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McAlpine's Fusiliers
Alwen Dam in North Wales is only a few miles from where the song's protagonists landed, and was built by Sir Robert McAlpine's company ''McAlpine's Fusiliers'' is an Irish ballad set to a traditional air, popularised in the early 1960s by Dominic Behan. The song relates to the migration of Irish labourers from Ireland to Britain during the 20th century. The ballad's title refers to the eponymous construction company of Sir Robert McAlpine, a major employer of Irish workmen at the time. John Laing and Wimpey (also referred to in the opening monologue; an integral part of the ballad although not included in some cover versions of the song) were other major construction companies employing Irish 'navvies' (a British term referring to building labourers and originally coined for the labourers who built the British canals or 'navigations'). The colloquial and local terms in the song's monologue and lyrics include references to a 'spike' (a hostel or 'reception centre' sometimes use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dublin. It was known as Dunleary until it was renamed Kingstown in honour of King George IV's 1821 visit, and in 1920 was given its present name, the original Irish form of Dunleary. Over time, the town became a residential location, a seaside resort and the terminus of Ireland's first railway. Toponymy The town's name means "fort of Laoghaire". This refers to Lóegaire mac Néill (modern spelling: Laoghaire Mac Néill), a 5th century High King of Ireland, who chose the site as a sea base from which to carry out raids on Britain and Gaul. Traces of fortifications from that time have been found on the coast, and some of the stone is kept in the Maritime Museum. The name is officially spelt Dún Laoghaire in modern Irish orthography; sometime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1960s Songs
Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 196 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus attempts to assassinate Clodius Albinus but fails, causing Albinus to retaliate militarily. * Emperor Septimius Severus captures and sacks Byzantium; the city is rebuilt and regains its previous prosperity. * In order to assure the support of the Roman legion in Germany on his march to Rome, Clodius Albinus is declared Augustus by his army while crossing Gaul. * Hadrian's wall in Britain is partially destroyed. China * First year of the '' Jian'an era of the Chinese Han Dynasty. * Emperor Xian o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Folk Songs
Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there were at least ten instruments in general use. These were the ''cruit'' (a small harp) and '' clairseach'' (a bigger harp with typically 30 strings), the ''timpan'' (a small string instrument played with a bow or plectrum), the ''feadan'' (a fife), the ''buinne'' (an oboe or flute), the ''guthbuinne'' (a bassoon-type horn), the ''bennbuabhal'' and ''corn'' ( hornpipes), the ''cuislenna'' ( bagpipes – see Great Irish warpipes), the ''stoc'' and ''sturgan'' (clarions or trumpets), and the ''cnamha'' (bones).''A History of Irish Music: Chapter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pecker Dunne
Patrick "Pecker" Dunne (1 April 1933 – 19 December 2012) was an Irish musician and seanchaí. Dunne was born in Castlebar, County Mayo, "in the old county home". His family were Irish Travellers Irish Travellers ( ga, an lucht siúil, meaning "the walking people"), also known as Pavees or Mincéirs (Shelta: Mincéirí), are a traditionally peripatetic indigenous ethno-cultural group in Ireland.''Questioning Gypsy identity: ethnic na ... originally from County Wexford, where his father was a fiddle player. In ''Parley-poet and Chanter'', an autobiography transcribed by Micheál Ó hAodha (page 21), he stated that he later lived in the Dublin suburb of Drimnagh. He was one of Ireland's most noted banjo players and was also proficient on the fiddle, Melodeon (organ), melodeon and guitar, and was among an elite of Traveller musicians. Dunne became known to a wide Irish audience from his regular busking at Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA sporting fixtures, particularly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Capitol Showband
James Augustine "Butch" Moore (10 January 1938 – 3 April 2001) was an Irish singer and a showband icon during the 1960s. Moore was born in Dublin, Ireland. He achieved celebrity status as Ireland's first contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965 and attracted huge crowds with The Capitol Showband in the State's many ballrooms. Moore was at the height of his success, when he won the National Song Contest to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, in Naples, singing Walking the Streets in the Rain. The song reached number one on the Irish Singles Chart, but failed to chart in the UK. Butch Moore married Norah Sheridan (born June 1940) in 1962. They had 3 three children; Karen, Grainne and Gary. He played with a number of bands before securing his big break with The Capitol Showband in 1958. Its line-up included band leader, Des Kelly, and Paddy Cole, who is still involved in the entertainment business, and an early songwriter for the band was Phil Coult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Clancy Brothers
