Tag / traditional Irish music

by shannonchance

Irish Trad: Traditional Irish Music on Internet Radio

Photo taken while visiting Kevin Donleavy in December 2012, during my Fulbright Fellowship to Ireland, but visiting Virginia for Christmas. 

A friend of mine in Virginia delivers a radio program of traditional Irish music. Tune in 3-5 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on Saturday, March 2. That’s 10-12 EST to hear Kevin Donleavy’s show!

Learn more about Kevin and how I met him here, about a past show here, and about our dear, departed friend Jerry Crilly here.

A chairde and pals, howreya,

Yes,  time for Irish traditional music on-line again.  The date is this Saturday, March 2,  and the program will be broadcast from 10 am till 12 noon as always. Or 3-5 pm that day in Ireland.  You need visit WTJU.net on the Web,  and then click on the Launch button. Your host, Kevin Donleavy of the O’Neill-Malcom branch of Comhaltas.  So do mark your calendar.
Here are some highlights from the upcoming show :  A couple of selections from the Sweets of May collection of music from South Armagh.  Liam Weldon singing the tremendously touching song, ” Where Is Our James Connolly ?”
Tunes from such fiddlers as Ciaran Tourish and Oisin MacDiarmada and the powerful Mick Conneely.  Lovely uilleann piping from Christopher McMullan’s new compact disc. Two songs from the woman’s band Girsa: “I Courted a Wee Girl,”  and “Mary and the Soldier.”  Cuts from the traditional groups Danu and Teada.  A political song or two, of course.  A seldom played reel called “The Nine Points of Roguery,”  played by the fine Sean Norman Ceili Band.  And more ….
This Saturday, time to wet the tea, roll back the carpet,  and get cracking!  Mi daza!
Kevin
by shannonchance

Jerry Crilly’s final farewell

Jerry Crilly

Frank Cullen and Jerry Crilly in May 2013, at the exhibition of my urban reflection photographs organized by the Irish Fulbright Commission. Photos of Jerry are by my family member, Dave Chance. See a full set of photos from the 2013 event by clicking here.

You may recall my friends Jerry Crilly and Kevin Donleavy. Both have dedicated their lives to Irish music, Irish history, and the pursuit of social justice.

On my first visit to the Cobblestone pub in Smithfield (Dublin 7), I met Jerry. That was back in 2012, and he soon asked me to find his pal Kevin who had moved to Virginia. It wasn’t long before I located Kevin in Charlottesville. On my visit to Virginia for Christmas that year, I brought Kevin a vinyl record, sent by Jerry as a gift. You can read more about that in a blog I posted long ago. The record had a lovely cover and contained songs by Rakish Paddy, one of Jerry’s musical groups.

Jerry was also at my photographic exhibition and my American wake so there are many blogs on this site that include him. He was a dear, sweet man, who never failed to mention the importance of his partner Deirdre in his life.

Jerry’s health has been declining over the past few years. I haven’t gotten to see him much as he rarely traveled as far as the Cobblestone at night. I did make a trip down to the south of Dublin, to visit the Bottle Tower one night so I could hear a musical gig organized by Jerry. It was enjoyable, but as these trad sessions didn’t start until 9:30 PM and ran on school nights, they weren’t very accessible to me.

Jerry Crilly 2

Jerry Crilly in May 2013.

Sadly, Jerry’s health got the better of him, and he recently passed away. Kevin has kept me informed of events, and forwarded on these details sent by Jerry’s beloved partner, Deirdre.

Dear Kevin,

Jerry had a lovely send off today. Everything went smoothly. We had a folk mass in the church that was beautiful. Then in the crematorium we had Jerry singing “John of Dreams” from the Rakish Paddy cd as we entered followed by his great friend Pat Ludford from Cornwall sing “Fields of Athenry” & for the final curtain his dear friend Julie played on flute “The Jerry Crilly Jig” kindly written by yourself & she did it a great justice. I so wished you could have been there to hear  her play it was so lovely. Then we went back to the Ballinteer House for food & a fantastic session from musicians from all over. Eric Fleming who was in Jerrys group the Connolly Folk & Brendan Leeson the last member alive of the Rakish Paddy Group the list goes on & on. They also had a session in O’Donoghues singing a lot of Jerry’s songs that I was delighted to hear about. Hope you’re ok. Thanks for all your kind emails over the past weeks & for letting us use your wonderful tune dedicated to Jerry for his final farewell.
Kind regards, Deirdre 

As Kevin Donleavy noted: “It is a sign of the regard in which Jerry Crilly was held that so many musicians participated in his last rites, and the seisiun at famed O’Donoghue’s (yip, the pub in Dublin)  must have been phenomenal. What a send-off — friends at every turning remembering him !  Requiescat in pace, Jerry.”

