Tara Music

Tara Music Company
Founded circa 1972
Founder John Cook, Jack Fitzgerald
Status Active
Genre Celtic, Traditional Irish
Country of origin Ireland
Location Dublin
Official website Taramusic.com

Tara Music (formerly known as Tara Records) has been regarded for many years as one of the leading traditional Irish music recording companies. The label was set up by Jack Fitzgerald and John Cook in the early 1970s.

Their first release was the album Prosperous[1]:91 by a young Christy Moore, still largely unknown at the time. There was quite a gap between that album coming out and anything further being released. Then, in the early eighties, there were two albums from Planxty (After The Break[1]:262 and The Woman I Loved So Well[1]:280), two further solo albums from Moore (The Iron Behind the Velvet and Live In Dublin), as well as two albums from Clannad (Crann Úll and Fuaim), followed by the first of numerous albums from Stockton's Wing.

In the late seventies, Tara recorded Shaun Davey's The Brendan Voyage, a ground-breaking album which featured uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn as a soloist with a full orchestra. The Brendan Voyage launched Davey as a contemporary orchestral composer of international standard and led to further commissions for work in a similar vein, several of which (The Pilgrim, Granuaile and The Relief of Derry Symphony) have been released on the Tara label. Most of Davey's works feature O'Flynn and vocalist Rita Connolly, both of whom have also recorded numerous solo albums for the Tara label under Davey's supervision as producer.

The Irish phenomenon that is Riverdance has musical roots that had been developing over many years prior to the first performance of Riverdance at Eurovision song contest in 1994. These roots included musical elements introduced by Andy Irvine who, having returned to Ireland from the Balkans, introduced Eastern European music and time signatures to the group Planxty, who then proceeded to record a number of these instrumental pieces. Irvine and Davy Spillane also recorded the East Wind album, which was produced by Bill Whelan, possibly the first seeds of what became Riverdance.

Tara Music also released Whelan's first major orchestral work, The Seville Suite and his most recent release: The Connemara Suite. Other albums, such as Spillane's Out of the Air and Pipedreams, as well as The Storm by Moving Hearts, feature some of the musical elements and instruments that are easily recognizable in their influence on the Riverdance music.

In recent years, many releases on the Tara Music label are recordings by self-produced artists, with Tara Music acting as distributor and coordinating press and publicity. Albums by artists such as: Frankie Gavin & De Dannan, The Voice Squad, Zoë Conway, Máirtín O'Connor and Michelle Lally are currently available on the Tara Music label.

References

  1. 1 2 3 O'Toole, Leagues (2006). The Humours of Planxty. Ireland: Hodder Headline. ISBN 03-4083-796-9.

Bibliography

Long, Harry (2005). Waltons Guide to Irish Music. Ireland: Waltons Publishing. ISBN 18-5720-177-9. 

Harper, Colin; Hodgett, Trevor (2005). Irish Folk, Trad and Blues: A Secret History. London: Cherry Red Books. ISBN 19-0144-740-5. 

Catalogue

Cat. No. Title Artist
TARA1002/9 The Best of Irish Piping Seamus Ennis
TARA2002 The Iron Behind the Velvet Christy Moore
TARA2004 Stockton's Wing Stockton's Wing
TARA2005 Live In Dublin Christy Moore
TARA2006 Noel Hill & Tony Linnane Noel Hill & Tony Linnane
TARA2007 Doublin' Paddy Glackin & Paddy Keenan
TARA2008 Prosperous Christy Moore
TARA2017 Out of the Air Davy Spillane Band
TARA3001 After The Break Planxty
TARA3003 High Kings of Tara Planxty & Other artists
TARA3004 Take A Chance Stockton's Wing
TARA3005 The Woman I Loved So Well Planxty
TARA3006 The Brendan Voyage Shaun Davey / Liam O'Flynn
TARA3007 Crann Ull Clannad
TARA3008 Fuaim Clannad
TARA3014 The Storm Moving Hearts
TARA3015 Memories of Ireland The Emerald Isle Singers
TARA3017 Granuaile Shaun Davey / Rita Connolly
TARA3018 Classic Irish Ballads Diarmuid O'Leary & The Bards
TARA3019 Atlantic Bridge Davy Spillane
TARA3023 Shadow Hunter Davy Spillane
TARA3024 The Relief of Derry Symphony Shaun Davey
TARA3025 Anam Clannad
TARA3026 Pipedreams Davy Spillane
TARA3027 EastWind Andy Irvine & Davy Spillane
TARA3028 The Crooked Rose Stockton's Wing
TARA3029 Rita Connolly Rita Connolly
TARA3030 The Seville Suite Bill Whelan
TARA3031 Out To An Other Side Liam O'Flynn
TARA3032 The Pilgrim Shaun Davey
TARA3033 Valparaiso Rita Connolly
TARA3034 The Given Note Liam O'Flynn
TARA3035 Causeway Nollaig Casey & Arty McGlynn
TARA3036 Letting Go Stockton's Wing
TARA3037 The Piper's Call Liam O'Flynn
TARA3038 Brian Boru - The High King of Tara Maurice Lennon
TARA3039 Masters Of Their Craft Compilation
TARA4 Collection Stockton's Wing
TARA4004 Many's The Foolish Youth The Voice Squad
TARA4005 Happy Ever After - Deleted The Fallen Angels
TARA4006 Blood & Gold - Deleted MACA
TARA4007 From The Edge of Memory Phil Callery
TARA4008 Josephine Marsh Josephine Marsh
TARA4010 Mosaic Alan Kelly
TARA4011 Fierce Traditional Frankie Gavin
TARA4012 Zoe Conway Zoe Conway
TARA4013 Holly Wood The Voice Squad
TARA4014 Spirit of an Irish Christmas Roisin Dempsey
TARA4015 Aisling Na nGael Emma Kate Tobia
TARA4016 Stockton's Wing Live – Take One Stockton's Wing
TARA4017 May We Never Have To Say Goodbye Shaun Davey
TARA4018 The Horses Tail Zoe Conway
TARA4019 If This Be Love Michelle Lally
TARA4020 The Full Score Frankie Gavin & Hibernian Rhapsody
TARA4021 The Conemara Suite Bill Whelan
TARA4022 Live at St. James Church Dingle Beal Tuinne
TARA4023 Voices from the Merry Cemetery Shaun Davey
TARA4024 Jigs, Reels & Rock n' Roll Frankie Gavin & De Dannan
TARA4025 Go Mairir i bhFad – Long Life to You Zoë Conway & John Mc Intyre
TARA9003 Best of Irish Ballads John Ahern
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