Paddy Fahy
Encyclopedia
Paddy Fahey is an Irish composer and fiddle
r who is considered one of the finest living composers of tunes that are in the style of traditional Irish music.
Fahey is from Kilconnell
in East Galway
. His music has a distinctive yearning, magical quality often referred to as "Draíocht". His music has been recorded by many of the finest traditional Irish musicians including Martin Hayes
, Planxty
, John Carty
and Kevin Burke. In recent years a few recordings featured Fahey's music prominently including recordings by Liz and Yvonne Kane and Breda Keville.
Fahey is something of an enigma in the traditional Irish music world in that he has never made a commercial recording despite the fact that he is an exceptional fiddler, nor has he published a book of his compositions. There are some privately made recordings of Fahey which have been distributed amongst musicians since the 1970s, and transcriptions of his tunes are found in many tune collections and on Internet resources such as www.thesession.org.
Fahey has never given his compositions names, instead they tend to be simply named "Paddy Fahey's Reel No.1", "Paddy Fahey's Jig No.2", etc. His known compositions number around 60 tunes, all of which are either jig
s, reel
s or hornpipe
s.
In 2001 Fahey was named Composer of The Year by Irish Language TV station TG4
at their annual award ceremony 'Gradam Ceoil TG4'.
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...
r who is considered one of the finest living composers of tunes that are in the style of traditional Irish music.
Fahey is from Kilconnell
Kilconnell
Kilconnell is a small rural village in County Galway, Ireland.Its population in 2006 was 680. Its land is mainly used for dairy farming and the raising of cattle....
in East Galway
County Galway
County Galway is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the city of Galway. Galway County Council is the local authority for the county. There are several strongly Irish-speaking areas in the west of the county...
. His music has a distinctive yearning, magical quality often referred to as "Draíocht". His music has been recorded by many of the finest traditional Irish musicians including Martin Hayes
Martin Hayes (musician)
Martin Hayes is a fiddler, born in Maghera in East County Clare, Ireland, and now living in West Hartford, Connecticut. He has been the All Ireland Fiddle Champion six times, and has won a National Entertainment Award, and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2000 award for Instrumentalist of the Year...
, 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...
, John Carty
John Carty (musician)
John Carty is an Irish traditional musician. He plays fiddle, tenor banjo, tenor guitar and occasionally the flute. He is very interested in the North Connacht traditional music style.He was born in London, Carty now lives in Boyle, County Roscommon....
and Kevin Burke. In recent years a few recordings featured Fahey's music prominently including recordings by Liz and Yvonne Kane and Breda Keville.
Fahey is something of an enigma in the traditional Irish music world in that he has never made a commercial recording despite the fact that he is an exceptional fiddler, nor has he published a book of his compositions. There are some privately made recordings of Fahey which have been distributed amongst musicians since the 1970s, and transcriptions of his tunes are found in many tune collections and on Internet resources such as www.thesession.org.
Fahey has never given his compositions names, instead they tend to be simply named "Paddy Fahey's Reel No.1", "Paddy Fahey's Jig No.2", etc. His known compositions number around 60 tunes, all of which are either jig
Jig
The Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...
s, reel
Reel (dance)
The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure ....
s or hornpipe
Hornpipe
The term hornpipe refers to any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. It is said that hornpipe as a dance began around the 16th century on English sailing vessels...
s.
In 2001 Fahey was named Composer of The Year by Irish Language TV station TG4
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
at their annual award ceremony 'Gradam Ceoil TG4'.
Literary sources
- Vallely, Fintan (ed.), The Companion to Traditional Irish Music. Cork University Press, Cork, 1999
- Holohan, Maria. The Tune Compositions of Paddy Fahey. MA Thesis, University of Limerick, 1995