Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?

Subject: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Helen
Date: 29 May 19 - 08:16 PM

Hi all,

I was given some CD's by a friend after an elderly lady she knew passed away. It was a fairly eclectic mix of CD's with a few Irish and Welsh ones included. One of the CD's is called Celtic Folk Harp - 34 Traditional Favourites . It has the brand "celtic gold" on it, and 1998 V & H Holdings Pty Ltd. No sleeve notes, no musician name, no credits for anything. When I did a Google search a few sites credit it to a group called The Shamrock Singers. Now normally Mr/s Google is quite forthcoming with further information as required, but I can find no name for the harper on this CD.

When I first listened to the CD, I was initially operating on the strategy of "keep your expectations low and you won't be disappointed" but I am very pleasantly surprised about the skill and musical ability of the harper and I think it is a crying shame that s/he is receiving no credit for that.

The Amazon entry has this intriguing note: "This product is manufactured on demand when ordered from Amazon.com" and there is no information about a group called The Shamrock Singers when I click on the name link.

I think this is one CD in a series of CD's of mostly popularised Irish songs like "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen" which are not my cup of tea at all, but I am impressed with the quality of the harper's playing. In some instances it reminds me of Derek Bell's interpretations, although not to his excellent standard perhaps. Some of my all time favourite tunes are included on the CD: The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls, David of the White Rock, one the Bridget Cruise airs by O'Carolan (although with the mispelled track title of "Bridget's Cruis") and a few of his other tunes. Definitely not a popularised selection of well known Irish harp tunes.

Does anyone here have more information on who the harper might be, or on The Shamrock Singers? I'm really curious as to the reason why these musicians are not being credited for their performances.

I suppose mass market CD's get away with this all the time but when I hear a good musician and cannot track down her/his other products I think that is not helping the musician at all.

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 29 May 19 - 08:42 PM

I’m not having any luck either. In search of alternatives to Amazon, I also found it on Allmusic and in the Apple Store - but absolutely zilch in the way of information. And Apple threw me a popup which said if I wanted to buy this CD, I could only get it from their Papua New Guinea store. One of the Allmusic titles for “Shamrock Singers” was marked Origin: Germany. Talk about mass-marketing!

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Helen
Date: 29 May 19 - 08:47 PM

Hi Bonnie, when I saw you respond to this thread I had this terrible thought that you could be the uncredited harper.

Someone is missing out on the credit for this music and I don't think that that is fair.

There are short samples of the tracks on Amazon if you want to listen to some of it.

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 29 May 19 - 10:23 PM

I have! Don’t know who it is, I’m afraid.

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: GUEST
Date: 30 May 19 - 09:48 AM

Most of it is on youtube

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Helen
Date: 30 May 19 - 05:11 PM

Thanks Guest. I thought I found it on YouTube and then when I created this thread I couldn't find it.

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 30 May 19 - 05:41 PM

What seems to be the same album (based on tracks): Celtic Folk Harp - Traditional Favourites is credited to Various Artists and Patrick Moloney.


Mick

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 30 May 19 - 07:51 PM

Think you got it, Mick. It’s here too:

https://www.deezer.com/en/album/43726471

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Helen
Date: 30 May 19 - 08:21 PM

So does anyone know anything about a harper named Patrick Moloney? I tried Googling him with the word "harp" but no luck. Paddy Moloney from The Chieftains does not play harp, as far as I know.

Listening to the whole CD, I would be prepared to bet that the harper for all the tracks is the same person, and it is all solo harp. There are no other instruments on any of the tracks.

I'm beginning to suspect that the CD company may have published the CD's on their list without acknowledging the artists and therefore without paying them for their expertise. I might be wrong but it looks suspicious to me.

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 30 May 19 - 10:37 PM

You may be right - “Shamrock Singers” brings up a huge variety of stuff: clearly a catch-all name for assorted artists. And I found no singing on this album. Hmmmm...

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Helen
Date: 17 Feb 23 - 04:53 PM

I was trawling through the internet a while back and discovered an album by
Hugh Webb and some of the versions of the tunes on my mystery CD sounded very similar in interpretation.

Unfortunately, I didn't copy the web address back then and the only Celtic Harp CD I can find today by Hugh Webb does not have any of the same tunes as my CD so I can't compare them. The tune that I remember listening to on that album I found before was The Last Rose of Summer and I am fairly sure it was the same version as my mystery CD.

I think it is not right to have an amazing musician's work uncredited.

I just looked at Hugh Webb's entry on IMDB and he is credited on a large number of movies, including The Banshees of Inisherin (which I haven't seen yet, but it is on my To-Do list anyway because Brendan Gleeson is starring in it and he is always worth watching). Another movie for which Hugh Webb is credited is The Secret Garden (2020) and I did see that in the last year. I'll have to watch it again if I can and compare the harp technique to my mystery CD.

I'm hoping my detective work is correct and that maybe the mystery is solved.

Subject: RE: Folk harper on Shamrock Singers CD?
From: Helen
Date: 08 Sep 24 - 12:15 AM

A question:

I have recently been re-watching the series Long Lost Family, and it Series 2 Episode 4 and a couple of other eps in that series there is a simple but beautiful harp tune being played as background music to the scene.

If you can find the show, it is approximately 40 minutes into the episode while Nicky Campbell and the man who is one of the key people in that episode, are in the car travelling to meet his long lost daughter.

There are no music credits for that tune, no performer or composer, nothing. I have tried looking at IMDB on the Long Lost Family pages, but no luck, and Hugh Webb's web page states that he has provided music for a number of TV shows, including Long Lost Family.

I suspect the harper/harpist could be Hugh Webb, the subject of this thread.

Does anyone know how I can find out the credits or more information for that piece of music? It's a lovely piece of music and it is my earworm whenever I see it on the TV show.