[upbeat folk music] - [Announcer] This week on "Tradfest: The Dublin Castle Sessions," we have Sive with Steve and Joe Wall from The Stunning, Dervish, Cathy Jordan, Robert Harvey, and Eleanor McEvoy with Damon Butcher.

[lively folk music] ♪ There was a time ♪ I was yours [gentle folk music] - [Announcer] "Tradfest: The Dublin Castle Sessions" are funded in part by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media.

[gentle folk music] ♪ There was a time ♪ I was yours and you were mine ♪ ♪ We shone in the light of the day ♪ ♪ No puzzle, no gain ♪ Straight talking as they say ♪ Nothing could stand in our way ♪ ♪ Two people in a trance ♪ Two fighters in a dance ♪ They respect each other's tears ♪ ♪ A fighter's pride is built on fear ♪ ♪ I, I'm amazed ♪ I let it slip away ♪ I, I am crazed ♪ It's running through my brain ♪ ♪ Everything that rises ♪ Has to fall [lively folk music] [lively folk music continues] ♪ Somewhere, I read ♪ The truth is better left unsaid ♪ ♪ Avoid all the hurt and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm a crooked companion ♪ You'd better watch your step ♪ When I take you out to play ♪ Hey ♪ Drink from this golden cup ♪ The days aren't long enough ♪ Hoist up the scarlet sails ♪ But I jumped to shore as we moved away ♪ ♪ I, I'm amazed ♪ I let it slip away ♪ I, I am crazed ♪ It's running through my veins ♪ ♪ Everything that rises ♪ Has to fall [lively folk music] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] ♪ Two people in a trance ♪ Two fighters in a stance ♪ They respect each other's tears ♪ ♪ A fighter's pride is built on fear ♪ ♪ I, I'm amazed ♪ I let it slip away ♪ I, I am crazed ♪ It's running through my brain ♪ ♪ Everything that rises - So we're here in St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle, and these sumptuous surroundings, and I am delighted to be joined by Eleanor McEvoy, who's here with us.

- Hello.

- Who's also joined by Damon Butcher, and Robert Harvey is here, and Cathy Jordan's here.

So it's great to see you all and thanks for coming out.

Cathy, I'm gonna come to you first.

You're gonna sing something for us, are you?

- Yes, I thought I might, just to prove that I wasn't totally idle during lockdown.

So, I wrote this wee song, but I dunno if, are you familiar with the Curragh Wrens at all?

- Yeah.

Tell me a bit more.

- They were kind of outcast women that didn't wanna go to the workhouse, 'cause definitely that's where they'd be put, or to death or punished in some way, so they dug little nests for themselves in the Curragh, the plains of Kildare, and they kind of used the soldiers to make money, I guess, but no respect was shown for them, and they were, as I say, outcasts, and the soldiers stripped them and beat them, and, you know, so it was an awful time.

So, while this opulence was happening here in Dublin Castle, those poor women were, you know, with bare hands, digging out nests for themselves in the plains of Kildare, so I thought I'd write them a song.

- Great.

Good on you.

♪ I'm a poor girl born in Dublin City ♪ ♪ All alone and lonely, oh ♪ The landlord, I know, shows no pity ♪ ♪ Born to the ole Curragh Wren ♪ My parents stayed a lake away with my brother ♪ ♪ All alone and lonely, oh ♪ And, at 14 years, I became a mother ♪ ♪ I was born to be a Curragh Wren ♪ [gentle string music] ♪ Death at a workhouse lay before me ♪ ♪ All alone and lonely, oh ♪ To the road, I took my baby and me ♪ ♪ Born to be a Curragh Wren ♪ For miles, we trekked through driving weather ♪ ♪ All alone and lonely, oh ♪ 'Til the Kildare Plains, we found our home ♪ ♪ Born to be a Curragh Wren ♪ Banished out to a hollowed corcass ♪ ♪ Gardeners scorn us from their orchards ♪ ♪ Who will love the sons and daughters ♪ ♪ Born unto this Curragh Wren [gentle string music] ♪ With their worn to blood and bones ♪ ♪ All alone and lonely, oh ♪ On the Kildare Plains, we made our home ♪ ♪ Born to be a Curragh Wren ♪ Oh, ripped and reproached in dampened squalor ♪ ♪ All alone and lonely, oh ♪ Crawling out when the soldiers holler ♪ ♪ Born to be a Curragh Wren ♪ We were banished out to a hollowed corcass ♪ ♪ Gardeners scorn us from their orchards ♪ ♪ Who will love the sons and daughters ♪ ♪ Born unto this Curragh Wren [gentle folk music] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] [gentle folk music continues] ♪ At night, they came to hunt our blood ♪ ♪ All alone and lonely, oh ♪ They stripped and beat us in the mud ♪ ♪ Born to be a Curragh Wren ♪ All you who judge us from your soft beds ♪ ♪ All alone and lonely, oh ♪ Hang in shame your righteous head ♪ ♪ Born to be a Curragh Wren ♪ We were banished out to a hollowed corcass ♪ ♪ Gardeners scorn us from their orchards ♪ ♪ Who will love the sons and daughters ♪ ♪ Born unto this Curragh Wren ♪ We were banished out to a hollowed corcass ♪ ♪ Gardeners scorned us from their orchards ♪ ♪ Who will love the sons and daughters ♪ ♪ Born unto this Curragh Wren [gentle folk music] [gentle folk music continues] - Thanks, Robert.

