Pay The Reckoning
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ABC Sites
For those who aren't familiar, ABC is a means of transcribing tunes so that (with appropriate software) your computer can play the tune. The tune can also be printed out as sheet music (again providing you have appropriate software). Finally, given a little time and a little practice, you may find that you will be able to "read" ABC files in much the same way as you would read sheet music. (Personally I tend - manually! - to convert ABC files of tunes with which I'm not familiar into tablature ... but if I'm familiar with the tune, the ABC file serves as a useful pointer for passages which I haven't been able to figure out by ear.)
The "Bible" for ABC sites is Chris Walshaw's. The abc home page
The best ABC tune finder - searches the Web for tunes - is that created and maintained by John Chambers. JC's ABC tune finder
There are one or two ABC "repositories" to which we'd like to draw to your attention. There are hundreds more out there. We're not going to attempt a comprehensive listing. Explore!
The University of Dublin Traditional Music Society tune page is worth a visit. Tunes are stored in ABC and sheet music format. DCU - Traditional Music Society
Ceolas have an interesting collection of ABC links. Tunes at Ceolas
Go direct to Bernie Stocks' ABC tune books. Fiddle Tunes
Richard Robinson's tunebook has a host of traditional tunes, including Scandinavian, Balkan and French tunes - and more besides! Richard Robinson's Tunebook
Finally, have a look at Henrik Norbeck's ABC Tune Page. Hundreds upon hundreds of tunes! Henrik Norbeck's Abc Tunes
There are lots of folk out there who are writing their own tunes in various folk traditions. Here are some links. If you're aware of any others we should include, e-mail aidan@paythereckoning.com.
I'd like to shake Bill Black's hand! The man knocks together some fine tunes. Visit him at http://www.capecod.net/~bblack/
Mark Fitzsimon's tunes can be found at http://www.celticmusic.co.nz/greenman/mark/ABC.txt
Gavin Atkin's tunes are at http://home.clara.net/gmatkin/gavs.abc
Taz Tarry's tunes are at http://home.clara.net/gmatkin/taztunes.abc
Stephen McNally's tunes are at http://www.pufferbar.com/tunes/mcnally.abc
Finally ... not just folk/traditional music oriented ... http://www.freesheetmusic.net/. This is a great site to get lost in!
Mandolin and Banjo Sites
Pay The Reckoning has a particular fondness for the mandolin and tenor banjo. If you play mandolin, bouzouki, tenor banjo, mandola or any other instrument in this family you might like to check out these sites.
MandolinCafe. Discussion Board, Tablature Archive, links to mandolin sites worldwide, etc., etc. Very well designed. A triumph of style and content (you'll find a lot of tunes there posted by Aidan Crossey - a founder member of the Pay The Reckoning organisation). Mandolin Cafe
Hans Speek's extremely useful (and fascinating) bouzouki site. Players of the 'zouk - or indeed any 4-course instrument - will find much of interest here. http://www.homepages.hetnet.nl/mr_3/208/hspeek/bouzouki/
http://www.banjolin.supanet.com ... Paul's superb resource for the player of mandolin, banjo or bouzouki. His descriptions of the various modes employed in traditional music are the clearest we've yet come across. Pay him a visit and tell him Pay The Reckoning recommended you!
Finally two non-string sites. Firstly the excellent ConcertinaNet, which is an ultimate resource for the concertina player. Secondly "Chiff and Fipple", a tin whistle-oriented site, with a great deal of interest to the Irish musician. (Pay The reckoning was first made aware of Chiff and Fipple after stumbling across a reference to our fondness for naming imaginary tunes in its bulletin board ... thanks Peter Laban!)
General Irish Music Sites
Rapidly establishing itself as THE first port of call for the net-enabled ITM fanatic is The Session (http://www.thesession.org). Superbly designed by a webbie who can tell the difference between shite and custard!
Dick Glasgow ... an excellent man ... has put together a site which focuses on goings-on on the Causeway coast. However we think its appeal is more universal. Pay him a visit at http://www.causewaymusic.com.
We met a man in the pub the other night (as you do!). By the name of Tony Kearns. A photographer with a great eye for photographing the music, Tony hosts the official (?) Willie Week website. Check out his gallery - and the other elements of the site at http://www.tonykearns.com
A good stopping-off point for the traditional Irish music fan is Ceolas' site. Ceolas celtic music archive
We can't recommend highly enough their listing of sites with a traditional Irish music slant. To cut to the chase, follow the link Celtic music on the Internet
Tunes, lyrics, the whole kit'n'caboodle. Hundreds of links. Irish music, Scottish, country. Check out http://www.geocities.com/george_seto.geo/lyric.htm. Pay The Reckoning could spend its entire life skitting through these links!! (In fact we just bloody well might!)
