Geantraí on CD

Geantraí (translated: Lively Music) is a hugely popular traditional music series which has become regular viewing for musicians and traditional music followers in Ireland. The viewers of TG4 recently voted Geantraí the No 1. music programme, while the readers of Irish Music Magazine voted Geantraí the best traditional music programme on television.

To celebrate ten years of this top-rated TG4 series Geantraí, Gael Linn has worked with Forefront Productions and TG4 to pick 19 performances from the show for this CD and DVD release. In the last ten years, a very comprehensive collection of music has been compiled, all of it recorded 'live' in pub settings throughout Ireland, as well as in England, Scotland and the United States. Working on the basis that, historically and culturally, the pub session is an important part of traditional music, genuine traditional music pubs were carefully researched as suitable venues, pubs where all-year-round good music sessions happen. This meant that the production team had to work in packed pubs, with all the obvious difficulties that this brings, but they believed that this approach was the only way to capture the special atmosphere and accurately portray the genuine pub session.

As this album is made of different sessions spaced over ten years, it can convey a sense of the excitement, timelessness, and fun that is so hard to capture on a "studio" album. There is a definite emphasis on fun and spontaneity, featuring great performances from both instrumental music and song, representing a diversity of performing styles and instrumentation.

In all, fifty musicians and three singers are featured performing a total of thirty-eight tunes and three songs.

Track Listing

1. Providence: The Gleanntán Reel / The Sandymount Reel / The Beauty Spot / The Ravelled Hank of Yarn / The Midnight Reel
2. Liz & Yvonne Kane (fiddles) & John Blake (guitar):Jig for Jimmy/ Betsy's Delight
3. Jackie Daly (accordion) & Séamus Creagh (fiddle): Bill Sullivan's Polka /The Britches Full of Stitches
4. Gerry O'Connor(Banjo) & Tom Kenna (Guitar): George White's Favourite High Drive /Fiach's Fancy
5. Séamus Ó Beaglaoich (singer); Jim Murray (guitar): An Ciarraíoch Mallaithe
6. The Boys of the Lough: The Steamboat / The Sheffield Hornpipe
7. At First Light: Rose in the Gap / Old Dudeen
8. Conor Keane(accordion),Méabh Boyd(fiddle) & Martin O'Malley (guitar):The Star of Brittany
9. At the Racket: John Carty (banjo), Séamus O'Donnell (saxophone), Brian McGrath (keyboards) & Jim Murray (guitar): Far From Home / The Sally Gardens / The Sligo Maid
10. Bríd Ní Mhaoilchiaráin (singer): Neainsín Bhán
11. Joe Burke (accordion), Matt Molloy (flute) & Anne Conroy Burke (guitar): The Gooseberry Bush / The Limestone Rock
12. Gay McKeon (uilleann pipes): Bean Dubh a' Ghleanna / The Ace and Deuce of Pipering
13. Dana Lyn (fiddle), Patrick Ourceau (fiddle) & Eamon O'Leary (guitar): The New Road / Paddy Fahey's
14. Charlie Lennon (fiddle) & Johnny Óg Connolly (accordion): Step it out Joe / Murphy the Big Man
15. John Spillane (singer and guitar): All the Ways You Wander
16. Ronan Browne (uilleann pipes) & Peter O'Loughlin (fiddle): Táim in Arrears / Hardiman the Fiddler
17. Vincent Campbell (fiddle), Jimmy Campbell (fiddle) & Peter Campbell (fiddle): The Orange and Blue / The Braes of Maar / The Keelrow
18. Noel Hill (concertina) & Tony Linnane (fiddle): Old Tipperary / Down the Back Lane
19. Máirtín O'Connor (accordion), Cathal Hayden (fiddle), Brendan Larrissey (fiddle), Dessie Adams (flute), Brendan O'Regan (bouzouki), Johnny McDonagh (bodhrán): Devaney's Goat / The Green fields of Rossbeigh / The Dairymaid