R - Comhaltas Archive

Done Fiddlin'edmond Murphy 1922-1999neg Hallac k in those( / austere days justJ~7]after the war,Edmond Murphy and hismate Gerry Wimsey playedthe fiddle and flute - justthe two of them - for theSunday night dances forthe nurses from Canehi llHospital at the CatholicChurch hall in the depthsof su rburban Purley. 'Ifyou stayed to play 'TheSoldiers' Song you missedthe last tra in,' The paywas probabl y no morethan a cup of tea, butweek after week theymissed that last train, slept on thefloor of Higgins and Hill's workmen'shut, and rolled into work on the firsttrain in the morning.Great fun perhaps but enthusi asm,loya lty, generosity and dedication allroll ed into one, w hi ch characterised hi slater life w ith his family, his business as acivil engineering contractor and his lifelongrelationship w ith traditional music.Edmond was born in Li slea, Aclare, Co.Sligo in 1922, at a time w hen there wasa fiddle or flute in almost every cottageand w hen there were still sixpennysubscription dances held in thekitchens. Peter Tuohy, the last of a lineof travelling dancing teachers, used tostay w ith th e Murphys for a few ni ghtseach year, and, as a child, Edmond hadsome fidd le lessons ri ght there in thehouse from him - sixpence for a coupleof hours and the tune written out. Thenas a 12 yea r old he used to go over to aneighbour's house to li sten to M artinWalsh pl aying the fiddle. He'd keep thetunes in his head as he left, w histlingthem over and over, ti II he cou Id grabthe fiddle w hen he got home.Around the same time th e new MichaelColemanand PaddyKilloranrecord s werecoming out,and atDevine'sgeneral shopin Tubbercurryth ey playedthem all day tocustomers.Edmond wasamong thoseyoungsters w hohung aboutoutside to pickup the newtunes like Tarbolton and Jenny'sCh ickens.During the war he was recruited inIreland to work on constructingairbases in Suffolk and Norfolk. Unlikeso many others, he took hi s fiddle w ithhim, and in an area w here the loca lsstepdanced in th e pubs on a Saturdaynight, Edmond amazed th em bystepdancing and playing the fiddle atthe same time.He arri ved in London in 1944, lodgedw ith the musical Taylor family inHammersmith, and thereby had a readyintroduction to all th e nooks andcrannies in th e hidden world of Irishmu sic-making in London at th e time.ComhaltasIn 1957, he was right at the beginningof the Comhaltas Ceo lt6iri Eireannmovement in London, w hen th e WestLondon branch was first formed at theKing's Head in Fulham, and he went onto regular attendance - rai n or shine -at all the music sess ions, branch,reg ional and provincial committee....'=__ Ill Et::Meitheal an Mhuilinnsite handed overNew Teach Ceoilexpected by 2001An area of 2.995 acres of land atLynnbury Mullingar has been acquiredfrom Westmeath County Council byMeitheal an Mhuilinn for £50,000.The matter was officially finalised atthe monthly meeting of the Council inMullingar on September 6, whenmembers agreed to dispos~1 of theland to the Mullingar group.Meitheal an Mhuilinn was set up inMullingar in 1966 with representativesfrom Comhaltas Ceolt6iri Eireann,Gaelscoil an Mhuilinn, GI6r na nGaeland Cumann na bhFiann, workingtogether to promote Irish language,music, culture and heritage.The first phase, the building of a newGaelscoil in Mullingar, at an estimatedcost of £1 million, is expected to goahead in the near future.The second phase of the work willinvolve the provision of a Teach Ceoilor Ceolarus, which will incorporate ameeting room, an Irish music studycentre, practice room, archive, etc.When the Minister of State for theGealtacht, Eamon 6 Cuiv, TO, visitedthe town in June last, he was shownthe site of the proposed building byCol man 6 Muimhneachain,Cathaoirleach of Meitheal an Mhuilinnand was told the group is confident itcan provide the building for the 50 thanniversary of Comhaltas Ceolt6iriEireann, in 2001. (Comhaltas wasfounded in Mullingar in 1951).meetin gs, and all the AII-lrelands.He was the treasurer of Provin cialCouncil of Britain of CCE for 28 years,w hi ch put him ri ght in the centre of thew hole organisation.He would have been the first to haveacknowledged he wasn't the world'sgreatest fiddle player, but he was a verygood one, a so lid pl ayer w ith punch anddrive and a great foot for keep ing time.His finest ac hievements in music,however, were his duet partn erships,first w ith Mick Gorman on the fluteand late r w ith Con Curtin on thefiddle. Fortun ate ly, arch ive recordingsex ist of both duets, w hich support th eview of many that in their time therewere none better.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------=g9