You're very welcome to Tradfest, the Fingal Sessions.

We're coming to you here from Ardgillan Castle in Demense on the glorious Fingal Coast, the north side of Dublin.

And I'm delighted to be joined today by the mainstay of Crooked Still.

And I'm with her and a remarkable solo artist, Aoife O'Donovan, master fiddler, Ultan O'Brien, and one of my favorite troubadours, Ultan Conlon.

You're all very welcome.

Thank you.

( acoustic guitar playing ) ♪ ♪ ♪ Gather 'round girls, let me tell you about ♪ ♪ the crisis that is here ♪ ♪ At the end I almost, see, our final victory ♪ ♪ I know that we don't all believe it'll be what it'll be ♪ ♪ But a crisis 'tis indeed, Like a boulder gathering speed ♪ ♪ And if we fail to act upon it, it might mean the ♪ ♪ chance has been lost, and we will have to wait to win ♪ ♪ It's 1916, we're talking war and battle cries, ♪ ♪ Oh, women dry your eyes, ♪ ♪ We've gotta rise up and fight ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ You may be troubled and bewildered and ♪ ♪ stricken with grief.

♪ ♪ You can solve it, Fix these knotty problems ♪ ♪ when we try to breathe.

♪ ♪ And if we fail to act upon it, might mean the chance has ♪ ♪ been lost and we will have to wait to win.

♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Oh America, look up at that North Star.

♪ ♪ One day it will come down.

♪ ♪ The time has come to shout aloud in every city ♪ ♪ and village and town.

♪ ♪ The woman's hour has struck, the woman's hour is now.

♪ (gentle music) ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ And if we fail to act upon it ♪ ♪ Might mean the chance has been lost ♪ ♪ There was a man in West Virginia ♪ ♪ And someone asked him what he thought ♪ ♪ He said "We've been keeping women down so long ♪ ♪ It would feel so queer to not" ♪ ♪ And someone asked his wife the same question ♪ ♪ Here is what she'd said ♪ ♪ “We've been down so long we've gotta stay this way” ♪ ♪ Therein lies the movement of those ♪ ♪ who say "NAY" ♪ ♪ Oh America look up the star is getting nearer ♪ ♪ It's time to shout aloud to everybody who can hear us ♪ ♪ The woman's hour is struck ♪ ♪ The woman's hour is now ♪ ♪ The woman's hour is here ♪ ( acoustic guitar playing ends ) Amazing.

Aoife, what a way to start the show.

My goodness me.

You know, I was thinking recently... Somebody asked me if there was one thing you could change in the world, what would that be?

And my reply was to dismantle the global patriarchy.

I think it would solve so much.

It would.

And you know, that song, it was called "Crisis."

It's a song from my new record, heavily inspired by suffrage, by the women's suffrage movement, by the passage of the 19th Amendment.

And "Crisis" specifically was very directly related to a speech called "Crisis" that the suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt gave in 1916.

And it's just funny because it feels like it could have been something that I wrote or something that any modern woman would have written.

That there were all these people who were -- there were all these women who were against their own rights.

There were women who didn't want the right to vote, who really believed that they didn't deserve it.

And that line in the song comes from this thing that she writes in the speech where she says, "There was a man in West Virginia" -- and she doesn't say it in these exact words -- "and if somebody went and asked him, 'Do you think women should have the right to vote?'

he would say, 'No, we've been keeping women down so long it would feel so queer to not.'

And if you asked his wife the same question, here is what she'd say, 'We've been down so long, we've got to stay that way.'"

And it's just really about sort of unlearning these things.

And that line in particular, I'm glad that you brought it up because it's one of the things that was so interesting about making this record and writing these songs was how many of the things we think we've moved past.

You know, a hundred years ago we say we have modern medicine, we have all this access, we've made such strides.

And in so many ways we have, and I don't want to discount that, we really have.

But there are other things, just these tiny little subtle things that you're like, well, there sadly are people who think, there are women who don't believe they're worthy of whatever it is.

