It also intends to run articles by members of the Old Drogheda Society.

Sean Corcoran, chair of the Old Drogheda Society, commented that 'hopefully the blog will give the ODS the opportunity to promote and share the substantial amount of material in its possession. We would also like to see the public interact with the blog via the comments facility.'

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy.