super mini-series on tv - Comhaltas Archive

Iml 25 Uimhir 1 1993 41SSN0790 004XIris Oifigiuil Chomhaltas Ceolt6iri Eireann The Book of Traditional Music, Song and Dance1. SUPER MINI-SERIES ON T.V.2. DR. DOUGLAS HYDE/DR. LUDWIG ZAMENHOF5. CORCAGHAN - THE PRIDE OF MONAGHAN6. TAKE A BOW MATT CRANITCHIS THIS A RECORD?7. MAJOR TOURISM AWARD FOR BRD BORD8 . CO·OPERATION KEYNOTE AT TORONTO BRANCH9. TALL TALES10. THE BONDS OF LANGUAGE11. BIG COMHALTAS NIGHT IN BIRR13. THE LEGEND OF THE FORT THAT DISAPPEARED14. THECAOINEIS. A TRIBUTE TO JOEY16. END OF AN ERA?17. GERMAN ENJOYS ' EIN COMEBACK'18 . THE MYSTERIOUS MI) SIC COLLECTORAG DEANAMH CEOIL19. CONNEMARA SERENADES THE SCOTS21. MUZZY CHUGAT!22. 'GLANTACHAN EARRAIGH'23. IRISH "MACARONIC VERSE"25. BRINGING IT HOME TO BRITAIN26. EOLAS27. SCOTTISH FIDDLE PLAYING AND ITS IRISHCONNECTIONS31. THE STRANGER'S LAND36. LAETHANTA SPOIRT GHAELSCOILEANNABEN BULBEN38. BAITHEADH SA gCAISLEAN NUA 182839. THE BOYS FROM THE CROSS40. DIALANN'93TREOIR: Single copies £ 1; Subscription Rates: Ireland and Britain£6,' Other Europe",., Countries £6; Us.A. and Canada $20; Australiaand New Z ealand £ 14; Orders in the Us.A. to be forwarded toTreo ir, 863355 Road, Elmhurst, NY 11373. Second Cla ss Postagepaid to Flush ing, N. Y. US.P.S. 2315. Orders in Canada to be for ·warded to Ms. Sally Carroll, 891 Cox well Ave. , Toronto M4C 361.cornbaLtas ceoLtolRICearn(lg Belgrave Baile na Manach . Co. Bhail e Ath a Cliath.lreland Fon 2800295 . Fax: 2803759ED9DrfhoCDIAt the end of February, Comhaltas in New York willbe presented with the prestigious award of " Organisationof the Year." This is a fitting tribute to those menand women who have done so much to promoteIreland's cultural heritage in their adopted country. Theaward is recognition not only of unique effort but, in·deed, of outstanding achievement.We proudly salute Comhaltas in America on winningthis much coveted award. In it are reflected the achievementsof the Irish race in exile. This is a story oftenacity, determination and success. Through hardtimes and good times, the Irish community in Americaheld their heads high and always acknowledged andrevered the homeland which they and their ancestorshad left behind.Comhaltas is proud of its many branches throughoutthe world who are such fine cultural ambassadors for Ireland.They have passed on the fine cultural tradition oftheir forefathers to younger generations. They have introducedtheir non-Irish friends to our native music,song and dance and have demonstrated the finely developedartforms to a world audience.Our thoughts will be with our colleagues in New Yorkwhen they receive their well deserved award. It is afurther testimony of the Irish pursuit of excellence. Itis a tribute to all Irish people everywhere who serve andpromote their country's national identity.

CORCAGHAN - THEPRIDE OF MONAGHANDiannuid 6 CatlWnThe little village of Corcaghan liessome four miles on the Cootehill side ofMonaghan Town. It boasts of a Church,School, Creamery, one shop, one licensedpremises and an old style villagehall. Unlike the majority of such hallsthroughout Ireland today, this hall isnot just a relic of the past, it is in constantuse each week throughout theyear. The people of Corcaghan areproud of their little village, as well astheir hall, and none more so that theofficers . and members of the localcraobh of Comhaltas Ceolt6ir{ Eireann!For them the hall is a cultural centre ofwhich they are justly proud and in 1992it was the venue for the Concert Tour ofIreland and so successful was the eventthat the craobh members are alreadylooking forward to a return visit in 1993.The Corcaghan craobh was formedsome seven years ago and in a relativelyshort period of time it has given a newimpetus to the growth of Comhaltas inCo. Monaghan. Most people in the areagive most of the credit for the success ofthe craobh to the genial Pat Beagon, andto his good wife and family , though tobe honest the Beagon family do notseek and are embarrassed by such adulation.In their own modest and unassumingmanner, Mr. and Mrs. Beagonhave given every encouragement to theirchildren who play a variety of instruments.One daughter ~ Monica ~ aswell as being a competent musician, haswon All-Ireland singing titles and hasfigured on two concert tours. For goodmeasure she assists at the weekly musicand singing classes.But then the Beagons are only a fewof the forty strong attendance at theweekly Saturday morning music classes,so expertly conducted by the versatileand genial teacher ~ Eamonn Curran.All of Monaghan and indeed ComhaltasCeolt6ir{ Eireann can thank their luckystars that this dedicated young manfinally succeeded in getting a positionMONICA BEAGONas principal of a nearby school. Hisprofessional and dedicated approach toimparting to his pupils an appreciationand love of their music, not to mentionthe importance of playing the music ata proper speed and rhythm, wouldserve as a 'proto-type' for all musicteachers.With this background, is it any wonderthat Fleadh Cheoil an Chontae wassuch an outstanding success in Corcagh-an in 1992? The organising committeeafter much deliberation came up with anew approach to the fleadh format.The oscailt oifigiuil would be held onthe Friday night in the course of theceili, Saturday would be reserved formusic and singing classes and final rehearsalsfor those participating in thecompetitions; Saturday night would featurea Seisiun M6r; on Sunday the MarchingBands competitions and groupcompetitions would be staged; and allsolo competitions would be held onBank Holiday Monday.Friday night's Cei!{ must surely beconsidered the highlight of the wholeweekend. Organised by 'Cumainn CeiliMhuineachain' it attracted a full house,varying in age from seven to seventy, allof whom were prepared to "take thefloor" at every opportunity. One mentionsthe word "Set" or " Old TimeWaltz" at one's peril at a ceil{ organisedby this group. The clar listing all thedances for the night is prominently displayedon the wall and there is no departurefrom this clar. For the recordthe dances on this occasion were TheWalls of Limerick; The Sweets of May ,The Harvest Time Jig, The Four HandReel; The Humours of Bandon; TheEight Hand Reel; The Three Tunes; TheCross Reel; The Siege of Carrick; TheFainne Uladh; The Haymakers' Jig; TheTrip to the Cottage; The Siege of Ennis;The High Caul Cap, The Cuchullain Jig;The Sixteen Hand Reel; The Gates ofDerry; The Fairy Reel; The Eight HandJig and The Morris Reel.N{ raibh ach sos beag amhain acu,when teas and delicacies were served toall present by the Ladies' Catering Committeewith military precision. Amongthe gathering one noted such as TommySmyth, a nephew of one time Comhaltasgreat ~ the late Dr. Brian Galligan ;Councillor Hughie McElvaney, and fromacross the Meath border - ceil{ fanatic ~Tom Marry.One may well ask why the ceil{ was5

THE LEGEND OF THE FORTTHAT DISAPPEAREDBernard DwyerLong, long ago, before my greatgrandmother's time, there stood a hugeFort in an isolated part of northRoscommon. This unique Fort was surroundedby a mixture of hawthorn andholly hedge. It was a meeting place forFenians, who would assemble at midnightwhen the moon would be full toreport on 'moon's progress'!It must be. remembered that in thosedays people always prayed to the newmoon, and hoped that its four weeksduration would bring about a change intheir oppressed situation. Indeed, it was ·the good Saint Patrick himself that wasresponsible for this pagan custom.As most people know, before thegifted saint arrived in Ireland, it was apagan country where people adoredmany things including the moon. However,before his death, the old peoplewould tell you, Saint Patrick permitteda certain amount of pagan customs toremain, believing that to strip people oftheir traditions would deprive them oftheir souls.Now it was upon the Forts of Irelandthat stood noble wooden buildingswhich were the homes of Kings , andlesser noble men and women in the daysof Saint Patrick. With the passage oftime those buildings, together with theirowners, disappeared. Today nothingremains but some foundation stones ofsites where the harp and the lute, and,indeed, many other musical instrumentsre-echoed o'er the valleys.This unusual Roscommon Fort wasone such site before my great-grandmother'stime. In those far off days, itwas a meeting place for courting couples- yes, they did court in those daystoo - but it was a strange kind ofcourting where the girl would spendmost of the long evening playing withher lovers watchain, which hung like aclothesline across a large, double breastedwaistcoat!It was aiso a meetIng place for ceiltsessions, when the youth of the nearbytownlands would assemble on the nightof the new moon to pass the night untildawn next morning, competing in music,song and dance. There was also thestory-telling competitions, which werevery much part of Irish functions, evenin my father and mother's time ..Lo-and-behold, it was after the oldwidow upon whose land this Fort stoodwas evicted from her humble cabin bythe local Landlord, that the troublescommenced. To add insult to injurythis same Lord-of-the-manor issued anorder prohibiting assemblies of any kindin or around the Fort in question.It was on the night of the first newmoon after this callous eviction andorder that strange things commenced tohappen. As the locals were leaving therambling house after a game of"Twenty-five", they were alarmed bythe sound of clogs coming from the narrowboreen which led from the Fort ofSheemore, which the Fort was called bythe locals.Little did the gamblers think that thetwo men in question were none otherthan the Landlord's henchmen, whowere sent by the old tyrant himself, toguard the Fort against any would-beintruders. Panting with fear and exhaustion,the two began to relate their hairraisingexperiences within the forbiddengrounds of Sheemore!Their first experience was the gentleplaying of a harp which got louder andlouder, until it was joined by the wailingof a banshee close by. Then from themidst of the thicket emerged countlessFairies. The banshee ceased to wail. Instead,the music of many musical instrumentsfilled the Fort as well as thecountry-side.On hearing this strange goings-on, theold tyrant suspected that it was a trickby what he termed 'the cunning of theIrish Peasants'. So, he issued an orderthat every stone, bush , root and branchbe removed from the Fort and dumpedinto Lough Gara. Next morning as dozensof the old tyrants workmen, horsesand carts, arrived at the Fort, it had.disappeared!It was about the same time that aFort appeared upon the lands of a veryhumane Land Lord in County Meath.Can any of your Meath readers ofTREOIR tell me where this Fort lies?13

GERMAN ENJOYS 'EIN COMEBACK'The demand for language training hasgrown immeasurably, spurred on by thefall of the Berlin Wall and the collapseof the Soviet empireThe commentator was getting hoarsewith excitement as Cologne mounted arare attack on the Bremen goal in theGerman cup fmal this summer: "DerKeeper hat den Ball ge-droppt!" hescreamed in a perfect example ofNeudeutsch."Starten," " stoppen" and "fighten"are normal anglicisms in a society rearedin the West with a national self-doubtthat prompts thousands of parents tocall their children Patrick , J ennifer orSarah.Here, " das Businessenvironment'must be looked after, while "Iast butnot least" German foreign policy cannotbe "everybody's darling " as Will Brandtrepeatedly says.The wholesale adoption of Anglo­American neologisms is strangely atodds with a new drive , sponsored bygovernment, to rekindle and promoteknowledge of German language and cultureabroad. There is a growing feelingthat German should be equal withEnglish and French in European Communityaffairs, and a certain anger thatall EC documents are first given out inthe other two languages the Germantranslation coming weeks later.Heinrich Weiss president of the. Federationof German Industry, dismissesthis as purely a matter of prestige andargues it is right and proper that Englishas the world's lingua franca , should beused.More seriously, the demand forGerman all over the world - butespecially in eastern Europe - hasgrown immeasurably in the past fewyears, spurred by the fall of the BerlinWall , the collapse of the Soviet empireand unification.This 'Ein Comeback" for Germanafter 40-odd years of relative neglectduring which Russian was taught as thesecond language in all east EuropeanCommunist countries. "It's a swing ofthe pendulum against the hated Communistlegacy,' says Wolf Schon, acolumnist on the weekly RheinscherMerkur.Of 18 million people learning Germanthroughout the world . according tosenior officials in the foreign office'scultural department, 12 million are ineastern Europe (10 million of them inthe Soviet Union). German was oncethe common language of east Europeandiplomats and the normal discourse ofthe old aristocracy of the Austro­Hungarian empire.The case for German is strengthenedby the presence of sizeable German-spea ·king minorities in several east Europeancountries: 400,000 in both Hungary andPoland, 100,000 in Romania and60,000 in Czechoslovakia.In the Soviet Union, demand for lan-guage and literature courses in theGoethe Institute cannot be met. Sovietcitizens, memories of a barbaric invasionput to one side, throng to see RainerWerner Fassbinder and Wim Wendersfilms.The foreign office, which providesmore than 250 million deutschemarks ayear to support the institute's activities,is now devoting considerable energies tofilling the gap left by the former EastGermany, which promoted German ineastern Europe.In East Germany, 20,000 teachers ofRussian face the dole and and are beingretrained to teach English. The institutehas opened new branches in Moscow, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw .But private agencies with unqualifiedpersonnel are rushing into the market.Demand for German has soaredamong young people, as it is seen asthe gateway to western Europe andbetter employment prospects.Indeed, the opening to the West hasunleashed a demand for all Westernlanguages, with English remaining themost sought after. A friendly butfierce competition between it and Germanhas begun."We have no illusions. English is thelingua western artd will be the first languagein these countries but we are grapplingwith the French for second place."foreign office officials say.David GowThe Guardian Weekly.Ceol an GheimhridhCEOL, RINCE, AMHRANAiocHTAGUS SCEALAiOCHT.17

CONNEMARA SERENADESTHE SCOTSFred McCormickIt was in the house of Micheal ()Cuaig, poet, singer and schoolteacherfrom Kilkieran, just outside Carna inConnemara, that I first heard of hisfuture involvement in a somewhat unlikelysean-nos singing event. For heand several other exponents of thatjustly famous tradition had been engagedto do a couple of concerts thatcoming autumn in Edinburgh and Glasgow.I enquired who the others wereand Michelil responded with the namesof Josie Sheain Jeaic McDonncha andJohnny Mairtln Learai Mac DonnchadhaBoth are renowned performers and winnersof the prestigious Corn Vi Riada atthe Oireachtas, while Josie will be rememberedby many from his appearanceson the Comhaltas tour some yearsback. On being told that the fourthmember of the party was the legendarySe an Mac Donncha, doyen of the art ofthe sean-nos and just about the mostcelebrated traditional singer in Irelandtoday, there was no argument - I wasgoing to be there." It's being organised by a man calledCy Laurie," said Micheal. " He's a singerand he owns a pub in Edinburgh calledthe CeilidhHouse."Edinburgh is no small distance frommy home in Liverpool, but I'd travel anawful lot further than that to hear suchan illustrious line up! An exchange ofletters with Cy , plus a couple of phonecalls, was all I needed to ensure thatFriday , November 20th, 1992 would bemarked with a drink in the man's ownestablishment. The " fear a tighe saCeilidh House" turned out to have agood a taste in hostelries as well asmusic, for the pub was a magnificentthree storied affair, with a long and interestinghistory. It had the look ~f aplace where one might' pick up a goodmusic session in the bar most nights ofthe week. That particular evening's en-. ,MICHEAL 0 CUAIG JOSIE SHEAIN JACK SEAN MAC DONNCHAJOHNNY MHAIRTIN LEARAI19

Ag DeanaDlh eeollThe traditional dance tunes in this issuehave been contributed by Bill Black.Bill plays banjo, bouzouki and guitarand is a member of the Hanafin-CooleyBranch (CCE) in Boston. Bill has beencomposing and collecting tunes forsome time and hopes to publish a collectionof rare and newly composedtunes.THE CAT'S MEOW: A great jig composedby J oanie Madden in the early80's and recorded by J erry O'Sullivan.(Bill Black).THE CA T'S MEOW~~ pi jO? fEE I Err Et! I t1J ill I 1iJ r~~i:El I La Q( I tt£f Gij I DJ J :~~fijf4PI plO F -5 I tg mctJTi~#a I tE Er r I ftLEftr: I ifb C 5 I fIr cm1 I 21~=mrttf I creW I Err Cri I: C(f F t~

MUZZY CHUGAT!Ta cursa urnua Gaeilge a ullmhU faoilathair ag Telegael, an chuideachta chluiteachteilifise ata Lonnaithe sa Spideal igContae na Gaillimhe. Leagan Gaeilgeden chursa idirnaisiunta foghlamthateanga MUZZY (a chead-eisigh an BBC imBearla (I986) ata i gceist. Ta an cursacurtha ar fill 6 shin sa bhFraincis, saGhearmainis, san Iodailis agus sa Spainnis.Ta leagan teilifise dearita sa Bhreatnaischomh maith. Ta dha chuid sa chilrsa:"MUZZY" agus "MUZZY Aris".Eachtrai an bheir 'MUZZY' a thagannanuas as an spas a insitear sa chursa. TaClar Piol6ta 10 n6irnead triailte cheana iscoileanna ar fud na tire. Deir P61 6Cuirnin , bainisteoir Thelegael, gur chuirtorthai an taighde "iontas agus gliondar"orthu. "Is Ieir go bhfuil bearnamh6r sna scoileanna agus ar an margadhginearalta do chursa den chineal seo.Nil a le it he id de chursa ar fail 6 fhoinsear bith eile agus is cuis lithais duinn idTelegael an pacaiste iontach sea a sholathar",arsa P61.* Cuigear a fuair Gradam an Phiarsaigh leblianta anuas: An tAth Diarmaid bLaoghaire, Risteard b Glaisne, Eamonn deBarra, Donal b Lubhlai agus Padraig bMuircheartaigh.Beidh pacaiste iomlan ar fail nuair athagann MUZZ Y ar an bhfod an bhliainsea chugainn. Bealtaine 1993 an spriocata ann chun go mbeidh an cursa ar faildon scoilbhliain 1992/ 93 . Beidhleabhar saothair, leabhar leitheoireachta,caisead fuairne agus leabhair do mhuinteoirimar chuid den phacaiste chomhmaith leis na fisteipeanna fein. Meastargo gcuirfidh Gaelscoileanna agus scoileannaGaeltachta failte ar leith roirnh angcursa seo . Bunranganna na scoileannasea a bheidh i gceist. Nuacht eile tagtha6 TheJegaeJ na go bhfuil an dara fisteipde Bhouli ar fail anois. Bigi ag faireamach di!- Colman 0 RaghaUaigh* An tAth Diarmaid b Laoghaire a fuairGradam al) Phiarsaigh '92 ag ocaid saChulturlann ar an IOu lIi Samhna. Tadhg'uas. 0 hEalaithe, Runai Roinn na Gaeltachta,a bhronn an Gradam ata eagraitheag Fonduireacht an Phiarsaigh.21

IRISH "MACARONIC VERSE"Gearoid b BroinBilingual Irish Songs, more aptlydescribed as MACARONIC VERSE, arePoems of a burlesque nature, wedded totraditional Irish Airs, in which thewords in Irish are combined with wordsin English in alternating lines, usually.They date from the 18th century, andare more numerous in Munster thanelsewhere, it seems. There was often an"ulterior motive" in doing so, of course.!A Benedictine monk, named TheofiloFolengo, initiated this "poeticspecies", we learn - in his "Liber Mascaronicus," in which verses minglingLatin with Italian words were used . Buta renowned English scholar, RichardPorson (1759-1808) , Professor of Greekat Cambridge University , popularised itduring the Napoleonic Era (1793-1821),when the Napoleonic Invasion of Britainwas threatened during 1804, with thefollowing much-applauded verse:"Such tempora nunquam videbantmajores,For then their opponents had differentmores,But we will soon prove to the Corsicanvaunter,Though times may be changed,Britain never mutantur"The following self-explanatory verseis a straightforward example of IrishMacaronic Verse:"Yesterday morning, maidin inne,I killed a goose, mhairbh me ge,The knife was too sharp, bhl an scianro-ghear,And I cut my finger, gheara me momhear".A varian is where complete verses inIrish and English alternate . One of thecommonest " themes" recounts a carefreeyoung man's chance-meeting withan alluring maiden, and his follow-upefforts to seek her hand in marriage.The earliest "Bilingual Irish Version"entitled "As I was Walking", was notbased on that theme, however. It wascomposed by Clare poet Donncha RuaMacConmara (1715-1810) in a tavernin St. John's, Newfoundland in 1745 ,while in exile there . It became a greatfavourite with Irish seamen during the18th and 19th centuries, we learn, andthey appear to have adopted it as theirfavourite "Sea Shanty". It later grippedthe sailors of the British Navy - muchto the gratification of their Irish comrades,(because of the hard-hittingmeaning of the Irish words - the antithesisof those in English!). This prompteda contemporary Mayo Poet, Tomasb Flannghaile to comment: "TheEnglish seamen enjoyed the words inEnglish mightily, but the Irish sailors,who fully appreciated the import ofthe Gaelic words, certainly enjoyedthem more mightily" , as one may guage .from the following verses:"As I was walking one evening fair,Is me go deanach i mBaile SheainI met a gang of English blade~ , ,Is iad da dtraochadh ag a namhaid.Come drink a health boys to RoyalGeorge,Our chief commander - mh ordaighCrlost,Is aithchimls ar Mhuire Mhathair,E fein 'gus a ghardal do leagadh SIOS."Ever popular in the " Kingdom" ofKerry is a delightfully amusing songwith a rollicking refrain called "Anomlis Anall, a Mhairln". The opening verseaptly sets the scene:"One day for recreation's gan einne beo am' chudeachtain,I spied a charming fair maidIna haonar 'gus I i siopa 'stigh.She was singing like an angel's me ag eisteacht len a binne-ghuth,I whispered soft and aisy,'Se duirt sI: 'Lig dod' radaireacht".On chatting with her for a brief whilehe discovered she was a local Minister'sdaughter, so he then promptly assuredher:"You'll get my stock and farum,Ma theann tu Iiom go Mucaros,And then she sang most charming:'A ghra geal, I'm fond of you".23

Tally-ho lena bhonn! Tally-ho lenabhonn!Tally-ho lena bhonn, a choilearnin,Tally-ho lena bhonn! Tally-ho lenabhonn!Agus barr a dh a chluais in-airde."Songs with entire verses alternatingin Irish and English, as already alludedto, include: "Larry Play-Duisigh", Se3nthe Rake", and "Will You Come'!' eachof which have romantic overtones."Larry Play Duisigh", once very popularin Co. Mayo , is sung to the jovial air of"The Swaggering Jig", and has a frolic·some refrain as follow s:"Larry play duisigh, play duisigh,;Larry play duisigh chun spoirt,;Larry play duisigh, play duisigh ,;Le cailin deas cruite na mbo.Then follows each verse in turn ashereunder:"0, why wouldn't I love my love,;0 , why wouldn't he love me,;0 , why wouldn't I love my love,;. Better than any-body.-curfa (Refrain)Beidh muid a' siul go dtl maidin,'s as sin go dtl, uair a' mhean-Iae,No go gcastar isteach ins an teach sinn,A bhfuil cailln deas cruite na mbo.-curfi1 went to the fair of Kilkenny,'Twas there that I bought a wee pig,And all that it cost was a penny,And he danced the Swaggering Jig.-RefrainBeidh muid ag 01 go dtl maidinNo go n-olfa muid 'slainte 'gus cead'No go gcastar isteach ins an teach 'sinnA bhfuil cailin deas cruite na mb o.-curfaA complete versio n of many of theso ngs mentioned above may be fou nd insuch well-known collections as Mrs.Eileen Costello's. " Arnhrain MhaigheChairn" and the Claisceadal BookletsI-X 11 that did so much to popularisethe Songs of the Gael during the 1930'sand '40's.BRINGING IT HOME TO BRITAIN* Members of the 1993 Comhaltas ConcertTour of Britain pictured at rehearsals inDublin. The Tour is sponsored by theB & I Line and Bord Failte.The Irish community in Britain, liketheir compatriots in North America andother foreign places, have been to theforefront in the promotion of Irish culture.At Fleadh Cheoil time, the musicalqualifiers from Britain are secondto none on the list of laurels. Againstthis background, the annual ComhaltasConcert Tour of Britain is always an uniqueevent. The 1993 Tour has all theingredients of another great success.The 1993 Tour will include concertsat Bolton, Manchester, Glasgow,Motherwell, Leeds, Sheffield, Birminghham,Leicester, Port Talbot, Haringey,St. Albans, Slough, Lincoln, Northamptonand Liverpool.There are 19 members in the groupas follows: Paddy Fallon, Fear a' Tt(Roscommon); Ned Kelly , 2-row accordeon(Tipperary); Dan O'Mahony 2-rowacc. (Kerry); James O'Grady, uilleannpipes/fiddle (Luton); Marcus () Maoldomhnaigh,banjo (Limerick); MaryKelly , harp (Kilkenny); Paul McGlin-chey, flute (Tyrone); MacDara °Raghallaigh, fiddle (Meath); Tim Collins,concertina (Limerick); Oliver {(earney,singer (Kildare), Ursula Burke, singer(Liverpool); Aine McGrath, fiddle (Kildare);Shelley Govers, flute (Waterford);Dancers Orla Hamill (Tyrone; MichelleFox (Derry); Niall O'Leary, (Dublin)and Michael Donnellan, (Clare).The Manager is Stephen Conroy andsound technician is Pat McElligott.The annual Tour is sponsored by B &I Line and Bord Failte and is lookedforward eagerly by the Irish Communityand their non-Irish friends. .25

SCOTTISH FIDDLE PLAYING ANDITS IRISH CONNECTIONSKevin McCannScottish fiddle music has beenplayed in Northern Ireland for at least acentury and a half, particularly incounties Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Fermanaghand Antrim and indeed is stillgoing strong in all these counties today,especially in County Antrim.I have had a life long admirationand affection for Scottish fiddle music,as my father who came from the Trillickregion of South Tyrone near the Fermanaghborder was a good fiddle playerin the Scottish mode , and the first tunesI ever heard played on the fiddle were"The Deil among the Tailors" and"Speed the Plough" played with greatverve by my father.I spent many years as a youngsterand adult listening to Scottish tunesplayed by fiddlers in County Tyroneand Fermanagh. About 70 years agofiddlers were numerous in this part ofIreland and Scottish tunes were an importantpart of their repertoire ofmusic.Historically the Scots have had along and close association with the NorthernIrish people. The two races are ofCeltic origin and probably imigratedfrom the mainland of Europe to England,Wales, Ireland and Scotland atthe same time more than a milleniumago .The christian faith was brought toScotland by Irish missionaries based onthe Island of Iona, causing a religious af..·filiation that lasted at least to the 16thcentury i.e. up to the time of the Refermation.There were also close political tiesbetween the two nations for a long timeand Scottish and Irish clans existed asallies or foes over many centuries up tothe time of Eoin Roe O'Neill in the 16thcentury.In later times Irish fishermen , fromUlster in particular , fished in the NorthSea and had a close and friendly relationshipwith Highland Scots, Shetland and* WILLlAM MARSHALL: "the first strathspeycomposer of the age"-BurnsOrkney Islanders, and as Gaelic wastheir common language, many songs,airs and tunes were exchanged duringthis association.In more recent times, especially inthe 19th century, thousands ofNorthern Irish people migrated to Scotland,especially in the famine years andin this century many seasonal workersin particular the " Tatie Hokers" , or po ·tatoe diggers travelled annually to Scot ·land in the autumn to harvest the potatoecrop for the more prosperous Scot·tish farmers. These migrants returnedhome after their work was completedand brought songs and music, both printedand oral with them to Ireland andinfluenced Northern Irish music to alarge degree .SCOTTISH MUSIC IN IRELANDScottish music and reels in particularhave been played in Ireland for centuriesand even the last of our harpersmoved between both countries regularlyand frequently and the Gaelic, linguisticand musical unity arising from the racialidentity of the Irish and Scottishpeoples was never completely brokenfrom the 4th century.27

"The Bonnie Lass of Bon Accord","Margaret Walker Reel", "The Laird ofDrumblair", strathepey, '''Spey inSpate", reel, "The President", exhibitionpiece and "The Left HandedFiddler" and scores of others too numerousto name here.Admireres of Scott Skinner andplayers of his music include Sean McGuire of Belfast, the late John andMickey Doherty and Francis Byrne ofCo. Donegal and Sean Keane who plays"The Mathematician Hornpipe" andJosie Keegan who plays "HasberryHoward Hornpipe".Scott Skinner music is technicallydifficult to play and one has to have fullcommand of the violin to play his musicsatisfactorily.In 1953 , through the good officesof the late Charles Curry , some Scottishfiddle players were invited and came toBallymena, Co. Antrim to play for TheDerry and Antrim Fiddle Society. I hadthe good fortune to meet and hear themand was very favourably impressedindeed by their fine playing and music.The players were: John Junner,Bert Murray and William Hardie, allfrom the Aberdeen region and gave agreat account of themselves and gave allpresent the "low down" on Scottishmusic, its history and its status at thattime.In 1954 I invited two of the aboveScotsmen, John J unner and Bert M urrayon a fiddle tour of Ireland so that theycould get a close look at and hear Irishfiddle players on their home turf.We began the Tour in Belfast andspent two days in Jack McGuire's housein Belfast where the music went on dayand night and great music was played bythe Scots and the McGuires.We next met the Ballymena playerswho included the late George McCrae ,David MacWhinney , the late Alex Kerr,John Rae (xylophone) and the late SeanMr;;:Loughlin. Scottish music dominatedthe sessions with this group, and therewas no doubt that Scottish fiddle musicis strongest in Co . Antrim.We then travelled to Co. Donegaland spent some time with the late JohnDoherty who enthralled and intriguedthe Scotsmen with his vast collection ofScottish tunes and his great fiddle technique.From long association with him Ibelieve John Doherty knew every tunein the 12 volumes of Kerr's Collectionand at least four of them contain over400 tunes.After visiting Donegal we visitedthe late Tommy Coen of Salthill andBean Vi Standuin of Spiddal and endedup in Co. Clare listening to and taping* BILL HARDIE (b. 1916) celebrated exponentof the Scott Skinner style.* SEAN McGUIRE and myself at ScottSkinner's Grave, Oct. '54.* JOHN JONNER, Myself and SEAN McGUIRE at Scott Skinner's Grave.Paddy Canny, P. J oe H ayes and manyothers.John Junnor took hours of recordingsof the above named players and inhis house in Strachan, Kincardineshirehe has a pile of spools of tape three feethigh of recordings made of Irish fiddlersduring their trip.As John J unner is a fine pianistand accompaniest , a lot of the musictaped has piano accompaniement and isof high quality. John hopes to convertsome of the music to cassette tapes forthe edification and pleasure of today'sfiddle enthusiasts in Ireland andScotland.A VISIT TO ABERDEENThe Scotsmen invited Sean McGuire and myself for a musical visit toAberdeen in October, 1954 where wehad a week's non-stop music feast ofIrish and Scottish music played by Sean,John Junner, Bert Murray and Bill Hardie.It was a memorable week indeedand John Junner took Sean McGuireand myself to visit Scott Skinner'swhich to us all was a memorable momentand that trip to Aberdeen so longago still lives vividly in my mind.A sidelight to the trip was my conversationin Gaelic with John J unner'smother, a grand lady from the Highlandswho spoke fluent Scots Gaelicwhich I found easy to understand dueto its close resemblance to DonegalGaelic.During subsequent visits to Aberdeenwhich I consider the hub of Scottishfiddle music, I had the good fortuneto meet the late Tom Anderson, a ShetlandIsland fiddler and composer ofnote who composed the well knownairs, "The Old Resting Chair" and "TheSlockit Light" and numerous dancetunes in this Shetland mode which has astrong Scandinavian flavour.Tom subsequently invited Sean McGuire, J osie Keegan and J oe Burke toShetland to give concerts for the Shetlandenthusiasts where there were atleast 200 active fiddle players and whoplay en masse in groups of up to 30players together and produce fine musicindeed.The talented trio of McGuire , Keeganand Burke, made annual trips toShet4md for a d~cade. They played inLerwick to capacity , enthusiastic andknowledgable audiences.Sean McGuire informed me thatShetlanders were the best audiences heever played to, and J oe Burke agrees withthis.Bert M urray of Aberdeen, apartfrom being a fine fiddle player has composedmore than a hundred fine tunes29

