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Trevor Jennings
has sent
what is possibly the oldest known recording of Irish fiddle playing......
Click
Here for soundtrack
"An 1890's wax cylinder recording of Edward Cronin playing Banish
Misfortune as was transcribed by O'Neill for his '1001'. I've cleaned up
the mp3 to remove as much crackle and hiss as possible. This is possibly
the oldest known recording of Irish fiddle music. The old wax cylinders
weren't labeled, especially those recordings made by amateurs, as this one
was (domestic recording wax cylinder players were readily available, if
expensive), so someone, usually the artist, would say at the beginning
what was about to be played. On this one you can hear Edward Cronin
shouting into the horn. I can't quite make out all the words, but I think
he may have been saying the Irish name of the tune ("dibir an mio-adh")."
and on 18th
October 2011 we were sent this:
from Jeff Ksiazek, Archivist
Ward Irish Music Archives
Milwaukee, WI
http://www.irishfest.com/archives/
Greetings!
A friend passed along the link to your site to the recording of Edward
Cronin's version of "Banish Misfortune." The original cylinder recording
is in our archives as part of the Dunn Family Collection, and it sounds
like the version on your site is an early test digitization that has been
circulating the Irish music community for a couple of years.
Just thought I could offer some corrections to the information posted on
your site:
The recording was likely made between 1902 and 1914 in Chicago on Francis
O'Neill's Edison phonograph. O'Neill purchased his phonograph in 1902, but
soon stored the device at the home of James Early after the death of
O'Neill's son. Recording likely continued to take place at Early's home
until at least 1912, possibly until Early's death in 1914.
Compared to the other cylinders in the collection, the voice you hear at
the beginning is likely Patrick Touhey.
Transcription of the announcement: "Banish Misfortune. Played on the
violin. By Edward Cronin."
The original copy you posted was from a straight transfer without pitch or
tempo correction. The original Touhey cylinders' pitch were later matched
to the same set of pipes that Touhey himself played on the recordings. The
remaining digitized versions were then adjusted accordingly to more
accurately reflect the pitch and tempo played at the time of recording.
You can find streaming versions of the cylinder recordings from the
project on the collection website, along with the history and story behind
the discovery of these presumed lost recordings:
http://archives.irishfest.com/dunn-family-collection/Music/ONeill-Cylinders-25---32.htm
and (main page): http://archives.irishfest.com/dunn-family-collection.htm
Let me know if you have any questions, and please feel free to link to the
Dunn Family Collection website!
All the best,
Jeff Ksiazek
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