And so this is kind of dedicated to that.

Oh, it's great.

It's powerful.

It's great.

Thank you.

I mean, we're coming to a point in this country where I think we're about to remove the whole women's place at the home nonsense in the Constitution here, which is absurd.

And you know, but thank you.

Thank you for that.

Well, thanks for listening.

Ultan, you're very welcome.

It's great to see you.

Thank you very much.

You too.

Tell me what's been going on in your world.

You're working on a new record.

First solo one.

Yeah.

Which there will be other people involved, but yeah.

Of course.

Can you tell me a bit about it?

How's it going?

Where are you at with it?

Beginning, middle or end?

The beginning.

The middle of the beginning.

Okay.

It's an exciting place to be.

A lot of the material is gathered and I've been writing pieces for it too.

It's all on, not this one, but mainly the bigger fiddle.

Also known as the viola.

But I play it as a big fiddle.

What are you going to play for us?

Are you going to give us a tune?

Yeah, I'll play two.

Two tunes for you.

Play two in one.

That'll be beautiful.

Two jigs.

Two jigs, which is Donald and the Grainer and the Butcher's March.

The ones I've known for years and have many different versions of.

But recently I came across versions of each of these, probably collected around 1830.

( fiddle playing ) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ( fiddle playing ends) - Woo!

Oh, that was insane.

That is amazing.

That was amazing.

How was that one person?

That was incredible.

Thank you.

Beautiful.

Tell me the names of the tunes again.

The first one was Donald and the Grena and The Butcher's March.

And 1830s you say?

In and around, yeah.

Talk to me a bit about sourcing tunes.

Recently I was working in an art centre in Leitrim at the Dock and invited this great musician over, Martin Green.

someone I'd been a fan of.

I didn't tell him this at the time, but since I was a teenager and younger.

But we're trying to source material based on Leitrim fiddlers who would not use this tuning, but would detune it, the fiddle, or tune it to different things.

Scor da tuire.

It is called when you're doing that, using alternate tunings.

But people in Leitrim seem to do it a lot, and it wasn't standardized.

It is an old-time fiddle and things like that.

It happens a lot.

But it was just-- it seemed to be almost random.

They were trying to get wild sounds.

So I've done that with the big fiddle, and I was looking for older Leitrim tunes.

And recently enough, there was a new publication, a collection of tunes by William Ford, which are all pre-Famon tunes.

So I was really sourcing a lot from there.

And honestly, the archives, the traditional music archives, is great because they know so much and there's a lot of resources there.

So the big fiddle is tuned in a slightly different way, is that?

Yeah, it's a good bit lower.

You're making it sound like an orchestra.

If you look filling this room, the depth of the sound is remarkable.

I was looking for something that could, yeah, fill up that space.

You can growl on it, but you can still play lighter and higher, I guess.

Well, thank you so much.

Thanks for that.

It's gorgeous.

Thank you very much.

And from one Ultan to another Ultan, we have two Ultan's.

It's not often we'd have two Ultan's in the same room.

I never get to meet one, so it's a pleasure.

Yeah.

And a talented one as well.

You too.

Well, Ultan Conlon, it's great to see you.

It's great to see you Fiachna.

Yeah.

Yeah, really great to see you.

I hear you on the radio all the time.

So to meet you in person again is lovely.

And I know you're going to sing a song called "Paradise Lane"... Yes.

For us today, that has a connection to your mum.

My mum grew up in Meelick near Eyrecourt, which is in Galway, just right by the Shannon River.

Nine of them in an old house there.

She told me when she was about seven, she'd hear her parents and the locals talk about a place called Paradise in Eyrecourt.

It was short for Paradise Lane.

They would have grown up without electricity.

Imagine the wind and rain down there.

A tough upbringing enough, I guess.

She got on her bike and went to look for Paradise Lane, she said when she was about seven, you know, when you hear a good story like that, and especially from your mum, you know, you've got to kind of mark that.