The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumper sweaters and are widely credited with popularising folk music of Ireland, Irish traditional music in the United States and revitalising it in Ireland, contributing to an Irish folk boom with groups like the Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones. The Clancy Brothers, Patrick Clancy, Patrick Clancy, Tom Clancy (singer), Tom Clancy, and Liam Clancy, are known best for their work with Tommy Makem, recording almost two dozen albums together as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Makem left in 1969, the first of many changes in the group's membership. The most notable subsequent member to join was the fourth Clancy brother, Bobby Clancy, Bobby. The group continued in various formations until Paddy Clancy's death in 1998. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem significantly influenced the young ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paddy Reilly
Patrick "Paddy" Reilly (born 18 October 1939) is an Irish folk singer and guitarist. Born in Rathcoole, County Dublin, he is one of Ireland's most famous balladeers and is best known for his renditions of "The Fields of Athenry", "Rose of Allendale" and "The Town I Loved So Well". Reilly released his version of "The Fields of Athenry" as a single in 1983; it was the most successful version of this song, remaining in the Irish charts for 72 weeks. He achieved number 1 in Ireland with the Liam Reilly (no relation) written song "Flight of Earls" in 1988. For years a solo performer, he joined The Dubliners in 1996 as a replacement for long-time member Ronnie Drew. He left the group after nine years to move to New York City (where he owns a number of pubs) in 2005 and was replaced by Patsy Watchorn.http://cgi.ebay.ie/The-Paddy-Reilly-Songbook-Fields-of-Athenry-sheet-music_W0QQitemZ380145940850QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item588276b972&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 After living ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronnie Drew
Joseph Ronald Drew (16 September 1934 – 16 August 2008) was an Irish people, Irish singer, folk musician and actor who achieved international fame during a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners. He is most recognised for his lead vocals on the single "Seven Drunken Nights" and "The Irish Rover" both charting in the UK top 10 and then performed on ''Top of the Pops, TOTP''. He was recognisable for his long beard and pale blue eyes and his voice, which was once described by Nathan Joseph as being "like the sound of Coke (fuel), coke being crushed under a door". Early life Ronnie Drew was born in Dún Laoghaire, Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin in 1934. Although he was so intimately associated with being "a Dubliner", he would sometimes say, "I was born and grew up in Dún Laoghaire, and no true Dubliner would accept that at all!", a quip that Andy Irvine (musician), Andy Irvine relayed in his song "O'Donoghue's".''Mozaik – Changing Trains'', Compass Records 744682, 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dubliners
The Dubliners were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-year career, but the group's success was centred on lead singers Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew. The band garnered international success with their lively Irish folk songs, traditional street ballads and instrumentals. The band were regulars on the folk scenes in both Dublin and London in the early 1960s, and were signed to the Major Minor Records, Major Minor label in 1965 after backing from Dominic Behan who was paid by Major-Minor to work with the Dubliners and help them to build a better act fit for larger concert hall venues. The Dubliners worked with Behan regularly between 1965 and 1966; Behan wrote numerous songs for this act including the song McAlpine's Fusiliers created specifically to showcase Ronnie Drew's grave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isle Of Grain
Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. No longer an island and now forming part of the peninsula, the area is almost all marshland and is a major habitat for diverse wetland birds. The village constitutes a civil parish, which at the 2011 census had a population of 1,648, a net decrease of 83 people in 10 years. History Extract from the ''Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland'' by John Gorton, 1833: "GRAINE, ISLE OF, co. Kent'' "A parish in the Hundred of Hoo, lathe of Aylesford, opposite to Sheppey at the mouth of the Thames; it is about three miles and a half long, and two and a half broad and is formed by Yantlet Creek running from the Medway to the Thames. The Creek was filled up, and had a road across it for 40 years until 1823, when the Lord Mayor ordered it to be again reopened, so as to give about eight feet naviga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cricklewood
Cricklewood is an area of London, England, which spans the boundaries of three London boroughs: Barnet to the east, Brent to the west and Camden to the south-east. The Crown pub, now the Clayton Crown Hotel, is a local landmark and lies north-west of Charing Cross. Cricklewood was a small rural hamlet around Edgware Road, the Roman road which was later called Watling Street and which forms the boundary between the three boroughs that share Cricklewood. The area urbanised after the arrival of the surface and underground railways in nearby Willesden Green in the 1870s. The shops on Cricklewood Broadway, as Edgware Road is known here, contrast with quieter surrounding streets of largely late-Victorian, Edwardian, and 1930s housing. The area has strong links with Ireland due to a sizeable Irish population. The Gladstone Park lies on the area's northern periphery. Cricklewood has two conservation areas, the Mapesbury Estate and the Cricklewood Railway Terraces, and in 2012 was aw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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