Girish Mahajan (Editor)

The Given Note

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Released
  
1995

Artist
  
Liam O'Flynn

Producer
  
Shaun Davey

Length
  
62:46

Release date
  
1995

Label
  
Tara

The Given Note httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb6

Recorded
  
Windmill Lane Studios Dublin

The Given Note (1995)
  
The Piper's Call (1999)

Genres
  
Folk music of Ireland, Celtic music

Similar
  
The Piper's Call, Out to an Other Side, The Poet & The Piper, The Brendan Voyage, The Pilgrim

The Given Note is the fourth solo album by master uilleann piper and prominent Irish traditional musician Liam O'Flynn. Produced by Shaun Davey and recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, the album was released in 1995. The title was suggested by O'Flynn's good friend Seamus Heaney, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature. Heaney also wrote a tribute to O'Flynn which is on the sleeve notes of the album.

Contents

Critical response

In his review for Allmusic, Chris Nickson gave the album three out of five stars, calling it "an object lesson in the way [Celtic] music should be played in the 1990s". Nickson observes that despite O'Flynn covering the full Celtic music spectrum, it is the Irish songs that "lie closest to O'Flynn's heart". Nickson concludes:

A master uillean pipe and whistle player, O'Flynn's magic is apparent right from the first notes of "O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick," which daringly also includes some growling bass and didgeridu. ... Equally adept on both his instruments, O'Flynn is a virtuoso who can dazzle on the whistle with "The Rambler, the Aherlow Jig" and move with some wonderfully lyrical phrasing on the slow air "The Girl of Brown Hair."

Track listing

  1. "O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick" – 4:07
  2. "O'Rourke's, the Merry Sisters, Colonel Fraser" – 3:36
  3. "Come With Me over the Mountain, a Smile in the Dark" – 4:34
  4. "Farewell to Govan" – 4:00
  5. "Joyce's Tune" – 4:41
  6. "The Green Island, Spellan the Fiddler" – 3:50
  7. "Foliada de Elviña" – 4:06
  8. "Ag Taisteal Na Blárnan (Travelling Through Blarney)" – 4:10
  9. "The Rambler, the Aherlow Jig" – 3:26
  10. "The Smith's a Gallant Fireman" – 3:02
  11. "Romeo's Exile" – 3:52
  12. "The Rocks of Bawn" – 6:07
  13. "Cailín na Gruaige Doinne (The Girl of the Brown Hair)" – 3:53
  14. "Teño un Amor Na Montaña, Alborada - Unha Noite no Santo Cristo" – 9:22

Personnel

  • Liam O'Flynn – uilleann pipes, whistle
  • Arty McGlynn – guitar
  • Steve Cooney – guitar, bass guitar, didgeridoo
  • Rod McVey – synthesizers, Hammond organ, harmonium
  • Noel Eccles – percussion
  • Sean Keane – fiddle
  • Rodrigo Romani (Milladoiro) – harp
  • Xose V. Ferreirós (Milladoiro) – Galician gaita, tambourine, oboe
  • Nando Casal (Milladoiro) – Galician gaita, clarinet
  • Ciaran Mordaunt – side drums (track 10)
  • Andy Irvine – vocals, mandolin
  • Paul Brady – vocals, mandolin, piano

    • Songs

    1O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick4:08
    2O'Rourke's - The Merry Sisters - Colonel Fraser3:36
    3Come with me over the Mountain - A Smile in the Dark4:34

    References

    The Given Note Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA