Beginnings

Image: Legendary Irish band The Chieftains in the 1970s (photo courtesy of the artists).

Week 23 (#2141)
June 4 1983 marked the first national radio broadcast of The Thistle & Shamrock.  Fiona Ritchie reviews the playlists of these first shows and asks: what recorded Celtic music was in circulation back then, and what endures? 

The Presbyterian Hornpipe/The Watchmaker’s Daughter/The Hurricane…by Battlefield Band from There’s a Buzz (Temple)
Scarce o’ Tatties…by Silly Wizard from ‘Live’ Again (Birnam CD)
Rambling Irishman…by Dolores Keane and De Dannan from Thousands Are Sailing (Shanachie)
Drowsy Maggie…by The Chieftains from The Chieftains Collection - Volume Two (Claddagh)
Brian Boru in French…by Alan Stivell from Back to Breizh (Dreyfus)
Corryvreckan…by William Jackson from Composition (Mill)
Erin…by Martyn Bennett from Martyn Bennett from (Eclectic)
[ID excerpt] The Methlick Style…by Natalie MacMaster from Cape Breton Girl (eOne)
Gortavale Rock/The Road to Poynton by Kinnaris Quintet from Free One (Kinnaris Quintet)
The Final Trawl…by Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd from The Final Trawl (Sgoil Chiùil)
June Apple…by JigJam from Phoenix (jigjam.ie)
The Little Cascade…by Sìleas from Delighted With Harps (Green Linnet)
Chilly Winds…by The Shee from Different Season (Shee)
F Medley…by Natalie MacMaster from Cape Breton Girl (eOne)
The Bunch of Green Rushes/Salt Creek…by We Banjo 3 from Live in Galway (WB3CD)