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Len Graham | |
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 Len Graham singing in Armagh for TG4 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1944 (age 78–79) County Antrim, Northern Ireland |
| Genres | Irish traditional Folk Celtic music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer author |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Labels | Gael Linn Shanachie Various others |
| Website | storyandsong |
Len Graham (born 1944) is a Northern Irish traditional singer and song collector from County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He is a leading authority on Folk music in Ireland.
Graham was born in County Antrim. His father, a fiddler, brought him to sessions in the local area as a young boy. Throughout the 1960s, Len travelled around Ireland to record and preserve folk songs, befriending singers such as Joe Holmes. Graham won the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann traditional singing competition in 1971, an important accolade for Irish traditional musicians around the world.[ citation needed ]
In 1975 Graham released his first album, a collaboration with his mentor Joe Holmes, Chaste Muses, Bards and Sages on Free Reed Records. In 1976 he released his first solo album, Wind and Water with Topic Records. This was followed by his second collaboration with Holmes in 1978: After Dawning: Traditional Songs, Ballads and Lilts from the North of Ireland Topic Records, which was also later released on the Ossian USA label.
Graham continued to collaborate with other poets and seanchaithe and storytellers. Since collecting songs from Ulster's older traditional singers, among them Eddie Butcher and Joe Holmes, his association with John Campbell would begin a 20-year collaboration of story and song. During the 1980s–90s, Graham and Campbell would bring their events and work to cross-community groups around Ireland, especially to the north which was experiencing armed conflict. Since John Campbell's passing in 2006, Len has toured regularly with storyteller Jack Lynch.
Graham and Campbell also gave talks on the shared cultural traditions of both the nationalist and unionist populations in Northern Ireland. Graham collaborates with American-born singer Brían Ó hAirt, touring regions of North America annually. Their performances feature the duet singing tradition that was common among the singing communities of Ulster during Graham's own youth; they also feature the repertoire shared between the Ulster and Appalachian/Ozark traditions as well as lilting, sean-nós dancing, spoons playing and tunes on the tin whistle and concertina. Songs collected and recorded by Graham are now well known in folk repertoire around the world, and have been recorded by Altan, De Dannan, The Chieftains, Cherish the Ladies, Andy Irvine and Karen Casey, among others.
His recording career has produced over twenty albums of song. In November 2008, he gave a lecture and performance at the Library of Congress entitled It's of My Rambles: A Journey in the Song Tradition of Ulster. Graham's book, Here I Am Amongst You, on the songs, dance music and traditions of Joe Holmes was published by Four Courts Press in 2010. [1]
Graham and his wife Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, who is also a traditional singer, both specialise in the songs of Ulster. Together they recorded an album of children's songs, called "When I was Young." They live in Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh. He is the uncle of fiddler and producer Dónal O'Connor.
In 2009 The Knight Templar's Dream from Wind and Water was included in Topic Records 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten as track eighteen on the third CD.
The Irish Rovers is a group of Irish musicians that originated in Toronto, Canada. Formed in 1963 and named after the traditional song "The Irish Rover" they are best known for their international television series, contributing to the popularization of Irish Music in North America, and for the songs "The Unicorn", "Drunken Sailor", "Wasn't That a Party", "The Orange and the Green", "Whiskey on a Sunday", "Lily the Pink", "Finnegan's Wake" and "The Black Velvet Band".
Ride On is an album by Irish folk singer Christy Moore, released in 1984. Its title track remains one of his most popular songs. A number of songs relate the actions of those involved in political struggles, or those affected by those struggles; such as "Viva la Quinte Brigada" which is concerned with the Irish contingent amongst the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War; or "El Salvador" dealing with the civil war in that country in the 1980s. Other songs deal with Irish history – "The City of Chicago", about emigration to America during the Irish famines of the late 1840s; "Back Home in Derry" written by Bobby Sands about the transportation to Australia of convicts; and "Lisdoonvarna" celebrating a music festival that took place annually in that town until the early 1980s.
Thomas Makem was an Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, tin whistle, low whistle, guitar, bodhrán and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone. He was sometimes known as "The Bard of Armagh" and "The Godfather of Irish Music".
