May 24, 2005
planxty george brabazon
Started working on this piece tonight in Carol's guitar class. It seems a 'planxty' is Irish for something like a song written in honor of a person, in this case one George Brabazon. Imagine my surprise to find that wikipedia knows about these, and also about the songwriter Turlough O'Carolan. Is there nothing the Internets doesn't know?
Turlough O'Carolan (Gaelic: Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin, 1670 - March 25, 1738) was a blind, itinerant Irish harper and composer whose great fame is due to his gifts for composition and verse. He is considered by many to be Ireland's national composer and the last of the Irish bards.
Wow, gotta practice up to do this one justice.
There's a great, albeit challenging, classical arrangement of Planxty George Brabazon on Sharon Isben's CD "Dreams of a World." The arrangement was written specially for Sharon by late great classical guitar composer John Duarte; in the CD it's imbedded in a medley with two other Irish classics including "Red-Haired Boy." It's hauntingly beautiful, so I had to order the sheet music for it. I've been working on the piece for some time.
Incidentally, the lyrics of Planxty George B. are about an interesting, true, and comical historical event; check it out.
- Bob