The ultimate source book for the traditional banjo player. The well below the valley by planxty 16351791023 cd. A term used by turlough ocarolan 16701738, the last of the great itinerant irish harpercomposers, planxty is a word that carolan prefixed to the surname of. It has also been described as a whim, fancy or caprice. As i roved out an phis fhliuch arthur mcbride bean phaidin the blacksmith cunla. Ive been returning to leagues o tooles fantastic book the humours of planxty, which has opened me up completely to the music of seamus ennis. However, i do know directly from leagues that it was originally due to be published in early 2005. The neales 1724 book has two, planksty plunket and just planxty. It is just over two years since uilleann piper liam oflynn passed away aged 72, and yet his influence continues to grow, even more so at the moment with the current folk music resurgence, the sound of his 1970s band planxty an essential thread in the work of todays artists. In a book about planxty the humours of planxty, by leagues otoole, whelan says it was no mistake of mine to call it riverdance because it connected absolutely to.
The humour of planxty is the biography of one of irelands most remarkable band. For those interested in the present article, there is additional and verifiable content available in the subject book, related by andy irvine, who had performed as an actor at the pike theatre in the early 1960s. Mel bay the ancient celtic repertoire offers the fingerstyle guitarist a tantalizingly wide range of moods and emotions from sad laments to lyrical ballads to vibrant dance rhythms. Planxty is an irish folk music band formed in january 1972. Irish fiddletunes oneills collection music of ireland. The planxty songbook was published in 1976 by london. It contains 25 of their songs and instrumentals, as listed below.
Humourshumors of brendan breathnach 1996 says the word humours in a title denotes character, mood and exuberance of spirit. Artist songbooks the humours of planxty emerald isle gifts. Riverdance was first performed during the 7minute interval of the eurovision at the point theatre, dublin,on 30 april 1994. Details from leagues otooles book the humours of planxty.
It has a low gloss green cover with the gold lettering and has many odd illustrations. Planxty brought the instruments and harmonies of traditional. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. It has a low gloss green cover with the gold lettering and has many odd illustrations throughout the book. Before the formation of planxty, lunny had been playing in a duet with andy irvine after the latters return from. A planxty page one the humours of planxty, leagues otooles collective biography of the irish trad quartet has finally been released, a year after it was originally promised.
Leagues otoole is a selfconfessed fan of planxty and makes no attempt to conceal his passion for their music. Not that you can buy a copy of the book in the us, mind you. For reasons that escape me the us seems to be behind a wall for the group these days. Below is a list of celtic tunes mostly irish with sheet music and chords. Buy the humours of planxty new ed by otoole, leagues isbn. Impeccably played dance tunes, soulful laments, and rollicking narratives follow, allowing listeners access to the full breadth of the groups many talents. Since this is a dvd, we also get bonus material, several extra numbers, including a lovely rendition of sean odwyer of the glen by oflynn on whistle and lunny on guitar, extended interviews of each musician irvine dissecting his arrangement of the blacksmith is especially fascinating, and a planxty reformed documentary, possibly one low point of the whole production. The 1994 performance earns a standing ovation from the packed theatre of 3,000 people. Well, not quite new it came out in october but ive only just seen it in the shops and picked it up.
Formed in 1972, the extraordinary chemistry between christy moore, donal. The humours of planxty by leagues otoole when christy moore, donal lunny, andy irvine and liam oflynn took to the stage in vicar street, dublin, in january 2004, ireland was once again treated to a live performance from one of its greatest musical collaborations. In a book about planxty the humours of planxty, by leagues otoole, whelan says it was no mistake of mine to call it riverdance because it connected absolutely to timedance. Formed in 1972, the extraordinary chemistry between christy moore, donal lunny, andy irvine. The humours of planxty by leagues otoole incredible books from. Otoole, a young dublin journalist who, as a producer of a documentary on the band, was partly responsible for the 2003 planxty reunion, tells it all, from the early years of the musicians involved, to the successes and the trialssome extracts quoted from irvines road. This was followed in february by an extensive british college tour and release in britain of their first lp planxty. The part that remains contains 23 tunes, all by carolan, only one of which is called a planxty, plansty bourk. You wouldnt be interested in this book at all unless you were a devoted fan of planxty, the most important irish band ever. It is used only in combination with a placename and always precedes it. Planxty irwin, for example, would be in honor of colonel john irwin of sligo.