Frank Harte was a traditional Irish singer, song collector, architect and lecturer. He was born in Chapelizod, County Dublin, and raised in Dublin. His father, Peter Harte, who had moved from a farming background in Sligo, owned 'The Tap' pub in Chapelizod.
Martin Hayes is an Irish fiddler from County Clare. He is a member of the Irish-American supergroup The Gloaming.
Paddy Tunney was an Irish traditional singer, poet, writer, raconteur, lilter and songwriter. He was affectionately known as the Man of Songs.
Mícheál Ó Domhnaill was an Irish singer, guitarist, composer, and producer who was a major influence on Irish traditional music in the second half of the twentieth century. He is remembered for his innovative work with Skara Brae, the first group to record vocal harmonization in Irish language songs, and The Bothy Band, one of the most influential groups in Irish traditional music. His reputation was enhanced by a successful collaboration with master fiddler Kevin Burke, and his work with the Celtic groups Relativity and Nightnoise, which achieved significant commercial and critical acclaim.
Lilting is a form of traditional singing common in the Goidelic speaking areas of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, though singing styles like it occur in many other countries. It goes under many names, and is sometimes referred to as diddling, mouth music, jigging, chin music or cheek music, puirt à beul or canntaireachd in Scottish Gaelic, or portaireacht bhéil in Irish. The syllables sung do not require any one-to-one corresponding note, and in this way it resembles scat singing, and is distinguished from the singing of sol-fa or sargam.
"Róisín Dubh", written in the 16th century, is one of Ireland's most famous political songs. It is based on an older love-lyric which referred to the poet's beloved rather than, as here, being a metaphor for Ireland. The intimate tone of the original carries over into the political song. It is often attributed to Antoine Ó Raifteiri, but almost certainly pre-dates him.
Joe Holmes was a fiddler, lilter and traditional singer from Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Sean-nós singing is unaccompanied traditional Irish vocal music usually performed in the Irish language. Sean-nós singing usually involves very long melodic phrases with highly ornamented and melismatic melodic lines, differing greatly from traditional folk singing elsewhere in Ireland, although there is significant regional variation within Ireland. Sean-nós songs cover a range of genres, from love song to lament to lullaby, traditionally with a strong focus on conveying the relevant emotion of the given song. The term sean-nós, which simply means "in the old way", is a vague term that can also refer to various other traditional activities, musical and non-musical.
"Here's a Health to the Company" is an Irish traditional song, based in the long history of emigration from Scotland and Ireland. Its strong tune has also been used for other Irish traditional songs and for the American anthem, "The Liberty Song".
Samuel Henry was an Irish customs officer, pension officer, antiquarian, lecturer, writer, photographer, folklorist, folk-song collector and musician.
Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin is an Irish singer, songwriter, academic writer from Ireland. Her personal website is www.irishsong.com and her published restorative work is www.orielarts.com
Dónal O'Connor is an Irish multi-instrumentalist, producer and television presenter from Ravensdale, County Louth, Ireland. He is a member of Belfast-based Irish traditional groups Ulaid & At First Light.
Amy Helm is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the daughter of drummer Levon Helm and singer Libby Titus. She is a past member of the Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble Band and Ollabelle, as well as her own touring band.
Cathal McConnell is a musician and singer best known as the mainstay of traditional band The Boys of the Lough, of which he was a founder member. His main instruments are the Irish flute and the tin whistle.
Sarah Ann O'Neill, was a well known and significant Irish traditional singer.
Eddie Butcher was an Irish traditional singer, folk-song collector and songwriter from Magilligan, County Londonderry. He had an extensive repertoire of songs that he performed in a sturdy, earthy style. In 1953, Dr. Hugh Shields began to notate and record Butcher's songs, published later in two books: Shamrock, Rose & Thistle (1981) and All the Days of his Life (2011), the latter accompanied by a set of three CDs. Starting in 1966, Butcher performed in frequent radio broadcasts from Dublin and Belfast, and recorded four albums of his songs, on one EP and three LPs.
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