Tara Music label - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Tara Music have been regarded for many years as one of the leading traditional Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

music recording companies. The label was set up by Jack Fitzgerald and John Cook back in the early 1970s.

Their first release was an album called Prosperous by a young Irish Singer 'Christy Moore', at that stage a lowly cult figure. There was quite a gap between that album coming out and anything further being released. Then in the early eighties there were two albums from Planxty

Planxty

Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...

'After The Break

After the Break

After The Break is a studio album by the Irish folk music band Planxty released in 1979. Now available to download from most major online retailers as well as on CD.- Track listing:#"The Good Ship Kangaroo"...

' and 'The Woman I Loved So Well

The Woman I Loved So Well

The Woman I Loved So Well is a studio album by Planxty released in 1980. Now available to download from most major online retailers as well as on CD.- Track listing:# "True Love Knows No Season"# "Out On The Ocean / Tiocfaidh Tu Abhaile Liom"...

', two solo albums from Christy Moore

Christy Moore

Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...

'The Iron Behind the Velvet' and 'Live In Dublin' as well as two albums from Clannad

Clannad

Clannad are an Irish musical group, from Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal. Their music has been variously described as bordering on folk and folk rock, Irish, Celtic and New Age, often incorporating elements of an even broader spectrum of smooth jazz and Gregorian chant...

'Crann Ull' and 'Fuaim'.

Theses were followed by the first of numerous albums from a promising new act called Stockton's Wing

Stockton's Wing

Stockton's Wing is an Irish band formed in 1977 by four All-Ireland champion musicians - Paul Roche flute/whistle, Maurice Lennon fiddle, Tommy Hayes bodhran, and Kieran Hanrahan banjo/mandolin, along with Tony Callinan on guitar and vocals.-Name:...

.

In the late seventies, Tara recorded Shaun Davey's 'The Brendan Voyage' a ground-breaking album which featured Liam O'Flynn

Liam O'Flynn

Liam O'Flynn is a master uilleann piper and prominent Irish folk musician. In addition to an impressive solo career and his work with the Irish traditional group Planxty, O'Flynn has recorded with many prominent international musical artists, including Mark Knopfler, the Everly Brothers, Enya,...

on uilleann pipes

Uilleann pipes

The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...

and a full orchestra. The Brendan Voyage launched Shaun Davey

Shaun Davey

- Early years :Shaun Davey was born in Belfast in 1948. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in the history of Art in 1971. He then took a master's degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. In the late 1970s, he made his first recording, "Davey and Morris," with Donal Lunny and others...

as a contemporary orchestral composer of international standard and led to further commissions for work in a similar vein, several of which - 'The Pilgrim', 'Granuaile' and 'The Relief of Derry Symphony', have been released on Tara.

Most of Shaun's works feature the truly exceptional vocalist Rita Connolly

Rita Connolly

Rita Connolly is a Dublin-born singer who has lived and worked in Ireland. She is primarily known for her work with composer Shaun Davey Shaun Davey who wrote a song cycle for her called 'Granuaile' based on the 16th century pirate queen Gráinne O'Malley as well as including her in other of his...

and the master of Irish piping Liam O'Flynn - both of whom have also recorded numerous solo albums for the Tara label under Shaun's supervision as producer.

Although the Riverdance

Riverdance

Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...

show and its music appeared to be an overnight success, elements of the music had been developing over many years prior to the Riverdance event. One of the strongest of these musical elements was introduced by Andy Irvine

Andy Irvine (musician)

Andrew Kennedy 'Andy' Irvine is a folk musician, singer, and songwriter, and a founding member of the popular band Planxty. He is an accomplished player of the mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, guitar-bouzouki, harmonica and hurdy-gurdy....

who, returned to Ireland from The Balkans and introduced Eastern European music and time signatures to the 'Planxty' who then proceeded to record a number of these instrumental tracks. Andy together with Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane is a songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle.early yearsDavy was born in Dublin in 1959 . At the age of 12 he started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him and inspired him with his love of all music genres...

recorded the 'EastWind' album, which was produced by Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan, is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The end result, Riverdance, was a seven-minute display of traditional Irish dancing that became a full-length stage production and spawned a worldwide craze...

