Music Samples

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  • Hangmans Reel
    Le Reel du Pendu (The hangman's reel).
    (trad. arr Faulkner)
    John Faulkner - Violin
    Máire Breathnach - Violin & Viola
    Brendan O' Regan - Bouzouki, Guitars, Keyboard & Jaw Harp.

    I learned this tune from the playing of the great French Canadian fiddle player Jean Carignan from Montreal. Jean told me that it relates to the Scottish ballad MacPherson's Lament, in which the fiddler and robber MacPherson is due to be hung at 12 noon. The hangman promises a reprieve if MacPherson can play a tune on the fiddle; but unknown to MacPherson the fiddle has been put out of tune. However being such an accomplished player he plays the tune perfectly in spite of the detuning of the fiddle. The tuning of the fiddle for this is indeed irregular. It is, from the top down: C sharp, A, E, A.

  • Child Owlet / Erskine's Folly
    Child Owlet (Trad Arr, Faulkner)
    Erskine's Folly (additional music, O' Regan)(MÓC Music)
    John Faulkner - Vocals & guitar
    Brendan O' Regan - Guitar
    Gerry O' Connor - Banjos & violins
    Máire Breathnach - Violins & viola

    This classic ballad of deception and tradgedy comes from Buchan's collection of 'Ballads from the North of Scotland'. Brendan kindly composed Erskine's Folly as a fitting addition to this startling song.

  • The Flower Of Finae
    (Thomas Davis, arr. Faulkner)
    John Faulkner - Vocals & guitar
    Brendan O' Regan - Guitar
    Eddie Lee - Bass
    Gavin Povey - Keyboards
    Máire Breathnach - Violins & violas

    This beautiful "brigade ballad" was written by Thomas Davis. It is sung to various different airs. I learned this one from Dolores Keane.

  • Sweet Thames Flow Softly
    "Against their bridal day which is not long, Sweet Thames flow softly 'till I end my song" - Edmund Spenser

    In the mid-1960's Ewan MacColl wrote a modern adaption of Romeo and Juliet for the BBC, and wrote this song as the program's theme. In an amorous travelogue of Thames landmarks, MacColl creates an unusual but effective atmosphere for a love song. When the song was first written I recorded it on Argo Records. Now twenty years later, it is still one of my favourites.

  • The Whalecatchers / The Drunken Landlady
    The 19th Century whaling ships would leave ports on the east coast of England such as London, Lowestoft and Hull with skeleton crews bound for Stromness in Aukney where they would take on crewmen and water. From there they would make the spring trip to Greenland whaling grounds, returning before the winter ice locked them in. This is one of the many songs that describes the conditions endured on such ventures. The reel that follows was learned from the playing of Tommy Peoples.