New compositions coming..
A Fund it campaign ( https://fundit.ie/project/the-tunes-foundry–2-new-compositions) started – if you support music projects/new compositions/new Irish music (traditional style) or if you have been following my story so far – please read on.
This new album in production is called The Tunes Foundry 2. When I’m composing I always use my tinwhistle to try out the new phrases.. so I’ve used the whistle entirely on this cd – no flute this time. Hopefully the whistle will give a nice clear version of each tune that I’ve recorded. It’s the only time really that I use my whistle as I continue to use my flute in sessions for all other tunes! Matt is accompanying me with guitar on a lot of the tracks. I once again asked Dave Keary of Red Door Studios in Limerick to record for me and thankfully he had time to do it this March/April – a great studio engineer and a lovely guy!
Each track on this album will have just one tune on it which should make it easy for you to decide which new tune(s) you like and therefore will make it easier to learn too. There will be between 25 and 30 tracks.
The other half of my new project this year is the production of a Tune-book containing most of the new tunes from The Tunes Foundry (click on Music page/Reviews/Shop for more info) and The Tunes Foundry 2 – so up to 50 new tunes. It’s been really exciting working with Laura Ugur in Corofin, Co Clare getting all the tunes in PDF format and she has been invaluable in working out the notes in abc format too so that the tunes can be played by midi player. (I’m not even sure I said all that correctly! lol ) Anyway, the book will be a useful tool for some, I’m certain.
If you would like to buy either the new album or the new Tune-book why not have a look at the Fund it page where you can pre-order them and that will help in the actual funding of the project! I intend to get it finished soon so as it will be useful for music teachers who might like new tunes for competitions/concerts etc. for the new school year. (Check out the rewards section for those who pre-order!)
Composed in honour of Jimmy Clancy, co-host of a weekly session in Cruises Bar, Ennis.
Thurs April 19th – Music!
Our usual weekly session is on this Thurs 19th in Cruises Bar, Ennis (https://www.facebook.com/cruises.bar/) and we’ll just have to wait and see who visits this week! Last week we had a great variety of musicians and singers too and I’ll upload some fine photos taken by our friend and musician, Patrick Keating who divided his time between the accordion and his zoom lens! Sarah Croker, a singer-songwriter with a wonderfully sweet voice travelled up from Tipperary and had encouraged a touring band called Swampcandy to come to the session too. We invited them to play naturally and wow, they were amazing! (http://swampcandy.com/) I can see by their videos that we only saw the tip of the iceberg!! We had plenty of musicians who visit us quite regularly too – we love seeing them return.
Joey, member of Swampcandy on double bass. Photo by Patrick Keating
Ruben, member of Swampcandy and Sarah Croker. Photo by Patrick Keating
Gina, member of Swampcandy. Photo by Patrick Keating
Ruben, from Swampcandy, Sarah Croker and Andy Lambert. Photo by Patrick Keating
Ruben and Sarah. Photo by Patrick Keating
Jim Maher on accordion, Ruben on guitar. Photo by Patrick Keating
Sarah Croker on vocals/guitar. Singer-songwriter from Co.Tipperary. See https://www.facebook.com/sarahcrokersmusic/ Photo by Patrick Keating
Áine Heslin playing one of her own tunes on tinwhistle with John Clancy, banjo, in background. Photo by Patrick Keating
Hands of Brian Burke on flute, Bernie Kerwin on flute, Jim Maher on accordion Ruben on mandola and Joey on double bass. Photo by Patrick Keating
Catherine Mulhearne on flute. Photo by Patrick Keating
Ruben on mandola and Mary Caldwell on accordion. Photo by Patrick Keating
Andy Lambert on bouzouki/vocals. John Clancy on banjo. Photo by Patrick Keating
Thurs 22nd March at Cruises, Ennis!
We had a really great night last Thurs (see pictures below taken by Andrew Lambert)! Join us this Thurs 22nd March from 8:30pm and we’ll see what tunes we’ll play and who will play them with us! We love company!!
#loveirishmusic #lovethecraic #alwaysdifferent #coclare #wildatlanticway
Orla McGovern, Patricia Kerwin, Jim Maher, Lenka Hoffmanova, Bernie Kerwin, John Malone and Aoife. Photo by Andrew Lambert.
Áine Heslin, Jimmy Clancy, Orla McGovern and Patricia Kerwin. Photo by Andrew Lambert.
Orla McGovern, Jim Maher, Patricia Kerwin (dancing), Bernie Kerwin, John Malone and Aoife. Photo by Andrew Lambert.
