Tracks 1. Reels: Sporting Nell / The Crooked Road to Dublin 2. Hornpipes: The Harvest Home / Rossinver Braes 3. Jig: Larry O'Gaff 4. Reels: Mulhaire's No. 9 / The Banks of the Ilen 5. Jigs: Old Man Dillon / The Rose in the Heather 6. Barn Dances: Lord Leitrim / The Earl of Thomomd 7. Reels: The Blackthorn Stick / Trim the Velvet 8. Foxtrot & Barn Dance: The Fiddler Mick Hoy / Ben's Arrival 9. Jigs: Apples in Winter / The King of the Pipes 10. Hornpipes: Murphy's / The Smoky Chimney 11. Reels: The Cavan Reel / The Galway Rambler 12. Jig: Cherish the Ladies 13. Reels:The Mullingar Races / The Boys on the Hilltop 14. Barn Dances: Hayes's Favourite / The Stack of Oats 15. Reels: The Skylark / Roaring Mary     Click on underlined titles to hear MP3 sound samples.

We are delighted to announce our release of this fine recording.

Rossinver Braes
CICD 174
Ben Lennon & Tony O’Connell

with
Charlie Lennon: piano
Alec Finn: Bouzouki
Jerry MCNamara: Guitar


Music from Two Different Generations

Rossinver Braes is the new album of traditional Irish music on fiddle and concertina from Ben Lennon and Tony O’Connell, released on the Cló Iar-Chonnachta label.

Ben Lennon is a legendary figure in traditional Irish music circles, a fiddler from Co. Leitrim who celebrates his eightieth birthday this year and who has been playing the fiddle for seventy of those years. Although almost fifty years separate Ben from his fellow musician on this album, Tony O’Connell from west Limerick, there is an undeniable musical connection between them. David Lennon, Ben’s son, says in his introduction to the CD: ‘Tony is probably the most empathetic musician I have heard my father play with. There is an understanding of phrasing, time and nuance that one finds only rarely in any musical form.’ This is O’Connell’s second album; his first album was recorded with another Leitrim fiddler, Andy Morrow, and was released to critical acclaim in 2005. The album came second in the top ten albums of 2005 of highly-respected traditional Irish music reviewer Earle Hitchner of the Irish Echo, second, interestingly, to the album Within a Mile of Kilty released on the Cló Iar-Chonnachta label that year and featuring Ben and Charlie Lennon, as well as four other superb Leitrim fiddlers.

Rossinver Braes features both traditional and newly-composed tunes. Several of Charlie Lennon’s compositions are included, including the hornpipe that gives the album its title, named after the village where Ben now lives. Charlie also composed two barn dances in honour of the musicians while the album was being recorded at his Cuan Studios outside Spiddal, ‘Lord Leitrim’ and ‘The Earl of Thomond’, tunes which he feels reflect the spirit of both musicians and their dynamic playing together. The tune selection leans toward the Sligo–Leitrim area and includes many tunes associated with Michael Coleman and James Morrison. Accompaniment is provided by Charlie Lennon (piano), Alec Finn (bouzouki) and Jerry McNamara (guitar).

Ben Lennon is from Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim and has recorded many albums during a long and illustrious traditional music career. He is regarded as one of the very finest of Leitrim’s fiddlers, no mean feat in a county renowned for its fiddling tradition.

Tony O’Connell is from Glin in west Co. Limerick and is currently living in Limerick city where he plays regularly and teaches at the Irish World Music Centre in the University of Limerick. He has won All-Ireland concertina titles at both underage and senior levels and has toured Asia, America and Europe with various shows and groups.

Also available from Copperplate and featuring Ben Lennon
CICD 139 The Natural Bridge
CICD 159 Within A Mile of Kilty

 

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