THE STRANGER'S LANDThe Emigrant Experience in IrishTraditional Musicby Dr. Gear6id OhAllmhuniinSt. Francis Xavier UniversityAntigonish, Nova ScotiaThe location of Ireland on the northwest coast of Europe has often beendescribed as peripheral or isolated.While this may be true from a land perspective,it is totally fallacious whenseen in the context of maritime communication.Long before Europeans -be they Viking adventurers or spiritualexiles from Kerry - set sail for the NewWorld, Ireland occupied a central positionin a maritime world, which stretchedfrom the eastern Mediterraneanto Scandinavia.Early mesolithic settlers arrived inIreland by sea about 8000 years ago.They crossed the narrow channel between Scotland and Ulster and spreadalong the coasts, up the River Bann toLough Neagh. About 3500 B.C.Neolithic farmers arrived using thesame route, while more of them arrivedfrom the south hugging the Atlanticcoastline from Biscay and Iberia. Shortlyafter the first metal workers established themselves in the country (1800B.C.), a trade route for Irish axes, daggersand halberds linked Ireland withCornwall, Brittany, Spain and NorthAfrica.The Celts, a loose confederation ofiron--using warriors arrived in Irelandabout 300 B.C . Referred to as Keltoiby the Greeks, they had dominated CentralEurope from Iberia to Turkey in thecenturies prior to the expansion ofRome. Their arrival in Ireland appearsto have been marked by conquest andcolonisation. Over the centuries, learned men have chosen to endow theseCeltic settlers with a complex legacy ofmyth and pseudo-history. Ireland inturn has been furnished with its Celticpast, its Celtic music and more importantlyits Celtic language , Gaelic, whichderives from an archaic Indo Europeanworld .While these opening remarks arebased on orthodox sources, recent workin social-anthropology and ethnomusic-JAMES MORRISONology, have drawn our attention toother influences on Early Irish society.These derive from Ireland's Atlanteantradition. 1 . In 1985 , Irish film makerBob Quinn explored the maritime traderoutes linking Ireland with North Africa.An important component in Quinn's researchwas his comparison between thesean -n6s singing of the Conamara Gaeltachtand the traditional singing of theBedouin Arabs. Although these theoriesare still battling for credibility, the factthat they underline Ireland's importanceon an A t1antean highway is in itself ofvital significance) Similarly their implicationsfor research on Irish emigranthistory have yet to be fully appreciated.Although Ireland was chosen as a targetby various foreign contingents, iteventually became a place of settlementfor Norse, Danes and Normans. Ironically, the sources which refer to these invasionshave focused essentially on theirpolitical consequences and on the rulingclasses who were affected by the upheavals.It sometimes seems as if the historyof Early Ireland was a continuouschronicle of battles and political intrigues, while everyday matters like socialentertainment, pastimes and music makingwere of little consequence. Apartfrom a few isolated references to har-31

erica were Portestant. Nearly three quar·ters of these were Presbyterians. Therest were Anglicans, Quakers and otherProtestant denominations. In terms ofnumbers this represented 2-300,000Protestants - most of them being Presbyteriandissenters from Ulster who sufferedmuch discrimination at the handsof their Ascendancy overlords. Whilethe pattern of settlement of theseUlster-Scots was diverse, many of themchose to settle on the farm lands of theAppalachians in Virginia, Kentucky andthe Carolinas. The traditional music ofthese Appalachian Scots-Irish settlersmutated into what we know today asAppalachian old·time music. ThisAppalachian sound would go to play arole in the making of a quintessentialAmerican music namely Rock'N'Roll.In the early nineteenth century andespecially after the Napoleonic Wars ,emigration to Britain increased and forpoorer Irish people who could not affordthe fare to America, Britain waspreferred. The fare for a channel crossingwas about ten pence or less (lessthan a quarter). Between 1830 and1835 , 200,000 Irish people left for Bri·tain. Liverpool became the first leg ofthe journey to America. Destitute andunskilled , many of these Irish immi·grants never got to leave Liverpool,while more found themselves at the bottomof the social ladder in the Englishtextile cities of Lancashire and York·shire .By now there was also a long·establishedpattern of seasonal migrationfrom the north west of Ireland to Scotlandwhere tatie·hoakers, bothy bandsand navvies plied their trades from theClyde Valley to the farm lands ofLowland Scotland. These too contributedtheir share to the music anddance of contemporary Scotland (as thereciprocation of repertoires indicate).The . industrial cities of England andScotland were not the only attractionfor migrant Irish workers however.Since the voyages of the Cabots at theend of the fifteenth century, Irish mer·chants, fishermen and traders had beencoming to Acadia and Newfoundland.Nurtured initially by trade contractsinvolving Anglo-Irish and Franco-Irishadventurers, the Irish settlement inNewfoundland began in earnest afterthe treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Recentresearch has shown that the migrantIrish winter men who chose to brave thearctic-harshness of Talamh an Eisc,came from within a fifty mile radius ofWaterford City (on the south coast ofIreland) which was a major trading portwith the Americas.From Newfoundland their desce n-dants were to spread into other parts ofMaritime Canada - in particular to CapeBreton and Prince Edward Island, whichattempted to have its name changed toNew Ireland in 1780. (His Majesty'sPrivy Council, however, was rather nonplussed).These migrant Irish inter·married with French Acadians and lateron Highland Scots. Their surnames aswell as their placenames still dot thecountryside in eastern Canada as do theill-explored remnants of their traditionalmusic and dancing.MICHAEL COLEMANThe first Catholic Irish emigrants toreach America en masse were not as isso often supposed the victims of thefamine of the 1840s. For a century ormore before that, they had been comingto America as transported convicts andindentured servants, sometimes kidnap·ped for the purpose . so high was thedemand for labour in the colonies.They met with prejudice and ill treat·ment and many , unable to withstandthe climatic conditions, died of tropicaldiseases. It was soon realised that blackslave-labour was a better option and theexperiment in Irish slave-trading per sewas abandoned.THE IRISH FAMINEBetween 1845 and 1855 the face ofIreland was changed for ever. In thoseten years over one million people diedfrom disease and famine. Another mil­. lion people left the ·country. In Canada,the arrival of the coffin ship Uraniafrom Cork in May of Black '47 (1847)signalled the ftrst of 84 plague-riddenships that would sail up the Saint Lawrencein a single month. Those leavingincluded family groups with young childrenand inftrm elderly people. For thefirst time large numbers left from theIrish-speaking areas in the west. In all,perhaps 350,000 native Gaelic speakersemigrated, most of whom were less wellequipped to deal with emigration thantheir more angiicised compatriots.Handicapped by lack of Engiish, theyhad no cultural resources whatever todeal with the world to which they weregoing. (Organisations like the BenevolentIrish Society in Prince Edward Island,which had been established in1825 under Lt. Gov. John Ready, hadfew counterparts in the shanty townsand ghettos of urban America duringthe 1840s.). As if to underline the agony, exportsof Irish grain continued uninterruptedthroughout the famine years. Nor wasthis lost on the local scribes who werefortunate enough to survive . . Songs ~fexile were fired by a popular cynicismas landlords and heartless bureaucratswere singled out for special satire .A custom known as the Americanwake began during the middle decadesof the nineteenth century. Neighboursand family would gather in the home ofthe emigrant for a ritual of farewell involvingmusic, dancing, drinking andsongs.This would continue until thedeparture for Cork the following day.The wake marked a total rupture infamily life as few emigrants everreturned from An tOilerin Ur - the"New Island" as America was called.(The sense of loss is poignantly expressedin the song "A Star Mo Chro!") * *The years following the Great Faminewere difficult ones for Irish emigrantsto the east coast of America.What work they could find was menial,severe and poorly paid. Most of themexchanged their rural backgrounds forunfamiliar urban settings, often markedby discrimination from the incumbentWASP establishment. They worked inbuilding construction, docking, machineshops, domestic service, <strong>mini</strong>ng and oncanal and railroad construction. Despitethe alienation of their reluctant hosts,over 200,000 Irish workers found theirway into the American Civil War , mostlyonthe side of the Union.By 1850, twenty six per cent of thepopulation of New York and twentyfive per cent of the population of Chi·cago were Irish born. By 1855 , therewere one and a half million Irish bornpeople living in America. Of the genera·tion born in Ireland in 1831 , only onein three died at home.To ease their way into American lifemany emigrants attempted to transplantthe customs and traditions of rural Ireland.Music became a major Irish corn·ponent in this process. Irish musicianswere numerous among the first famineemigrants. The diaspora deprived manyof the travelling pipers and professionalmusicians of their livelihood and manyof them followed their audience out to33

5. The publication of his compositionsby the Neale brothers in Dublin in1721 - during 0 'Carolan 's own lifetime- appears to have been unprecedentedfor a native harper.6. Bunting also recorded the memoriesof the blind and ageing harperArthur 0 'Neill at the same festival.7. R.I. Best, Osborn Bergin and M.A.O'Brien (eds.) The Book of Leinster(DIAS, 1954-1967). (Vol. 1-5).8. Liam Swords. The Irish CollegeParis (Dublin, 1985).9. Eamon 0 'DoherfJ! and Alan FeldmanThe Northern Fiddler (Belfast,1979) Introduction. p. 6.10. Breandan Breathnach pointed outthat: "The good dancer danced, asit were underneath himself tappingeach note of the music on thefloor." Folk Music and Dances ofIreland (Dublin , 1971) p. 53.11. Nuala O'Connor, Bringing it allBack Home: The Irifluence of IrishMusic (BBC, 1990) p. 38.12. Cyril Byrne "The Irish Foothold inNorth America" in Robert O'Driscolland Lorna Reynold's The UntoldStory: The Irish in Canada(Toronto 1988) p. 171.13. Brendan 0 'Grady, "The New IrelandLost: The Irish Presence inPrince Edward Island", in RobertO'Driscoll and Lorna Reynold's op.cit (Toronto, 1.988) p. 203.14. Edward D. Ives, Lawrence Doyle,The Farmer Poet of Prince EdwardIsland (Orono , 1971).15. Nuala O'Connor, op.cit (BBC,1990) p. 36.16. Marjorie R. Fallows, Irish Americans:Identity and Assimilation(New Jersey, 1979) p. 24.17. It was ironic that the fire started inthe immigrant home . of Mrs.O'Leary, where an Irish fiddler PatMcLoughlin was entertaznzng anewly arrived Irish cousin at a party.THE PIPER AND THE PASTORFrom their peripatetic mode of life,and the circumstance that the nature oftheir calling brought them almost constantlyin touch with cheerful company,pipers, fiddlers and dancing masters oftraditional times acquired an endlessfund of anecdotes. Almost all weremasters of story telling, and not a fewwere keen of wit and ready at reparteeand rhyming.Among the latter was a CountyLeitrim piper, commonly known as"Shaun Bacach" on account of his lameness.Much of his support was derivedfrom playing the pipes at a "patron,"near a prominent cross-roads every Sundayafternoon. Whether it was thecharm of his music, his pleasant ingratiatingmanner, or the opportunity forthe young people to get better acquainted,or perhaps all combined, that attractedthe large attendance, rumors ofShaun's phenomenal prosperity eventuallyreached the ears of his reverence thepastor.This happened of course before 'patrons'and dancing fell into disfavour. Just·out of curiosity, you know, the clergymanhappened along one Sunday afternoonand by way of no harm stationedhimself where he could keep an eye onthe hole in the ground beside the piper'schair. Into this hole, in lieu of someother receptacle, the joyous swains generouslypitched a coin or two after eachdance.The pastor soon was convinced thatthe stories of Shaun's iricome had notbeen exaggerated. To his mind, thiscondition of affairs could not be permittedto continue. It was positivelysinful to divert to frivolity so muchmoney needed for more seriouspurposes so stepping up to the astonishedpiper, he told him quietly but firmlythat he would have to leave theparish."Yerra, Father, what have I done outof the way at all," begged the now alarmedShaun."Well, for one thing," replied hisreverence, "you're taking in more moneyat this 'patron' than my offerings amountto, and there is not enough in theparish for both of us.""Sure, I'm not to blame for that",protested Shaun, " 'Twas your father'sfault.""My father's fault," repeated the pastorin surprise; "how could it be hisfault. What had he to do with it, willyou tell me?,"He had everything to do with it,your reverence. He ought to have madea piper out of you instead of a priest!"Wit and humor will often win wherean appeal to reason is doomed to failure.A County Longford version of this storyhas it that the acute stage of the controversybetween the priest and thepiper had been reached at a weddinginst~~d of a "patron."Liberality, no less than hospitality, isa dominant characteristic of the Irishrace, and a wedding, particularly of thewell-to-do, was sure to be an occasionfor the display of this well known trait.The parties on "both sides of thehouse," in this instance, were determinedto be worthy of their people, and"not let it go with anyone" in the wayof cleverness and flaithheamlacht (flahoolacht).So when a donation wastaken up for the pastor, who graced theoccasion with his presence, after theceremony, you may depend on it thatthe amount was no "small penny."Without a piper to furnish fine music,of course, the festivities would be incomplete,and so when the "plate waspassed around" for Shaun's benefit lateron, when all present were in a mellowand generous frame of mind, great wastheir astonishment to find that thepiper's pittance exceeded the pastor'spurse! This unexpected denouementwas considered an excellent joke bysome, but according to my veracious informant,Mr. Gillan, it occasioned hisreverence, the sagart, no little embarrassment.The· interchange of complimentswhich followed between him andthe piper is essentially the same in bothcases.* From the Chapter on 'Irish Piperin Literature' in Captain Franciso 'N eill 's "Irish Minstrels and Musicians."35

~ ~.nO,~~ife,o,nn .J11{rfCLUAIN MEAIACO. Thiobrad ArannClonmel, Co. Tipperary-J . 27th, 28th~NI& 29thAugust 1993

AN~~-/~ ~ISLAND ~OF /~ ~::~: 19:::GAEL_-Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. ThisMUSJICl mIRELAND '93___-_----.-OCT. 29/31« ~ event is dedicated to the Irish Language against a back -ground of Irish traditional, music, song and dance. It isnoted for its scholarship and friendliness. CEOL ANGHEIMHRIDH (All-Ireland Finals) will be held on therr (./ Saturday (March 20)J~~JUNE 18/20I)!--FLEADH NUA ··Ennis Co. Clare · This Comhaltas Ceolt6irl Eireann festival attracts thousands of people from allparts of Ireland and abroad. It includes musicians singers,dancers, wren boys, biddy boys, strawboys, all woven togetherin a rich cultural pattern.FLEADH AMHRAN & RINCE -Ballycastle. Co. Antrim - As thetitle denotes, this festival places emphasis on traditional singing anddancing and incorporates the All-Ireland Finals of the Inter-provincialSet-dance competitions. This event has grown to become oneof the most attractive items on the Comhaltas calendar and iseagerly sought after by connoisseurs. .JUNE- SEPT.TRAIDISIUN· -Traditional entertainment seven nights each weekat Culturlann na hEireannn the home of Irish traditionar music -Belgrave Square, Monkstown Co. Dublin. This is a must foratmosphere and qual ity.AUGUST 22/27SCOIL EIGSE ·--Clonmel-This is a Summer College of traditionalmusic organised by Comhaltas Ceolt6irl Eireann at wh ich the'masters' pass on useful hints on traditional music. Several hundredstudents - young and old - attend each year. Streamsinclude music, singing, dancing and the Irish Language.TIONOL CHEOIL -Culturlann na hEireann, 32 Belgrave Square Monkstown, Co. Dublin. This educational/recreationalweek -end includes workshopsceilithe, sessions, exhibitions. Bookings should besent to: Mrs. Jo Morris, 170 Biscayne, Malahide, Co.Dublin. (Phone: 01 - 452668). Week-end all-in rate£40.AUGUST 27/29FLEADH CHEOIL na hEIREANN-Clonmel - At Fleadh wee~end. men and women flor.k from their mountain fastnesses, theirrur~1 business and their urban professions to the one chosen townin Ireland where for three days, they will do little else but play,talk, sing, dance or listen to traditional Irish music. This is an uniqueexperience -- the experience of a lifetime.COMHAL TAS CEOL TOI R f El REANNBELGRAVE SQUARE, MONKSTOWN, CO. DUBLINPHONE : (01) 2800295 FAX: (01) 2803759

DIALANNDIARY OF EVENTSMarch 19/21 Fleadh na nGael Castlerea20 Ceol an Gheimhridh Castlerea11 Tionol Cheoil na Breataine Princethorpe College11/12 Roscommon Fleadh Ballinlough18 Northern Region Fleadh Liverpool24/25 Leitrim Fleadh Drumsna25 London Regional Fleadh East LondonMay 7/9 Cork Fleadh Blarney7/9 Dublin Fleadh7/9 Mayo Fleadh Claremorris8/9 Donegal Fleadh9 Midland Region Fleadh Nottingham9 Offaly Fleadh14/16 Kilkenny Fleadh Kells14/16 Tipperary Fleadh CahirArmagh FleadhKeady21 /22 Antrim Fleadh Cushendall21/23 Galway Ki limor22/23 ArmaghMeath FleadhEnfield23 Scottish Region Fleadh GlasgowLongford FleadhEdgeworthstown28/31 Fleadh Nua EnnisJune 4/6 Sligo Fleadh RiverstownDerry F leadhBellaghyLimerick F leadhAbbeyfealeWaterford FleadhAnRinn6 Cavan Fleadh KilnaleckWexford FleadhBannowLaoisClonasleeWestmeath FleadhMoate12/13 Kildare Fleadh AllenwoodLouth Fleadh13 Fermanagh Fleadh Roslea18/20 Clare Fleadh CorrafinneFleadh Amhnin 7 RinceBallycastle25/27 Kerry F leadh Miltown26/27 Connacht Fleadh Westport26/27 Tyrone Fleadh26/27 Down Fleadh27 All-Britain Fleadh St. AlbansJuly 8/11 Munster Fleadh Ennistymon16/18 Leinster F leadh Kilkenny23/25 Ulster FleadhAugust 22/27 Seoil "Eigse Clonmel27/29 Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann ClonmelOctober 29/31 Tionol Cheoil Culturlann na Eireannthe native music, song and dance of Ireland are to be found in every corner of the land. Sometimes thetraditional entertaillment is at the centre of the stage; other times you need a little help to find thediscreet and intimate settings where time stands still and the performers while away the hours with theirexhilirating musicmaking. This brochure helps to introduce you to the Living Tradition of Ir eland.There are a variety of events at which you will savour the real Ireland. These rang e from local to nationalfestivals called FLEADH CHEOI L.Then there are the informal SESSIONS - a mu sic trail throu~h the country at such locations as thatchedcottages, castles, community halls and hotels. A visit to CUL TU RLANN na hEI REANN - the home of Irishtraditional music " at Belgrave Square, Monkstown, Co. Dublin, is a must for atmosphere and quality. Thereare also several fine cultural centres throughout the country. For the more ambitious, there are m any oppor·tunities to learn the music or the dances and join in the fun .You are invited to pick up the phone and dial us at 01 2800295 (Fax: 01 -2803759) for more informationor just drop in on a visit. We are at Cult':'rlann na hEireann, Belgr ave Square, Monkstown, Co. Dublin. .40

