Author: peadar

Margaret Batt ( 2:26 )

Margaret Bat was one of those rare things, a person with a beautiful soul.  She was shy and gentle and kind and warmhearted but also had the artists ‘súil eile’.   She took up painting later in life. Her work was evocative being, usually, a montage of scenes depicting a story associated with her subject.   I could see her sweeping her brush across the canvas with the first notes of this tune.  She died of cancer.   Her energy and our affection for her is what created this tune.

Margaret Batt.mus

Maith thú Muiris. ( 3:13 )

Muiris Ó Rócháin was one of my pals.   He was a noble man. He died in 2011 and we all mourned him.  We three dedicated this album to his memory.  He was from Corca Dhuibhne (Dingle Peninsula).  A teacher and collector of folklore, he also was part of many organizations that furthered Irish culture around the world for forty years.  He was a captain or leader of the “Naisiún Gaelach” or the Gaelic Nation.  But to me, and to Martin and Caoimhín, he was a friend who shared a love of rural life and its cultural expressions.    This simple polka is an attempt by me to remember him.

Maith Thú Muiris

Is cuma liom.

Is cumadh liom or “I don’t give a feck” (2:25)

I was fiddling with the accordion and frustrated as i did not think i could play worth a damn.  “I don’t give a feck” i said to myself and this was the tune that came out.

Hence the name.

Is Cuma Liom /I don't give a feck.PDF

Cá bhfuil an Solas? (Where is the light?)  ( 3:48 )

In the week preceding this recording, i was sorting out a long list of tasks to try and clear the decks before the lads came.  The electricity supply went out due to bad weather and put a stop to my gallop – no light in the house and fishing about for candles.  In the following quietness this tune came to me.  

Ca bhfuil an solas.PDF score