- Beautiful.

- What a great song.

What a great song.

- So, this is its maiden voyage here this evening, so.

- That's amazing.

That's amazing.

Robert, I want to come to you.

That was gorgeous playing with Cathy there.

- Yeah.

- [Host] What are you gonna play?

- Sure.

I'm gonna play you a set of reels.

This is a set of reels actually from a new CD that I brought out about a week before lockdown, which was very bad timing in retrospect, I suppose, and I'm gonna be joined by Cathy on the bodhran as well.

- Okay.

[lively folk music] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] Yeah!

Oh, you can't beat a set of reels on the flute and the bodhran.

Brilliant.

- Thanks very much.

- [Host] Tell me a bit about the tunes and where you found them.

- Sure.

Well, I suppose the last one, actually, is a tune that I discovered.

It was recorded by a man called Tommy Maguire out in The Fox in Islington in 1967, and it's something that I learned from another project that I've been working on during lockdown.

I've been working on a book and a CD of archive material and some newly recorded songs and tunes as well from whistlers.

So it's gonna be published.

It's just gone into print with Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, and it'll be brought out later in the year, hopefully, all going well.

So, yeah, it's kind of examining the All-Ireland Champion whistlers and the history of the whistling tradition, which I think is often overlooked in the broader scheme of things.

- Are you talking tin whistling or actually whistling?

- Actual whistling, yeah.

- Actual, yeah, yeah.

[Robert whistles] Yeah.

- That sort of thing.

- Yeah.

Amazing.

Yeah.

- I have to say, the joy of hearing real music.

- Sitting around - Having been locked away for so long.

- Yeah.

- And, yeah, I listen to it on, you know, CD and vinyl, and, you know, radio all the time, but the joy of just hearing it in the room, it's wonderful.

Anyway, sorry.

- Yeah.

Not at all.

You're gonna do a song for us?

- Yeah, I'm going to do a new song, a song that I wrote just after the Woman's Heart gigs in the National Concert Hall.

I did them with Wallis Bird and Maura O'Connell, two wonderful people, and Wallace had this idea of wearing red on stage, and I'd had a bit of a rough 2019 for various reasons, and I was thinking a lot about how healing friendship is, and, that night, how healing music is, and, that night, it was kind of a healing of music and friendship, and then, of course, during the lockdown, there was all of the things, that I think that we all found music and friendship healing, so.

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

- I called the song "Scarlet Angel."

So it's about that night and about, you know, all of that going on.

- Beautiful, beautiful.

A one, two.

A one, two, three, four.

[solemn folk music] [solemn folk music continues] ♪ Through my troubles, out they came ♪ ♪ Scarlet angels in the rain ♪ When the wind blew through my veins ♪ ♪ Scarlet angels prayed ♪ When I couldn't sleep, I saw ♪ Scarlet angels by my door ♪ And when the dark gave way to dawn ♪ ♪ Scarlet angels stayed ♪ Scarlet angels sang a song ♪ Violins played gently on ♪ Friends and lovers sang along ♪ ♪ In perfect harmony ♪ Scarlet angels sang a song ♪ Violins played gently on ♪ Friends and lovers sang along ♪ ♪ In perfect harmony ♪ And when the light came into view ♪ ♪ Scarlet angels brought me to ♪ Places where they placed the blues ♪ ♪ Scarlet angels knew ♪ A woman's heart was cast adrift ♪ ♪ Scarlet angels rescued it ♪ Some say angels don't exist ♪ But scarlet angels do ♪ Scarlet angels sang a song ♪ Violins played gently on ♪ Friends and lovers sang along ♪ ♪ In perfect harmony ♪ Scarlet angels sang a song ♪ Violins played gently on ♪ Friends and lovers sang along ♪ ♪ In perfect harmony ♪ Those of you who've never felt ♪ ♪ The devil's breath upon your face ♪ ♪ May never understand ♪ The sweetness of an angel's grace ♪ ♪ Scarlet angels sang a song ♪ Violins played gently on ♪ Friends and lovers sang along ♪ ♪ In perfect harmony ♪ Scarlet angels sang a song ♪ Violins played gently on ♪ Friends and lovers sang along ♪ ♪ In perfect harmony ♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ La, la, la, la, la ♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪ La, la, la, la ♪ La - That was great.

