Fleadh Nua 1995; Joe Burke & Ann Conroy

The button accordion maestro Joe Burke with guitar accompaniment from Ann Conroy Burke playing the air of the song ‘ The Bonny Bunch of Roses ’ into Paddy Kelly’s Reel, at the Old Chapel, Maoin Cheoil an Chláir. Joe, who is also a highly regarded flute player, has been to the forefront of Irish traditional music for over six decades; He and Ann, also a renowned ‘box’ player have brought traditional music and the all-important lore and stories that are part of how the music is as it is today, to destinations and homes throughout Ireland and abroad, always.

During Napoleonic times the name given to England, Ireland and Scotland was the ‘bonny bunch of roses’. The song tells the story of a conversation between Napoleon’s son and his mother, the son hopes to lead an army, conquer Moscow and return to conquer England, Ireland and Scotland (The Bonny Bunch of Roses). His mother reminds him that his father Napoleon, buried in Malta, did not succeed.

Paddy Kelly’s Reel was composed by the fiddler Paddy Kelly, a member of the Aughrim Slopes Céilí Band, a band from Joe Burke’s native East Galway.


Fleadh Nua 1995; Joe Burke agus Ann Conroy
Maestro an bhosca cnaipí, Joe Burke, le tionlacan Ann Conroy ar an ngiotár, ag seinm fhonn an amhráin ‘The Bonny Bunch of Roses’ agus ar aghaidh chuig ‘Ríl Paddy Kelly’, ag an Sean-Séipéal i Maoin Cheoil an Chláir. Is sárfhliúiteadóir freisin é Joe, agus é ar thús cadhnaíochta i saol cheol traidisiúnta na hÉireann le breis is seasca bliain; in éineacht le Ann, atá í féin ina boscadóir iomráiteach, tá an ceol traidisiúnta curtha faoi bhráid mhuintir na hÉireann agus daoine eile ar fud an domhain aige le fada an lá, agus níos tábhachtaí fós, an seanchas agus na scéalta atá ina mbunús leis an gcuma atá ar an gceol sin sa lá atá inniu ann.

I rith ré Napoléon, is amhlaidh a tugadh an t-ainm, ‘The Bonny Bunch of Roses’ ar Shasana, Éirinn agus Albain. Insíonn an t-amhrán scéal comhrá a tharla idir mac de chuid Napoléon agus a mháthair; is mian leis an mac a bheith ina cheannaire ar arm, Moscó a chur faoi chois, agus filleadh chun an lámh in uachtar a fháil ar Shasana, Éirinn agus Albain (‘The Bonny Bunch of Roses’). Meabhraíonn a mháthair dó nár éirigh lena athair Napoléon, a bhí curtha i dtalamh i Málta faoin tráth sin.

Ba é an té a chum ‘Ríl Paddy Kelly’ ná an fidléir Paddy Kelly, atá ina bhall den bhanna céilí ‘Aughrim Slopes’, a bunaíodh i nGaillimh Thoir, áit dúchais Joe Burke.

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