SAITHEADH SA gCAISLEAN NUA 1828Seamus 0 DufaighMaidin bhrea chiuin i m! DheireFomhair sa mblian 1828 thuit m!-adhmar amach ar Loch Coirib i gCondae naGaillimhe. Chuaigh aon duine dheagagus fiche ar bard sean-bhad ag EanachDhUin no Anach Cuain, mar a glaodhtarair go <strong>mini</strong>c, le dui go h-aonach naGaillimhe. Bhi caoirigh agus earrai eilele diol ag cuid de na daoine, ach is chunsiopad6ireacht a dheanamh sa gcathair abhi a bhfurmhor ag duI. Bh! ceoltoir ina measg freisin agus a uirlis aige agus aba rud e go raibh ocht mile le dui aca goGaillimh ba ghearr gur arduigh se port.N ior airigh slad an t-am ag sleamhnuthart no go raibh siad i bhfoisgeacht dhamhile do Ghaillirnh. Ach ag an bpoinntesin ceard a tharla ach gur chuir caora acos tre thoin an bhaid agus thosaigh ant-uisge ag teacht isteach go luath Nuairachonaic fear a bhi sa mbad a t-uisge agteacht isteach bhain se a chasog de agusleag se ar an bpoll e agus bhrugh se siosle 'n a chos e chun deimhin a dheanamhde nach dtiocfadh a thuille uisge isteach .Ach faraoir gear rinne se go ro-Iaidir eagus in ait an t-uisge a stopadh dothiomain se an c1ar ar fad as an mbadmar bh! se lofa.Do lionadh an bad le h-u !sge ar annairneat agus chuaigh se sios agusfagadh an duine dheag ar fhichid agusdeich gcaoirigh ag troid leis an uisge . Niraibh siad ach tamail gearr on' talamhach in aimhdheoin sin baitheadh naoindaoine dheag aca, daoine oga, luthmhara,laidre.Chuaigh an sceal dubronach trid antir agus chruinnigh a lucht gaoil 'nadtirnpeall. Fritheadh na corpain go le'irach aon chorp amhain . Ni h-ionadh goraibh gear-ghol san taobh tire agus goraibh intinn na ndaoine corruightheleis an m i-adh mar do thit chomhtobann sin ortha., Thainig dha dhuinedheag de phaisnearai an bhaid slan agusta se raidhte gur shnamh na caoirigh idtir ach deireann muinntir na h-aite gurfhan an bad ag toin poill go dti an la atainniu ann .Ce gur tharla an baitheadh cead isdha scar bliain a shoin agus ce go bhfuilan timpist fein irnithe a chuirnhne cinnna ndaoine c10istear iomradh faoi fos inEanach Dhuin. Ach ar eagla na h-eaglago ndeanfai dearmad ar an mi-adh, d'fhagRafteri cuimhne go brath ar an scealsan gcaoineadh brea do rinne se faoi.Thar aon amhran caointe eile in aonteanga, ceapairn nach feidir amhran Raf·teri a sharu do realachas righin, sirnpli- ,ocht, agus cruth ginearalta.Ina hin de na leabhra ni fhagannmuid ach cuig no se bhearsai ach sealeagann nios iomlaine a fuair me ' ashean-fhear a rugadh in Eanach Duinach a chaith an chuid is mo da shaol iMheirioca. Maith an sceal Mach narchaill se a theanga na a chanuint treisdh:i scar bliain i Mheirioca.Ma fluigaim - se shiinte is fada bheastrachtadhAr an mead do baitheadh as AnachCuain,'S'mothma amarach gach athair 'smlithairBean is paiste ta a' sileadh suI.A Righ na nGnista cheap Neamh isParrthas,Nlir bheag an tabhacht duinn beirt natriur,Ach hi chOmh brea leis gan gaoith naMisteachUn a' bluiid aca do scuabadh ar siul.Nar mh6r an t-ionadh os coir na ndaoineA bhfeiscint sinte ar cMI a gcinn,Sgreadadh is caoineadh do sgannrochadhdaoine,Gruaig d-a chiaradh 's an chreach daroinn.Bhi buachailli oga ann, tigheacht' anfhO'mhairD'a sineadh ar chrochar, 's da dtabhairtgo cill,'s gurb e glea's a bposta, do bhi d'adtoramh,'S a Dhia na Gloire nar mhOr an feaU'.Ansiud De h-Aoine chluinfea an caoineadhAg teacht gach taobh, agus greadadhbos,'s a hin thar oiche trom tuirseachc1aoiteGan ceo le deanamh aca ach ag sineadhcorpA dhia 's a Chriosta d'fhulaing iodhbairt,Do cheannaigh go firinneach an bocht isan· ,nocht.Go Parrthas Naofa go dtugair saor leat,Gach crt!atuir diobh da'r thit faoi 'n lot.Millean gear ar an ionad ceannaNlir lasa resit ann's nlir eirigh grian,Do bhaith an mead ud do thriall in einfheachtGo Gaillirnh ar aonach go moch Diardaoin,Na 'fir do ghleasadh cliath gus ceachtDo threabadh breanra 's do chraitheadhsiol,'S na mna da reir sin do dhesnfadh gachaon ruclDo shniomhfadh breid agus anairt chaoLllaile Ch)air do bhi in aice laimheNior leig an t-adh ortha a ghabhailIamos,Bhi an Bas chomh laidir nach dtug seciirdeD'aon mhac mathar da rugadh riamh,38

,LAETHANTA SPOIRTG HAELSCO I LEAN NAEagralodh Blitzeanna Spoirt agusTnith na gCeisteanna, ml na Bealtaineagus ml an Mheithimh seo caite, do nascoileanna lan-Ghaeilge sna ceantair seoa lean as - Baile Atha Claith, Cill Dara,An Mhl agus Cill Mhantain. Baineadhan-tairbhe as na laethanta sin 0 thaobhcursal spoirt de ach, chomh maith leissin, 0 thaobh teacht le cheile na ndaltalagus 0 thaobh cumarsaid idir na scoileannalan-Ghaeilge a fheabhsu agus alaidriu.Is iad na scoileanna a ghlac pairt na:Scoil Naithl, Baile Atha Cliath; ScoilChronain , Co. Atha Cliath; Scoil Oilibheir,Baile Atha Cliath, Scoil Neasain,Baile Atha Cliath; Scoil Santain, BaileAtha Cliath; Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcain,Baile Atha Cliath; Scoil an Duinnlnigh,Baile Atha Cliath; Scoil Chaitl[n Maude,Baile Atha Cliath; Gaelscoil Inse Chor,Baile Atha Cliath, Scoil an tSeachtarLaoch, Baile Atha Cliath; Gaelscoil naCille, Co. na MI Scoil VI Riada, CillDara; Scoil Chualann, Co. Chill Mhantain.Gabhaim bUlochas 0 chrol le Donallo hAinifln, Scoil Neasain, a d'eagraighan Blitz Cispheile. Bh[ an bua ag ScoilNeasain agus bhi Scoil Naithi sa darahait sa chomortas sin. Taim fiorbhuiochd'Eamonn 0 Deagha agus de Mhairtln 'o Muirl (Scoil Santain), a d'eagraigh an .Blitz Peile. Bhl an bua ag ScoilChronain agus bhl Scoil Naithl sa dara'hait sa chomortas sinsearach. Bhl anbua .ag Scoil VI Riada agus bhl ScoilChaitlln Maude sa dara hait sa chomortassoisearach. Taim an-bhuloch dePhadraig b Conchubhair, Scoil Chronain,a d'ullmhaigh na ceisteanna agus abhl mar fhear an t[ do Thrath na gCeisteanna. Bhl an bua ag Scoil Chronainagus bh[ Scoil Naith[ sa dara agus satriu hait sa chomortas sin .Mile bUlochas le Deaglan 6 hAinle,Scoil an tSeachtar Laoch, a d'eagraighan Blitz lomanalochta agus an BlitzCamogalochta. Bhl an bua ag Scoil InseCh6r agus bhl Scoil Naithl sa dara haitsa chomortas iomanalochta. Bhl anbua ag Scoi! an tSeachtar Laoch sachomortas camogalochta agus bhl GaelscoilInse Chor sa dara hait. Bronnadhdeochanna orainn le haghaidh na bpaistla bhl ag glacadh pairt sna h6caid{ spoirtagus taim florbuloch de na comhlachtala chabhraigh !inn: Allied Bottlers -Cluain Tarbh; V nited Beverages SalesLtd. - Br. an MhI1e Fada; Coca-Cola,Eastat Tionsclaloch an larthair, Cantrell& Cochrane, Pairc na Coille Moire,Theas; Smithk!ine Beecham, Br. anMhl1e Fada.Gabhaim bUlochas 0 chrol le MichealGrae, Priomhfheidhmeannach Bhord naGaeilge, a bhronn £50 orainn chuncabhru !inn boinn a cheannach lehaghaidh na mbuaiteoirl. Beidhlaethanta spoirt agus Trath na gCeisteanna a n-eagru arls againn i mbliananios luaithe sa bh!iain, b'fheidir, agustaim ag sui! go mbeidh gach scoil pairteachlontu.Kay VI Shandair,Oifig Ghaelscoileanna.BEN BVLBENVnder bare benbulben's headIn Drumcliffe churchyard Yeats is laid.An ancestor was rector thereLong years ago, a church stands near.By the road an ancient cross.No marble, no conventional phraseOn limestone quarried near the spotBy his command these words are cut;Cast a cold eyeOn life, on death ,Horseman, pass by!W. B. YeatsBenbulben, the norheriy portion ofwhich resembles the fore part of an invertedship , the straight crest and thecurved face resembling an upturned keeland prow, is associated with many amyth and legend. The very name itselfcomes from Gulban the son of Niall ofthe Nine Hostages. Finn McCumhallstalked its slopes. And it is on Benbulbenthat the Irish epic 'Toraiocht Diarmuidagus Grainne' was finally to end.Diarmuid having eloped with Grainne ,had been chased to the four corners ofIreland and was to make his final standon 'Bare Benbulben's head'. Here. aftersuffering injuries from a wi!d bo~r helay wounded and dying He asked oneof the soldiers following him to bringhim a drink of water and, after somehesitation, the soldier went to a nearbywell and brought back some water in hishands. However, just before reachingDiarmuid he let the water through hisfingers . The soldier went a second timeto the well, brought back some water inhis hands but again let is through his fingers.The soldier went a third time butthis time it was too late. On his returnthe hero was dead. His soul had beenspirited away to the land of the littlepeople. It is said that these little peoplecan still be seen as the sun sets on thecrest of the mountain, dancing close totheir homes in the undergrowth.36

America.They played at weddings, wakes andsocial gatherings. Some made their wayinto music halls and variety shows,which began to cater for immigrant audiencesin the wake of the American. Civil War. Irish music went into the inevitablemelting pot and re-emerged in avariety of forms - from the tear-drawingDanny Boy to the sentimental dittiesof George M. Cohan. In places,however, old tunes remained intact andoriginal styles of playing still gave anidentity to an Irish community whichwas not rushing to become American.Late nineteenth century Chicago exemplifiedthis aspect of the Irish Americancommunity.CAPT. FRANCIS O'NEILLIn 1871 , Chicago was devastated byfire. In that same year, twenty twoyear old Francis O'Neill from Trailibanein West Cork arrived in Chicago,where thousands of Irish immigrantswere employed in the rebuilding of thecity. O'Neill, who arrived in the midwest via San Francisco, had run awayto sea at the age of sixteen and becameshipwrecked in the Pacific. Shortlyafter arriving in Chicago he was swornin as a policeman and after thirty yearsof service, rose to the rank of GeneralSuperintendent (Chief of Police) in1901.Being an accomplished traditionalflute player, O'Neill became involved inIrish music in Chicago where dance hallsand saloons featured Irish traditionalplayers. He also found work for a disproportionatelyhigh number of Irishmusicians in the police force. His contactwith the Chicago Irish Music Cluband with celebrated professional musicianslike Patsy Tuohey (an Irish piper ofmusic hall comic), convinced him thatIrish music was worth collecting. Withthe help of a musically literate friendand colleague O'Neill set about collectingand transcribing tunes - firstlyfrom own oral recollection and thenfrom other musicians and manuscriptsources. His first published collectionThe Music of Ireland containing 1850pieces appeared in 1903. Another collectionof 1001 pieces appeared in 1907entitled The Dance Music of Ireland.O'Neill's work was a landmark in thatit was the first collection made by apractitioner for the use of other practitioners.His unrivalled achievementensured that dance music from all partsof Ireland which otherwide would havedisappeared was preserved and remainspart of a living tradition down to thepresent day.Although 1916 was a pivotal year inIrish political history, it was also an importantyear in Irish recording. Contractedby Columbia Records in NewYork , Eddie Herborn and John Whelan,playing banjo and accordion, becamethe first musicians ever to record Irishmusic on a flat-disc. Their contract forfive hundred recordings of The Stack ofBarley had been organised by an enterprisingMrs. O'Beirne De Witt who ran arecord shop in Manhattan.There had been recordings of Irishmusic made before 1916 but on Edisonphonographs. This machine recordedon wax cylinders but it was not possibleto make any more than one copy of therecording at a time. Patsy Tuoheybought an Edison machine around 1900and began making recordings of his ownplaying which he sold by mail order. Inreferring to Touhey's playing theReverend Doctor Richard Henebry said"The Homeric ballads and the NewBrooklyn Bridge are great, but PatsyTuohey's rendering of The ShaskeenReel is a far bigger human achievement."Flat-disc recordings eventually tookover from the phonograph as companieslike Columbia, Victor and Decca viedwith each other to exploit the immigrantmarket after World War 1. Duringthe Roaring Twenties an Irish dancescene thrived in most east coast cities.It was to the bands and musicians whoplayed in saloons and dance halls thatthe recording companies went in searchof talent. A flurry of recording activityensued, which was to change forever thetraditional music of rural Ireland.In the 1920s, hundreds of recordingsof Irish traditional musicians were releasedand thousands of these madetheir way back across the Atlantic in theAmerican parcels. Their arrival in Irelandcoincided with the birth of IrishRadio (1926) and the growing popularityof ceilt bands (which had beenpromoted by the Gaelic League Clubsin Britain in the early years of the century).COLEMAN AND MORRISONThe two stars of the Irish Americanmusic scene in the 1920s (and 1930s)were undoubtedly Michael Co!eman andlames Morrison}. Both fiddle playersfrom County Sligo, Coleman emigratedto the United States in 1914 at the ageof twenty three, while Morrison arrivedin the early twenties. They both playedin a Sligo regional style, highly ornamented,flamboyant and attractive.Throughout the following half centurytheir recordings had an extraordinaryimpact both in Ireland and North America.To imitate their technique andornamentation as well as their rep er-Itoires became almost imperative asregional styles and performers simplywent out of fashion. Seventy yearsafterwards, we still find disciples ofColeman as far north as Cape Bretonand Quebec as well as among Irishcommunities all over the world.In so far as the emigrant experienceis concerned, Irish traditional music hasnever looked back since the pioneeringdays of Coleman and Morrison. Ourmusic has found its way into a myriadof ethnic traditions throughout NorthAmerica. Like our neolithic forefathersit too has hugged the European coastlinefrom Portugal to the ShetlandIslands. In the wake of Ireland's entryinto the European Community our traditionalmusic has found its way intothe folk clubs and industrial cities ofthe mainland. Ireland today is no lessan isolated island than it ever was. Likeour people, our traditional music hasproved to be one of our most enduring .exports. I have every reason to believethat it will continue to cross ethnicboundaries in the future and in so doingwill continue to generate its own specialsense of cultural fusion and goodwill.Footnotes1. lohn de Courcy Ireland. Irelandand the Sea (Cumann Merriman,1983), E. G. Bowen Saints. Seawaysand Settlements (Wales, 1969)and Bob Quinn, Atlantean: Ireland's North African and MaritimeHeritage (London, 1986).2. Quinn's novel ideas were extendedto include the influence of theEgyptian Copts on Early IrishChristianity - a theory which isfurther supported by evidence fromEarly Irish manuscripts and spiritualpatterns on Irish High Crossesdating from the eleventh century.3. The Annals of Loch Ce: A Chronicleof Irish Affairs, 1014-1690 ed.W.M. Hennessy (2 vols., London,1871. Reflex facsimile, IMC, Dublin(1939) Annala Uladh, Annals ofUlster, Otherwise A nnala Senait,Annals of Senat, A Chronicle ofIrish Affairs 421-1131,1155-1541.Ed. WM. Hennessy and B. MacCarthy (4 vols., Dublin, 1887-1901).4. The Statutes of Kilkenny in 1366attempted to proscribe the use ofThe Irish language, laws or customs ..The statutes which were a miser- .able failure, made it penal to receiveIrish bards, pipers, harpers orminstrels.34