Recently launched and generating a fair bit of excitement, the excellent http://www.tradmusic.com
Not just music. A web guide to all things Irish. Great stuff. Book the evening off and have a surf through Searc's Web at http://www.searcs-web.com/
Not solely Irish-oriented, Folk And Roots' site will nevertheless contain much to keep the trad fanatic occupied - as well as opening our eyes and ears to other forms of folk and traditional music from around the world. Worth keeping an eye on for their regularly-updated gig listing, if for no other reason. http://www.folkandroots.co.uk
Musical Instruments
There are lots of sites on the web which sell good-quality traditional instruments. Pay The Reckoning are pleased to endorse the following.
The Music Room The Music Room Traditional Musical Instruments and related Folk Music
Hobgoblin Hobgoblin Music International Index
Radio Links
Mike Harding is one of the few British broadcasters on national radio who regularly plays traditional Irish music (amongst other types of folk music). Visit his site by following this link. BBC Online - Radio 2 - The Shows - Mike Harding
RTE Radio's has two shows - Ceili House and The Late Session - which are well worth listening to via their RealAudio links. The programmes are listed on the RTE Radio I webpage which can be visited via this link. RTÉ Online: Radio: Audio Downloads
And while national radio stations are always worth a listen, let's not forget the stalwarts of local radio, whose shows are worth checking out. For example, Tim Moon of BCB Radio. Go to www.bcb.yorks.com. You'll find Tim's a man of taste!
CD, etc. Sites
The usual web-based suspects, including Amazon, stock a fairly good range of traditional Irish CDs and tapes. However those who wish to explore online stores that are more specialist could do worse than to check out the following:
UK-based company Copperplate handles a very carefully selected range of execptionally high quality recordings by Irish artists. No dross here! Check them out at http://go.to/copperplate.
Ossian - based in Cork - have a wide selection of traditional Irish music. An interesting feature of the site is the ability to browse/search by main instrument played on a particular CD. Homepage_new_June_98.html
Elderly - a US site - is also worth a look. Specialising in folk and roots music (specifically instruments), they have an extensive selection of Irish CDs in amongst a wide selection of folk music from other quarters. Elderly Instruments Elderly Instruments
Tayberry come highly recommended. Visit them here.
And Finally ...
A collection of sites created by and for folk and traditional music enthusiasts. As we trip across more of these, we'll post links on our site. If you would like us to link to sites which you rate highly, then e-mail us with the details aidan@paythereckoning.com.
This section kicks off with The 'Trasna Boys - a collection of musicians based in and around Derrytrasna, County Armagh. Elsewhere in this site you'll come across Aidan Crossey's demented jig "Boxing Day In Kane's" - a jig inspired by a day playing music and drinking with these lachakoes! http://www.traduladh.utvinternet.com/
A childhood friend of Pay The Reckoning's, Harald Juengst of German band, Sheevon, recently got in touch. We're delighted to see that the band is going from strength to strength. See for yourself at http://www.sheevon.com.
Les Bamber's page is well-worth a visit http://www.acousticfolkmusic.co.uk/
Danny Mackay has posted some info about a session local to Pay The Reckoning Mansions - at the Woodman in Lee High Road, Lewisham. These guys can PLAY! http://hometown.aol.co.uk/cruiseroisin/myhomepage/makingmusic.html
Irish traditional music courtesy of Mc Dermott's Handy http://www.hslc.org/~gormley/
Stunning! Touching! Funny! Just three of the words Pay The Reckoning would use to describe Jim Maginn's website which features his photographs of traditional Irish musicians. Some, sadly, no longer with us. (A case in point being Tommy Gunn whose image adorns the introduction to the site.) Check the photographs out at http://www.jimmaginn.fsnet.co.uk/.
Haste To The Wedding, a County Antrim-based outfit. http://www.geocities.com/hastetothe_wedding/index.html
Keep an eye out for future developments on http://www.geocities.com/s_m_ash/yellow_folk.html.
This site's busy! (In contrast to the design ethos of Pay The Reckoning). http://www.geocities.com/irish19144/index.html But it's good crack. Give it a whirl!