We will miss you, and the sincerity and social conscious you brought us, Jerry. I will never forget the lessons of the bonsai tree or the family in the tenement. May you rest in peace and your spirit continue inspire the best in us all.
by shannonchance

Shannon’s American Wake

On my last night in Dublin, my friends came together at the Cobblestone for my “American wake”.

Sheila Whelan (Fergus’ wife) originally suggested the idea.  She told me that when someone leaves Ireland for the US, the Irish traditionally hold a wake for them. In older days when people, like my great-grand mother, set sail for the States, a wake was held since the person wasn’t expected to return. Thankfully, flying has made the return trip much easier!

When I explained I wanted to return, Sheila said, “no worries!”  Evidently, my return  will give us a reason for a welcome back party!  I’m hoping for one of those on my November visit.

The Cobblestone pub in broad daylight.

The Cobblestone pub in broad daylight.

Irish wakes are typically held when someone dies, and they celebrate the deceased person’s life. There’s lots of drinking, craic/merry-making, and music. They are similar to America wakes, which are held for the living. As explained on Wikipedia, the term American wake:

refers to a gathering in an Irish home the night before a family member emigrated to America, in which friends and family would say goodbye to the emigrant for what was probably the last time.

In addition:

American Wake is the first full-length solo album by Patrick Clifford, released in 2010.

Thanks to my many friends who came to the wake, and to others who sent well-wishes from their summer vacation destinations.

Nancy Stenson and her friends from Minnesota, John and Robin.
John and Robin sang a number of songs at my “American wake.” They were headed home the next day, too.
Robin, John, Nancy, and Fergus in the musician’s corner for the Wednesday night early set.
Mick O’Grady organizes the early set.
Here are my new friends, Sylvia and Alessandro, who also play on Wednesdays.
Tom and Tomas Mulligan, dancing behind the bar.
Fergus usually sings on Wednesday and Friday, during the early sets (7:30-9:30 or so).
Eventually Jerry Crilly arrived, and shortly after that Frank and Carmel Cullen came around.
We moved to the back of the bar…
…so we could chat…
…and sing some songs.
Here, Jerry is leading a song.
Frank and Jerry make a dynamic duo.
And Fergus keeps everyone up-to-date on historical research.
Tom Mulligan gives us all a place to gather…
…that we can call “home.”
Here Tom and I are, posing with the “urban reflection” photo I gave him.
This wake was a wonderful way to wrap up a year in Dublin: at the Cobblestone pub with some of my best friends in the city. Thanks to them all for their love and support.
by shannonchance

It’s 10pm: Do You Know Where Your Cobblestone Is?

The Whelans.

The Whelans enjoying another lovely Friday evening at the Cobblestone pub.

I galloped down to the Cobblestone tonight to hear my favorite set of the week. The Friday 7:30-9:30 group includes singers as well as instrumentalists.  This week the Whelans were there, so I had friends to chat with.

It’s bright and cheery in the musicians corner during the evening this time of year… the sun stays up in Dublin until ten pm.  And it raises before five am!  We are so far north.

The Whelans.
Irish vocals…
…and instrumentals…
…and storytelling…
…all in one place.
Fergus sang two fabulous songs while I was there.
And we even a guest singers tonight.
Along with the wonderful musicians…
…who grace the pub on Friday nights.
And keep us tapping along.
These days, the sun doesn’t set until ten pm…
…on nearby Manor Street in Stoneybatter.
by shannonchance

Irish Music Radio with Mick O’Grady

Charlottesville’s Kevin Donleavy has an Irish music program on air tomorrow.  I hope you’ll tune in via internet!  He explains how, below.  I always enjoy hearing Mick O’Grady play at the Cobblestone pub, and he’ll be featured in the program.

Photo of Stefan Paz Berrios and Mick O'Grady, downloaded from Danny Diamond's Flicker page.

Photo of Stefan Paz Berrios and Mick O’Grady, downloaded from Danny Diamond’s Flickr site.

Hi, music heads and tune-fanciers,

The next radio program of Irish trad music presented by Kevin Donleavy can be heard on-line as usual this Saturday, May 18, from 10 am till 12 noon. (Irish listeners should tune in from 3 to 5 pm that day.) The program is called ATLANTIC WEEKLY PART TWO,  and here are the easy listening steps :
 
To listen on your internet radio, select WTJU in Virginia, USA, or pick up the  “Tune In Radio”  app for your iPhone or other mobile device and easily dial up the station.
 
On your computer,  go to http://wtju.net. Next, select Listen Live on the right side bar. Then, choose between Ogg and MP3.
 
This week’s musical material includes singers Andy Irvine, Paddy Reilly, Tim Browne, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh (Maryann McCauley), and Christy Moore. There will  be tunes from banjo expert Kieran Hanrahan and fine box-player Danny O’Mahony. The fiddlers this week are Mick O’Grady and Washington/Baltimore’s own Jesse Smith. And if you like the sounds of uilleann pipes and fiddle, you’ll enjoy tunes from Mick O’Brien and Caoimhin O Raghallaigh. 
 