pers and pipers in the Brehon law tracts,the first detailed account we have ofmusic making in Ireland comes from thepen of the Welsh cleric Geraldus Cambrensiswho visited Ireland in thetwelfth century. (Ironically, Geraldushad little to praise other than musicmaking among the uncouth Irish subjectsof his overlord Henry 11).HARPERS AND PIPERSReferences to Irish harpers andpipers (often as criminals who receiveRoyal pardons) may be found in EnglishState Papers for the late Norman periodand the obits of harpers are mentionedfrom time to time in the native annals.3Throughout the Norman period the 'position of these harpers remained surprisinglyintact. This is explained bythe failure of contemporary politicalchange to generate serious cultural upheavalamong the aristocracies of nativeand foreigner alike. The harper enjoyedhis position at the Gaelic courtand his role was inseparable from thatof the reacaire (bard) whom he joined inthe presentation of officiai eulogy, corn·posed by the file (poet).Spurred on by the precedents ofTudor and Elizabethian poHcy makers,the colonisations carried out during theStuart and Cromwellian periods seriouslyundermined the old Gaelic world.Henceforth, the privileged position ofthe harpers changed radically . Some ofthem became travelling musicians andteachers. Their grade was more plebiannow and only a few were above the rankof other folk musicians. This onceno ble tradition became the refuge of theblind and the lame , who turned towardsmusic to survive during the Penal periodof the eighteenth century.It is only towards the end of the1700s when the harp was on the vergeof extinction that we got any accountof the lives of the harpers. Their repertoirefor the most part comprised offolk airs as well as the planxties andother baroque compositions ofTurlough Dall O'Carolan (1670- 1735),one of the better-known harper-composersof the Jacobite period. O'Carolan,Hke a small minority of his peers, wasfortunate to find patronage at the BigHouses of the new Ascendancy landllords.The Gaelic MacDermott Roefamily of Roscommon was also one ofhis chief patrons. His compositionswere influenced to some extent by theItalian baroque composers of the time ,especially Vivaldi, Corelli and Ge<strong>mini</strong>anLItalian opera was particularly popularamong the gentry of contemporaryDublin and it is ironic to find airs composedby O'Carolan advertised besideHandel and Bach. We even find him referredto as Signor Carollini in somesources. Many of O'Carolan's compo-.sitions were noted down at the BelfastHarp Festival in 1792 by Edward Bunting.It is worth noting that DenisHempson was the only harper at theBelfast Festival who played in the traditional manner with long fingernails onstrings of brass.While the downward social mobilityof the harpers may be observed in somewritten sources, we are less fortunate inregard to musicians among the lowersocial classes. We find a few referencesto bagpipers and bone players in somepre-Norman and Tudor sources and aninteresting collection of songs in thetwelfth century Book of Leinster. However,the music of the Gaelic court reacaire,whole function was to chant atfeasts and assemblies, went unrecorded.The vast bulk of the sean-n6s songswhich have survived down to thepresent day emerged towards the middledecades of the seventeenth century.The most popular themes of theseAmhniin were love , courtship and betrayal, many of which derived from thepopular court poetry of mainlandEurope. During the late Cromwellianperiod, the English language becamemore widespread in areas of the southand south west which had traditionallybeen Gaelic speaking. A patois developedwhich was to find its way into somesongs of the period. Later on during thePenal days of the eighteenth centurymacaronic songs developed, which wereto combine English and Gaelic verses.The languages were often pitted againsteach other in ridicule and satire - anexchange which was only fully appreciatedby a bi-lingual audience._ During the seventeenth century, contact-both socially and economically -between Ireland and mainland Europeincreased. This traffic reached its apogeeduring the Wild Geese era whilethroughout the eighteenth century,many Old English Catholics and Gaelicmerchant families sent their sons to thecontinent for education. One of theside effects of this movement was theintroduction of new musical forms ,dances and instruments. The modernfiddle (vioHn) became accepted intoIrish music around this time , while theIrish uilleann pipes approached theirfinal form (modelled on the mediaevalbagpipes but incorporating the refinementof the French elbow-blownmusette).DANCING MASTERSDancing masters, often English orFrench, toured the countryside teachingnew dances as well as the music toaccompany them. Two categories ofdancing masters were active in seventeenthcentury Ireland, yet both wereinfluenced by the European court dancesof the period - which historiansrefer to as l'Anclen Regime. The firstcategory was a dandy-type figure clad intails and a hard hat. His clientele usuallyincluded local gentry and well-offmerchant families while his curriculumincluded fencing, public speaking andetiquette as well as the latest dances andminuets from the Royal courts ofEurope (especially the courts of LouisXV of France and the Austrian Royalhouse-holds). The second category ofdancing master was a more plebianfigure who spent six weeks or so in aparish and then moved on. The arrivalof the travelling dancing master waseagerly anticipated because it meant aperiod of more or less continuous dancing.Each dancing master had his owncircuit of townlands and parishes andwould put up in the house of a local farmeror spend a night in turn with eachof his pupils in return for free lessons.The basic steps taught were the jigand reel (which derive from Italian andAnglo-Saxon sources respectively).Within each dance battering, shuffling,hopping and skipping steps were danced .There was little or no movement of thebody above the hips and relatively Httlefloor space covered by the dancer. Thesolo dancer often danced on a singleplank of wood or on a door taken off itshinges for the purpose. Very often agood dancer would be taught specialexhibition dances known as set dances.Dancing was completely interwoveninto the fabric of Irish community life -especially in the countryside. It came asnatur;!lly as talking, story-telling or singing.In 1780, the English geographerArthur Young described country dancingin Ireland as " an absolute system ofeducation". It is still a prominent featureof rural life in the West of Ireland.Just as music and dancing arrived inIreland with various waves of travellersand settlers, so too did it leave Irelandwith various waves of emigrants. Despitethe peasant merry-making describedby Arthur Young during the Penalera, adverse poverty, political exclusionand religious intolerance made life in- Ireland quite feudal for the majority ofits population. Many of the Gaelic Irishsaw themselves as strangers of their ownland.By 1711 the average annual rent ofan acres of Irish land was the equivalentto the purchase price of an acre of landin America. For most of the eighteenthcentury, 75% of Irish emigrants to Am-32

which he has published recently andthere isn't a poor tune in the wholecollection. His best known compositionin Ireland is the reel, "SeanMcGuire" composed in 1954.Bill Hardie another fine fiddleplayer and collector of tunes and whois descended from six generations offiddlers and fiddle makers has nowmoved to Edinburgh where with hisson, Alasdair he has published a finebook of music 'The Beauties of theNorth", a collection of airs and tunesfrom the Aberdeen region and in collaborationwith Alasdair produced"The Caledonian Companion" whichapart from its fine collection of tunesand airs gives instructions to the musicreader how to bow and finger thevarious melodIes. It is a "sine qua non" .book for anyone playing Scottishfiddle music.My last trip, October '78 toAberdeen was with the late Sean Reid, afellow Tyrone man who was born andreared in Castlederg and who was veryfond of Scottish fiddle music.We travelled by car from Ennis anddrove all the way to Aberdeen takingthe Larne-Stranraer ferry to and fromScotland. It was cold and wintryweather but the warm reception we gotin Aberdeen more than compensated forthe snow on the ground outside.We spent a week there and were entertainedby the late Hector MacAndrew ,Bert Murray and visited two fiddle clubswith Bill Hardie. The clubs were inBanchory and New Meldrum, bothabout 20 miles outside Aberdeen and amore enthusiastic and jolly collectionof fiddlers I have yet to meet.The fiddlers were from all walks oflife and included farmers, whisky distillers,Doctors and schoolteachers. Theaverage size of each group was 20players including a pianist and they allplayed from music and were conductedby Bill Hardie. Our reception was warmand the music was good.Scottish music today is in a fairlyhealthy state but some of the older fiddlersare worried at the dearth of youngtalent coming along. Unfortunately forScottish traditional music in generalthere is no blanket organisation in place,such as CCE in Ireland to promote themusic and encourage the youth to takeup fiddle playing. There are a few promisingnewcomers, however, the bestbeing a young Aberdeen player in his20s named Alex Bain (no relation of theShetland Ali Bain) and who has produceda fine tape of Scots fiddle musicvery well played.There, of course, exists the solidbody of recorded fiddle music ranging* SIMON FRASER (1773-1852). (NationalLibrary of Scotland).* BERT MURRA Y at 98 y~ars and stillgoing strong.from re-recordings of old 78s by ScottSkinner to modern recordings by NatGonella, Bill Hardie, Bert Murray, JohnCunningham, the late Hector McAndrewand many others.For the sake of fiddle music in Ire.-land and Scotland, I sincerely hope thatScottish fiddle music prospers and increasesin popularity, particularly herein Ireland where a lot can still belearned by all fiddle players by listeningto Scottish music.30

* NIEL GOW: Scotland's most famousfiddler.As an example of this musical exchangeI quote as an example takenfrom Donald Dow's music collection inthe 1770s some compositions of RuairiDall 0 Cathain, an Irish harper to severalScottish nobles such as "Ludes 'Supper", "The Fiddler's Contempt" and"Ruari Dall's Lament".The violin was first introduced inthe Scottish Highlands in the late 17thcentury by Scottish Lords who hopedto bring new culture to the area. It alsobecame a force for social change. Thehighland chief tans, as mentioned above ,traditionally employed harpers andpipers to entertain in the mead hall or inthe case of the pipers, to lead them intobattle.The new clans of Anglicized Lords,however, were eager to replace thisolder culture with something more acceptableto their cosmopolitan tastes.Little did they realise that theviolin they preferred would be so enthu·siastically embraced by the natives whowould make it an instrument of nativeScottish music.Scottish fiddle music progressed inleaps and bounds to more sophisticatedcompositions and playing styles in thenext two centuries.Prominent in composition and playingof Scottish fiddle music were theCow family especially Neil and his sonNathaniel who came from Inver about60 miles north of Edinburgh. Theyplayed a major part in Scottish fiddlemusic at the end of the 18th and beginningof the 19th centuries. Character·istic of the new style of music beginningabout this time was the Strathspey, atype of Reel that developed in theValley (Strath) of the River Spey.Strathpey reels as they were firstcalled were first published in Scotlandin the early 18 th century. I wouldmention here that where played in Irelandthe Strathspey was called " High·land" or "Scottische" and was played ata faster tempo than in Scotland.The two best Strathpey or Highlandplayers I heard in Ireland were the lateJohn Doherty and Francis Byrne, bothDonegal fiddlers.Neil Cow revolutionised Scottishfiddle playing not only in inventing"The Driven Up Bow" but also by composingsome of the now famous strath·peys such as "Abercairney House" and"Alexander Cunningham", and numer ·ous slow airs the most admired being"Neil Cow's Lament For his SecondWife". He composed literally hundredsof other dance tunes, slow airs and marcheswhich are played by Scottish andIrish fiddlers today.REELS IN IRELANDIt is not too well known that reelswere introduced to Ireland from Scotland,as before this occurred the maindance tune played in Ireland was the jig.I will introduce here the names ofsome tunes played in Ireland todaywhich originated in Scotland. Jigs thatare regularly played in Ireland are" Oiche Nollag" whose Scottish name is"There nai luck aboot the House", "TheAtholl Highlanders" and "Rose Wood".Many reels come to mind: "The Mason'sApron" "The Spey in Spate", "TheSoldier's Joy", "The Flowers of Edin·burgh" and "The Wind that Shakes theBarley".Reels which differ in name fromtheir Scottish originals are:l. An Ril Cam, played as a jig in Scotlandabout 1775 ,2. Cunningham's fancy: in Scotlandnamed "Lady Mary Lindsay" in 1775collection;3. Rakish Paddy: a Scottish composi·tion found in the Riddle collection1776;4. The Copper Plate: originated as''Cop er Fey" or the "Deer Horn" ar·ranged originally as a slow air for thepiob mor about 175 0.5. Lucy Camp bell whose old Scottishname is "Miss Louisa Campbell'sDelight" in 1778 .6. "Bonny Kate" Cait Boideach(Breathnach) stated by Neil Cow tohave been composed and named TheBonny Lass of Fisherow" by WilliamMarshall in 1761,7. Sean Frank's Reel (Breathnach)known in Scotland as " Colonel McBain"published 1798;8. Lord Gordon's Reel: composed byWilliam Marshall and named "The Dukeof Gordon's Rant";9. Boyne Hunt - "Perth Hunt" -"Neil Gow's Reel" (Cole collection).Most of the tunes named abovewere obtained from "Ceol Rinnce nahEireann, Leabhar a haon (No. 1).There are many other composers,players and collectors of Scottish music. too numerous to mention here, but byfar the most important Scottish composerof this century was] ames ScottSkinner, who composed great music,most of which is extremely popularwith Scottish and Irish players. I willhere mention a few of his best knownand most played tunes. They include28

COMHALTAS CEOLTOIRi ElREANN, 32 BELGRAVE SQUARE. MONKSTOWN, CO. DUBLIN, IRELAND. FON: 2800295. FAX: 2803759NEW PUBLICA nONSTwo new books have been published byComhaltas: Memories of a Musicmakerby Willie Reynolds £5 and The LeitrimFiddler Vol. 11 by Joe Liddy £5. Thebook by Willie a founder member ofComhaltas, is a fascinating account ofhis years in the traditional music movement.J oe's book is the eagerly awaitedsecond volume of his newly composedtunes.EOLAIREThis invaluable booklet by Seamus deBrim is another important step in theimplementation of the plan of Comhaltas for the promotion and more widespread use of the Irish Language. Itcosts only £3 . Each member is stronglyrecommended to have a copy.NEWLY COMPOSED BALLADS(Bearla agus Gaeilge)The name and address (or the Branch)of the composer (not of the singerunless he/she is one and the same) mustbe included in the Chir The composermust be normally resident in the area ofjurisdiction of the particular Fleadh: thesame restriction does not apply to thesinger.THE BADGEComhaltas badges are available fromHead Office at £3 ($5) each. An orderof 10 badges will cost only £25 ($40).It is recommended to Branches thatthey keep a supply of badges in stockand encourage the members to wearthem. The badge has proved to be anexcellent introduction between Comhaltasmembers.CUARTAioCHTThe practice of cuartaiocht (housevisitation) was - and happily still is _.an important social activity in IrelandWe would like Comhaltas units to comeon cuartaiocht to Culturlann na hEireann.There is excellent accommodationchoice meals convivial atmosphere withmusic, song and dance .. We are only ashort walk to the sea and Dun Laoghaireis within walking distance of theCulturlann. A week-end for your membersat this attractive venue would be arare treat and the rates are very reasonable.SCOIL EIGSEThe Scoil Eigse is one of the highlightson the education calender of Comhaltas.In addition. to the musical instrumentsand singing streams . set dancing and theIrish Language are also catered for. TheScoil Eigse is held in the week precedingFleadh Cheoil na hEireann (Clonmel)­August 27/30). The dates of this year'sScoil Eigse are 22-27 August.ANGHAEILGETa se soileir go bhfuil speis an-mh6r agmuintir An Chomhaltais sa Ghaeilge . TaCom6rtas Comhra na Gaeilge ag feabhasugach bliain agus ta suil againn gombeidh Com6rtas in gach Chontae sar ibhfad.All Counties now have a Treorai Gae -­ilge who spearheads the promotion ofthe Irish Language in the County. TheLanguage comp~tition at the FleadhCheoil is going from strength to strengthand it is hoped that all counties will beinvolved in the near future.TREOIR-SPREADING THE NEWSTREOIR has achieved quite a reputationfor itself as a prestigious highclassmagazine. It is an excellent publicrelations vehicle It is recommended toComhaltas units that in addition to theirsupply of TREOIR for members theywould order an extra supply for sale. Itis a good method of spreading the newsand it could also be used when makingsubmissions, etc. to other bodiesnONOL CHEOILThe Leinster Council of Comhaltas areplanning a new and exciting format forthe 1992 Tionol Cheoil. The venue thisyear will be Culturlann na hEireannfrom Friday, October 29 to Sunday,October 31. In addition to the Culturlann,accommodation will also beavailable in local guest houses. Allmeals will be available at the Culturlann.The full, all-in cost for the week-endfrom Friday evening to Sunday evening(accommodation, meals, entertainment)will be at the bargain price of £40 perperson. Day rates will also be available .FLEADH VIDEOSA very fine video of the 1992 FleadhCheoil na hEireann, at a cost of £19 , isnow available . This will bring backhappy memories for those who werefortunate to be at the Fleadh and forothers it gives a good insight into thisgreat event.26