Our kind of people ... and they live within a hound's goul of the neck of the woods to which Pay The Reckoning hopes to relocate. Tell them Pay The Reckoning sent ye! http://www.downie65.freeserve.co.uk/
This is the obsessive's obsessive! Just check out the borders!! A truly impressive site. http://www.concentric.net/~Pdarcy/
Irish Traditional Music in North West England. A great site ... impressive links. Why the hell should we draw up a links page, when Frances O'Rourke has set up such an extensive collection! Visit http://www.talented.fsnet.co.uk/index.html
What do you give as a present to the person who has everything? Well ... if they're an afficionado of Irish Traditional Music, why not ask Edel Sullivan to compose a tune in their honour? The tune will still be around long after the chocolates would have melted and the flowers wilted. Visit http://www.musicpresent.com/ and tell Edel that Pay The Reckoning sent you.
Traditional Irish musicians and native Catalonians ... visit http://www.slainte.es.org/ and http://nebeda.eresmas.com/.
The Neff Brothers are fine musicians. Visit their homepage at http://homepage.eircom.net/~teaghlach.
Thanks to Adam Sweet of the American band Woodkerne for pointing us in the direction of the band's web pages http://woodkerne.org/. Adam also asked us to mention Fiddle Hill, another of his outfits which blends klezmer and Celtic music. Sounds interesting? Take a look at http://fiddlehill.com/.
I'd come across Terry Blankenship's site on one or two occasions recently before he contacted me with some advice re obtaining a fairly rare CD. Nice one, Terry! Have a gawk at http://home.cinci.rr.com/terryblankenship/.
Pay the Reckoning would like to swap a few tunes with Aine Cooke. Check out her very tasteful bi-lingual site at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/8998/naisc_ceoil.html.
Lorcan Otway from Sorcha Dorcha has been in touch recently with king words of encouragement. G'wan, Lorcan! Flattery'll get you everywhere! Drop by their site at http://hometown.aol.com/inobu/myhomepage/newsletter.html.
Neck! I knew these guys when they were just starting out ... we spent a few drunken evenings in Auntie Annie's and a few other dives I can barely remember. Take a deep breath and then click http://www.neck-neck.freeserve.co.uk/.
Folk and Traditional music in the Harlow area ... courtesy of http://www.macgrath.freeserve.co.uk/
The homepage of Kevin Rowsome - grandson of the legendary Leo Rowsome and a very accomplished piper in his own right. http://www.kevinrowsome.ipfox.com/
Neil Anderson's heavy duty piping page. http://www.antipypr.com/
Musical Traditions ... authoritative! http://www.mustrad.org.uk/
Nick Kelly's labour of love, "The Balladeers" http://www.theballadeers.com/welcome.htm
An absorbing dissection of the provenance of a folk-song http://www.shef.ac.uk/~assem/2/2tower1.html
"Olson's site". Get stuck in here. Explore. Leave only for refreshment, ablutions and other physical necessities. http://users.erols.com/olsonw/
A fascinating, lovingly compiled tribute to Felix and Johnny Doran, highly regarded travelling pipers. http://w1.461.telia.com/~u46103557/jdoran.html
Ulstersongs. Proponents of traditional Irish song http://www.ulstersongs.com/
One of the most scholarly traditional music journals on the web - Musical Traditions! Pay The Reckoning would like to be Musical Traditions when we grow up ... http://www.mustrad.org.uk/
Alternatively we might like to be Dirty Linen. http://www.dirtylinen.com
Or Folk Roots. http://www.froots.demon.co.uk
Armagh Pipers Club ... based only a few miles from Pay The Reckoning's birthplace. Stomping ground of the phenomenally good Cillian Vallely, a piper of whom we're destined to hear a lot over the next few years. http://www.armaghpipers.com/
At last bodhran players (bodhranii) have a place to call their own. Drop by and visit with them for a while. (earplugs optional!) http://www.bodhranii.org.uk/
Bodleian Ballads - a huge collection of ballads collected over the years by the Bodleian Library and made available via the web to the world! If this isn't the height of altruism, then ... we're speechless http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads/ballads.htm
Off The Beaten Track
Just to show that we're not OBSESSED with Irish music, Pay the Reckoning will occasionally point you in another direction altogether. And let's face it, why the fuck shouldn't we?
For the time being, let's just have the one link, to my very good friends, The Phobics. See you soon, lads! (And let's hope I stay sober and don't get the shit kicked out of me by simian bouncers.) "Is that country, is it proper?" http://www.thephobics.com/
