Episode 33: Tola Custy (Fiddle)

So - when it comes to this episode, we're nearly lost for words. It's engrossing. A deep dive into a sea teeming with life. 

Clare born fiddle player Tola Custy talks about how Irish music nearly died and how his father and others of his generation saved it. About out of tune whistling, the woman who bossed the Tulla Céilí Band and Radical Comhaltas. Growing up in a house divided - Kevin Burke fans on one side, Frankie Gavin fans on the other. He talks about Asturian fiddle playing and Irish fiddle playing; the James Goodman manuscript collection; the Time (Ireland) Act of 1916. He talks about stage fright and feeding off the energy of other musicians, the different beauty of Micho Russell's playing. He talks about the waltz time in his head, and much else besides. 

And he plays the folllowing pieces:

The Lighthouse and The Mermaid (his own tune) into a Swedish jig followed by a Breton jig

So Small The Boat, So Big The Sea (Tola Custy)

Time Zone Laneway (Tola Custy) into The Maple Leaf (a reel composed by Darach De Brun for his wedding in 1976)

The Yellow Wattle, which Tola learned from the playing of Micho Russell, into Metro-Gnome (his own composition)

and finally

Love At The Ending. 

Following the last solo piece, Tola plays a set of tunes with Ado Barker, and they're then joined by Corinn Strating on flute. Recorded at The Last Jar in Melbourne as part of the first of three bush fire relief fundraisers. All proceeds from this episode of The Blarney Pilgrims will go to the same cause. 

You can contribute by going to The Last Jar's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Last-Jar-393321014068167/

You'll also find details there about the next fundraiser coming up on Saturday 1st February.
  
Thanks to everyone at the pub, and to Joe Ferguson for his help with the sound. 

And Tola, thanks for a stoater of a chat. 

--

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Om Podcasten

The Blarney Pilgrims Podcast is a weekly journey to the heart of Irish music. We interview players of Irish music about how they first came to the music and the place it occupies in their lives now. We use the word ‘heart’ intentionally, because heart is what this music, and the people who play it, are all about. It’s a funny, warm and often unexpected journey – and the tunes are crackin' too. NOTE: Hey there - it's Darren and Dom here. So...we want to let you know that last week was the last episode (Ep 94) of the Blarney Pilgrims Podcast for now. We've come to a point where we've both decided to take a long pause and focus on a few other things. Knowing how much the podcast means to you all, it's a decision we've been really reluctant to take. What we DO know is how massively grateful we are for every text, every thumbs up, every raised eyebrow of support we've had over the past two years. You are all legends, and we're forever in your debt. Thanks especially to everyone who's become a Patron Saint and supported us through the toughest of economic times, and thanks most especially to the musicians. To those who have been so generous to share their tunes and stories with us, and to those who've welcomed us into pub sessions and festival gatherings and house sessions and campsite sessions. Wherever in the world we've chatted with players of the music, we've been made to feel like lifelong pals. It's a testament to the open heartedness of the communities who keep the music going wherever they are, and we can't thank you all enough. We hope this archive will remain of use to people even as we're taking a pause. So - please do stay in touch, don't be a stranger, and if you see us out and about, do say hello. And we'll see you when we see you. Dom and Darren.