Flying Column (music group)

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The Flying Column was the name adopted by a group of Irish traditional musicians and singers who formed a folk band in Belfast around 1967/68. They took their name from the small tight cells that comprised the IRA active service units during the Anglo-Irish war of 1916-1921.

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[edit] Name

Sammy Largey, the father of the lead male vocalist with the group, Eamonn, had been a member of a flying column during the War of Independence and was also imprisoned on the prison ship The Argenta.[citation needed] It was through his father's active service within the rank of the Irish Republican Army's Flying Columns that prompted Eamonn to name the group.[citation needed]

[edit] Group

The main contributors to the band were West Belfast couple Eamonn and Kathleen Largey (nee McCready). This pair were the main vocalists - Although on the album Tony Lynch (the guitarist) sang both "Johnstons Motor Car" and also "The Castle of Dromore" on the "Four Green Filds" album. Completing the folk band were Benny on the banjo and Paul on the fiddle.

[edit] Music

The band toured Ireland during the late 60's and early 70's, playing pubs, clubs and school halls. Although their seminal album "Four Green Fields" was one of the best selling Irish folk albums of all time, none of the members of the band received any royalties for this album or any of their other albums or concerts as all proceeds went to the "Green Cross", a charity for irish political prisoners.[citation needed]

The "Four Green Fields" album was released under the GEM label, named after the song by Tommy Makem. This album became popular for nationalist households in Northern Ireland after it was released in 1971.[citation needed] It recounted in song the various rebellions from 1798 right through to the IRA border campaign which ended in 1962.

The success of this album was never to be repeated as Eamonn Largey died in a car crash in 1973. Kathleen Largey continued on a solo career, dedicated mainly to fund raising for the republican cause, right up to her death in 1979 from cancer. [1]

The last remaining members of the band had a reunion in 2001.[citation needed]

[edit] Track Listing for Four Green Fields

  1. Four green fields
  2. Roisin Dubh/My dark Rosaleen
  3. Sam Hall
  4. Dirty old town
  5. Medley (The Boys of Wexford, the Bold Fenian Men, Sean Sabhat)
  6. Madame Bonaparte
  7. Johnston's motor car
  8. Boolavogue
  9. Golden jubilee
  10. The castle of dromore
  11. Legion of the Rearguard
  12. The song of the dawn