Probably shouldnt be though, because it sounds like youre saying iffy transcription, which having heard countless abc tunes and seen some of the stuff people put out on the web as their interpretation of a song, i know theres a lot of laziness andor borderline tonedeafness going on out there. Many groups at that time, the boys of the lough, the chieftains, sweenys men featuring andy irvine struggled to find an audience outside of the pub, while the members of planxty managed to work their way into halls and theaters. Planxty was a word used by people who named works by harper turlough ocarolan after his death, and is believed to denote a tribute to a particular person. Planxty drew from a deep well of traditional music and set the standard for others to follow. This collection presents a vast array of fingerpicking guitar solos settings on t. This cddvd is a timely reminder, 44 years after their debut, of the revolutionary musical imaginations that fuelled planxtys music and shaped so much of. The humours of planxty by leagues otoole goodreads. One night in bremen planxty for the first time, these historical recordings are officially. Each book contains sheet music and lyrics to the some of the artists best known songs. Planxtys first british concert was as part of the fanfare for europe in january 1973, attended by the prime minister, and an unqualified success. So one might be forgiven for expecting the humours of planxty to be a fawning, sugarcoated love letter to a bunch of ageing folkies. These are jpg images, and you should be able to display them in your browser andor print them. The neales also published an earlier book, of which only one copy remains, apparently lacking a title page and some other pages. The humours of planxty by leagues otoole hachette uk.
As such, its a term ideally suited to a book describing the exploits and raucous adventures of one of irelands most formative bands, planxty. This is a searchable list of irish traditional music transcriptions by tune, type, musician, instrument, group or album. Heres a nice piece written by leagues otoole author of the must read the humours of planxty book. When christy moore, donal lunny, andy irvine and liam oflynn took to the stage in vicar street, dublin, in january 2004, ireland was once again treated to. Liam oflynns abilities first came to prominence as a member of the cuttingedge tradfolk band planxty. In the book the humours of planxty by leagues otoole, whelan says, it was no mistake of mine to call it riverdance because it connected absolutely to timedance. Formed in 1972, the extraordinary chemistry between christy moore, donal lunny, andy irvine and liam oflynn set them immediately apart from the posse, and they quickly established themselves as the most groundbreaking irish folk lineup of all time. Also known as the cashel, curraig diamuid don capall beg, darby gallagher, darby gallaghers, east at glandart, east at glendart, east of glendart, east to glendart, finleys, the housemaid, the humors of glendart, the humours o glendart, the humours of glen, the humours of glendarth, the humours of glentart, shins around the fire, shins around the. Mel bay an important anthology of irish and celtic solos for the 5string banjo featuring a comprehensive, scholarly treatise on the history, techniques, and etiquette of playing the banjo in the celtic tradition. A harvest saved by nicholas carolan a biography of francis oneill. Book five contains quite a few of those tunes, as well as a few that i somehow missed in the first four books.
Andy irvine was born in st johns wood, northwest london on 14 june 1942 to an irish mother from lisburn, county antrim, and a scottish father from glasgow 35 his mother had been a musical comedy actress who performed under the stage name of felice lascelles. A fascinating biography of the seminal band formed in 1972 by christy moore, liam oflynn, donal lunny, and andy irvine. Contains over 230 jigs, reels, rags, hornpipes and breakdowns from all the major traditional instrumental styles. Now that you have the music, you should learn some of them. Planxty begins its remarkable sophomore release the well below the valley with the pipeled cunla, an engaging round sung by founder christy moore. The humours of planxty is the biography of one of irelands most remarkable bands ever. The piece was performed, with accompanying ballet dancers, during the intervial of the contest, and later released as a planxty single. In his book, the humours of planxty, leagues otoole documented that moynihan bought his first bouzouki from a friend called tony ffrench, who had brought it back to ireland from greece but decided he couldnt play it, or didnt want to.