Orla McGovern, Patricia Kerwin, Jim Maher, Lenka Hoffmanova, Bernie Kerwin, John Malone and Aoife. Photo by Andrew Lambert.
Lenka Hoffmanova, Brian Burke, Bernie Kerwin, John Malone, Aoife ? Yoshinori Fukuda, Misaki Fukuda and Mary Caldwell. Photo by Andrew Lambert.
Áine Heslin, Misaki Fukuda, Yoshinori Fukuda,and Orla McGovern. Photo by Andrew Lambert.
Lenka Hoffmanova, Brian Burke and Bernie Kerwin. Photo by Andrew Lambert.
Thurs March 15th at Cruises Bar – Irish music!
Open session with Jimmy Clancy (accordion) and Áine Heslin (flute) from 8:30pm. Join us for a cosy pre-St Patrick’s Day session indoors and get geared up for the actual St. Patrick’s Day festivities!!
Feeling very sad though at Ireland having lost a master-piper today – Rest in Peace Liam Óg O’ Flynn, and to celebrate his contribution to Irish music we will play something in his honour – ‘Newfoundland’ from Shaun Davey’s suite The Brendan Voyage.
Here are photos from last week’s session and most of them lovely shots from Patrick Keating who also played accordion with us! Note Ronan Burrenn from ‘Ireland’s Inner Beauty’.
Geraldine on whistle and Lisa on fiddle. Photo by Patrick Keating.
Patrick, Jim, Geraldine and Lisa.
I think this was Lisa? on fiddle. Photo by Patrick Keating.
Matt on guitar and song.. Photo by Patrick Keating.
Howard on tinwhistle. Photo by Patrick Keating.
James on low whistle. Photo by Patrick Keating.
Colm on flute and Ronan. Photo by Patrick Keating.
Open session on International Women’s Day! Cruises Bar, Ennis – 8:30pm.
Join us for some music, song and whatever else comes up on Thurs 8th March at 8:30pm! Jimmy Clancy on accordion and Áine Heslin on flute/whistle and all of you taking part in the fun.
No photos from last week other than snow photos and you’ve probably enjoyed enough of them so I’ll post a video soon with sunshine (maybe) in the background..
We’ll play some lovely tunes with reference to ladies/girls and if you want to offer some ideas please do comment below! (See some archive photos!)
Áine, Jimmy Clancy and Tony Illanes, fiddle. (Brian Burke on flute behind and Gerry Eustace on mandolin) Fleadh Nua May 2017 Cruises. Photo by Andrew Lambert.
Áine Heslin on flute with Paula O’ Regan on fiddle. Photo by Betty Connor.
Áine Heslin and Jimmy Clancy. Photo by Betty Connor.
Thurs Feb 22nd – Open session at Cruises Bar, Ennis
Lots of photos from last week – we were extra busy as we had a large contingent from the US of Old Time musicians warming up for their Old Time Festival in Lisdoonvarna last weekend!! How exciting our night was!! Come join us tonight at 8:30pm for our regular (??) Open Session of Irish trad music with Jimmy Clancy, Áine Heslin and friends.
This session means a lot to Jimmy and myself – we love and encourage the new friendships made every week – it is as important to us as the music. Even though I have written over 100 tunes I don’t consider a session to be the place to demonstrate them (I usually play one or two popular sets though) and that was why I did my mini-summer concerts last year. People come to play, with others, tunes they have in common and we all appreciate the tunes that new instrumentalists bring that we might not have heard for years!
Having said that I love it when one or two of my tunes touch a chord with musicians and they take the time and effort to learn them – TUNES have a life of their own I’m convinced!!
#sessions #irishtraditionalmusic #oldtime #coclare #wildatlanticway #shannonairport #cruisesbar
Emmy Truckenmiller, Dan Levenson, Howard Winrow, Jim on accordion, Paula and Patsy on concertinas!
Jim, Paula, Patsy, Greg Smith and Bob Denton.
Old Time Flatfoot dance meets old Irish Sean-nós dance!! Thanks Dan and Patricia.
Greg Smith, Orla McGovern behind on keyboards and Bob Denton.
Lorene Smith on double bass.
Can’t decide which I love more – Bob’s bright banjo or his fab smile!!
Andy Lambert (organiser of the Irish Old Time Festival last weekend in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare) and Lorena Smith.
Open session in Ennis tonight.