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------There's an Ale house nearby, is beimidgo maidin ann,And if you are satisfied a ghra geal mochrol,Early next morning we 'll send for aclergyman,'Gus beimid-ne ceangailt 'ngan fhiosdon tsaol.Often heard along the bareens ofConnemara is another Connacht song ofsimpler theme , but with an attractivelilting refrain, called "Where Were YouAll The Day' ~?Another Macaronic gem, "The Hideand Go Seek" is sung to the Kerry Air" Loch Lein". It is recorded in the"O'N eill Collection of Irish Music". Itbegins:"Ar maidin inne sea do dbearcas mostorach cail{nHer limbs were complately and natelyclothed in graen, .A mala deas caol is a be:iJ a bh{ rO-mhilis .'binnAnd I thought by her gaze she'd playThe Hide and Go Seek".As the concluding lines reveal, it hasa very happy ending:"Sin margadb deanta 's n{ h-eidir gombrisfea -sa thr{d's imreoimfd le cheile, ma's feidir, TheHide and go Seek".An elopement in the neighbourhoodof Clonmel during the last century is recalledand celebrated in a long so ngknown as "I am a Young Fellow".Despite an intervention of the law , thestory ends happily in marriage. It issung to the merry air of "An TailliuirinAerach," and was as much favoured inCork and in the Deis{ of Waterford as inCo. Tipperary , where it originated:"I am a young fellow that ran out myland and means,Agus caiIIeach a' bhaile na tabharfadhdom bean na spreSo I placed my affections on one thathad gold in store,Agus gheallas don ainnir na scarfainn le!fein go deo. .We made up our minds with each otherfor to elope,Is do rugas an capall i gcoinne mo mhllestor,I met my true lover about the appointedplace,'S{ ag tarraingt ar Chaiseal ar sodar imean an lae."But the men did not always take theinitiative in hopefully seeking a "lifepartner", however, as is evident fromthe ever-popular light hearted song "AShaighdiuir{n, a Chro{" . Perhaps thesoldier's colourful uniform was themagnet that prompted the impulsivemaiden to make her proposal - befo reshe became aware of the "drummerboy's" circumstances!:"A shaighdiuir{n, a chroiWill you marry - marry m.?With a heigh, with a ho,With the sound of a drum.Ach a chailin bhig, a chro{,How can I marry thee?Le bean agus c1ann agamAr an dtaobh thall den sruth".Undoubtedly, the Connacht song"Slan agus Beannacht" has alwaysbeen one of the most popular. It is stilla firm favourite in Galway , and is regardedas an ideal example of true MarcaronicVerse . Variants of the air accompanyingit are recorded in the famousGeorge Petrie Collection. The rhythmicalflow of the lines may be gleaned fromthe following verses:"One morning in June, 's me 'dui a'spaisteoireacht,Casadh liom cailin 's ba ri-dheas a graoi,She was so handsome gur thit me gnaoi,lei,Is d'fhag si an arraing thri lar mo chrol."Where were you all the day?Ca raith tu fein 6 mhaidin?Ag seoladb mo dba bhO,'s ag iarraidb mo stor a mhealladb.b the tow ril ow,b the tow ril addy,b the tow ril ow,You are the best of any".A Munster song in similar vein is"The High Caul Cap".One of the most recently composedsongs in the Macaronic group mustsurely be "The Shoneen's Proposal". Itis sung to the well-known air "Oh!, theShamrock", and it adheres closely tothe alternate English-Irish line plan. Understandable,it is written in a sarcasticvein and it is clear from the livelyrefrain that the "Seoinin upstart" wastreated to a blunt and firm refusal:"0 'se do bheatha chughainn a Sheain,Thank you, thank you, dear Mary,'Se Maire M'ainm-se, a Sheain,And mine is John, you fairy .Nach labhrann tU an Ghaeilg bhinn?I did when I was young, dear,'Seen fath gur threig tu {?'Twas blistering my tongue, dear.Och, a Sheoinin, a sheoinin,Ta grain agam ar sheoininAr or a' tsaoil ni ph6sfain'n cho{ch?Aon gheocach fir ina sheoinln".A song that never fails to delight thehearts of young and old is An MaidrinRua - an imaginative fox chase , thepace of which is reflected in the catchy. rhythm of the melody, (which Ireland'suillean pipers of times favour):"Good morrow, fox! Good morrow sir!Pray, what is that you're ating?A fine fat goose I stole from you,And won't you come and taste it?Oh! no, indeed; fill hailliom i,N{ bhlaisfead p 'oc di in-aon ch or,But I vow and swear you'll dearly payFor my fine fat goose you's ating?2 4

SHEILA NEE lYRE (SITe ni Ghadhra)· SlIe NI Ghadhra/Sheila Nee IyerThis rare song is from the Paddy Tunneyrepertoire and is one of two dozensongs included in a Tunney family antholodywhich is due for publicationshortly.The original SHe Ni Ghadhra is an18th century song/poem of the Aislingtype in which the lady of the vision isIreland 'in sore distress'.The song which Paddy Tunney sings,(though not a translation) introducesthe oustomary classical allusions, - isshe Flora, Aurora or the famed Queenof Tyre, etc., etc. The poet pledges unfailingloyalty and there the plot wouldseem to rest. The song is a remarkableexample of what Paddy has described as"the high-minded effusions of ourhedge-schoolmaster poets."It was by the banks of a clear flowing strame, that first I accosted thatrcomely young dame,and in great confusion I did ask her name: "Are youFlora, Aurora, or the famed Queen of Tyre?" She answered I'm neither,)1 j lJ.11Sheila Nee Iyer.I'mSHEllA NEE IYER (SHe NI Ghadra)It was by the banks of a clear flowing strame (stream)That first I accosted that comely young dameAnd in great confusion I did ask her nameAre you Flora, Aurora, or the famed Queen of Tyre?She answered I'm neither, I'm Sheila Nee Iyer."Go rhyming rogue, let my flocks roam in peaceYou won't find amongst them the famed GoldenFleece.The tresses of lielen, that goddess of Greece ,Have hanked round your heart like a doll of desireBe off to you speirbhean," said Sheila Nee Iyer."May the sufferings of Sisyphus fall to my share,And may I the torments of Tantalus bear,To the dark lands of Hades my soul fall an heirWithout linnet in song or a note on the lyre,If ever I prove false to you, Sheila Nee Iyer."0 had I the wealth of the Orient store,All the gems of Peru or the Mexican ore,Or the hand of a Midas to mould o'er and o'erBright bracelets of gold and of flaming saphire,I would robe you in splendour my Sheila Nee Iyer."

THE BELLES OF TIPPERARY: Billgot this version of the reel from BrianConway.BELLES OF TIPPERARY (reel)arr. B. Conway~ j2IljJ2d Ire: D1! I ±JJ:J2n I Cm ~ ~~ J rh JW I r er Etu I LtrjJ1J I Hj) f) :g~rti[t ErtI I trfFcfri I r LJ FEU I r[[rrf(f:J~~~ E! r lIJ I Jl£L{(fFEU U=tfrJ I J fi ij~ r :1SLIGO THEN AND NOW (Reel): Billsays that this is one of Martin Wynne'srare compositions. As Martin did nothave a name for it Bill suggested theabove title.SLIGO THEN AND NOW (reel)M. Wynne~ rrrilrtrr EfC£ I [Ffp Erg I ElU=Mtlan ~# 00 I ttgtgff1:1 tifF erg dE I J :11~LCf I F~rn I tfPr [frtrt{fUtfU I urr j -tJ9~tf ~ r n rIff Em I armu fin ~ :1Q0 6,

tertainment, however, was due to beserved up in the cellar, a moderate sizeof a venue, but an unwe1cominglyempty one when I arrived. I gazed atthe expanse of space , wondering how onearth the guests could be expected toconjure up a congenial atmosphere, withthe handful of afficionados who'd bebrave enough to face the Edinburghweather. However, the event provedmuch more popular than I could haveexpected, and the room was just aboutbig enough to hold the hundred or sopeople who had arrived by the time theconcert kicked off.My fears relieved , I settled back toenjoy nothing more or less than a goodblast of amhran as Gaeilge , little suspectingthat I was about to be overwhelmedby the most incredible anddiverse night's crack I can ever remember.For, not only were there lowlandScots in abundance , but Edinburgh'sexpatriate Hebridean Islanders had got ,wind of the event and turned out in .force. You can rest assured that thenatives were determined to put on everybit as good a show as the overseas visitorscould provide.Before launching the singing, Michealintroduced the rest of the group bystressing that he considered himself verymuch the junior member, both in termsof age and experience. Then to beliehis own words he gave a spirited renditionof Neainsin Bhan, which provedhe could sing sean nos along with thebest of them. Not, however, before oneof Scotland's finest pipers, Jimmy Andersonfrom Falkirk , and late of the'Clutha - Scotland's premier traditionalmusic band - had regaled the companywith a selection of tunes. Bh{ ionadh andomhain ar na buachalla{ 0 Chonamara;they looked somewhat unprepared forthe devastating onslaught of the highland",arpipes in a confined space.Nonethele'ss, it was exhilarating stuff -ringing eardrums and all - and it certainly didn't seem to put them off. Forthey gave forth with a torrent of songstoo numerous to mention individually.However, Josie's impassioned singing ofUna Bhan and Sean Mac Donncha'sBean dubh a' Ghleanna, with its handsomelycrafted air, will live in my memoryfor many a long day.In one way it was an object lesson inappreciation. People often talk of " thesean-nos" as though the term representsa single uniform style. Of course, nothingcould be further from the truthand in Sean, Josie, JoI1nny and Micheal,all of them from one close neighbourhoodin Connemara, you had fourhighly individual stylists and equally enjoyablesingers. Johnny, by the way ,spent most of the weekend plagued witha severe pain in his shoulder. But youwould never have guessed , from hiswarm engaging singing, that there wasanything wrong.Sharing the billing was Mary Smithof the Hebridean island of Lewis, whosang many fine songs from her own partof the world, including one about an islanderwho had been drowned in a fishingaccident. Given the regrettablenumber of songs Connemara has on thattopic, and what they represent, I suspectit struck more than a few chords.Her own Scots Gaelic input to the eveningwas ably backed up by MoragMacLeod of Edinburgh University'sSchool of Scottish Studies, and by MargaretBennett. All of them fine representativesof a noble and all too oftenneglected tradition, and one which is infar too much danger of disappearing.Nor was the rich heritage of Scots song~in the English language overlooked. FOIAileen Carr of Blairgowrie, Perthshire.sand a couple of lovely ballads, inclu:ding Queen among the Heather whichshe got from her neighbour, the famousBelle Stew art. Then as if the cup wasn'tfull to overflowing, uilleann-piperChristy O'Leary , he of Boys of theLough fame , led a trio of playersthrough some of the tastiest music I'veheard in ages. I was interested to notethat his pipes looked every bit as ornateand stylish as his playing.At some point in the proceedings theconcert developed into a session andmoved upstairs, where it kept me out ofbed and just about awake until 4 a.m.SONGS IN IRISHThe following evening it was all overto the Riverside Club in Glasgow, anotherof Cy's ventures, but not beforea relaxed (and hung over) afternoonsession and not before I had tangledwith the tortuous labyrinth that passesfor Glasgow's one way system. Ireached the venue demented and dizzy,but the prospect of another fine eveningsoon restored the equilibrium.In a bigger room, and with the performerson stage and on mike, theatmosphere was bound to be a littlemore restrained than the previous night. .. Yet the guests were only too ready to-.acquit themselves and they did so magnificently. On both occasions it wasnice to see that they felt confidentenough to stick almost entirely to ameaty set of songs in Irish; ending upwith a few of the more lighthearted dittiessuch as Cailleach an Airgid andSadhbh ni Bhruinneallaigh. Nice too to .see that the English speakers in the audienceseemed just as pleased with thechoice of repertoire as everyone else.All the same Sean Mac Donncha stolethe show both nights with his delightfullywhimsical rendering, in English, ofthe Gander.As before they were complementedby a lady from the Isle of Lewis; IshbelMacas Kill. She proved to be one of thefinest Scots Gaelic singers I have everheard and I'll be looking forward toseeing her at the 1993 Seosamh bhEanai memorial weekend in Carna. Ontop of that I was delighted to discoverthat " the world famous Flora McNeill" ,as Cy introduced her, was in theaudience. Of course, she didn't getaway without giving a couple of songsfrom her native Isle of Barra, and verywell received they were. We were alsograced with Giles David who hails fromthe French speaking part of Brittany, aswell as several singers from the Scotsfolksong revival. These included BobBlair and Georgie MacIntyre as well asthe redoubtable Chris Miles. Chris's finesinging is, of course, extremely wellknown to Irish audiences from hermany appearances over there.If I was asked to name the one thingthat stood out for me above all else, itwas the obvious delight each side of theGaelic divide took in the other's traditions.Something that was matchedonly by the pleasure they found in oneanother's company. Despite what linguisticpundits keep telling me it wasfascinating to see how easily each wasable to comprehend the other's strandof what was once a common language.I'm forced to ask though, if the expatriatesof Lewis and Barra can turnout in such force for amhrain as Gaeilge ,where on earth was the Glasgow Irishcommunity? True I spoke to EllenCurran, of Donegal and I spotted thepiper Pat McNulty sitting in the audience.But there are those who argue,and I wouldn't be first in the queue todisagree , that the se an-nos is the premierjewel in Ireland's musical crown. Surelyits leading representatives deserved moresupport than they got from their owncompatriots?That small niggle apart it was a weekendwhich, I've every reason to suppose,was unique and without parallel.Whether or not that was the case, manythanks are in order to the man whoshowed sufficient enterprise to make itall happen. I've no idea whether practicalitieswould permit, but it leads oneto wonder if it might not be possible todevelop the thing into a small Scots­Irish Hile na Gaeilge. Certainly I canthink of no-one better placed than CyLaurie to organise such an event, or amore suitable location than his ownCeilidh House. If it ever materialisesyou can bet every last red cent youpossess that I'll be there.20

THE MYSTERIOUSMUSIC COLLECTORStephenville,Newfoundland* The Bridge O;ili Band, All-Ireland Champions1992.* Uachtaran cd: Diarmaid b Cathain presentingthe trophy to Eugene Nolan,leader of the Bridge Olil! Band who wonthe 1992 O;ili Band Championship inClonmel.For many years I have been intriguedby a collector and transcriber of Irishmusic who lived and worked from theturn of the century until the mid '30s inNorthern Ireland and spent decades collectingand writing in flawless musicalscript literally thousands of Irish tunesand Airs.His name was Sgt. Bogue (first nameunknown) of the R.l.C . whose lastknown whereabouts was ScottstownCo. Monaghan, where he retired to andprobably died there.For his collection he used the finest_auality music folio in very large pages(about twice the size of the paper inO'NeiU's collection) and bound his volumeshimself in a very professional way .His method was to collect 1,000 jigs.1,000 reels , 1,000 hornpipes and so onand to bind each collection separately.I have seen five of his collections inFrank McCann's of Liffe, Co . Tyroneand Pat Kelly of Bundoran. The musicis perfectly legible and is unique in thefact that he has literally hundreds oftunes in flat keys e.g. F, B flat etc., arather unique feature in Irish collections.Part of the collection was in the possession of the late Breandan Breathnachwhile he was compiling "Ceol Rinncena hEireann" . Both Pat Kelly andFrank McCann are vague about Bogue'shistory.He remains to me an enigmatic andmysterious figure who collected as leastas many tunes and airs as the laterFrancis O'Neill.Has any reader of TREOIR magazineany further knowledge of this mysterious figure in Irish music history? If so ,I'd be very grateful for any further information.KEVIN McCANN* An Tanaiste Mr. John Wilson, T.D., photographedwith Comhaltas members and theKorean group at Fleadh '92 in Clonmel.18

END OF AN ERA?On Monday , 30th November, 1992at the 34th A.G.M. of the Gorey Craobhof Comhaltas - held in the Loch GarmanArms, Gorey , the curtain came down onan organisation which has been theprimary cultural movement in the areasince 1959. The main reason for thedemise of the Gorey Branch was thatthere is no-one willing to fill the vacancy of the outgoing chairman, MichaelFitzpatrickFor a period of thirteen years,Michael has been the key motivator inall aspects of the Craobh's activities.Because Michael Fitzpatrick would nottake the chair again, no other memberof the committee would undertake tofill this important position for the comingyear. . Michael stated that for thepast few years he had tried at subsequentA.G .Ms to hand over the reins toanother person. At the previous A.G.M .he had informed the committee th~t hewould give another year of service tothe movement and that is what has happened. He said the job is waiting forsomeone prepared to take on the task .Gorey Comhaltas has always had a veryhigh profile through the country. Theachievements accomplished by theCraobh are far too numerous to metion.Weekly music classes would havebeen the most important work undertaken by the Craobh, having 'turnedout' some of the finest traditionalmusicians in the movement. GoreyComhaltas is known far and near for itshigh quality of music, song and dance.The out-going Secretary, MichaelDevereux, gave a very fine report of theCraobh activities for the previous yeardetailing the many honours won engagementssuccessfully filfilled and afull programme of involvement by Committee,musicians and dancers alike .People who were the backbone of themovement for so many years had nowdecided to call it a day. Those outsidethe branch who might be upset by itsclosure, may be motivated to come forwardand re-start the craobh again.Michael Devereux said: "We are sad thatthis situation has taken place, but noone wants the responsibility ."GO REY COMHAL TAS COMM ITTEE ANDOFFICERS(F_ row I-r) DICK DOYLE Auditor;GEORGE GODKIN; BRIDGET FITZPAT­RICK, Hon_ Treasurer; MICHAEL FITZ­PATRICK, Chairman; MICHAEL DEVER­EUX, Hon. Secretary; PAT FITZPATRICK,P.R.O.; MARGARET KINSELLA, AssistantSecretary; JOSEPHINE FITZPATRICK,Dance Teacher; Back Row (I-r) SINEADTOBIN, MARIE O'DONOHOE MARGARETKAVANAGH, PATSY KINSELLA, MAYSTAFFORD, BREDA ALLEN, JOHN GIB­BONS, Vice Chairman; MARGARET QUINN,UNA GRIFFITHS, PAT FLOOD, MAlKINSELLA, JIMMY KELLY, SAMANTHAREDMOND. Committee members missingfrom photograph MARY O'HARA,MICHAEL REDMOND, CARMELREDMOND, PETER ALLEN and DORISMAHON.16