, possibly the first seeds of what became Riverdance.

Tara also released Bill Whelan's first major orchestral work 'The Seville Suite'(and his most recent release The Connemara Suite). While albums such as Davy Spillane's 'Out of the Air' and 'Pipedreams' as well as 'The Storm' by Moving Hearts

Moving Hearts

Moving Hearts is an Irish folk-rock band formed in 1981. They followed in the footsteps of Horslips in combining Irish traditional music with rock and roll, and also added elements of jazz to their sound.-Career:...

feature some of the musical elements and instruments that are easily recognisable in their influence on the Riverdance music.

In recent years most of Tara's releases have been the artists recordings with Tara acting as distributor and coordinating press and publicity on artists such as, The Voice Squad

The Voice Squad

The Voice Squad are a traditional Irish singing group from Ireland. The members include Gerry Cullen, Phil Callery and Fran McPhail. They have recorded two albums and have toured Ireland, the UK and the US....

, Zoe Conway, Alan Kelly

Alan Kelly

Alan Kelly is an English-born former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Preston North End, Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers along with short loan spells at Stockport County and Birmingham City. He also represented the Republic of Ireland internationally wining 24 caps for...

, Emma Kate Tobia, Máirtín O'Connor

Máirtín O'Connor

Máirtín O'Connor is an Irish button accordionist who began playing the accordion at the age of nine, and his career has seen him as a member of many traditional music groups including, Midnight Well, De Dannan, The Boys of the Lough, and Skylark....

, Frankie Gavin and Michelle Lally

Michelle Lally

-Biography:Limerick born Lally is a singer from Ireland. She has covered several renditions of contemporary easy listening Irish traditional songs.-Musical career:...

Catalogue

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Cat. No.
! Title
! Artist
|-
| TARA1002/9
| The Best of Irish Piping

The Best of Irish Piping

The Best of Irish Piping is a two CD boxset incorporating The Pure Drop and The Fox Chase albums by Seamus. Liam O'Flynn wrote the sleevenotes.-Tracks:-References:...

| Seamus Ennis

Séamus Ennis

Séamus Ennis was an Irish piper, singer and folk-song collector.- Early years :In 1908 James Ennis, Séamus's father, was in a pawn-shop in London. Ennis bought a bag of small pieces of Uilleann pipes. They were made in the early nineteenth century by Coyne of Thomas Street in Dublin. James worked...

|-
| TARA2002
| The Iron Behind the Velvet

The Iron Behind the Velvet

The Iron Behind the Velvet was recorded by Christy Moore after the first breakup of Planxty. It features his brother Barry Moore on guitar & vocals as well as Planxty's Andy Irvine on mandolin, bouzouki, vocals and more...

| Christy Moore

Christy Moore

Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...

|-
| TARA2004
| Stockton's Wing (album)

Stockton's Wing (album)

This 1978 release by Stockton's Wing was the group's first album and was in a very traditional style in comparison to later releases. The album features the five founding members, Tommy Hayes on Bodhran & Jaw harp, Kieran Hanrahan on Banjo, Mandolin, Bouzouki & Harmonica, Paul Roche on Flute,...

| Stockton's Wing

Stockton's Wing

|-
| TARA2005
| Live In Dublin

Live in Dublin (Christy Moore album)

Live in Dublin is a live album by Irish singer/songwriter Christy Moore.We recorded this album in April 1978, when we did gigs at The Meeting Place, Pat Dowling's of Prosperous, Trinity College and the Grapevine Arts centre in North Great George's St. One number ' Clydes Bonnie Banks was recorded...

| Christy Moore

Christy Moore

Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...

|-
| TARA2006
| Noel Hill & Tony Linnane

Noel Hill & Tony Linnane

Noel Hill & Tony Linnane is an album by Noel Hill.When Noel Hill and Tony Linnane recorded this album back in 1978 they were two young musicians just starting out.-Tracks:# Humours of Ballyconnell; Drunken Landlady; Ryan's Reel# Geese in the Bog...

| Noel Hill & Tony Linnane
|-
| TARA2007
| Doublin'

Doublin'

Paddy Keenan on uilleann pipes and Paddy Glackin on fiddle were two of the founding members of one of Ireland's foremost traditional groups of all time The Bothy Band.-Tracks:# Reels: The Mountain Road / The Congress Reel...

| Paddy Glackin

Paddy Glackin

Paddy Glackin is an Irish fiddler from Clontarf, Dublin. His father Tom Glackin was from Donegal and Paddy's fiddle style reflects his family's Donegal roots. Glackin is considered one of the leading Irish fiddlers in the late 20th/early 21st centuries. He became fiddle champion at the All-Ireland...

