Here Is A Health

Archival release of songs from a small rural community in West Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. Recorded by Seán Corcoran and originally released on double cassette 1986, these recordings are now made available for the first time on double vinyl and CD with a newly edited booklet containing extensive liner notes.

The recordings that make up this wonderful collection are mainly of traditional songs, with a few fiddle-tunes and stories, made in the Derrygonnelly area of West Fermanagh, N. Ireland at various times between 1979–1985, with the assistance of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. They are “field-recordings” (actually mostly kitchen-recordings, with a few pub-recordings and even one bedroom-recording). The performances were recorded in their own natural context where art and life are not separate. Hence the occasional background sounds of food being prepared, tea-cups rattling, clocks ticking, pots boiling, tractors passing. Singers are usually surrounded by family or friends who comment, encourage, and even help out if memory lapses. The selection of a couple of dozen items from a vast amount of recorded material was quite a difficult process and meant the omission of many fine singers. It is hoped that this may be rectified in a future publication. The intention was to give a general impression of the kind of material to be heard at a typical “house-kayley”, with its mixture of serious and light-hearted songs, stories, jokes and fiddle-tunes.