THE CAOINEFrom the Chapter "Keens (sic) andDeath Ceremonies in 'Researches in theSouth of Ireland' by T. Crofton Croker.(1824 - reprinted 1969)Having a curiosity to hear the Keenmore distinctly sung than over a corpse,when it is accompanied by a wild andinarticulate uproar as a chorus, I procuredan elderly woman, who was renownedfor her skill in keening, to recite forme some of these dirges. This woman,whose name was Harrington, led a wanderingkind of life, travelling fromcottage to cottage about the country,and though in fact subsisting on charity,found every where not merely a welcome,but had numerous invitations, onaccount of the vast store of Irish versesshe had collected and could repeat. Hermemory was indeed extraordinary; andthe clearness, quickness, and elegancewith which she translated from the Irishinto English , though unable to read orwrite, is almost incredible. Before shecommenced repeating, she mumbled fora short time, probably the beginning ofeach stanza, to assure herself of the arrangement,with her eyes closed,rocking her body backwards and forwards,as if keeping time to the measureof the verse. She then began in a kindof whining recitative, but as she proceededand as the composition requiredit, her voice assumed a variety of deepand fine tones, and the energy withwhich many passages were delivered ,proved her perfect comprehension andstrong feeling of the subject, put hereyes always continued shut, perhaps toprevent interruption to her thoughts orher attention being engaged by any surroundingobject.From several keens which I tookdown from this woman's dictation, Ihave selected four, and to each I haveattached a short explanatory introduction.They will doubtless appear to theEnglish reader odd combinations of thesublime and vulgar.Here is the 4th example which Croker gives:The account given of this lamentation,called the "Smith's Keenan," is atonce simple and romantic. A youngman (a smith) left his widowed motherand sisters, who resided at Killavullianon the Blackwater, and married in a distant part of the country. Some timeafter, one of his sisters, hearing that hewas ill, set out to see him, but beforeshe reached her destination the nightcame on, which compelled her, beingignorant of the way, to seek shelter at acottage on the road side; here she foundthe inmates preparing to proceed to awake in the village where her brotherresided, and going forward with them,on arrival discovered it to be herbrother's wake , at the sight of whoselifeless body she burst into the followingexclamations. The conclusion issingular; nor is it possible for a translationto do justice to the strain ofpowerful sarcasm in the original, directedagainst the wife of the deceased."Brother, dear brother! your longabsence from home did not raise you inthis world, you left us, and you found awife who knew not how to love you.No one here knows your family , you arein the midst of strangers; they onlyknow that you were a smith, and sonof a smith, from the Blackwater's side! ""Oh! brother, dear brother- I mighthave known that you were laid low ,when I did not hear the sound of yourforge , or of your sledges, striking strongand noisy!""Dear brother, and my darlingbrother, you have the marks of a wifethat did not love you; she left mybrother hungry in the winter, and dry inthe summer; without a Sunday dress,and the sufferer from long fasting:""You woman, his wife! my brother'swife, you woman with the dry eyes; youwoman who are both dumb and deaf; gohome! go any where, leave yourhusband to me , and I will mourn for mybrother."" Y ou woman above with dry eyes!my brother's wife , come down , and Iwill keen you, you will get another husbandif you are young enough: but Ican never get a brother!"(The priest comes forward and speaks)" Hold your tongue, stubbornstranger, why will you provoke yourbrother's wife!"(she answers)"Hold your tongue, stubborn priest!read your Litany and Confiteor: earnyour half-crown and begone: I will keenmy brother."These examples of the keen, notwithstandingtheir inequality of sentimentand the injury sustained by a literaltranslation, will not, I am confident,appear wholly destitute of merit,although it is evident there are manypassages and allusions which those unacquaintedwith local manners andhistory, can neither feel nor understandcorrectly. But under any circumstances,the natural expression of sorrow awakensour sympathy for the simple languageof grief is always poetical.The national exclamations used onthe death of a friend or an acquaintanceare often very figurative : "May theheavens be his perch tonight!" is no uncommonej aculation, on first hearing ofthe loss of such. What an original metaphoris this, and what a fine allegoricalpicture does it present! the soul springingupwards like a bird, and resting itsweary wings after the flight , in some"bower of bliss."TEILIFis AGUSTEANGACHAMa fhagtar amach as an aireamhclair Mheiriceanacha agus clair Bhearlai gcoitinne, meastar nach bhfuil seans agnios mo na 10% de na cWr theilifise adheantar go bhfeicfear iad lasmuigh dethir a ndeanta.Ta roinnt moltai deanta le deanai agInstitiuid Eorpach na Mean i dtaca leisseo . I hHhair na huaire, is cosuil gondeantar scannain iasachta a athghuthusa Ghearmain, sa Fhrainc agus san Iodailagus go bhfuil an proiseas sin 15 uairnios costasai na na fotheidil a usaidtearde ghnath san fsiltir, sa Phortaingeil, saGhreig agus sa Danmhairg. Ni nachionadh, mhol an institiuid go mbainfifeidhm nios mo as na fotheidilchoigleofai amhlaldh chun na modhannafotheidil a fheabhsu agus chun tuilleadhclar a dheanamh ar bhonn ilteangach. .. Eilitear freisin go gcuirfear tuilleadhairgid ar fail do na teangacha neamhfhorleathana.14

dancing sets, ceil{ dances and waltzeswith great gusto reflecting the tremendousrevival of interest in the oldcountry sets as well as the continuedand growing popularity of the "HighCaul Cap", the "Haymakers Jig" and soon. On Friday night the stamina ofboth band and dancers was severelytested, and, happily neither side wasfound wanting.During the Ceil{ another very importantfunction was performed, namelythe presentation of certificates to eightpeople from Offaly for their outstandingcontributions to the organisationover many years. The awards were presentedby various Comhaltas dignitaries.FIRST PRESENT A nONThe first presentation went toMicheaI b Ceallaigh, Cloghan for histireless work in the promotion of theIrish language in CCE. His award waspresented by Tomas b Baoill, Chairmanof the Connacht Council of CCE.Jack Grogan from Clareen Birr washonoured for his contribution to theorganisation in South Offaly as a musicianand ad<strong>mini</strong>strator and even beforethat as a member of the legendaryShamrock Ceil{ Band. He is currentlychairman of the Birr Branch. His awardwas presented by Tony Monaghan,Offaly P.R.O.An award was also made to DanCleary, Ballinamere , a man who hasgiven a lifetime of service to traditionalmusic as a fiddler, piper and founder ofthe Ballinamere Ceil{ Band. He alsodevoted an enormous amount of timeand patience to the teaching of themusic he loved so dearly. His award waspresented by Michael Smith, CountyTreasurer.Dan was also called upon to makethe award to his long time friend PaddyGrogan of Tullamore. Paddy, althoughrenowned for his music and monologuesis best known as a dancer and a teacherof dancing. In fact he conducts a ceil{dancing class every Monday night in theGAA Centre, Tullamore even though heis over eighty, a marvellous man!The Brady family from Killeigh weredoubly honoured. John Brady whoseaward was presented by County Secretary,Tom Burke, is not only a giftedflute player but also a fine singer, whistler and composer whose tunes areplayed all over the world. He won theAll Ireland senior flute competition in1969 and in 1977 he led the LongridgeCeil! Band to their first of three seniortitles. A talented teacher also, he has' set countless young musicians on theroad to a fruitful musical career.His wife Eileen comes from a well-* Recipients of An Fainne Nua at a presentationceremony in Birr were winners ofthe Comhra Gaeilge Competition at the1992 Offaly Co. Fiead" Cheoil. Frontrow (L-r): DAMIAN 0 MAOLI?OMf!­NAIGH (Eadan Doire); MICHEAL 0CEALLAIGH - Uachtaran Board Cho.Uibh Fhaili; PADRAIG 6 CEARNAIGH,Uachtaran, Comhdh:iil Naisiunts naGaeilge; AIBHEANN Ni CHEALLAIG~(Eadan Doire); Back Row: TAMMY NIBHINEAD, (Cill Chormaic); MIGHELLE;NIC GABHANN (Clarach); SINEAD NIMHURCHl\ (Clocar L.S.U. Beannchar);HILARY NI BHRIAIN (An Tulach Mhor);MAIRE T. Ni CATHA IN (Cill Chorcaic).* MICHEAL 6 CEALLAIGH receives hisdistinguishe~ Service Certificate from ..TOMAS 0 BAOILL, CathaoirleachComhairle Connacht CCE.* NORA BUTLER-SW AN presents DistinguishedCertificate to SEAN NORMAN.known musical family the Maguires ofBallinagar and like her husband she wasa member of that successful LongridgeCeil{ Band. Apart from being a fineaccordeon player Eileen is well knownas a teacher of Ceil{ and set dancing.Her award was presented by OffalyChairman, Padraig b Dufaigh.SEANNORMANSean Norman, leader of the band onstag~, had to take time out to receive hisaward. Before forming his own band,Sean played for many years with St.Mary 's Ceil{ Band. He is an expertperformer on the old style melodeonand has led several Comhaltas tourgroups to Britain and the U.S.A.Earlier this year he also led a group toEstonia as part of a cultural exchange.He received his award from Nora ButlerSwan.The final award was presented byVery Rev. Canon Shalloo P.P ., Birr, toPadraig b Dufaigh, Offaly Co . Chairman and National Treasurer of CCE.Padraig was elected first secretary ofthe County Board on its formation in1959 and has served in various capacitiesat local and national level since.He was honoured in particular, for hiswonderful ad<strong>mini</strong>stration skills. Thevery efficient M.C . for the presentationswasMichael Smith.There was one further presentation.This was to former Co. Secretary LeliaBrady on the occasion of her recentmarriage to Paul Brennan. She waspresented with a Royal Tara mantleclock by Padraig b Dufaigh.After the presentations the attendancewas treated to tea and plenty ofgood food , by the Birr branch. Thenback to the dancing to finish a greatnight.12

THE BONDS OF LANGUAGEDr. Eoin McKiemanLet Irish Americans now beginto interest themselves in the EuropeanCommunity. Ireland has profitedin many ways from membershipin that group. Will the growingintegration of the Community driveIreland back into the United Kingdom?The Single European Act, whichthe Republic recently accepted byreferendum, harmonized much of thelaws of the twelve states. Furtherpolitical, social and economic integrationis on the way. Ireland isstrongly committed to it. .There will be one European currencywithin the community, onelaw , one market, one social-rights. threshold, one basic citizenship (aUowingfor regional sentiment as, forexample, a Texan or New Yorker mightfeel with respect to this nation at large).Historically , the European Communityachieves in reality what existedin theory in medieval Europe- a unitarystate. Mrs. Thatcher was inclined toslow down or negate some aspects ofthe integration but she was helpless.England is being relegated to a less influentialrole in world affairs. .Fire either nourishes or destroyslife . Beneficial as membership inthe Community has been for the Republic,will it ultimately, though indirectly,put to the torch Ireland'ssovereignty.Sovereignty can neither be imposedor sustained from without. It is the fruitof selp-respect, selfconfidence, the selfcertaintyof a people who have a vision,who know who they are and what theiridentity is.Enough observers have commentedon the Republic's identity crises. Oftenthe analysis comes back to the state'sprofessed policy to achieve bilingualism-an equality of the Irish language(defined in the Constitution asthe first officallanguage) with English.Only the most naive person cantruly believe that a monoglot Englishspeaking Ireland can ' have an Irishidentity, that is, an identity as differentfrom England's as, say, Germany's fromItaly's is from Holland's is from Portugal,etc., etc.And it is the very height and depth 'of naivete not to think that the 'situationwould have been much differenthad Ireland retained its native tongue.But what does identity and ianguagehave to do with membershipin the European community? Justthis: weak in both, Ireland's independenceof functioning within theCommunity will be compromised by thevery vorticity of the Anglo-Americanlanguage.Britain has already demonstratedits less than whole-hearted supportfor the complete integration of theCommunity. Even under a post­Thatcherite government, English goslow will continue while Englandgrapples with the realities of herdi<strong>mini</strong>shed position.The European Community, witha great land mass and a populationlarger than the U.S., is already causinosome concern in Washington. It isobvious that the Community's newpolitical and economic potential willforce adjudstments in the world balanceof power and spheres of influence.The psychological nexus of a sharedlanguage will facilitate the U.S.'s adroituse of England as a fifth-column withinthe Community- a manipulation madeeasy by England's somewhat hesitantmembership .And Ireland? With strong kinship toEngland economically and throughemigration but, above all, throughlanguage , Ireland will be unable to resistbeing drawn into the Anglo-Americannet. This strong language bloc cancreate a solidarity of interests divergentfrom a Europe of eleven (at themoment) other languages, especially iftactfully exploited by the U.S.And what about the Six Counties,• not only English-speaking but with amajority expressing an emotional. attachment to England?The integration of the EuropeanCommunity will be completed withinthis decade . Partition will havedisappeared in all but name , simplybecause England and Ireland are bothmembers of the European Communityand the close integration will abolish allcustoms and political borders betweenmember states.Thus, with a national anemia inthe Republic, the added weight ofpro-British opmJOn from the SixCounties (which the Republic is likelyto appease), the overwhelming influenceof the Anglo-American lobby, and theabandonment of the language- thegreatest marker of its individuality- Ireland,all 32 counties, will be mergedinto an English sub-community withinthe European Community. In this respect,tw o Irish institutions haveabdicated their responsibility to thenational interest- the church and theDail, the Irish parliament. Thechurch- Protestant and Catholic- allbut ignores the language when it mighthave at least one prayer in Irish at eve ryservice. The Dail ignores policy topromote the equality of Irish withEnglish.The hungry sheep look up andare not fed.Nuremberg laid the responsibility forthe state upon every individuai'sshoulders. In practice, however, onelooks to the legislature of the state.Unfortunately, legislatures are seldomable to take the long view . That's whynations come- and go .In fact , the Shelleyan view mayprovide the answer. The artist, wholives by the spirit, not by opinionpolls, may recapture for his countrythe vision without which a peopleperishes. In the meantime, the Dailcan take a week's recess to meditateupon Douglas Hyde's essential lecture,'The Necessity for deAnglicisation ofIreland.'10