& Paddy Keenan

Paddy Keenan

Paddy Keenan is an Irish player of the uilleann pipes who first gained fame as a founding member of The Bothy Band. Since that group's dissolution in the late 1970s, Keenan has released a number of solo and collaborative recordings, and continues to tour both as a soloist, and with...

|-
| TARA2008
| Prosperous
| Christy Moore

Christy Moore

Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore is a popular Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts...

|-
| TARA2017
| Out of the Air

Out of the Air

Out of the Air is an album by the Irish uilleann pipes player Davy Spillane, that was originally released on Tara Music in 1988. Allmusic awards this album with 4 stars....

| Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane

Band
|-
| TARA3001
| After The Break

After the Break

| Planxty

Planxty

Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...

|-
| TARA3004
| Take A Chance
| Stockton's Wing

Stockton's Wing

|-
| TARA3005
| The Woman I Loved So Well

The Woman I Loved So Well

| Planxty

Planxty

Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...

|-
| TARA3006
| The Brendan Voyage

The Brendan Voyage

Shaun Davey's first major orchestral suite which was composed for uilleann pipes played by Liam O'Flynn, depicting Tim Severin’s adventure in reconstructing Saint Brendan’s 6th century Atlantic crossing to America...

| Shaun Davey

Shaun Davey

/ Liam O'Flynn

Liam O'Flynn

|-
| TARA3007
| Crann Ull

Crann Úll

Crann Úll is the fifth album by Irish folk group Clannad released in 1980. It is also the first Clannad album to feature Eithne Ní Bhraonáin...

| Clannad

Clannad

|-
| TARA3008
| Fuaim

Fuaim

Fuaim is the sixth album by Irish folk group Clannad. It was released in 1982. It was produced by Nicky Ryan and was the last Clannad album to feature younger sister Eithne Ní Bhraonáin . It is also the only Clannad album to credit her; while she performed keyboard and backing vocals on "Crann...

| Clannad

Clannad

|-
| TARA3014
| The Storm

The Storm (Moving Hearts)

While the original line-up of Moving Hearts had Christy Moore on vocals and later versions had the likes of Mick Hanly and Flo McSweeney singing, "The Storm" was purely instrumental...

| Moving Hearts

Moving Hearts

Granuaile (album)

Granuaile is a blend of Classical and Irish Folk Music written by Shaun Davey for singer Rita Connolly. It is based on the life and times of the 16th century Irish pirate queen Gráinne O'Mally, who was also known as Granuaile...

| Shaun Davey

Shaun Davey

/ Rita Connolly

Rita Connolly

Atlantic Bridge (album)

Atlantic Bridge was the Irish uilleann pipes player Davy Spillane's first solo album after the break-up of Moving Hearts. Together with producer P.J. Curtis he assembled a stellar cast of musicians from both sides of the Atlantic including, Albert Lee, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Christy Moore and...

| Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane

|-
| TARA3023
| Shadow Hunter
| Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane

|-
| TARA3024
| The Relief of Derry Symphony
| Shaun Davey

Shaun Davey

|-
| TARA3026
| Pipedreams
| Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane

|-
| TARA3027
| EastWind

EastWind

The EastWind album, from Andy Irvine & Davy Spillane, serves as a musical meeting of Celtic Music and World Music. It was widely regarded as revolutionary at the time of recording.-Track listing:# "Chetvorno Horo" 3:48# "The Bear's Rock" 3:31...

