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If you have come to this page from a search engine click here to visit our home page. VT123 Heart & Home ‘Irish Fiddle Music from:' rr (click on the artistes name to see a photo and /or a short biography)
The music on this album spans some seventy years,
from Lucy Farr's childhood in Ballinakill, County Galway, right up to 1992.
For part of that time, between the mid-1930s, when she left home, until the
1950s, Lucy did not play at all because of the demands of raising a family
and working as a nurse, then, greatly encouraged by her husband, Eric, she
rediscovered her musical interests and, subsequently figured prominently in
London Irish music circles from the 1960s on (see Paddy in the Smoke'
TSCD603). She inevitably, had forgotten more than she could recall.
Nonetheless, some of the tunes here have clear
echoes of Ballinakill: her father's march, for instance (tr.24) and the Round
Polka (tr.16); Sonny Comer's fling (tr.21) and the Slieve Aughty march (tr.3)
got from her neighbour, Aggie Whyte. Indeed, most of the music has
associations with friends and neighbours. On all tracks, the titles Lucy uses
are given and alternatives provided where appropriate, and she usually names
them after that particular musician from whom she got the music.
All the pieces have a characteristic stamp, a
direct way of playing which yet enjoys subtlety of decoration, above all with
timing and rhythm. Lucy has a strong affinity for the 'quare' tune and its
wild yet plaintive streak. On these recordings she tends to play in a relaxed,
'listening' mode, often single tunes. There are two personal notes to add,
shared, no doubt, by many others. First, Lucy is generous with her tunes and
her time, a self-deprecating player and an excellent teacher. She still has
the ability to absorb new tunes and, in a modest way, to compose (her own reel
(tr.12) was put together late in 1990). Second, it was her insistence that
Howard (Marshall) and I joined her on flute and concertina, on some tracks,
and we hope that all the countless musicians who might have done so will take
this simply as a demonstration of the here and now, of the way in which Lucy
continues to be a remarkable and inspiring musician. - RoIy Brown (1992). Lucy is joined by Roly Brown on concertina, tracks 3, 9, 17 & 24 and by Howard Marshall on flute, tracks 5 & 20. These are essentially field recordings made in 1991/92 at Lucy’s flat in Thatcham, Berkshire. Tracks 1 . With in a Mile of Dublin
[Reel]
This is now a digital download release only.
MP3 downloads are available from all major digital retailers, as full albums or individual tracks, and there you can listen to a sample of each track. The following links will take you directly to this album's page on Amazon or iTunes.
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