Micho Russell : Rarities & Old Favourites

[de Salier]

Just bought it via iTunes, and it is magnificent....
....will keep me whistling for a long time

Thanks a lot

[Mr.Gumby]

...will keep me whistling for a long time

[ytliek]

The 100th Anniversary year of Micho Russell's birth seems to have a perpetual momentum with publishings and I certainly hope it continues. The new double CD is wonderful and I hope that some of the whistling experts can provide a close listening review and do it justice. Review in entirety and for specific tunes/songs.

With a Russell Family Memorial Weekend/Doolin Festival, CDs released, and book publishings Micho Russell is being well received from here. I wonder what Micho himself would think about all of the celebrity gushing?

One of the recent publications, and I hope there are more to follow.
viewtopic.php?p=1148994#p1148994

There has got to be some great personal stories, untold stories, when Micho travelled elsewhere or when people travelled to Doolin that need to be documented.

Listening and whistling with a smile...

[Bill Ochs]

I wonder what Micho himself would think about all of the celebrity gushing?

Micho answered your question in a 1992 interview: "I'm still an old farmer someway or another. The more I'm getting publicity, 'tis back the other ways I'm going."

[Mr.Gumby]

Just to make a connection between this and the section of the Clare Library website that's being launched today: Songs and singers of Clare there's a little section there with some songs by Packie and Micho Russell

[ytliek]

I wonder what Micho himself would think about all of the celebrity gushing?

Micho answered your question in a 1992 interview: "I'm still an old farmer someway or another. The more I'm getting publicity, 'tis back the other ways I'm going."

Thank you for clarifying. Your new double CD has been so well received around here. The CD is definitely beyond what has been produced before. Collector's item for sure!

[Mr.Gumby]

Since this CD was launched I have been revisiting some of Micho's music, revived some of his tunes I hadn't played for donkey's years learned a bunch that I knew to hear but never actually got into playing.

I am always intrigued by how musicians play tunes as they hear them, with their inner ear as I like to say, and how this way of processing a tune can transform its appearance completely.

Micho had a lot of tunes he didn't change much melodically from how he learned them. On the CD the Rainy Days is one that struck me as a good example of one of those: he played pretty much note for note the (Johnny Doran) version that Martin Rochford had (and I have a tape Micho recorded of himself and Martin playing this tune) although it has a phrasing and rhythmic structure that can only be Micho's.

Other tunes in his hands can become totally transformed, he had a range of melodic devices and a lovely and personal way of transforming phrases by moving between the octaves. When he piled on all of these different elements at once, as he did sometimes, the result could be magic.

Ten, twelve years ago I received a copy of the Donal Maguire recording that is the source of some of the tracks on this CD. I was very much taken by the Ballinahuon reel, Ríl Bheag Bhaile na nUan. At the time I learned it off the tape and tried to make sense of it to fit it to my own playing . Doing so, really a case of reverse engineering the tune, I quickly reached the conclusion it was actually a quite well known tune that was (at first glance) transformed beyond immediate recognition in Micho's hands.

I revisited the tune last night and it's still a wonderfully wild sounding piece of music.

And there's your Monday morning puzzle: who can work out what the (root of the) tune actually is? (no prizes but it's a good exercise in getting an understanding how tunes, and the musician's mind, work).

G'luck.

[ytliek]

And there's your Monday morning puzzle: who can work out what the (root of the) tune actually is? (no prizes but it's a good exercise in getting an understanding how tunes, and the musician's mind, work).

I hate puzzles (tests with no prizes), more so suspense and mystery and I'm still a penurious tone deaf wannabe newbieish whistler, hence, my impatience. I'm guessing Cliffs of Mohr or something close to it.

And, I hope you, or someone will, go thru each and every tune with encyclopedic guruish commentary for us newbieish whistlers.

[Bill Ochs]

Hello again, folks — just a word to those who have been waiting for FLAC files of Rarities & Old Favorites, the wait is over. FLAC files are now available for download at CD Baby, along with standard MP3's & MP3 320s:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/michorussell2.

CD Baby will also have physical copies of the CD in stock by the end of the week.

And for those who are interested, I will be on RTÉ's The Rolling Wave talking with host Peter Browne about Rarities & Old Favorites and playing tracks from the album this Monday, April 6, at 7 PM Irish Time (19:00 hrs). The program streams and will be archived at this link:

http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/the-rolling-wave/

Regular listeners to The Rolling Wave, please note that the show has moved from RTÉ Radio One to RTÉ Lyric FM and is on a new day in a new time slot.

[Mr.Gumby]

During an unrelated wander around the webs I came across this little interview from 1990.

Cursaí : Micho Russell

and, wellknown enough I suppose : At the Fleadh down in Ennis

[Mr Ed]

Thanks for the links, Mr. Gumby. I watched the first one and enjoyed it, even though I didn't understand all of what was said.

[Bill Ochs]

There is another lovely clip of Micho Russell in the RTÉ archive at this link:

http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/ ... nty-clare/

The video was first broadcast in 1978 and features Micho, Tony MacMahon, and Barney McKenna at the O'Connell Monument in Ennis. Micho and Barney dance at 03:35 and then Micho plays "The Boy in the Gap" on the whistle.

A shorter version of this clip was posted on YouTube a while back. But this clip is higher resolution and longer, giving more context. Very charming!

[StevieJ]

Review here: http://journalofmusic.com/focus/star-folk-revival

[ytliek]

Review here: http://journalofmusic.com/focus/star-folk-revival

Thank you for posting review.