| Andy Irvine & Davy Spillane

Davy Spillane

|-
| TARA3028
| The Crooked Rose
| Stockton's Wing

Stockton's Wing

|-
| TARA3029
| Rita Connolly

Rita Connolly (album)

Rita Connolly is the first solo recording by Rita Connolly. It features guest appearances by Davy Spillane, Liam O'Flynn, The Voice Squad, Máirtín O'Connor, Palle Mikkelborg, Ray Lynam, amidst others. The album includes a number of Connolly's own compositions.-Track listing:#"Venezuela" – 4:49 Rita...

| Rita Connolly

Rita Connolly

|-
| TARA3030
| The Seville Suite
| Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan

|-
| TARA3031
| Out To An Other Side

Out To An Other Side

As is the case with a number of Liam's albums the title Out To An Other Side come from the writing of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney with whom Liam has performed live on numerous occasions...

| Liam O'Flynn

Liam O'Flynn

|-
| TARA3032
| The Pilgrim

The Pilgrim (1983 album)

In 1983, following the hugely successful performance of Shaun Davey's work The Brendan Voyage the previous year, The Festival Interceltique de Lorient commissioned Shaun to compose The Lorient Festival Suite for orchestra and Celtic soloists representing the seven Celtic countries or regions and...

| Shaun Davey

Shaun Davey

|-
| TARA3033
| Valpariso
| Rita Connolly

Rita Connolly

|-
| TARA3034
| The Given Note

The Given Note

The Given Note title was suggested by Liam's good friend Seamus Heaney winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature, Seamus also wrote a fine tribute to Liam which can be found in the sleeve notes of the album.-Tracks:1) O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick...

| Liam O'Flynn

Liam O'Flynn

|-
| TARA3035
| Causeway
| Nollaig Casey

Nollaig Casey

Nollaig Casey is an Irish fiddle player ,and has an international reputation as one of Ireland's finest fiddle players. By the time she was eleven years old she could play violin, piano, tin whistle and uilleann pipes. During her teenage years she learned to play in both the classical and...

& Arty McGlynn

Arty McGlynn

Arty McGlynn is an Irish guitarist born in Omagh, County Tyrone. In addition to his solo work, he has collaborated with different notable groups such as Patrick Street, Planxty, Four Men and a Dog, De Dannan and the Van Morrison Band. He played guitar on the critically acclaimed 1989 Van Morrison...

|-
| TARA3036
| Letting Go
| Stockton's Wing

Stockton's Wing

|-
| TARA3037
| The Piper's Call

The Piper's Call

The Piper's Call by Liam O'Flynn was released on CD as well as video in 1999. There was also a television programme which was shown on PBS in the US and TG4 in Ireland.-Tracks:1) The Humours of Kiltyclogher, Julia Clifford's...

| Liam O'Flynn

Liam O'Flynn

Stockton's Wing

|-
| TARA4004
| Many's The Foolish Youth
| The Voice Squad

The Voice Squad

Frankie Gavin

Frankie Gavin, b.1956, Corrandulla, County Galway, is a fiddle player of traditional Irish music.Frankie Gavin is from a musical family; parents and siblings being players of the fiddle and accordion. As a child he played the tin whistle and, later, the flute. He received some formal training in...

The Voice Squad

Stocktons wing live

-MUSICIANS:Kieran Hanrahan; Banjo, Mandolin, Harmonica Mike Hanrahan;Vocals, Guitar Maurice Lennon;Fiddle, Viola Paul Roche;Flute, Whistles Fran Breen;Drums Tony Molloy; Bass Backing Vocals; The Winglettes...

- Take One
| Stockton's Wing

Stockton's Wing

|-
| TARA4017
| May We Never Have To Say Goodbye
| Shaun Davey

Shaun Davey

Michelle Lally

-Biography:Limerick born Lally is a singer from Ireland. She has covered several renditions of contemporary easy listening Irish traditional songs.-Musical career:...

|-
| TARA4020
| The Full Score
| Frankie Gavin

Frankie Gavin

& Hibernian Rhapsody
|-
| TARA4021
| The Conemara Suite
|Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan

Shaun Davey

|-
| TARA9003
| Best of Irish Ballads
| John Ahern
|}

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