Tracks 1. Reels: Sporting Nell / The Crooked Road to Dublin 2. Hornpipes: The Harvest Home / Rossinver Braes 3. Jig: Larry O'Gaff 4. Reels: Mulhaire's No. 9 / The Banks of the Ilen 5. Jigs: Old Man Dillon / The Rose in the Heather 6. Barn Dances: Lord Leitrim / The Earl of Thomomd 7. Reels: The Blackthorn Stick / Trim the Velvet 8. Foxtrot & Barn Dance: The Fiddler Mick Hoy / Ben's Arrival 9. Jigs: Apples in Winter / The King of the Pipes 10. Hornpipes: Murphy's / The Smoky Chimney 11. Reels: The Cavan Reel / The Galway Rambler 12. Jig: Cherish the Ladies 13. Reels:The Mullingar Races / The Boys on the Hilltop 14. Barn Dances: Hayes's Favourite / The Stack of Oats 15. Reels: The Skylark / Roaring Mary     Click on underlined titles to hear MP3 sound samples.

We are delighted to announce our release of this fine recording.

Rossinver Braes
CICD 174
Ben Lennon & Tony O’Connell

with
Charlie Lennon: piano
Alec Finn: Bouzouki
Jerry MCNamara: Guitar


Music from Two Different Generations

Rossinver Braes is the new album of traditional Irish music on fiddle and concertina from Ben Lennon and Tony O’Connell, released on the Cló Iar-Chonnachta label.

Ben Lennon is a legendary figure in traditional Irish music circles, a fiddler from Co. Leitrim who celebrates his eightieth birthday this year and who has been playing the fiddle for seventy of those years. Although almost fifty years separate Ben from his fellow musician on this album, Tony O’Connell from west Limerick, there is an undeniable musical connection between them. David Lennon, Ben’s son, says in his introduction to the CD: ‘Tony is probably the most empathetic musician I have heard my father play with. There is an understanding of phrasing, time and nuance that one finds only rarely in any musical form.’ This is O’Connell’s second album; his first album was recorded with another Leitrim fiddler, Andy Morrow, and was released to critical acclaim in 2005. The album came second in the top ten albums of 2005 of highly-respected traditional Irish music reviewer Earle Hitchner of the Irish Echo, second, interestingly, to the album Within a Mile of Kilty released on the Cló Iar-Chonnachta label that year and featuring Ben and Charlie Lennon, as well as four other superb Leitrim fiddlers.

Rossinver Braes features both traditional and newly-composed tunes. Several of Charlie Lennon’s compositions are included, including the hornpipe that gives the album its title, named after the village where Ben now lives. Charlie also composed two barn dances in honour of the musicians while the album was being recorded at his Cuan Studios outside Spiddal, ‘Lord Leitrim’ and ‘The Earl of Thomond’, tunes which he feels reflect the spirit of both musicians and their dynamic playing together. The tune selection leans toward the Sligo–Leitrim area and includes many tunes associated with Michael Coleman and James Morrison. Accompaniment is provided by Charlie Lennon (piano), Alec Finn (bouzouki) and Jerry McNamara (guitar).

Ben Lennon is from Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim and has recorded many albums during a long and illustrious traditional music career. He is regarded as one of the very finest of Leitrim’s fiddlers, no mean feat in a county renowned for its fiddling tradition.

Tony O’Connell is from Glin in west Co. Limerick and is currently living in Limerick city where he plays regularly and teaches at the Irish World Music Centre in the University of Limerick. He has won All-Ireland concertina titles at both underage and senior levels and has toured Asia, America and Europe with various shows and groups.

Also available from Copperplate and featuring Ben Lennon
CICD 139 The Natural Bridge
CICD 159 Within A Mile of Kilty

 

Press Reviews

LiveIreland.com
You can always, always count on Clo Iar Chonanachta to put out wonderful, traditional music. Now the label brings us Ben Lennon on fiddle and Tony O'Connell on concertina in a magical thing called, Rossinver Braes. Wonderful. Guest musicians include Charlie Lennon on piano, Alec Finn on bouzouki and guitarist, Jerry McNamara. A contender for Instrumental Album of the Year. If you love real Irish music, this one is for you. A wondrous and lively piece of work, altogether. Rating Four Harps Bill Margeson

The Folk Diary
The much-loved octogenarian fiddler from Co. Leitrim with the totally distinctive way of phrasing his tunes teams up with a much younger concertina player from west Limerick.
The instinctive way that their instruments phrase together belies the near half century that separates their ages. This is delightful inspiring music that produces a sense a
relaxed control in their playing, even when they are playing reels and the sense of space in The Cavan Reel/The Galway Rambler is delightful though the real beauty of their playing
is when they playing at a slower pace - barn dances and hornpipes and even a tune that is somewhat dubiously deemed to be a foxtrot.

The recording mix favours strongly the lead instruments so that the superb playing of the likes of Alex Finn of De Danann fame and Ben's brother Charlie on piano is very much in the background. As well as being Ireland's top accompanist of choice, Charlie Lennon is also one of his country's leading composers of dance tunes and here he contributes two barn dances,
each named for the lead musicians. Vic Smith

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