Tag: Lynn Saoirse

Song of the day (20th March) – Lynn Saoirse – “Glass of Beer / The Musical Priest”.

   And for Monday’s song, I have for you guys two cheery tunes played by the Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse. They’re both traditional reels. 

Lynn Saoirse – “Marches of the O’Neills”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

   Today I’d like to share with you another piece by Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse on here. Most of what I have shared by her are tunes composed by Turlough O’Carolan, as she has recorded a lot of his music, and so seems to be the case with this set of planxty tunes, but I don’t know anything more about them. 

Lynn Saoirse – “Michael O’Connor”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

   Today I’d like to go back once again to the Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse’s album The Seas Are Deep, which contains compositions of Turlough O’Carolan. As is clear from the title, this tune is also a plenty, although unfortunately I don’t have the slightest idea who Michael O’Connor was in O’Carolan’s life. But that’s the cool thing about planxties (similarly to Sámi joiks) that you can try to imagine the person for whom it was composed based on what it sounds like, at least that’s something I like to do. 

Lynn Saoirse – “The Cliffs of Moher/The Dusty Windowsill”.

   Hiya people! 🙂 

   Today I also want to share with you a piece played by Lynn Saoirse. ‘Cause why not? 😀 It is a medley of two jigs, of which the first one is traditional and refers to the famous Irish cliffs of Moher in county Clare. The second originates in Chicago and was written by a man called John Harling, which is why this tune is also apparently known as Harling’s jig. I really like the story ow how it came to life and how it got its title. His muse happened to strike while he was in a basement, and he wanted to write the tune down before it disappeared so that he could come back later on and rewrite it on a piece of paper. And the only thing in that basement on which he could write was a dusty windowsill. 

Lynn Saoirse – “Loftus Jones”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

   Today I’d like to share with you another tune composed by Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan and performed by Lynn Saoirse, from her album The Seas Are Deep. This one is a planxty honouring a man called Loftus Jones. 

Lynn Saoirse – “Eleanor Plunkett”.

   Hiya people! 🙂 

   Today I’d like to share with you yet another composition of Turlough O’Carolan played by Lynn Saoirse. THis is one of O’Carolan’s most famous tunes, which I’ve already shared in the past played by another Irish Celtic harpist Celia Briar. This is a planxty dedicated to Eleanor Plunkett of county Meath. 

Lynn Saoirse – “Mr. O’Connor With Jig”.

Hey people! 🙂

Time for another piece from the Irish Celtic harpist Lynn Saoirse’s album The Seas Are Deep, with music composed by the 18th century Irish blind harpist Turlough O’Carolan. As I mentioned when talking about several other pieces from this album, O’Carolan often dedicated his music to his various patrons who supported him throughout his career, that’s why many of his tunes have different people’s names in their titles. I’m not sure who Mr. O’Connor was for him exactly though. As you’ll be able to hear, this piece consists of two parts. The first, longer one is a waltz, and the second, as is easy to figure out from the title, is a jig, although usually this piece is simply called Mr. O’Connor/O’Conner unlike on Lynn Saoirse’s album. While this piece is delightful in its entirety, I really really love this first, floaty waltz part.

Lynn Saoirse – “Carolan’s Dream”.

Hey guys! 🙂

Today I have for you yet another piece composed by Turlough O’Carolan played by the Irish Celtic harpist Lynn Saoirse, and at the same time yet another rendition of “Carolan’s Farewell to Music” on this blog. You might wonder why I’m talking about “Carolan’s Farewell to Music” when the song title that’s in the post title is “Carolan’s Dream”. The explanation is as simple as could be – this song is known under these two titles. – Actually more than two titles, as originally it was called “Molly McAlpin”. I was wondering for a long time how come “Carolan’s Dream” and “Farewell to Music” are essentially the same tune. A while ago I finally did some research and it turns out that the “Carolan’s Farewell to Music” name seems to be incorrect, but still in use nevertheless. Also, it’s apparently not O’Carolann himself who wrote the tune, but William Connellan. O’Carolan really liked it though and might have modified it. I’ve read that he is claimed to have said that he’d like it much more if he composed “Molly McAlpin” alone than all the other tunes he did compose himself. That would make the story of him composing “Farewell to Music” on his deathbed, that I mentioned when sharing

Nadia Birkenstock’s interpretation of this piece,

not true. Perhaps he just played it before his death and people assumed it was original? Another version of it that I’ve shared on here is by

Celia Briar.

Lynn Saoirse – “The Seas Are Deep”.

Hey guys! 🙂

I’ve shared with you quite a few track from the Irish Celtic harpist Lynn Saoirse, specifically from her album called The Seas Are Deep, with music composed by Turlough O’Carolan. Today I thought we’d listen to the title track, which I absolutely love for its melancholic and slightly dark feel.