There will also be some chat about such Irish organizations as Comhaltas, Clann Mhor, and BRIMS (the Blue Ridge Irish Music School). 
 
Hope that you can have a listen on Saturday ….
Kevin
by shannonchance

Filming at the Cobblestone Pub

Setting up to film, the room was filled to capacity with Mulligan relations.

Setting up to film, the room was filled to capacity with Mulligan relations.

Cinematographers and musicians filled the tiny musicians’ corner at the Cobblestone pub last week.  They were filming a documentary about traditional Irish music, focusing on the influence of the Travelers (the ethnic group that’s had the roughest time here in Ireland).  I’ll try to keep you posted as to when and where the documentary will air.

And then the filming commenced.

And then the filming commenced.

by shannonchance

St. Patrick’s Day, Academic Style!

What a phenomenally Irish weekend!

I didn’t do the things a tourist to Dublin normally does on St. Patrick’s Day (which seems to include a lot of roaming the streets while intoxicated).  Instead, I packed my schedule full of St. Patrick’s Day Festival events.  My friends an I pooled out ticket allotment so we could see many shows.

I’ve pictured some of the events below (I didn’t even take photos at every event, believe it or not).  The photos show how academics enjoy St. Paddy’s!  You can see my brainy friends and me enjoying short films in the Examination Hall of Trinity, for instance.

The group that coordinates the St. Patrick’s Day Festival did a fabulous job!  I send my heartfelt thanks to them!

Incidentally, you’d be amazed to see the streets of Temple Bar on Sunday night:  wall to wall people dressed in green velvet!?!!  I elbowed my way through at 7 PM  (I don’t even want to think what the place was like by midnight).  Even at 7, I was clutching my belongings so tight that I forgot to take a photo!

Turtle Bunbury presented “A Global History of the Irish Abroad.”
Turtle delivered his lecture at Marsh’s Library.
There was an event of short films about Dublin held in the Examination Hall in Trinity College. (I prefer film-watching to exam-talking any day of the week!)
I brought Toni Gray, Giuseppe Conte, and (former Fulbright scholar) Nancy Stenson along with me to the “I _ My City” film viewing.
Nancy and I enjoyed a tasty late-night dinner at Café en Seine on Dawson Street.
David Slattery (who is a full-time writer as well as an Associate Fellow at the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media at The National College of Art and Design here in Dublin) read from his newest book “Poet Madmen Scoundrel: 189 Unusual IrishLives.”
David was introduced by a staff member from Marsh’s Library (this is a fascinating place to visit). I purchased David’s previous book “How to be Irish” and also a catalog of the Library’s current exhibition “Marvels of Science: Books that Changed the World.”
At the Chester Beatty Library, the show TEMPO fused Irish and Brazilian rhythms.
The show featured: Joe Doyle (Vocals & Percussion) Mick Donegan (Hard Shoe Dance) Kelly Baldonaldo (Samba Dance & Percussion) Maia Adelson (Capoeira dance & Percussion)
I finally visited the Smock Alley Theater, for performance art (film+clarinet solos) that brought the eclectic space to life.
I purchased a CD of “Zoë Conway Live” following this performance by the fillde player and her husband, John. She is a professional musician who plays with Riverdance (among other groups).
The show included performances by one of Riverdance’s lead dancers, Zara Curtis.
by shannonchance

History of the Horseshoe (and Mike Heivly’s Upcoming Art Show)

News from Charlottesville’s Kevin Donleavy:

Shannon,

I forgot to mention to you that the Horseshoe is quite famous as a venue for trad musicianers over the past 5 or 6 decades.  Lynch can tell you all about why.  It hinges on magnificent fiddler-and-concertina-player John Kelly who ran the shop for aeons.  He’s gone, RIP,  but his fiddling sons James (lives in Florida now) and John (still lives in Ireland)  carry on that family musical tradition. Ah, John Kelly the elder — he attracted the likes of Seamus Ennis and John Egan and loads and tons of musicianers to that wee shop.  Why don’t ya ask Lynch about the pub at the corner where John and others held forth of an evening ? or the pub called the Meeting Place (also fairly nearby).
 
Oh, I also nearly disremembered the following — that Mike Heivly has sent some of his work to the Embassy of Ireland, and will probably have a one-man show sometime in the next few months.  Stay tuned!
Kevin
Incidentally, Mike’s show will be at the Irish Embassy.  Kevin explained:
The Embassy is in DC, on prestigious Mass Ave (ie, Massachusetts Avenue).  A small edifice, but it’s (I’m guessing) early 19th c., sorta French looking with Baroque elements. Neat building.
by shannonchance

A Dubliner of All Trades

Today, I needed to purchase a new external hard drive so I could download photos for you.  On the way to the computer store, I ran into Brendan Lynch.  He ran the musical performances I attended at the Arlington Hotel with Esther, Kitty Lee and Patty.  He also owns The Horse Shoe, located where Capel runs into Bolton Street.