CO-OPERATION KEYNOTE ATTORONTO BRANCHTuam, Co. Galway native HenryGeraghty, was the founding chairman ofthe Toronto Irish Centre Branch ofComhaltas in 1983. The branch hit theground running as they hosted the 2ndAnnual North American Conference in1984 under the chairmanship of ouresteemed colleague from Ennistymon,Co. Clare - the irrepressible EamonnO'Loghlin! Co-operating with the manyIrish County Associations in Toronto,the branch runs eight joint ceilisannually in the spring and fall at theIrish Centre. These joint ventures arethe basis of friendly relationships withother Irish groups in Toronto and helpshowcase local Irish musical talent.Member Maureen Mulvey from Co .Leitrim hosts weekly set-dance classeswhich attract young and old alike andadd greatly to the enjoyment of thebranch ceilis hosted by Mike Casey,Rhona Dwyer, Karen Garrett and JosieShine McCallum. Adding a big dollopof fun, colour and plain old mullarkeyto the branch activities, the Wren Boysalso manage to raise substantial fundsfor charities such as the Food Bank.Led by Henry (Canadian Regional Coordinator1990-1991), the Wren Boysare out every st. Stephen's Day bangingon doors, singing their songs and,generally, disturbing the good folks ofToronto.They're at it again during the St.Patrick's Day Parade and "Wren Boy"Anne Marie Leonard (former CanadianRegional Secretary) hit the front pageof the Toronto Star this year as the"Dancing Shamrock".Branch chairperson, Eileen Dwyerfrom Co . Mayo , co-ordinated a Comhaltas display as part of a two weekIrish Historical Month. The branch alsocontributes a display for the Irish Pavilionat "Caravan" - Toronto's AnnualFolklore Festival which is held in June.IRISH LANGUAGE POPULAR INVANCOUVERThe Irish language class is the mostpopular and successful programme inthe Vancouver branch of Comhaltas.,. Thanks to the tireless efforts of GerryMulgrew , the teacher and Irish officer ofthe branch, several of the pupils are nowable to assist in the class instruction.Motivated by the interest of VioletMoore, an Irish dance instructor, thebranch was formed in 1979 with KevinThe Wren Boys of TorontoDooley as first Chairman. The focushas always been to promote traditionalIrish music playing, singing, ceil1 dancingand gaelic language instruction. Thebranch has sponsored several concertsand participated in the Vancouver FolkFestival. A popular event is the annualfamily barbecue and members enjoy 4or 5 ceilis each year.Since the closing of the Irish Centrein Vancouver, the branch has had nofixed meeting place and has relocatedseveral times. This has had a negativeeffect on the dance class. Through theFederation of Irish Associations, ofwhich Comhaltas is a part, it is hoped tolocate a new premises where the dancerscan again kick up their heels.Musical seisiuns are held every Wednesdayand performers play for seniorcitizens throughout the year and at Irishcultural events organised by othergroups.It was a great pleasure to meet BillForbes, the Vice-Chairman of the Vancouverbranch at the Montreal Convention.It is hoped that he broughtback some good memories of the Montrealgathering so that more membersfrom Vancouver and the West will beencouraged to attend future conventionsand conferences.GROSSE ILE NATIONA PARKPROJECTGrosse Ile is a large island in the St.Lawrence River downstream fromQuebec City and Ile d'Orleans. Possiblyas a result of the restoration of Ellis Islandin New York, the Federal Governmentproposed to develop Grosse Ile asa National Park. It was used as a quarantinestation for immigrants during thelast century and the government wishesto commemorate the importance of immigrationin Canadian history.While we can all support this worthwhileproposal, one aspect of EnvironmentCanada's (park Service) proposalshould be of great concern to Canadiansof Irish decent. Thousands of Irish refugeesfrom the Great Famine died onthe coffin ships or whilst being quarantinesand are buried in mass graves onGrosse Ile . There is little public acknowledgmentof this and it seems, theGovernment would prefer to keep itthat way . The Development Concept ofEnvironment Canada states that it is feltthat there should not be too much emphasison the tragic aspects of the historyof Gross Ile.The Government intends the themeof the Gross Ile National Park to be'Canada: Land of Welcome and Hope".No doubt, Grosse Ile did represent hopefor a future life for thousands of immigrantsbut the propsed natioal parkshould not ignore the fate of thosethousands of poor Irish who found onlya grave in Canada. Gross Ile is bigenough that, in the midst of all the displaysextolling the virtues of Canada, aplace should be found for a Garden ofRemembrance similar to the one inDublin. This would in no way detractfrom any upbeat theme the Governmentmay have in mind.For information on how to get involvedcontact:Denis J . Leyne, Action Gross Ile , 129The Kingsway, Etobicoke, OntarioM8X 2T9. Telephone: (416) 233-9885 .8

organised by "Cumainn Ceil{ Mhuineachain,"The short answer is - becauseof its proven organising ability and itsenthusiastic following. There is noclash or rivalry with Comhaltas - onthe contrary the co-operation betweenboth bodies is a perfect example of these an-fhocal - " Ni neart go cur le cheile ."Pat Beagon himself was cathaoirleach ofthe organisation for a number of years,as was the amiable Sonny McDermott,who is the present Leas-Chathaoirleach.Cathaoirleach is Michael McGeough,Monaghan and the Cisteoir is Pat Duffyof Monaghan. The driving force in theorganisation is, however, the workaholicRuna{ - Maureen Murphy, who isalso the highly efficient P.R.O. of theorganisation. For good measure at thefortnightly ceilithe she combines theduties of M.C. , and Instructor and yetsucceeds in participating in virtuallyevery dance! Nothing is left to chanceby this livewire and her fellow officers.Venues and bands are booked ninemonths in advance and they are foreverseeking fresh fields in which to spread alove of true ceil{ dancing.Originally based in Co. Monaghan theorganisation now boasts some twentytwoclubs in Monaghan, Cavan, Fermanagh,Armagh, Meath and Louth.With the efficiency and dedication ofits officers and members, one can restassured that there is no fear for thefuture of Ceili Dancing in Monaghanand the neighbouring counties. Nor isthere any fear for the future of traditionalmusic and singing in the area, thanksto the efforts of the Beagon family andtheir friends in Craobh Corcaghan ofComhaltas Ceolt6ir{ Eireann.The Traditional Music SpecialistsESlilhlished hy John McNeill in 1834, " £I small shop,known and loved hy musicians throLlghoLllthe world,and yet so unobstrusive that unless you knew exactlywhere it was, you would prohably fail /0 find it.In it was made the hugle that soundedthe charge at Balae/ova. "Here G eorge Benlllrd ShaYl', "a pale, red-llIIired,self possessed YO llth ", bOllght e/arinet reedsalld the poet A IIstill Clllrke "hllrried el'en' week"for I'iolill slrillgs. .We .\'/()ck allliqlle, Ile ll', .\'l'colldhalld £Il/(lcrajisl1lllll I/ll/de accolIslic illstrllmelll.\'.Accordians, Banjos, Bodhrans,Bones, Bouzoukis, Concert Flutes,Concertinas, Fiddles, Guitars,Mandolas, Mandocellos,Mandolins, Tin Whistles,UiIleann Pipes,Books and Recordings ofTraditional Music.1. McNeil1140 CAPEL STREET, DUBLIN 1.TELEPHONE 722159 .Open: Monday -Saturday 10,OOam· 6,OOpmTAKE A BOWMATT CRANITCHDetails:CD OSS CD 5 Retail Price £12.99 'Cassette: OSS 5 Retail Price £6.99Under our imprint The Living TraditionOssian Publications Ltd., have releasedthis popular traditional title on CD featuringMatt on fiddle , accompanied onvarious tracks by Dave Hennessy onMelodeon, Eoin b Riabhach, UilleannPipes, Brid Crantich, Piano & Harpsichord, Mick Daly, Guitar, Colm MurphyBodhran & Tom Stephens, Guitar.Take a Bow features thirty-threetunes arranged in fifteen contrastingselections. There are Jigs, Reels, Hornpipes,Slides and Polkas, a Set Danceand two Slow Airs. The music rangesthrough a wide variety of tempos andfeelings, from a lively version of LordGordon, with pipes and guitar, to theplaintive unaccompanied Na Connerys.Due respect has been paid to the musicof Sliabh Luachra through the inclusionof a number of Slides and Polkas. Matthas for a long time taken a keen interestin the music of this region , and has collectedin the area, both in terms ofrepertoire and musical style.Matt Cranitch, who lives in Cork , isauthor of The Irish Fiddle Book, whichexplains and shows in detail the varioustechniques used by fiddle players increating a traditional style of playing. Itincludes transcriptions of a largenumber of tunes, from which all themusic on Take a Bow has been selected.F or further information pleasecontact the publishers: Ossian PublicationsLtd., P.O. Box 84, 12 Pope's Quay ,Cork , Ireland. Pho (021) 300350,Fax. (021) 300352.IS THIS A RECORD?IS THIS A RECORD? Craobh DunDealgan had SEVEN ceili bands enteredfor the competitions, at Fleadh CheoilLui in 1992 - 2 Faoi 12, 1 12-15, 2-15-18 and one Os Cionn 18. FIVE of theseven qualified for Fleadh Cheoil nahEireann in Cluain Meala,BRISEANN AN DUCHAS: Thirteengrandchildren of the late and great JohnJoe "Boss" Gardiner play traditionalmusic on a variety of instruments.6

little town in Thailand I saw anagonized tourist trying to describehis symptoms to a local doctor - butin vain. I have worked for the UnitedNations and the World HeafthOrganisation on all five continentsand found out in Guatemala, in Bulgaria,in Zaire, in Japan and in manyother countries that, outside of themajor hotels and airports, English isuseless . ..They said to me in the countries ofthe West that they wanted to helpthe Third World while respecting thelocal cultures. But I saw the strongcultural pressures accompanied theuse of the English and French languages.I saw that, without any cosiderationfor the language dignity ofanother, we imposed OUR language,from the very start, in order to communicatewith him."'Zamenhofs Esperanto, being nobody'sfirst language aspired to be asec'ond language for everybody. Aworking knowledge of it is attainable bythe average persons in 100 hours ofstudy ; reaching the same level in Englishtakes 1,200 hours, in French even longer.Experiements conducted by theCybernetics Institute of the Universityof Paderborn (Germany) have shown,amazingly, that pupils taught Esperantoand then French for 500 hours consistentlyreach higher levels in French thanthose taught only French for 1,000hours. In Esperanto the large grammarbook is replaced by 16 rules on a singlepage, with no exceptions to any rule.Over 40,000 books, 200 regular magazines,annual congresses attracting up to6,000 people; a United Nations petitionsigned by over a million people, including3 Prime Ministers (of Denmark,Norway and Iceland), 6,000 universityprofessors and 50,000 teachers .. . whyhas Esperanto not been more widely adopted?Because it seems that powerfulminorities never willingly give up theirprivileges and those who benefit fromthe international position of English andFrench do not want fair play for themajority of mankind. In world terms6% are native English-speakers, 94% arenot; 2% are native French-speakers 98%are not; Even Chinese , the numericallymost powerful language , is spoken byonly 20% of humanity and at the Europeanlevel over 90% of all Europeans,or 82% of the people of the present EC ,are not native English-speakers.Nevertheless Esperanto, like Irish,flourishes intensely in the lives of a' few ,and influences many more. Zamenhofsvision , like Hyde's, has not been realised .Neither has it disappeared. The currentflowering of literature in Irish and theEAMONN DE V ALERAslow but steady increase in Gaelscoileannaand nalonral, augur well for thefuture . The Pope's use of Esperanto (hespeaks it fluently) and its replacementof Russian in many East Europeanschools are likewise positive signs. TheNazis hated Esperanto , as the Black-and­Tans hated Irish. Zamenho'fs son and2 daughters were murdered in Hitler'sdeath camps. Yet 70 years after hisdeath his language is now taught in 110universities (up from 15 in 1970) andhas an organisation in 114 countries includingIreland (9 Coill Theach Mealog,B.A.C. 6W). In 1840 a song spoke ofIrish " fading fast in hill and dale andglen" . It's still around and its survival inthe face of overwhelming odds inspiresthe smaller languagesa across Europethat the victory of the big battalions isby no means inevitable.P. H. PEARSEOn a non ·linguistic topic Hyde,though son of a Protestant rector, is notnoted for his religious writings. Zamenhof,however, was very interested in re·ligion and devoted a lot of energy to di~ ,covering principles which might be corn·mon to the world's great religions . Al·though never a Christian he once wrote(in Esperanto, naturally):" .... sed kio pH bela en la mondo 01plena sekvado al instruo de Jezuo?"(. . . but what in the world is morebeautiful than fully and continuallyfollowing the teaching of Jesus?Europe is a multicultural mosaicwhere over 50 languages are spoken.The future united Europe will be tolerantof this linguistic diversity , or therewill be no united Europe. Aontas saneagsulacht is mana do ghluaiseacht namionteangacha san Eoraip. Nod beagpraiticiuil don Ghaeilge 0 ghluaiseachtEsperanto: leabhar seoltal a fhoilsiu dedhaoine a thabharfadh loistln olche nodhO saor in aisce d'oganaigh le Gaeilge .Cabhair nach beag e seo d'aisling Zamenhof-- nach gcuirfimis a leitheid arfail d'aisling an Chraoibh(n?MICHAEL COLLINSWhat was Hyde's antidote to thisdisease? He once told a startled Trinitylecturer that yes, he did know Greek ,Latin. German, Hebrew and French, buthe dreamed in Irish. By his unceasingwork and warm inspiring personality hegave back to his people a sense of pridein being Irish and in what made Irelanddistinctively Irish. So effective was thework of his Conradh na Gaeilge that in1909 the largest public meeting everyseen in central Dublin demanded, andsecured, that Irish be an essential qualificationfor entry to the new NationalUniversity. It still is. Nearly 70% of 'those who later fought for Irish freedom" went to school to the Gaelic League" .4

SUPER MINI-SERIES ON TVThe <strong>mini</strong>-<strong>series</strong> of six programmes oftraditional music, song , dance and customs screened by RTE over the Christmasperiod have been widely acclaimed.Set against the background of FleadhCheoil na hEireann in ClonmeL the<strong>series</strong> demonstrated the programme potentialof Irish traditional music set in acommunity context.The Producer of the <strong>series</strong> is wellknownpersonality John Williams whohas produced such popular programmesas "Up for the Final", " The Rose ofTralee", " Live from the Gaeity" andmany more. John comes from a tradtionalmusic background.The illustrious and venerable MickWilliams of Duhallow Ceil! Band fame isa cousin as is accordeonist Fr. BrendanWilliams in the United States.It was the most ambitious televisioncoverage of the All-Ireland Fleadh thatthe station has ever mounted and shouldprovide a huge promotional boost toCounty Tipperary as a tourist location.Said producer, John Williams: "It isthe biggest coverage RTE has everundertaken of the Fleadh Cheoil and itis part of the station's commitment toexpanding home-produced programmes.There is a big demand for these kind ofprogrammes and we want to cater forthis."As well as being about the Fleadhthe <strong>series</strong> will also look at the cultureand heritage of South Tipperary, itsenterprise, its rich history. "As well as aerial shots of the historic valley , the <strong>series</strong> featured a 16-yearold uilleann piper playing a lamentthere.The ancient crossroads dance atRathronan just outside Clonmel was reenactedspecially for the <strong>series</strong> thelast recorded dances there were in the1860s.In a revival of the tradition, groupsof set dancers from Powerstown Lisronagh,Cappawhite and Newcastle performedtheir sets to the music of a ceil[band from Waterford. The RTEcameras were there to record it all.OLD CUSTOMSThe years-old practice of co uplestying a ribbon or rag on the wishingtree at the Ragwell on Clonmel's Moun--.-.;;p ....Ready ... action ... roll ... RTE camera crew capture the traditional music sound of South Tipperaryamid the giant oak cider vats belonging to Showerings drinks company at theirDow'ds Lane storage depot in Clonmel. TIle musicians are AILBE GRACE, Rossadrehid,Glen of Aherlow and NOEL RYAN and LIAM CAREY, both Tipperary town. RTE creware DARBY CARROLL, sound; MICK O'NEILL camera; JOHN WILLIAMS , producer;ESTHER WILKINSON, production assistant.tain Road was also captured by the cameras.Local boyfriend and girlfriend,Michael Pollard and Laura Hennessydressed in period clothes from the earlycentury - strolled up the path to thewell to do the honours.Both are pupiis of Clonmel drama ­teacher Mary Cummins, who said thatthe spot was long associated with romanceand young lovers. "Traditionallythey would walk up the mountain path !to the well and make three wishes.They would tie a ribbon or rag to thetree and their wishes were said to cometrue . But you didn't tell your wish toanyone otherwise you would lose it. Iremember going up there as a youngstermyself'.Did Mary's wish come true? "Well ,I went up to the well as a teenager withthe man [ later married".RTE also interviewed MonsignorMichael Olden, PP , Kilsheelan, on thehistory and curative powers of St.Patrick' s Well near Clonmel.Featured in the <strong>series</strong> also wasfamous Clonmel blacksmith and farmer,Ted Channon, who has been carrying onthe trade for 50 years.The R TE camera crew also visitedM ullinahone to record the lo cal musicalsociety's performing the musical"Knocknagow" and Kilcash Castle ,where they were given the history of '.hecastle and the associations Slievenan. ') nhas with legendary hero , Fionn MacCumhall, by Phi! Flood, a me mbers ofthe Slivenamon F

SENATECANDIDATEComhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann are pleased toannounce that LABHRAs 6 MURCHU,Editor of TREOIR magazine, will be acandidate in the forthcoming SenateElections. He will contest the election onthe Cultural and Educational Panel.LABHRAs 6 MURCHU has given lifelong service to the promotion of our culturalidentity and to the creation of employment, particularly in the sphere of tourism.We are confident that he would be an excellent Senator and make an importantcontribution to public life.A cursory glance at his career shows an impressive and varied contribution to thecommunity. Among his successful roles are Director General of Comhaltas;Nationalchairman of the Pearse Foundation; Tipperary Person of the Year; NationalOrganising Secretary of the AITM trade union; National Chairman of the Irish FamilyHistory Foundation; Director of Community Radio; regular contributor to radio andtelevision programmes; Co-ordinator of International Cultural/Tourism InformationProgramme. He is a regular visitor to the Irish community abroad who do so muchto promote the cause of Ireland.TREOIR, which we hope you enjoy reading, helps to give a flavour of the culturalwork in which LABHRAs 6 MURCHU is involved. Comhaltas has 400 branchesworldwide and over 1,000,000 people attend our functions each year. Themovement founded in 1951, has been acknowledged for its outstandingachievements in the fields of culture, tourism, community development, educationand youth activities.We take this opportunity to wish Labhras every success in the Senate Elections andto appeal for your support.