Rioghnach Connolly and Ellis Davies

Armagh-born Rioghnach Connolly, who is now based in Manchester, performs a variety of genres from Irish Trad, Folk, Blues and Jazz both as a flautist and vocalist. Ellis Davies is a guitarist, bassist and vocalist from Wales but also residing in Manchester. Aside from the music they perform together, this dynamic duo are also both members of a variety of bands including Honeyfeet and Band of Burns, as well as being members of separate bands including The Breath (Rioghnach Connolly), Shyfinger (Ellis Davies) and loads more!! Alongside the performances, both Ellis and Rioghnach teach around their local community both privately and as in school/after school education organisations.

For this recording we all went to Holy Name Church on Oxford Road, in the city centre of Manchester. As well as holding regular services and ceremonies, Holy Name also opens it’s doors to music concerts from it’s local schools, colleges and the University of Manchester that is across the road. One of it’s main features is the Holy Name Organ which was originally installed in 1807, that has retained it’s beautiful sound and reputation and is still being used for Royal Northern College of Music graduates and organ recitals.

We were lucky enough to record 4 tracks with Rioghnach and Ellis, three songs and one set of tunes. The first song that we recorded was “Ag Christ An Siol” which is an Irish Folk Hymn that would usually have been sung during the offertory at mass. As it is one of the well known O’Riada Songs (composed by Sean O’Riada who worked to reviving the Irish Traditional music), it is also sang traditionally at family weddings and funerals.

The second song we recorded was “Thugamar Féin An Samhradh Línn” which is an old Irish lullaby which means “we brought the summer with us”. It is usually sung around May time and the coming of summer season and solstas as it sings about the trees, the last line being “Thugamar linn é is cé bhainfeadh dínn é?” which translates to “we brought it with us and who’d take it from us?”. Rioghnach usually sings this as a lullaby for her own child, Macha who was also present at the recordings however instead of putting her to sleep this time, you may catch her singing along in the back ground.

The set they played included three tunes called The Old Brown Slipper, Time in our Ears and The Winnie Hills of Leitrim which are collectively called “The Brown Slipper Set”. With the first two tunes being slip jigs (with a 9/8 time signature) and the final one being a jig (which has a time signature of 6/8) it portrays the standard performance of tunes within this genre. Unlike other songs where it tends to be the same melody throughout, it is common for performing musicians and those playing in a session to pair tunes into sets of two or three that all differ in key but share a similar time signature.

The final song that is featured on Rioghnach’s own YouTube, Old Ardbó, is one that Rioghnach found in some old family recordings that were thought to have been from the late 60s or early 70s. The recording was of Rioghnach’s Great Great Aunty Rosie Hurl who is said to have the only version of the song, a version that she sang surrounded by family at a session. After having digitised the recording, they turned it up to hear the voices and chatter of the family around her, which included that of Rioghnach’s Great Great Grandfather and Great Great Uncle helping Rosie with the lyrics. It’s special hearing and trying to imagine the atmosphere that must have filled the house at the time of recording, a feeling that is familiar with musicians to this day.