djm wrote:Yes, when will those bloody books be published? Has anyone heard? There's probably a lifetime of studying in them, and all these delays are cutting into the few years I have left.
djm
Well, lessee... hmmmm... ah, yes...
Harry wrote:TIONÓL 2007
Friday May 25th 2007
~ 7:00pm ~
BOOK / CD LAUNCH
Pat Mitchell’s The Dance Music of Seamus Ennis
djm wrote:Yes, when will those bloody books be published? Has anyone heard? There's probably a lifetime of studying in them, and all these delays are cutting into the few years I have left.
djm
Well, lessee... hmmmm... ah, yes...
Harry wrote:TIONÓL 2007
Friday May 25th 2007
~ 7:00pm ~
BOOK / CD LAUNCH
Pat Mitchell’s The Dance Music of Seamus Ennis
Will this book be written in the delicate language of The Bard, or in that phlegm-soaked, guttural squawking sound that can be heard in remote Irish bogs?
mukade wrote:Will this book be written in the delicate language of The Bard, or in that phlegm-soaked, guttural squawking sound that can be heard in remote Irish bogs?
mukade wrote:Will this book be written in the delicate language of The Bard, or in that phlegm-soaked, guttural squawking sound that can be heard in remote Irish bogs?
I read that an Ennis book was coming out in Irish.
The Ennis diaries is mainly in Irish. It would seem highly unlikely 'the Music of Seamus Ennis' would be as well, the language used for it's title should provide an indication.
Listen to these Seamus Ennis's recordings if you have not heard them yet. Still have something to say?
I enjoyed the Ennis recordings on this site, some lovely playing there, and as Peter knows I'm not much of a fan of pipes as a rule.
Now and then however, he does something and my ears completely lose the thread of the tune.
e.g. in the Bucks of Oranmore set, 41 seconds in, I lose the beat and the tune. It's as if the recording skipped, but it didn't. My foot tapping out the beat lose it, my ears get confused, and for a few seconds I'm flailing trying to catch it again.
Is this just me, was there a jump in the recording, or what?
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that schwing
PJ wrote:It's a pity there isn't more video footage of Ennis available.
He used to host a music program on RTÉ (in b&w). Check out RTÉ's Come West Along the Road - the one on VHS, not the newer DVD. RTÉ has scads of recorded stuff of Ennis, both video and audio only, that they are sitting on. Ennis used to host radio programs as well, so there are hours and hours of recordings of him. Someone once told me that there was some key person who was forcing them to hold back on a lot of this stuff, but I don't know if its true, or what the reason would be.
He liked to play the old story-teller role as well as joke, sing and play - "Mr. Entertainment", if you like. You get a fair smattering of this sort of stuff on the albums he recorded for Peter Kennedy at Folktrax:
Music at the Gates
Rocking the Cradle
The Fairy Piper
Sliabh na mBan
djm
I'd rather be atop the foothills than beneath them.
Eamonn the Butleair did a lovely documentary film called 'Miles and Miles of Music' about ennis' life and particularly his collecting years. That was broadcast on CWATHR (after being on ice for a long long time but that's a different story). Breandan Breathnach had Ennis filmed during the late 60s or early 70s. Breandan showed a video of it once in 1982 or so, I recorded the sound of it. He was prepared for the demonstration and played with a great display breathtaking precision, a long set of two airs: Easter Snow and the Lament for the Fox, the Gold Ring and The Dusty Millar. Now there was a lesson in good piping. When Pat Mitchell started on 'the book' he complained that film had since gone missing. Other than that, there's quite a bit of footage around of Ennis playing.
There was a montage of short clips of pipers at the Gradam Ceol awards for Liam O'Flynn which included a short clip of Seamus Ennis. It was b&w and may have been filmed at the same time as the b&w YouTube clip. He was playing a dance tune (the clip wasn't accompanied by sound) and seemed to be dancing himself while playing.
I was listening to an interview with Pat Mitchell from 2002/2003. He said that there was enormous amounts to be learned from seeing how Ennis held the chanter, moved, etc, while playing.
I had just been listening to that when I posted the previous comment.
