Here’s a popular song from the sweatiest troubadour in Kildare. Christy Moore has been performing for a very long time. He has been in various bands, from Planxty to Moving Hearts to The Bothy Band. He has also carved out a successful career as a solo performer, and more recently has toured with the virtuoso […]
Black is the colour is one of the best known folk ballads in The Celtic Isles, being covered by many notable artists, some of whom are shown here. Amazingly, no one knows who wrote it. It apparently came over to the USA from Scotland during the massive wave of migrations that took place during the […]
Here’s a rousing Republican ballad to set you up for your day. This well known song was written by a Belfast man by the name of Paddy ‘Paddy Joe’ McGuigan, who was a member of the popular Republican folk group, Barleycorn. Paddy Joe died in 2014. He left behind many fine songs and they form […]
Here we have the pleasure of listening to Dick Gaughan‘s rendition of the popular Irish rebel song Four Green Fields. Gaughan’s voice is haunting and lends itself beautifully to this lament. – If you care, give it a share –
This is a strong performance by the Glaswegian giant of folk music in the Celtic Isles. It is prefaced by a short intro to James Connolly, the Irish-Scottish socialist who was executed by British Army firing squad as he was tied to a chair due to his injuries. The Glasgow accent of Gaughan is great […]
Jeff Beck is a blues legend and for a very good reason, he can fecking play. In this video we can hear him perform a rendition of the Irish folk ballad, Women Of Ireland, in Madison Square Garden, NYC in 2013. It’s instrumental only on this one. The song Women of Ireland or “Mná na hÉireann” is […]
The Wild Colonial Boy is an Irish-Australian ballad that recounts the exploits of an Irish emigre to Oz (or the son of Irish emigres) who got into all sorts of bother as he resisted the colonial authorities. In the original poem, his name was John (Jack) Donohoe (Donohue), said by some to have been a […]
This has to be one of the most powerful renditions of the classic Irish ballad. This melody was taken from an old Gaelic air and had lyrics put to it by the English song-writer, Frederick Weatherly.
John Kelly (Kelly of Killanne) (died c. 25 June 1798) lived in the town of Killane in the parish of Rathnure and was a United Irishman leader who fought in the Rising of 1798. While Kelly was obviously well known to rebel and loyalist alike during the short duration of the Wexford rebellion, almost nothing is […]
Rebel Voice 