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 For Generations past, the rich culture, tradition and heritage of Duhallow has been cherished and preserved by the people who live there, amidst the stories, music and folklore of this ancient and beautiful place.
Now that wonderful oral tradition will be permanently preserved on this comprehensive 45 CD Collection, along with the accompanying book - The Ancient Barony of Duhallow - Living Voices. From Mass Rocks to matchmaking, from battlefields to sportsfields, from skellig lists to songsmiths - they are all told with great skill, humour and pathos by the custodians of the living past of Ancient Duhallow.
Read the Foreword by Jane O'Hea O'Keeffe.
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Buy the Individual CDs:
Foreword by Jane O'Hea O'Keeffe
A sense of belonging is a fundamental need in all of us as we live out our lives from cradle to grave - without it we are surely lost. When I began to work on this book and to sit and listen to the voices and music of the Barony, this sense of place and of belonging became a powerful constant. It led me sure-footedly along a path rich in oral tradition, in fine music, in poetry, song, laughter and grief - it is a path I felt privileged to follow. This book looks at connections throughout generations, at laughter and old loyalties, at history and humour, at storytelling, sorrow and song. In Duhallow I found history to be not a dry affair, but something very much alive in the best sense of old stories whispered around firesides for generations past, of music passed lovingly from master to pupil, of historical fact guarded with care and retold with pride - history which is alive with a profound emotional connection to a place and its people. I am extremely conscious of the co-operation, courtesy and kindness shown to me and to Maurice, who recorded these voices, and I hope that this project has helped to provide an arena in which the living voices of ancient Duhallow can be shared, enjoyed and preserved for future generations.
In February 1849 James Clarence Mangan produced this translation from the Irish of a poem entitled "Duhallow" by Charles Boy M'Quillan, who is exiled from his own place - the sense of dislocation is palpable, the sense of grief profound.
Far away from my friends
On the chill hills of Galway,
My heart droops and bends,
And my spirit pines always -
Tis as not when I roved
With the wild rakes of Mallow
All is here unbeloved,
And I sigh for Duhallow.
My steed is no more,
And my hounds roam unyelling;
Grass waves at the door
Of my dark-windowed dwelling.
Through sunshine and storm
Corrach's acres lie fallow
Would heaven I were warm
Once again in Duhallow!
Copyright © 2008. Irish Life and Lore. All Rights Reserved.
