Folklore: Seamus Ennis's 100th

Subject: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 27 Oct 19 - 04:06 PM

Just listened to an hour of wonderful traditional music on Lyric FM - a tribute to Seamus Ennis on his 100th Anniversary by a friend, J.J. O'Shea, a fine documentary maker based in Kerry
It concentrated mainly on his work as collector in Scotland and Ireland, with some wonderful clips of Waulking Songs and Mouth Music
It should be available for listening next week on Lyric's website
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 27 Oct 19 - 04:15 PM

It's there now: Gathering the Harvest ; Lyric feature

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 05:05 AM

Thanks Peter
I can't get it to play but that may be my equipment
I'm going to contact J.J. later and see if there are any plans for a repeat - Lyric often do
Jim

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 05:18 AM

You're welcome Jim. It works fine for me, in fact I am in the middle of a second listening as I write.

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 06:40 AM

Good innit ?
Jim

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 07:36 AM

Found the problem Peter - my ad blockers won't allow it to play
Jim

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 07:49 AM

I had to give permission to open the pop up but other than that it went OK and I block just about everything. Hard to tell with these things.

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: Vic Smith
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 12:25 PM

Utterly fascinating well produced programme. The stories of him staying with people in England when he was on tour brought back memories of his staying with us in Brighton during the two tours that we organised for him in the early 1970s.
In addition to collecting in Ireland and Scotland, he also did collecting in England whilst he worked with the BBC when he worked for them in the 1950s usually working alongside Bob Copper. He certainly made some recordings of the Copper Family.

The only thing thing the programme lacked was some examples of his wonderful speaking voice.

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 12:41 PM

"The only thing thing the programme lacked was some examples of his wonderful speaking voice."
I missed that too
Jim

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 01:11 PM

This wasn't exactly the first programme dedicated to Séamus' centenary and between the others and the many before that, from the 'Séamus Ennis story' Peter Browne produced during the mid eighties, archive recordings of himself speaking about his work have been exhaustively used and then used again. And while I agree it's a shame he wasn't heard himself, it was nice to have this outing delve into some aspects of his work that haven't been raked over as much rather than going over paths well trodden. The samples of his recording work in the Hebrides were outstanding and added greatly to the enjoyment, as far as I am concerned anyway.

Subject: RE: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 01:30 PM

Lovely story about that Pater
Ennis became a fluent Scots Gaelic speaker on his trips to the Hebrides, so when he and Lomax went together he acted as interpreter
The women doing the waullking were crazy out these two hansom young men and on Barra, they began to improvise a song about the hansom American with his fine hair, manly chin, broad shoulders, strong chest - right down to his big willie
Ennis knew what wa happening and said nothing and they sent the recording back to London where it was eventually played on air
The BBC received hundreds of complaints from irate Gaelic speakers about the "dirty song" (which I believe, is still in the BBC archive)
Jim

Subject: RE: Folklore: Seamus Ennis's 100th
From: Vic Smith
Date: 28 Oct 19 - 02:32 PM

Jim - That was one of many hilarious stories that Seamus told us when he was staying with us.
I don't think that Tina was so happy with him one Sunday lunchtime. She has cooked a lovely roast dinner for all of us. He sat down at the table and asked for some boiling water and a bowl. He mixed the hot water with some Complan and Bovril, both of which he produced from a bag, and never touched the meal!