Sad news to start with this week in the passing of Rochester, New York’s Ted McGraw. McGraw was a cornerstone of Irish music in the Northeast. In addition to being an accomplished accordion player (and extremely knowledgeable of its mechanical intricacies), he founded the Tom Finucane branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann/Rochester Irish Musicians Association and was the host of “The Irish Party House” radio show on NPR-affiliate station WXXI from 1974-2017.
McGraw was also an historian and inveterate collector of Irish music recordings and ephemera. He had a superb personal collection that not only included a large number of early Irish recordings, but also recordings from the French Canadian, Scottish and Canadian Maritime traditions. He maintained a website that was an outstanding resource for fellow music historians and was willing to help researchers in their work, responding kindly to inquiries. The Ted McGraw Collection is now part of the Ward Irish Music Archive in Milwaukee.
He also wrote about Irish music with his most important work perhaps being “The McNulty Family,” an article that set the standard for research on that important Irish family and appeared in a 2010 issue of the “Journal of the Society for American Music.”
In recognition for his years of outstanding achievement McGraw was inducted to CCÉ’s Northeast Region’s Hall of Fame in 2003. Thank you, Ted for all you did for the music – we’re all the richer for it.
In the media player this week is “Old Reels of the World,” a new CD of archival recordings issued by the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin. Consisting of selections from ITMA’s Tom Davis, Tony Macmahon and Larry Redican collections, this is an album I love and one wish all of this column’s readers would check out not simply because the music is excellent but because it covers so much ground with respect to Irish music from the 1950s through to the ‘90s.
Much of this project’s success is due to its curator Pádraic Mac Mathúna. Mac Mathúna grew up in the music, but it seems appropriate first to point out that archival work is in his blood. His mother Dolly, a singer and a prominent figure in the 1960s ballad revival, brought an archival awareness into the home as her father, a singer as well, had once provided songs for the Irish Folklore Commission. However, it was his father, Ciarán Mac Mathúna, who may have had an even more acute influence: he was an RTÉ producer who from the 1950s collected and presented traditional music through legendary radio programs including “Ceolta Tíre” and “A Job of Journeywork.”
Growing up in this sort of environment helped the younger Mac Mathúna better understand traditional music but also led him to develop into an accomplished uilleann piper with an exceptional ear for the music. As a young man, he was privileged to know piping greats such as Séamus Ennis, Leo Rowsome and Willie Clancy; he learned from Dan O’Dowd and Brian Gallaher; and he became a close friend of Liam O’Flynn. Now retired from his career as a gastroenterologist, he has been part of ITMA’s archiving team since 2021.
In his work at ITMA, Mac Mathúna has been able to work with all sorts of rare and interesting things, with the Redican, Davis and MacMahon collections being of particular significance.
Born in Dublin, Redican came to New York City in 1929 where he became a friend of the great Michael Coleman. In the 1950s and 1960s, he became one of the City’s most prominent Irish musicians and at the time was known both for making numerous private recordings of his prominent musician friends and also receiving private recordings sent to him by The Pipers’ Club in Dublin. These very rare recordings reflect not just how the music was played by, but also how new music was circulated among the musicians of the day.
Tom Davis was a collector who recorded music in a variety of contexts, including fleadhanna, concerts, and private homes. Davis was a familiar and ubiquitous sight for musicians in the 1960s and 1970s, and it’s thought that his collection, which includes thousands of tapes, is the largest by a single individual in ITMA archive.
Tony MacMahon is a legend in the music. One of the greatest button accordion players, he was also a renowned radio and TV producer whose shows, like “The Long Note” and “Bring Down the Lamp,” were significant for bringing traditional music to larger audiences. MacMahon’s collection includes a large number of private audio and video recordings, with the tracks included here dating to the 1980s and ‘90s.
The artists that appear on this recording in many ways represent the core of the Irish tradition during the period covered. They include the Tulla Céilí Band; Séan Keane; Tony MacMahon & Séamus Connolly; Joe Heaney; Séamus Tansey; Séan Keane & Bridie Lafferty; Willie Clancy; Nan Tom Taimín de Búrca; Charlie Lennon, Mick O’Connor, Séamus Mac Mathúna & Mark Kelly; John Kelly & James Kelly; Bobby Casey; Joe Leary, Joe Cooley & Mongan Murray; Tommie Potts; Larry Redican, Joe Burke, Jack Coen & Felix Dolan; Séan Maguire; Antóin MacGabhann & Paddy Ryan; Leo Rowsome; Kathleen Harrington & Elizabeth Crotty; Paddy Canny & Eileen O’Brien; Tommie Potts & Séamus Ennis; and the Castle Céilí Band.
Each of these tracks opens a door on a magical moment from the past and each is sublime in its own way. The source recordings represent a variety of settings, from raucous public performances, to reverent tunes in pub settings, to private in-home moments meant for others that feel very intimate in nature. We are lucky Redican, Davis, and MacMahon were able to collect as much as they did, but Mac Mathúna’s ear for nuance and greatness gives these multifarious recordings their collective shape. His liner notes are excellent as well. The mastering, done by Seán Keegan, adds to Mac Mathúna’s vision by giving the tracks here a uniform presentation that allows the listener a very modern listening experience.
“Old Reels of the World” is a superb album. Mac Mathúna did extraordinary work compiling this – it’s is not only a fabulous representation of ITMA’s holdings but a great embodiment of their mission in general. While the music the performers make on this collection stands on its own, the constellation of sources and long period that’s represented give it substantial historical value. Very highly recommended. It you love traditional music – especially that from the past – make an effort to check this one out, you will be delighted! “Old Reels of the World” can be purchased through the Irish Traditional Music Archive’s shop, here.
