Just Intonational – Ceol Da Piobaire – Music of Two Pipers

This is a collection of the music of two pipers.
Adrian Jefferies And Billy McCormick.

CD Review by Ian Deardon

The Irish strand in my polyglot DNA comes from a small village under the flight path of Shannon Airport in Galway.

In 1853, when my great, great grandfather left for Australia, the airport was still in the very early concept planning stages.

That lineage, I like to think, accounts for the visceral response to the sound of uilleann pipes deep down in my DNA and, given that I now live under the flight path of Brisbane Airport, the sound of incoming aircraft overhead as well.

So, whatever the explanation, what could be more enthralling that a CD jampacked to its absolute limit (73 minutes) with tunes and songs from two masters of uilleann pipes, Billy McCormick and Adrian Jefferies, both of whom grew up in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, although Adrian (aka Jaff) now lives in Brisbane and Billy lives in Killnaboy, County Clare.

This 2004 album brings together two masters of this gorgeous instrument from opposite sides of the globe, and showcases a wide range of tune sets, with a mix of original and traditional tunes, and songs.

Adrian’s pipes were made by him in Brisbane, where he became a long time and respected pipe manufacturer; Billy’s were made by Taylor Brothers of Drogheda and Philadelphia in 1860, and gifted to him by the owner’s granddaughter, a Catholic nun from Chicago.

The traditional tunes draw on the Celtic traditions of Ireland, Scotland and Galicia, and the original tunes (all firmly ‘in the tradition’) come from Adrian and Billy, as well as other Australian, Irish and American composers.

In a moving cross fertilisation of cultures, Adrian’s original tune ‘Dungiman Ngulum Nga Gubbi Gubbi/Caoineadh Do Mhuintir Gubbi Gubbi’ (lament for the Gubbi Gubbi), blends didgeridoo with pipes and clairseach (Celtic harp) in the fine Irish tradition of a lamentation or remembrance for sad historical events.

In this case, the losses suffered by the Gubbi Gubbi peoples of the lands around Woodford, Qld.

‘The Fairy Boy’ is a fine exemplar of the Sean-nόs style sung by Mick Flynn, from Co Clare; whereas Adrian’s rendition of ‘Carnlough Bay’ praises the Bay, the wee lassie and courtship in equal measure, and ‘The Shores of Lough Bran’ is a farewell to emigrants heading across the Atlantic, an “American wake’.

In and around these songs are jigs, reels, marches, laments and tunes to warm your heart, stir your soul and get you up on your feet.

What more could you ask?