Blackwater (Altan album)
Encyclopedia
Blackwater is the fifth studio album by Altan, released in 1996 on the Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

 label. Three of the songs are sung in Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

. "Ar Bhruach Na Carraige Baine" is sung partly in English and in Irish. "Blackwaterside" is sung in English. The final tune is a tribute to Frankie Kennedy
Frankie Kennedy
Frankie Kennedy was a flute and tin whistle player born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was also the co-founder of the band Altan, formed with his wife Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh...

 written by Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish traditional band Altan.-Biography:Ní Mhaonaigh grew up in Gweedore , County Donegal, on the northwest coast of Ireland....

 herself.

Track listing

  1. "Johnny Boyle's/ King of the Pipers" (Trad/ Trad) (Instr) - 3.30
  2. "Dark Haired Lass/ Biddy From Muckross/ Sean Maguire's" (Reels) (Trad/ Trad/ Trad) (Instr) - 2:51
  3. "Stór, A Stór, A Ghrá"' (song) (Traditional) (Irish) - 2:51
  4. "Strathspey/ Con McGinley's/ The Newfoundland Reel" (Strathspey and Reels) (Trad/ Trad/ Trad) (Instr) -3:11
  5. "Tá Mé 'Mo Shuí (I am awake)" (song) (Traditional) (Gaelic) - 4:08
  6. "An Gasúr Mor/ Bunker Hill/ Dogs Among the Bushes" (Hornpipe and Reels) (Trad/ Trad/ Trad) (Instr) - 2:36
  7. "Molly Na gCuach Ní Chuilleanáin (The curly haired Molly)"(song) (Traditional) (Irish) - 4:57
  8. "Jenny Picking Cockles/ Farewell to Leitrim/ John Doherty's" (Reels) (Trad/ Trad/ Trad) (Instr) - 2:41
  9. "Ar Bhruach Na Carraige Báine" (song) (Traditional) (sung in English and Irish) - 2:38
  10. "The Dance of the Honeybees" (hornpipe) (Charlie Lennon) (Instr) - 3:24
  11. "Blackwaterside" (song) (Traditional) (English) - 3:43
  12. "A Tune for Frankie" (jig) (Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
    Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
    Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish traditional band Altan.-Biography:Ní Mhaonaigh grew up in Gweedore , County Donegal, on the northwest coast of Ireland....

    ) - 3:25

Personnel

  • Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
    Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
    Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish traditional band Altan.-Biography:Ní Mhaonaigh grew up in Gweedore , County Donegal, on the northwest coast of Ireland....

     – Fiddle
    Fiddle
    The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

    , vocals
  • Ciaran Tourish – Fiddle, whistle
    Tin whistle
    The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...

    , backing vocals
  • Dermot Byrne – Accordion
    Accordion
    The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

    , melodeon
    Melodeon (organ)
    A melodeon is a type of 19th century reed organ with a foot-operated vacuum bellows, and a piano keyboard. It differs from the related harmonium, which uses a pressure bellows. Melodeons were manufactured in the United States sometime after 1812 until the Civil War era...

  • Ciarán Curran – Bouzouki
    Bouzouki
    The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...

  • Mark Kelly – Guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

    , backing vocals
  • Dáithí Sproule
    Dáithí Sproule
    Dáithí Sproule is a guitarist and singer of traditional Irish music from Derry, Northern Ireland. His niece is the singer songwriter Claire Sproule.-Biography:...

     – Guitar, backing vocals

Guests Musicians

  • Steve Cooney – Bass
    Double bass
    The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

     (tracks 7, 9, 10, 12), backing vocals (tracks 3, 7)
  • Conan Doyle – Backing vocals (track 3)
  • Jimmy Higgins – Bodhrán (tracks 1, 3, 5), darrbuka (track 8), snare drum
    Snare drum
    The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...

     (track 7), wood block
    Wood block
    A woodblock is essentially a small piece of slit drum made from a single piece of wood and used as a percussion instrument. It is struck with a stick, making a characteristically percussive sound....

     (track 9), clay drum
    Clay drum
    A clay drum is a variety of percussion instrument found in various parts of the world. It may refer to:-Membranophones:*Goblet drum, from the Middle East*Khol, from India*Kus, from Iran*Madal, from Nepal*Mrdanga, from India...

    s (track 3)
  • Dónal Lunny
    Dónal Lunny
    Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...

     – Bouzouki (track 10), bodhrán
    Bodhrán
    The bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...

     (tracks 4, 7, 9, 12), keyboards
    Musical keyboard
    A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...

     (tracks 5, 7, 9, 12)
  • Maighréad Ní Dhomhnaill
    Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill
    Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish traditional singer from Kells, County Meath. Known for her work with the short-lived, but very highly regarded Skara Brae and her collaborations with sister Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, as well as other traditional musicians...

     – Backing vocals (track 3)
  • Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill
    Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill
    Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish traditional singer, pianist, and composer, considered one of the most influential female vocalists in the history of Irish music. She is famed for her work with traditional Irish groups such as Skara Brae, The Bothy Band, Relativity, Touchstone, and Nightnoise.-...

     – Backing vocals (track 3), piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

     (track 11)
  • Anna Ní Mhaonaigh – Backing vocals (track 7)
  • Brendan Power – Harmonica
    Harmonica
    The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

     (tracks 3, 7, 9)
  • String quartet
    String quartet
    A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

    :
  • Máire Breatnach
    Máire Breatnach
    Máire Breatnach is one of the most prominent fiddle players in Ireland. She also sings in Irish on some of her albums. Since the early 1990s, she has had five solo albums, participated in many other albums , with substantive contributions in some cases, and contributed to many music CDs, as well as...

     — Viola
    Viola
    The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

  • Annette Cleary — Cello
  • David James — Cello
    Cello
    The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

  • Tommy Kane — Violin
    Violin
    The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....


Production

  • Brian Masterson – Producer, Engineer
  • David Scheinmann – Photography
  • The Design Corporation – Design
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