JUNE 3rd, 1968: Fleadh Ceoil is success story in Irish music - The Irish Times - Thu, Jun 03, 2010

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The resurgence of Irish traditional music during the 1960s fed into, and drew from, the success of Comhalthas Ceolteóri Éireann’s annual Fleadh Ceoil, usually held on the Whit weekend and periodically known for excessive drinking. The 1968 event, however, was a model of its time, as Michael Heney reported from Clones, Co Monaghan. – JOE JOYCE

WITH A twang and a fiddle and a beat on the bodhran, Fleadh Ceoil na hÉireann burst upon Clones yesterday like an old friend renewing a four-year-old acquaintance. He brought with him his musicians, drawn from Cuig Cuigi na hÉireann, and the by-now traditional horde of initiated and uninitiated supporters, who numbered perhaps 80,000, and who will spend, so one is told, a quarter of a million pounds in Clones this festival weekend.

JUNE 3rd, 1968: Fleadh Ceoil is success story in Irish music - The Irish Times - Thu, Jun 03, 2010:

Leslie Ann Harrison: from Cape to Ireland

Image by brentdanley via Flickr

"Cape Elizabeth native Leslie Anne Harrison plays flute for New Time Ensemble, which just released its first album, “A Year In Ireland.”

Harrison, a 2003 Cape Elizabeth High School graduate, has a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College and a Master of Music degree from New York University. She currently is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in traditional Irish flute at the University of Limerick in Ireland.
Harrison has won many awards and distinctions. Besides performing in Ireland, she has performed in Italy and Peru. Last summer, she was cast as the flutist for a production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” at Delacorte Theater in New York City’s Central Park.
New Time Ensemble’s USA tour starts next month. The group will play in Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont. Dates and locations can be found at Myspace.

How did you get interested in music?
I started playing piano when I was young, then picked up the flute as well. I started studying with a flutist named Nicole Rabata. I then studied with another flutist named Carl Dimow. Carl and Nicole had tremendous influence on me. They are incredible players and dedicated teachers. I don’t know what I would have done without them."

South Portland Cape Elizabeth NextSentry: Leslie Ann Harrison: from Cape to Ireland - May 28, 2010:

Flute Music

Michael Flatley of Riverdance / Lord of the Dance fame plays two reels accompanied by Tommy Hayes on the Bodhrán. Clip from around 1990.

Wooden Flute Maintenance

Image via Wikipedia

Wooden Flute Maintenance

Here are some pointers for maintaining an Irish wooden flute. If you have bought your instrument directly from a maker, ask him or her for maintenance advice.

NGOS TARGET IRISH AFRICAN BLACKWOOD USERS

Image by Tatters:) via Flickr

Sound & Fair has launched a partnership with Just Forests, an Irish non-governmental organisation, to raise awareness of the availability of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified African blackwood, which is widely used in traditional Irish musical instruments.

African blackwood is the most commonly used wood in the manufacturing of instruments such as traditional Irish flutes, as well as other woodwind instruments such as clarinets, oboes and bagpipes.

Due primarily to demand for the manufacture of woodwind instruments, the species has already disappeared from large parts of it’s East African range and is now confined to small areas of southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique.

Sound & Fair aims to establish a sustainable trade in African blackwood through a chain of custody linking all handlers of FSC-certified African blackwood, starting with forest harvesters in Tanzania and ending with instrument manufacturers and retailers in the West.

The chain of custody provides consumers with independent verification that the wood used to produce their instruments originates from a sustainable source, enabling them to make purchasing decisions based on ethical as well as quality considerations.

Tom Roche, Director of Just Forests says: “For Just Forests this is a dream come true. We are delighted to partner with Sound & Fair in this very practical project through our Just Music initiative. This partnership will engage Irish musicians and Irish musical instrument makers with our fight against poverty and un-fair forest exploitation.”

The world’s first harvest of FSC-certified African blackwood was carried out in December 2009 in a Village Land Forest Reserve managed by Kikole village, southern Tanzania, under the guidance of the Mpingo Conservation Project.

Kikole received a payment of around £1,200 in return for 15m3 of African blackwood, a sum 400 times greater more than they would have received before FSC-certification.

The wood is currently being processed at an FSC-certified sawmill in Tanzania and will shortly be exported to the UK.

Neil Bridgland, Sound & Fair Campaign Manager, says: “Sound & Fair looks forward to working with Just Forests in reaching out to Irish woodworkers and establishing FSC-certified African blackwood as the standard source of supply for flute makers. Through FSC, flute manufacturers have an opportunity to facilitate a ‘win-win’ situation of environmental sustainability for the forests of Southern Tanzania and poverty alleviation for some of the world’s poorest people.”

Marcas O Murchu Tom Ginley's Fancy, Titanic Jig

2 Reels on flute & bouzouki

Isaac Alderson, Grainne Murphy and John Walsh Play Some Tunes

Isaac Alderson on the flute, Grainne Murphy on the fiddle and John Walsh on the guitar, at The Philadelphia Ceili Group concert at The Irish Center, Friday, April 30, 2010.