Brendan had the door to his shop open and the sounds of an Irish banjo filled the air.  I stepped into the tiny space, introduced myself, and learned a bit about Brendan’s past and present work.

Turns out Brendan is an artist, photographer, musician, performer, music teacher, instrument trader, city planner, conservation expert, and business owner… a Renaissance man in my book.  As he’s also a history buff, I told him about Fergus Whelan’s book, the planners I’d come across when visiting the former parliament building, and the tour I took recently with DIT’s Gavin Buggy.

I heard music coming from The Horse Shoe as I passed by today…
…so I stopped in to chat with Brendan Lynch, the owner…
…who also plays weekends at the Arlington Hotel’s traditional music and dance show.
Brendon is an artist, musician, and city planner specializing in conservation (though there’s no funded work in that vein for him to do today).
Brendan lent me a book about the Liberties (the area around the Dublin City Council building). We reminisced of grand buildings no longer in Dublin, and those that need restoring…
…like this one on Henrietta Street…
…used in films today…
…that I visited…
…on a February 6 tour of “Lost Dublin”…
hosted by DIT’s Gavin Buggy.
Gavin talked about losses incurred in the building of the Dublin City Council chambers…
…and showed us what the district around Dublin City Council looked like in medieval times.
by shannonchance

My Family at the Cobblestone Pub

Mom with her cousin, Tom Mulligan (left) and Tim Bigelow (right) meeting at the Cobblestone Pub.

What a great send off!  Mom and her friends left for the airport at five o’clock this morning, so last night we decided to meet after my yoga class at the Cobblestone Pub.

You may recall from an earlier blog that the Cobblestone is considered the best place in Dublin to hear traditional Irish music.  We went there with Fulbright Amanda and her husband Jonathan, so they’d have a chance to play their instruments for an audience in Dublin.

A girl from last night’s yoga class said it would definitely not be a problem for me to go to the Pub in my exercise clothes. So I headed straight there–yoga mat and all.

When I arrived, Mom immediately introduced me to Tom Mulligan–a cousin of ours from Ballybunion in County Kerry–who she’d just met.  He had inquired about her visit Ireland and she said she’d been to County Kerry visiting Eilish and Con O’Hanlon.

Picture of the Cobblestone from the New York Times.

Loe and behold, Elish is Tom’s cousin.  I think he said his mom is the sister of my mom’s grandmother, but I haven’t been able to reconcile that math yet!  He seems so young.

Tom soon introduced me to his son, Thomas, who was working behind the bar.  And what a warm welcome we enjoyed!  Thomas was so complimentary about my Fulbright, and the fact that it’s in engineering.  Pretty soon, my smile was drawn ear to ear, my eyes were misty from hearing well-sung ballads, and my mom was hugging everyone in sight. Imagine! 😉

Tom is in the middle… doesn’t he look like Bill Clinton!?

Tom returned to playing, but when the musicians’ area started to get crowded, Tom packed up his flute and climbed behind the bar.

“Hum,” I thought, “wonder what that means?”  So I went to Googling the topic.  I discovered Tom’s the owner of the place!  Someone on Yelp had mentioned him by name and noted how incredibly nice he is.  (I’m in 100% agreement.)

Tom wanted to connect me with another Fulbright in the family, Siobhan. She taught Irish in the US.  To connect us, he dialed her up and soon handed me the phone.  Turns out, she’s the one who gave us an Irish lesson during the Fulbright orientation. I’d met her but not realized we were connected.  (I’d have never realized the connection to Tom without my huggy mom and her travel-ready neighbors.)

Tom’s son, Tomás, is working on a degree in  Irish politics and history at University College Dublin (UCD).  His dad completed a similar degree there 2006-2010… the same years I was in school at William and Mary. Tom had gone back to be a good example to his kids. It seems to have paid off!

Tomás wouldn’t even take money for my drinks last night. And, Tom gave Mom a copy of his CD to take home. Ain’t it grand to have a family!

You may also recall that it was my 2003 visit to the UCD campus that left me determined to become a Fulbright myself. And thanks to my mom’s positive example, I set to work on a PhD three years later. That helped it all come together.

So, all in all, it’s wonderful to find a place where everybody knows my name, and they seem so glad I came!  Who have thought I’d find my home in a pub?

Tom’s brother Neily is one of the world’s premier uilleann (elbow) pipers. I think he’ll be playing Thursday, October 25.  See you there?  For more information, you can like the Cobblestone on Facebook.

By the time I left last night, there’s been more than 14 different musicians chiming in. I can’t wait to return!