Music News – Page 2 – Rory Gallagher Music Library

A Moment of Discorde

Cork has a new string quartet featuring some very young, but very experienced and talented Musicians. Discorde Quartet will play their debut performance in Cork City Library, Grand Parade as part of the Seachtain na Gaeilge programme.

On Saturday 12th March at 3.00 pm, Cork City Libraries will celebrate the centenary of the birth of Seán O Riordáin with an event entitled ‘Ceol agus Filíocht.’

Discorde Quartet will play a selection of Irish Melodies while Irish Language poetry writing group, Peann agus Pár, will read from their own poetry and from the works of Seán Ó Riordáin.

The first violinist, Maggie O’Shea, studied the Suzuki method and has been playing music since the age of 3. Maggie was a member of the Cork School of Music Orchestra, Cork Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland.

The second violinist, Caoimhe Browne, began violin at the age of 7 when she was inspired by watching a performance of Riverdance on the Late Late Show. She currently studies under the guidance of Gregory Ellis. She is looking forward to what this newly formed quartet will achieve in the future.

Cian Adams, who plays the viola, has been playing music since the age of 6. He studied under maestro Constantin Zanidache. He performed in the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. He has been a member of many quartets including the Prima Vera Quartet.

Meadhbh Campbell started cello at the age of six, and is currently studying with Chris Marwood. She has enjoyed playing in a variety of chamber music groups from the age of ten and is a former member of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland.

Kate’s trip down Memory Lane!

Cork teen expounds the value of music from a bygone age

Kate Lehane is a fourteen year old from Cork who isn’t obsessed with One Direction or 5 Seconds of Summer but would rather spend her time listening to Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley! Kate feels that something is missing from modern music that can only be found in the great songs by the legends of the past. She also believes in the power of music as a unifying force and as a means of bridging the gap between the generations.

As she tells us herself:

‘I’ve always wanted to do something for the older generation as there isn’t much for them to do these days. I think it is really important to create a positive relationship between young people and the older generation. I once heard an old song I liked on the radio which made me listen to older music and since then I love music from bygone days from all the greats like Frank Sinatra and Elvis. I think older music has more meaning and feeling and you can’t help but sing along! Music these days is always the same. There are no surprises, whereas old music has swing, jazz, blues, doo-wop, soul. I could listen to these songs over and over again and they never become boring.’

Kate comes from a family who have long been involved in Cork musical circles. Her late great grand-uncle, Tadhg O’Driscoll, was a well known and well loved character who worked tirelessly in the promotion of ‘Gramophone Circles’ in the city.

A flyer from one of Tadhg O'Driscoll's many recitals in Cork City Library. — A flyer from 2008 for one of Tadhg O’Driscoll’s recitals in Cork City Library.

Kate feels that her family and upbringing have been immensely important in nurturing her love and appreciation of music:

‘My granddad also influenced me with his knowledge of music. My great grand-uncle, Tadhg O Driscoll always loved to make the older generation smile, even though most of the time he was older than them! When he went into a room their faces would light up! He sang and made them want to sing. It’s weird how just a little bit of music can mean so much to people and make them smile. Tadhg was one of the first to play records in Cork for people’s enjoyment. It was called a ‘gramophone circle’ and was enjoyed in the Cork Library for many years. It still goes on today. I remember many Sunday mornings with my granddad and Tadhg. He would be sitting with his dogs and eating his cake, making funny jokes, singing and telling stories. Now I’d like to follow in his footsteps and make the older generation smile, not with jokes but with music!’

Kate will present a selection of her favourite music in the Rory Gallagher Music Library on Friday, 19th February at 11.30 am. All are welcome!

In the spirit of all things nostalgic, Kate will present her musical selection on vinyl, rather than CD. In an era where digital streaming ‘on the go’ seems to be the accepted norm for musical consumption, it’s refreshing to find someone so young who is encouraging us to sit back and take the time to enjoy music as it should be enjoyed.

Metal fans are violent, sour & dumb – Don’t ya think?

Well, the research would suggest otherwise

Let’s face it: Metal fans get a bad rap. They’re generally regarded as being unkempt, uncultured, loutish, and dour. And with that racket they listen to they must be a bunch of violent morons, right?

WRONG! Various academic studies in recent years have confirmed that metal fans are not guilty of all the offences listed above, and more.

Earlier this year, University of Queensland’s School of Psychology honours student Leah Sharman and Dr Genevieve Dingle conducted a study to monitor the effects of heavy music on a person’s mood and behaviour. The results showed that, in comparison to listeners of other music genres, metal fans were mainly calmed and inspired by their music! — despite the fact that the genre is awash with violent lyrics and imagery.

