Week 4
Slide Set
These are three tunes from Sliabh Luachra, a region in the far southwest of Ireland. Sliabh Luachra's borders aren't really defined, but it's enar the Kerry/Cork border and includes parts of Limerick.
The first two slides are both named after Bridgie Con Matt Kelleher, nee Murphy, the sister of Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford (nee Murphy). Although she's less well known than Denis and Julia, she was also a remarkable fiddle player. Most people I know learned these from a group called The Monks of the Screw on their album Brathar na nÓl (available at that link - you can hear the tune and buy the album there).
The third tune, Con Carthy's Favourite, is supposedly in the top 40 slides in the world, as tabulated by an especially academic friend of mine. I don't know much about it. I believe that all three tunes are in the book Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra: Dance Music from the Cork-Kerry Border. Underneath my clips is a track of the tune played by two of Sliabh Luachra's best, Matt Cranitch and Jackie Daly. This comes from their album The Living Stream.