So she's thrilled I was asked along to play it on TV.

- Fantastic.

(laughing) - When I rang her, she's like, now I'm your lucky charm, you know?

- That's brilliant.

- There you go, yeah.

- Very good.

♪ Mum woke by the river, Shannon where the boats go by ♪ ( acoustic guitar playing ) ♪ Saddled up ready to cycle across the countryside ♪ ♪ To find a place she'd only heard its name ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Take me there ♪ ♪ Paradise Lane ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Paradise Lane ♪ ♪ Don't you be silly, it's only a house or two.

♪ ♪ But she's still amazed what the mind of a child ♪ ♪ full of wonder can do.

♪ ♪ To find a place beyond the wind and rain.

♪ ♪ Oh, take me there ♪ ♪ Paradise Lane ♪ ♪ Paradise Lane ♪ ♪ Follow the river and the cloudy moonlight ♪ ♪ Daddy's gonna kill me if I don't make it home on time ♪ ♪ Follow the river and the cloudy moonlight ♪ ♪ Daddy's gonna kill me if I don't make it home on time ♪ ♪ The wheels on the gravel go round and up and down ♪ ♪ The little girl with the big dream is paradise bound ♪ ♪ To find a place beyond the tears and pain ♪ ♪ Ooh, a secret world ♪ ♪ Paradise lane ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Paradise lane ♪ ♪ Paradise lane ♪ ( acoustic guitar playing ends ) ♪ Mum woke by the River Shannon ♪ Beautiful.

Thank you.

So gorgeous.

- Great.

- Amazing song.

- Great to hear everyone playing.

- Thanks for joining me, guys.

It's lovely to have you all on board.

- So fun.

- Other Ultan.

( laughter ) - That is gorgeous.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much for tuning in to us here at Tradfest, the Fingal Sessions, from this remarkable place, the Ardgillan Castle and Demense on the north side of Dublin.

And my thanks to Ultan O'Brien for being with us and to Ultan Conlon for being with us and to Aoife O'Donovan for being with us as well.

Aoife, you're going to lead us into our final tune here.

I'm so excited to get to play with two Ultans and a Fiachna at once.

It's a first.

All my dreams coming true.

( laughter ) We're going to play another song.

We'll close out here with a song from my new record.

It's called "The Right Time."

[playing in bright rhythm] ♪ ♪ ♪ Ain't it easy to see me ♪ ♪ ♪ My petticoats shine like Mary's ♪ ♪ Tried to lose a lamb on the way ♪ ♪ ♪ Don't give them anything to laugh about ♪ ♪ I'm a full grown woman ♪ ♪ I keep my chin held high ♪ ♪ Oh, farewell, old Charles City ♪ ♪ I'll give you something to talk about ♪ ♪ ♪ Ooh, when's it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ Be the right time ♪ ♪ Ooh, is it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ Be the right time for me?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I feel my power growing ♪ ♪ Blood pulsing under thick skin ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Gonna move a mountain baby ♪ ♪ That'll give me something to think about ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Ooh, when's it gonna be the right time, be the right time?

♪ ♪ Ooh, when's it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ Be the right time for me?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ When's it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ When's it gonna be ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ When's it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ When's it gonna be, when's it gonna be, when's it gonna be ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I'll go to San Francisco ♪ ♪ Where the cool air goes down easy ♪♪ ♪ The golden gates swing open ♪ ♪ Will you miss me when I'm gone?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Will you miss me when I'm gone?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Will you miss me?

♪ ♪ Ooh, is it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ Be the right time?

♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, when's it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, when's it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ Be the right time?

♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, when's it gonna be the right time?

♪ ♪ Be the right time for me?

♪ (speaking indistinctly) Yeah.

>> It's gorgeous.

Thanks.

Yeah, fab.

Thank you.

The movement, the way it moves.

It's just from-- Thanks, it was so fun to play.

Yeah.

It flows, but your chords though ( music playing ) ( outro music)