Lynn Saoirse – “The Princess Royal/Miss MacDermott”.

Hi people! 🙂

Today, let’s listen to another composition by the Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan, played by Lynn Saoirse. I recently shared one that was dedicated to Mrs. MacDermott, and I wrote there that the MacDermott family was very significant in O’Carolan’s life, as they were his patrons with whom he had a really good relationship. Even though there is a / in the title of this piece, which is common with Irish sets, this is only one piece, but simply known under two names. This is because the MacDermot Roe family also used the title of princes of Coolavin, and so naturally the daughter of a Prince of Coolavin was Princess of Coolavin. This is one of the most well-known compositions by O’Carolan.

Lynn Saoirse – “Mrs. Maxwell and Mrs. Nugent”.

And, for today, I picked for you guys a piece played by Lynn Saoirse, from her album The Seas Are Deep, which features compositions by Irish Celtic harper Turlough O’Carolan. As I’ve already written on here before, what was characteristic to Turlough O’Carolan’s music was that he composed a lot of tunes in honour of his patrons, as a way of showing his gratitude. That’s what we can find on this Lynn Saoirse’s album. This is a piece which, as you can figure out from the title, is dedicated to the two mentioned ladies. Unfortunately I don’t know who they were in his life, but he has composed multiple pieces for people with the surname Nugent, so I guess all we can assume is that they must have been some family he knew, whereas there is more than one piece dedicated to Mrs. Maxwell, so she must have been an important person in his life. Seeing all those people’s names though and hearing the music he composed for them, I’d really like to know a bit more about them to have a clearer picture of things.

Lynn Saoirse – “Isabella Burke/Planxty Burke”.

Hey guys! 🙂

Today I’m sharing with you two harp pieces performed by Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse, and composed by the famous 18th-century Irish Celtic harpist Turlough O’Carolan. I wrote about him before when sharing some piece composed by him. He was travelling a lot and staying in the houses of rich people, playing for them. At the end of his stay, he would typically present his hosts with a piece that he wrote especially for them, as a way of expressing his gratitude. And these pieces that he composed specifically for his patrons are called planxty, just like the second piece in this set. I don’t know who the Burkes were, or maybe it was just one person, in his life, nor who was Isabella Burke to whom the first piece is specifically dedicated, beyond quite an obvious fact that they must have been his patrons. I really like both these pieces and I can’t even decide which one is more beautiful.

Lynn Saoirse – “Rights Of Man/Cahir’s Kitchen”.

Hey people! 🙂

Today I have another two-piece harp set with reels for you, from Lynn Saoirse. I’m not sure about the first one, but the second is definitely traditional. I’m not sure who the Cahir in the title is, I’m pretty sure there was a character named Cahir in The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski but I don’t suppose it’s about this one, haha, there’s also a town in Ireland of this name.

Lynn Saoirse – “The Road To Lisdoonvarna/Morrison’s”.

Hey people! 🙂

Today I have another nice two-piece harp set for you, from the Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse who was already featured on this blog a couple times. While I don’t know who is the Morrison to whom the second piece pertains, for your information, in case you don’t know, Lisdoonvarna is a town in the west of Ireland, in co. Clare, famous for its music festivals.

Song of the day (28th December) – Lynn Saoirse – “Lord Massereene”.

Let’s listen to some more harp music! This great Irish Celtic harpist – Lynn Saoirse – has been featured on this blog before, I really love her music. And this is a piece from her that I listened to recently, so thought I’d share. I don’t know who lord Massereene is really, I guess there is a place in Ireland called Massereene…? or am I wrong? I think there is. And I know there was such an aristocratic title in Ireland as viscount Massereene, so it most likely refers to one of its bearers, but which one, and why it honours him, I have no clue. It is a beautiful harp piece though, and that’s what matters to me the most in this particular case. 🙂

Lynn Saoirse – “Separation Of Soul And Body”.

Hey people! 🙂

I shared one track from this great Irish harpist with you before, but I thought I’d love to share another one, when I was listening to her music last night. This is absolutely one of my most favourite pieces by her, and I think it’s very deep and moving. The harmony of this piece strongly reminds me of another, New England-based, Irish harpist – Aine Minogue – whom I love and whose music had helped me through a very difficult time.

 

Lynn Saoirse – “Mervyn Pratt”.

Hey people! 🙂

Let’s listen to some more Celtic harp today! I have a lovely little tune for you by an Irish harpist Lynn Saoirse who plays Celtic harp. It is called Mervyn Pratt. I did a little bit of research to learn who the title character was and found out that there was a Pratt family in Ireland who owned the Cabra Castle, which is now a hotel, and there were a few Mervyns born into this family. I really like the whole album from which this song comes – The Seas Are Deep – and Lynn Saoirse’s harp play is great!