February 15th – (Thursday) from 8:30pm at Cruises Bar with Jimmy Clancy, Áine Heslin and friends. Had a great session of visiting musicians last Thurs – see photos below (missed some people, our apologies.) We also had some lovely sean-nós dancing from Patricia and a little from Mary – but no photos I’m afraid. Next time! Come join us tonight.
Aoife from Kilmaley on concertina.
Michael on fiddle and Jim on accordion.
Aoife on concertina and Andy on bouzouki.
Mary and Patricia discussing sean-nós steps and Patricia and Aoife playing concertinas.
Sorcha on concertina, Mike on flute and Howard on whistle.
Thurs night open session, Co. Clare.
Jimmy Clancy and Áine Heslin invite you to join the session from 8:30pm Thurs nights at Cruises Bar, Ennis – a great group of musicians come in whenever they can make it so there are nearly always old friends to meet – new people come in for tunes/songs too – so friends to make!
(A good time to make arrangements to come to Ennis and experience a 3 day Irish Traditional Music festival called Fleadh Nua which is held in May! See link: http://www.fleadhnua.com/)
See some photos from last week:
Damien on banjo, Jim on accordion and Howard on whistle.
Orla on keyboards and Ronán recording the music for his Facebook group ‘Ireland’s Inner Beauty’.
Seamus on flute, James on whistle and low whistle and Damien on banjo.
James on whistle, Damien on banjo and Jim on accordion.
February 1st 2018 – a session in Cruises.
Well, last week’s session must have been our last in Jan because this one coming…..is
Join us at 8:30pm in Cruises Bar Thurs night… 1st Feb!
Last week there was Jimmy Clancy on accordion and myself, Áine Heslin on flute. As always we had lovely guest instrumentalists and we had tunes all evening even though for the previous two weeks we had four singers at least each night! But then, a young singer who had made her way up from Tipperary just to give us a couple of songs…..arrived as we were finishing and gave us a couple of beautifully-sung songs, accompanying herself on guitar. Ronán from Ireland’s Inner Beauty recorded some videos.
#enniscoclare #sessions #irishtraditionalmusic #accordion #flute #tinwhistle #irelandsinnerbeauty
Some photos below of last week.
25th Jan in Cruises, Ennis.
Join us for tunes tonight from 8:30pm in Cruises Bar, Ennis. Jimmy Clancy and friends! I’m playing a few NEW tunes if there is time and we can relish this wonderful winter weather…or we can dream of sunny days……!!
Last week we had our friend Gerry for the last time before he headed back to Spain again – but he wants to return – often! 🙂 Gerry gave us a fine rendition of the song ‘She moved through the fair’ while accompanying himself on accordion!! Beautiful!
See photos below of our session last week and pop in to us tonight!
Gerry playing his most recent instrument!
Joe Curtin playing harmonica and singing.
Brian, Siobhán and Matt.
Joe, Jim and Brian.
Gerry on fiddle.
Siobhán and Matt – sister and brother! Both lovely singers.
Matt singing.
Jimmy Clancy.
Who would think it – in January?!:)
In Cruises Bar last Thurs at our open session there were at least ten musicians besides ourselves – isn’t that just a statement about Irish traditional music? We love to get together in a relaxed atmosphere and just play tunes here in Co Clare – and of course the bit of chat and fun helps but mostly, it’s the music. (Thurs 11th Jan 8:30pm Cruises Bar, Ennis)
Ronan did a bit of recording for his Facegroup Group, Ireland’s Inner Beauty and Andy Lambert took some great photos in between playing lots of bouzouki and singing too! Here are some, and a couple I took myself. (Colm Nestor was gone before the photos began but played lovely flute for the first half)
Photo by Andy Lambert.
Monochrome by Ronan Burrenn
Fiona Kerwin. Photo by Andy Lambert.
My friend Rosaleen came in to listen! 🙂
Gerry Denis with Andy Lambert.
We’ve made it to 2018!! Yaay!
After all that has happened in the past few years – we’re lucky to be here and looking forward to meeting our friends tonight at Cruises Bar, Ennis for tunes and a bit of craic! Join myself and Jimmy Clancy from 8:30pm JANUARY 4th! 😉
Last week I captured a few hurried snaps – we had returning musician Jerry with us on fiddle and he played a couple of lovely ‘old timey’ tunes..we had lots of other friends playing/singing as well – it was lovely. Thanks guys for making our Thursdays so enjoyable. #friends #newyear2018 #cruisesbar #enniscoclare #irishtraditionalmusic #sessions
Aine Heslin Music 
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