A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment, or a cappella. The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries the melody; a bass, the part which provides the bass line to the melody; a tenor, the part which harmonizes above the lead; and a baritone, the part that frequently completes the chord. The baritone normally sings just below the lead singer, sometimes just above as the harmony requires. Barbershop music is typified by close harmony— the upper three voices generally remain within one octave of each other.
Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.
Barbershop vocal harmony is a style of a cappella close harmony, or unaccompanied vocal music, characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a primarily homorhythmic texture. Each of the four parts has its own role: generally, the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings the lowest harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord, usually below the lead. The melody is not usually sung by the tenor or baritone, except for an infrequent note or two to avoid awkward voice leading, in tags or codas, or when some appropriate embellishment can be created. One characteristic feature of barbershop harmony is the use of what is known as "snakes" and "swipes". This is when a chord is altered by a change in one or more non-melodic voices. Occasional passages may be sung by fewer than four voice parts.
Holly Near is an American singer-songwriter, actress, teacher, and activist.
The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous family in English folk music".
Elaine "Lal" Waterson was an English folk singer and songwriter. She sang with, among others, The Watersons, The Waterdaughters and Blue Murder. She was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. In 1998, she died suddenly in Robin Hood's Bay, of cancer diagnosed only ten days before. "Lal Waterson's voice was stark but captivating, her songs lyrically ambitious and melodically powerful."
Peter Franklyn Bellamy was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition and also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls. He is noted for his ballad-opera The Transports, and has been acknowledged as a major influence by performers of later generations including Damien Barber, Oli Steadman, and Jon Boden.
Shaun Davey is an Irish composer.
The Young Tradition was an English folk group of the 1960s, formed by Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and Heather Wood. They recorded three albums of mainly traditional British folk music, sung in arrangements for their three unaccompanied voices.
The Copper Family are a family of singers of traditional, unaccompanied English folk song. Originally from Rottingdean, near Brighton, Sussex, England, the nucleus of the family now live in the neighbouring village of Peacehaven. The family first came to the attention of folklorists in the late nineteenth century and received wider attention during the folk revival of the 1960s.
A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors, and high and low basses —and shortened to the letters TTBB. The term can also refer to a piece of music which is performed by such a choir.
Tara Music has been regarded for many years as one of the leading traditional Irish music recording companies. The label was set up by Jack Fitzgerald and John Cook in the early 1970s.
The Bells of Dublin is a 1991 album of Christmas songs and traditional carols by the Irish band The Chieftains. The album features guest performances by various artists, including Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Marianne Faithfull, Nanci Griffith, Rickie Lee Jones and the actor Burgess Meredith.
Rita Connolly is a singer who has lived and worked in Ireland. She is primarily known for her work with composer Shaun Davey who wrote a song cycle for her called Granuaile based on the 16th-century pirate queen Gráinne O'Malley as well as including her in other of his works such as The Relief of Derry Symphony, The Pilgrim Suite and his Special Olympics music which was specially composed in 2003. Rita Connolly and Ronan Tynan sang the anthem song "May We Never Have to Say Goodbye" which topped the Irish charts for two weeks. She has also produced two solo albums, one with the eponymous title Rita Connolly, and the second Valpariso on the Tara Music label.
The Brendan Voyage was Shaun Davey's first major orchestral suite, composed for uilleann pipes played by Liam O'Flynn. It depicts Tim Severin’s adventure in reconstructing Saint Brendan’s 6th century Atlantic crossing to America. It features guest musicians Paul MacAteer (drums), Garvan Gallagher and Tommy Hayes (bodhran). The album title is also the title of Severin's book (ISBN 0-375-75524-1).
Out to an Other Side is the third solo album by master uilleann piper and prominent Irish traditional musician Liam O'Flynn. Produced by Shaun Davey and recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Ireland, the album was released on the Tara Music label in 1993. As with a number of Liam's other album titles, Out to an Other Side comes from the writing of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney with whom Liam has performed live on numerous occasions.
The Song of the Singing Horseman is the first album of Irish singer songwriter Jimmy MacCarthy. The album was released in 1991 by Mulligan Records and it includes many of the popular songs MacCarthy wrote during the first ten years of his career including "Ride On", "Mystic Lipstick", "Bright Blue Rose" and "No Frontiers". It was not commercially available for many years but was re-released on MacCarthy's own Ride Own Records in 2016.
Rita Connolly is the first solo recording by Rita Connolly. It features guest appearances by Davy Spillane, Liam O'Flynn, The Voice Squad, Máirtín O'Connor, Palle Mikkelborg, Ray Lynam, amidst others. The album includes a number of Connolly's own compositions.
Valparaiso is Rita Connolly's second solo recording, released in 1996. It features a guest appearance by Iarla O'Lionaird on vocals.
Forest was an English psychedelic-folk / acid-folk trio who formed in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England, in 1966. Made up of brothers Martin Welham and Adrian Welham and school friend Dez Allenby, they started out performing unaccompanied traditional folk music in a similar vein to contemporaries The Watersons and The Young Tradition. The band were pioneers of the nascent 1960s underground acoustic-psychedelic/acid-folk scene writing unconventionally crafted songs evoking Britain's ancient groves using a variety of acoustic instruments.