Cannibal Corpse, the world's top-selling Death Metal act. — Cannibal Corpse, the world’s top-selling Death Metal act.

Another study published this year found that, among its subjects – fans of various musical genres in the 1980s, it was the heavy metal fans who turned out to be generally more content and happy in later life. Three Decades Later: The Life Experiences and Mid-Life Functioning of 1980s Heavy Metal Groupies, Musicians and Fans, published in the journal Self and Identity (via Pacific Standard), found that while “metal enthusiasts did often experience traumatic and risky ‘sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll’ lives, the metalhead identity also served as a protective factor against negative outcomes”.

That’s all well and good, but they’re still stupid right? Nope. Apparently quite the opposite:

In March of this year it was revealed that a disproportionate number of members in the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, based at the University of Warwick in England (a body of 120,000 students which represents the top 5% of academic achievement), list heavy metal as their favourite kind of music.

There’s also a metalhead among the team that recently discovered water on Mars. Nepalese-American grad student Lujendra “Luju” Ojha, one of the discoverers of recurring slope lineae, the lines of flowing salt water that were observed on Mars, used to play in a metal band himself!

So, there you go: Metal fans are calm, happy and smart. Maybe YOU need more metal in your life!

Cork’s Soprano, Rita Lynch

The Lyric Feature (RTE Lyric FM)

Friday 9 October, 7 – 8 pm

Rita Lynch was born in Macroom in 1914 and showed an early talent for singing which was encouraged by her mother. Despite having her early career disrupted by the Second World War she went on to record for HMV and to tour extensively performing in operas, concerts and
oratorios in Ireland, the UK and the USA. In this programme Evelyn Grant visits the soprano’s daughter Mary Shaw as she sifts through the
extensive personal archive of letters, programmes, costumes, recordings and stories which her mother left behind.

In 2014, The Rory Gallagher Music Library made available, online,
selected images and other materials relating to Rita Lynch as part of the celebrations to mark the one hundredth anniversary of her birth. If you would like to visit the Rita Lynch Archive then please click on the link below:

A CD of Rita Lynch’s music is also available to borrow from Cork City
Libraries.

The Road to Hamburg

‘A Question & Answer Session with Johnny Campbell’

Cork City Library, Thursday, 27 August, 7pm

During his musical apprenticeship with the Fontana Showband, the young Rory Gallagher, a mere fifteen when he joined in 1963, learned his craft as a touring musician. Never to be content as a cog in a machine churning out safe, dance-hall friendly, pop hits, night after night, Rory would inevitably push himself to the fore. As his reputation as a guitarist began to grow, the Fontana changed their name to The Impact in 1965 to reflect a more blues/rock-oriented set list showcasing Rory’s fiery guitar work.

Ireland’s conservative music scene was hardly the ideal stomping ground for this new direction, however, and The Impact was forced to find work abroad. As a natural metamorphosis, a stripped-down three-piece version of the band — featuring Rory on guitar & vocals, Johnny Campbell on drums and Oliver Tobin on bass — eventually found themselves on the club circuit in Hamburg, Germany.

For three Irish teenagers arriving in Hamburg in 1965, a city still reverberating with the aftershock from legendary performances at the Star Club, from the likes of The Beatles and Jerry Lee Lewis, it must have been like walking on to a film set, such was its legendary status. Even today, Hamburg is a city which pulses with primal, hedonistic energy. We can only imagine what it was like back in its heyday of the 1960s.

Star_club_gedenkstein — Monument to the legendary Star Club in St. Pauli, Hamburg

Throughout this relatively short but formative period in Rory Gallagher’s career, Johnny Campbell was the man behind the drum kit. As part of the 2015 National Heritage Week programme of events, Johnny will be in Cork City Library on Thursday, 27 August, at 7pm, for a special ‘Question & Answer’ session on his time with The Impact Showband and Rory Gallagher. So, if you’d like to hear it ‘from the horse’s mouth’, then here’s your chance!

In 1966, Rory Gallagher quit The Impact and went on to form the Taste. The rest, as they say, is history. And what a history it is! even if it ended prematurely. Like another Irish hero, Cú Chulainn, Rory Gallagher lived a short life that was filled with glory and his name will live on as part of musical lore until the last Fender Strat is plugged into the last Vox AC 30.

Rory’s Mountain Dew: Number 1 in Hot Press!

In its latest issue, Hot Press, Ireland’s leading music magazine, published a list of Ireland’s greatest gigs since the magazine’s inception in 1977. The number-one spot in the festivals category was claimed by none other than Rory Gallagher at the Mountain Dew Festival, Macroom, County Cork, in June of 1977!

