R - Comhaltas Archive

Sea III liS Mac Malhllna aglls an tEaspagFiachra 0 Ceal/aighthis great band - three-in-a-rowchampions at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann- can put lift and exc itement into a ceiliwhen they tu ck up their sleeves to it. Itwas reminiscent of the glory days of theold Kilfenora who in their time wonthree-in-a-row also and four in all.Could anyone give higher praise?On Saturday morning there were someve ry enjoyable piping recitals andsess ions with Joe Doyle, Eamon Lane,Loui se Mulcahy and (young) Joe Doyle,and on Saturd ay afternoon HelenaRowsome paid tribute to the memory ofher fath er, Leo with a session ofmemories illustrated w ith rev iews andother data from old newspaper cuttings.More than any other person Helena hasbeen instrumental in treasuring thememory of Leo Rowsome. She stillspea ks of him with the undiminishedenthusiasm and affection of a teenager,of his kindness, his boyish optimism hiseasy relaxed way w ith his pipils hiswillingness to pl ay for ca llers at anyhour, and so on. Helena would havegone on to pl ay some of Leo's mostfamous recordings, but a delayed starthad put the evening schedule underpressure and Labhras wound up thi ssession w ith glowing tributes to Leo'smemory and to Helena for her verypainstak ing work in assembling themateri al for this workshop.Most Reverend Bishop Fi achra 6Cea ll aigh assisted by Fr Pat SweeneyO.F.M. ce lebrated Aifrea nn i nGae ilgeat 6 o'cl ock. Bi shop Fi achra is ofcourse a Clare man, Gael go smioragus sean-chara a laetha an tionail, iRinn Mhic Gormain. He and Fr PatSweeney remained for tea and late rasked to hear a few ve rses of 'Come onthe Banner'; for Bi shop Fi ach ra is likethe famed Croke of Cashel aconnoisseur of the hurling game and anardent follower of th e Ban ner county.Fra nk Whelan of the Cois na hAbhna(Enni s) archive Committee had arri vedw ith a newly-made video showingmembers of the M ac Mathuna family,and fri ends reminisc ing of bygone daysin West Clare. There was just time toview snatches from thi s video betweentea and the Tional Conce rt. Present alsoat this stage were Padraig MacMathuna, well-known to Fl eadh Nuapatrons - Michael Mc Mahon w hota ught Seamus hi s first tun es on thewhistle, and many other old fri end s ofboth the Rowsome arid M ac Mathunafamilies.The Ti onal Concert once aga insurpassed all expectation s. Th !=re wereoutstanding items from the Rowsomefamily, from Ben and Charlie Lennon ofthe great Leitrim tradition; from AntainMac Gabh ann, Paddy Ryan, Kathl eenNesbitt, Maeve O' Loughlin and MickTubrid y, musica l comrades of SeamusM ac Mathuna in many a session downthrough the years. There was a specialspot for Joey Doyle, Li am O'Connor,Louise Mulca hy, [de Nic Mhathuna andMikie Smyth all of whom have beenpart of recent Aosag Concerts at theFl eadh Nua in recent years. M ickO'Connor and his very musica l familydid their usual exciting session and thelovely Clare-style fiddling of Joe Ryanbrought back memories of greatfiddling nights w ith John Kell y. PaddyTunney was in rare form also roundingoff w ith a typica l Maggie Picking whichhe sa ng and lilted and finall y batteredout to his own lilting accompa niment.Ther was a lovely duet fromRockchapel/Brosna, Donna M ul cahyand Martin O'Connell with great musicon box and concertina, and the usualfine session of piping from EamonWa lsh, Joe Doyle and Eamon Lane.Then seve ral members of the MacMathlma family singing in turn, solo,duets and in groups have us sp lendidrenditions of songs such as Cath Cheiman Fhi a, Bean Dubh a' Ghl ea nn a,Aililiu na Gamhna and An Bhuata is.The talented M ichae l Roo ney, who hadCeol beirte: M ichael TubridyandMaeve N f Lochlainn at Tion61 LeoRowsomealready accompanied many of thefo regoing items now gave us a coupleof exce ll ent so los on the harp . Andfinally, it was very reminiscent of JimNolan and the Halcyon days of the oldCumann na bPiobairi w hen bur Bean a'Ti of the night, th at Queen of all M naTi Muirea nn Duignan introduced the'Loyal Heroes' of the present dayPi pers' Club for a ri ght rousing fi nale. Itwas great music, bringing the curtaindown on a most enjoyabl e night and amemorable Ti onal.