- Thank you.

Thank you for joining in.

- Not at all.

Yeah, great to play.

Great to play.

- I know.

- And sing, as well.

Well, just before we started chatting there, we were talking about lilting.

You know, you mentioned whistling earlier on.

Of course, lilting is another amazing vocal way of conveying a tune.

Could you do something for us?

- You go first.

- Go on, go on.

[group chuckles] - Do you wanna do that one we were doing a minute ago?

- Sure.

Yeah, we'll give it a go.

- Yeah?

- We only discovered that we had this tune in common.

I don't lilt, as a rule, but I give it a go every now and again.

- Deadly.

How does it go again?

[Cathy and Robert lilting] [Cathy and Robert continue lilting] [Cathy and Robert continue lilting] [Cathy and Robert continue lilting] - [Host] Brilliant.

Thank you so much for that.

That's great.

That was "Josie McDermotts," was it?

- Yeah.

He was a great lilter.

- [Host] Was he?

- Yeah, so.

- [Host] Was that one of his tunes?

- He didn't write it, I don't think.

- I don't think he wrote it.

- It became known, associated with him.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, yeah.

He won the All-Ireland in 1957, I think.

- The rhythm that's in it just drives forward.

It's astonishing, you know.

- Yeah.

Beautiful.

Well, listen, I just wanna thank you all so much.

Thanks, Cathy.

- Not at all.

- And Robert and Damon and Eleanor, of course.

It's been a real pleasure to to hear your pieces.

And, yeah.

- Thank you so much.

- [Host] I'll see you soon.

- Yeah.

- [Singer] One, two, three.

One, two, three.

[lively folk music] ♪ In Oranmore ♪ In the county Galway ♪ One pleasant evening ♪ In the month of May ♪ I spied a damsel ♪ She was young and handsome ♪ Her beauty fairly ♪ Stole my breath away ♪ We kept on walking ♪ She kept on talking ♪ 'Til her father's cottage ♪ Came into view ♪ She said, come in, sir ♪ And meet my father ♪ And play to please him ♪ The Foggy Dew ♪ She wore no jewels ♪ No costly diamonds ♪ No paint, no powder ♪ No, none at all ♪ But she wore a bonnet ♪ With a ribbon on it ♪ And around her shoulders ♪ Was a Galway shawl ♪ Well, I played The Blackbird ♪ And then Stacks of Barley ♪ I played Rodney's Glory ♪ And The Foggy Dew ♪ And she sang each note like ♪ An Irish Linnet ♪ When the tears, they fell from her eyes so blue ♪ - All together now!

♪ She wore no jewels ♪ No costly diamonds ♪ No paint, no powder ♪ No, none at all ♪ But she wore a bonnet ♪ With a ribbon on it ♪ And around her shoulders ♪ Was a Galway shawl ♪ Woo [lively folk music] [lively folk music continues] [lively folk music continues] [gentle folk music] ♪ And in the morning ♪ As I was leaving ♪ I hit the road ♪ For old Donegal ♪ She said goodbye, sir ♪ She cried and kissed me ♪ My heart remains with ♪ That Galway shawl ♪ She wore no jewels [lively folk music] ♪ No costly diamonds ♪ No paint, no powder ♪ No, none at all ♪ But she wore a bonnet ♪ With a ribbon on it ♪ And around her shoulders ♪ Was a Galway shawl - One more time!

Come on now!

♪ She wore no jewels ♪ No costly diamonds ♪ No paint, no powder ♪ No, none at all ♪ But she wore a bonnet ♪ With a ribbon on it ♪ And around her shoulders ♪ Was a Galway shawl ♪ And around her shoulders ♪ Was a Galway [gentle folk music] - [Announcer] "Tradfest: The Dublin Castle Sessions" are funded in part by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sports, and Media.

[gentle folk music] [logo whooshes] [bright music]