Conor Pass rises 1496 feet above the town of Dingle on the southwest coast of Ireland. If you drove over that pass between 1994 and 2004, you might have glimpsed a Celtic harper silhouetted against the massive flank of Mount Brandon. For those ten years, whenever the weather permitted, I was on top of the Conor Pass playing the harp music of ancient Ireland. When the wind picked up and the rain started to fall, I would return to my recording studio where I recorded these tracks. At that time, Dingle had become a magnet for amazing musicians from all over the world who came to immerse themselves in the local traditions and add their own vibrant contributions. We were expatriates soaking up the magic and giving our own music back in return to our beloved adopted home of An Daingean. This recording features two guitarists from California, a fiddler and a bassist from Germany, a percussionist from Australia, and the legendary piper and low whistle player from Dingle, Eoin Duignan, who also composed the final track. The brilliant local fiddler, Maire Breatnach, composed two more tracks. We were from all over, and we brought with us our own traditions and talents. The music we created together had its roots in Ireland but drew on influences from around the world. These tracks were never released, but twenty years later I have extracted them from the digital vault as a tribute to the magic of that time and place.
credits
released June 6, 2022
fiddle–Toni Geiling
guitar–Bruce Abrams
low whistle–Eoin Duignan
bass–Akki Schulz
frame drum–Greg Sheehan
hammer dulcimer–Harris Moore
rhythm guitar on track 1–William Coulter
bass on track 7–Steve Coulter
recorded and mixed by Steve Coulter
mastered by Rainer Gembalczyk at Sienna Digital
cover photo–George Karbus
Mt. Brandon photo–Florian Walsh
harp photo–Tony Fazio
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