My ancestry is part Scottish, part Welsh, part Irish, and part Viking (beware of the Viking part!). My dad’s grandparents came over from Scotland to Canada … my dad’s dad was born in Canada … my dad’s mother, Anna McNamara, came to Canada from Ireland (and my birth name is Anna), and she too came across the border from Canada to the USA. My family is a family of immigrants. My research about Anna McNamara tells me she was born in a small community somewhere along the river Shannon in Ireland, that’s as specific as I can find, so far. I know a bit about my Scottish ancestors and my Irish ancestors, but I don’t know much about the Welsh connection yet, nor their traditional music. But both Scottish and Irish music appeal to me a great deal.
There are many videos online of traditional Irish music. I was especially taken with one group of videos called “Harps for Hope”, an effort introduced by Harp Ireland. In 2019, Harp Ireland, Cruit Éireann, accepted UNESCO recognition of Irish harping on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage; international recognition that Irish harping is a key element of Ireland’s living heritage and must be safeguarded for future generations.
That organization, Harp Ireland, set this “Harps for Hope” effort in motion. Once that project became known, many other Irish harp players began writing and playing music in support of that group’s efforts, all of them supporting the hope that we all hold in our hearts for everyone. I’ll share one woman’s contribution to that effort below at the end of this blog post.
But first, first … let’s get our toes tapping and our energy UP!
Don’t worry, there will be no bagpipes in the videos below (although I do love bagpipes).
Please relax and enjoy the videos below. The first video is of the “trad” band “Dervish” (notice the harp player) playing live in Hargadon’s Bar in Sligo, Ireland. Toe tapping for sure!
Whoop! What fun! Yes indeed!
And now we take a wee deep breath … and we move on to Irish music that’s bit more sublime, but equally enchanting … harp music.
Laoise Kelly is an Irish harper of some repute. She has performed for Irish Presidents and for the 25 EU Heads of State in Dublin. She represented Ireland with the Irish Embassy in Nigeria, Ghana, Russia, Argentina, and is honoured to have represented Ireland at the World Harp Festival in Paraguay. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as her accomplishments are concerned.
Here are two old traditional Irish tunes played in this one video on Irish Harp by Laoise Kelly. The first tune is “Lon Dubh”, or Blackbird (you’ll hear why). The version played here on harp comes from the legendary traveling fiddler Johnny Doherty from Donegal. The other tune on this video (at about 1:48) is an old version of “Maidrín Ruadh”, or The Little Red Fox, from County Kerry.
As promised, here below is another harper’s contribution to the “Harps for Hope” project. Janet Harbison is a harper, a teacher, a composer, a stage director, and a Grammy Award winner. She travels and teaches worldwide. She is very well known and very highly regarded. She has composed hundreds of pieces of music for harp. She composed the piece she plays here.
There is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland, called Strangford (that’s its name in the English language). In Irish, the town is called Baile Loch Cuan. The water and islands in the video here are the waters and islands around this very small community.
You can bet that I now have plans to go to Ireland, and the River Shannon, and see if I can find the area where my grandmother Anna came from, and maybe even find where she was born.
May this traditional Irish blessing be yours …
May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!