Mícheál Ó Domhnaill & Kevin Burke: Lord Franklin

In 1978, Kevin Burke and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill released their album “Promenade,” which featured one of the more beautiful renditions of the traditional English folksong “Lord Franklin.” The song from the mid 19th century was also titled “Lady Franklin’s Lament” and details the search for Sir John Franklin who set off to discover the Northwest Passage in 1845.

Franklin never returned nor was his body or final resting place ever discovered. The men of the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror died from a variety of maladies which include, but are not limited to, the following: scurvy, starvation, hypothermia, tuberculosis, and lead poisoning. Interestingly enough, it is said that my second great grandfather’s first cousin, John Gillon of Leith, Scotland, provided the provisions for Franklin’s voyages; however, I have yet to be able to confirm this.

The late Mícheál Ó Domhnaill is not only joined by fiddler Kevin Burke, but by his sister Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill who sings harmony.