And who could argue with the result? Not alone was the Mountain Dew Festival the first major, open-air music festival of its kind to be staged in Ireland, but it was headlined by the nation’s first true Rock God!

As Hot Press puts it: Rory Gallagher had soundtracked the 1970s for so many people, playing powerfully incendiary shows in the National Stadium and the Ulster Hall every year, but the first Macroom Festival was a moment when Irish music entered another dimension.

Follow the link below to read the full honour roll and scroll down to the Top 10 Festivals section to read the entry on Rory in Macroom.

Were you there in Macroom in 1977? Do you think it deserves the top spot as Ireland’s greatest ever festival? Feel free to share your memories in the comments below!

Against the Stream : The Resurgence of Vinyl

CD shops have all but disappeared, Apple’s iPod Classic has been assigned to the scrap heap and the uber-cool are discussing their latest vinyl purchases in espresso bars everywhere.

So, just what is going on in the world of music?

Firstly, it looks like vinyl is back and it won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Vinyl presses, some of which haven’t seen the light of day since the 1980s are being dragged out of warehouses everywhere in an effort to meet the rising demand. Nielsen Soundscan reports that 9.2 million vinyl albums were sold in 2014. That’s the highest number in 20 years and a significant increase on the 6.06 million units that were sold in 2013. Vinyl sales have, in fact, increased by over 220 per cent since the beginning of the decade. What’s also significant, as reported by http://www.digitaltrends.com, is that vinyl buyers are largely music fans under 35 years of age, which seems to indicate a bright future for the medium.

Meanwhile, CD sales have seen a steady decline. According to Nielsen Soundscan, CD sales dropped by 15 per cent last year and have been nosediving steadily since 2004. What may surprise some people, however, is that digital download sales are also seeing a downturn, leading Apple to ditch the 80 GB capacity iPod Classic in favour of the much smaller, multi-use iPod touch.

screen-shot-2015-03-03-at-12-06-10-pm — Copyright The Nielsen Company 2015

Spotify seems to be the leading player in a relatively new medium of music consumption which is definitely on the rise: web streaming. As of January 2015, Spotify had 15 million paying subscribers and a total of 60 million active users. Why bother paying for digital downloads that will only clog your phone’s hard drive, when you can listen to music any time you like for free on Spotify? Well, that’s the question isn’t it?

What does this all tell us? Is the CD going the way of the dodo and taking with it its baby brother, the MP3? Is the resurgence of vinyl to be attributed to a change in attitude on behalf of music fans whereby they are no longer willing to sacrifice quality for convenience?

Or is it a case of fashion rather than passion?

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Rory Gallagher Photo Gallery!

Rare Images of Rory

As part of our Rory 20 commemorations in the Rory Gallagher Music Library we have made available online for the first time, an amazing collection of rare photographs of Rory & band in full flight, taken in Manchester in the late 70s!
The photographer is Stephen Smith and we would like to thank him for donating his collection to our Rory Gallagher Archive.

Click on the image to view the gallery

Let us know what you think!

Cork Rocks for Rory 2015!

Cork’s annual tribute to guitar legend Rory Gallagher will take place this weekend, the 5th and 6th of June, and the Rory Gallagher Music Library will of course be playing its part!

Well known axe-men Dave McHugh and Brian Tambling will perform a set of acoustic blues songs that influenced Rory Gallagher in the cosy setting of our music library at 2.30pm on Saturday, 6th June.

Admission is free for this event so don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience the music that helped to shape a legend, played by two of the best musicians in the game today. As 2015 marks the twentieth anniversary of Rory’s passing you can be sure that this year’s Cork Rocks for Rory event will be one to remember.

“Dowtcha Jimmy boy!”

Jimmy Crowley to launch new book ‘Songs from the Beautiful City : The Cork Urban Ballads’ at Cork City Library.

Jimmy Crowley is a man who needs no introduction to Corkonians and little introduction to the rest of ye! The renowned balladeer has been singing songs from his native city for decades and many of these are to be enshrined in his new book which will be officially launched on Thursday 14th May at 7.00 in the City Library, Grand Parade.

The book will be launched by Mick Moloney, NYU and John Dolan, Features Editor at the Cork Evening Echo.

Bígí linn mar sin le h-aghaidh oíche cheoil is scéalaíochta ó dhuine de na ceoltóirí is cáiliúla na cathrach seo!

Don’t miss what promises to be an unforgettable night of story and song with one of Cork’s most celebrated bards. For more information please visit Jimmy’s website: http://www.jimmycrowley.com/

Share this:

Cork teen expounds the value of music from a bygone age

Share this:

Well, the research would suggest otherwise

Share this:

The Lyric Feature (RTE Lyric FM)

Friday 9 October, 7 – 8 pm

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: