Divided We Stand

For many of those in the traditional music world, 2004 was dominated by speculation about the Arts Council’s future role in the genre. On December 4 of the previous year, Minister John O’Donoghue had announced the establishment of a Special Committee on the Traditional Arts, charged with reviewing the structures, supports and policy for traditional arts nationwide and making recommendations for the future development of the sector.

The five-person committee was chaired by Jerome Hynes, deputy chair of the Arts Council, former general manager of the Druid Theatre Company and chief executive of Wexford Festival Opera; other members were Philip King of Scullion and Hummingbird Productions fame; musician and broadcaster Micheál Ó hEidhin; Brú Ború artistic director Una Ó Murchú; and Katie Verling, director of the Glór Irish music centre in Ennis. Toner Quinn, founder, publisher and editor of the Journal Of Music In Ireland, was appointed Project Officer to the committee.
Two factions seem to have developed fairly early on in the committee’s deliberations, with Ó hEidhin and Ó Murchú spearheading the “opposition”, such as it was. In the end, the report ‘Towards A Policy For The Traditional Arts’ was presented with much fanfare, but without the signatures of Ó Murchú and Ó hEidhin, who produced their own Minority Report.
Following the launch of the (majority) report, Labhrás Ó Murchú, (husband of the aforementioned Úna and director of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann) went on the warpath, alleging on RTRs Rattlebag that the report as presented was substantially different from the version last seen by the committee. Comhaltas then announced in a press release that “It is now generally accepted that the final Report of the Special Committee on the Traditional Arts was secretly doctored outside of the Committee before being presented to the Arts Council... The Arts Council were fully aware that the Report of the statutory committee had been interfered with and yet they accepted it. This flawed Report was then used to access taxpayers’ money from the Government.”
All this, as far as I’ve been able to ascertain and if you’ll pardon the expression, is utter poppycock, and the oddest thing of all is that the report as presented bends over backwards to acknowledge and mollify CCÉ. It singles out Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (which currently receives no funding from the Arts Council) for mention as a particularly under-supported event, and calls for the Arts Council to “develop funding relationships with local branches of CCÉ around the country” and for the two organisations to “make new efforts to improve their relationship”.
Aside from all that, the report makes a large number of recommendations that, if followed through, will have enormous significance for traditional musicians, singers, dancers and storytellers – and the fact that all these recommendations have since been adopted by the Arts Council as official policy would seem to indicate that it’s not a question of all talk and no action. Notably, it calls for the traditional arts to become one of the top four art forms funded by the Arts Council, and lists a number of areas (touring, teaching, archiving and events, including those classed as competitive) that are especially in need of support.
It’s also recommended that a recognition system similar to Aosdána be developed for traditional artists, or alternatively that the membership of Aosdána be broadened to include traditional artists. Another interesting recommendation is that the Arts Council “take the lead in investigating the issue of royalties and traditional arts”. Finally, the report demands that a “full-time, respected and high-profile Traditional Arts Officer” be appointed by the Arts Council within six months – and indeed, the application deadline for the post passed just a few weeks before this annual went to press.
Meanwhile Comhaltas steamrolled ahead with its own agenda, announcing a five-year development plan that would see €22.6 million being invested in the building of eight resource centres around the country (six in the Republic and two in the North), plus an additional €5.1 million on an expansion of its educational programme.
TG4’s National Traditional Music Awards for 2004 attracted major attention in the trad world with a televised awards ceremony and concert in the University Concert Hall, Limerick. Gradam Ceoil (Musician of the Year) went to Seán Keane, Ceoltóir Óg na Bliana (Young Musician of the Year) to 18-year-old Clare-born concertina player Edel Fox, Cumadóir na Bliana (Composer) to Richie Dwyer, Amhránaí na Bliana (Singer) to Rosie Stewart and Gradam Saoil (Hall of Fame) to accordionist Tony MacMahon.
Music Network continued to do an estimable job of getting traditional musicians out into venues around the country that normally wouldn’t be able to afford performers of such a high calibre, thanks to its ‘Best of Irish’ touring programme. The ESB also did its bit, sponsoring not one but two traditional music festivals at the National Concert Hall –?Ceol in March and Beo in August. Not to be confused with that Beo was ‘Beo Trad’, a new concert series at the Glór music centre in Ennis, whose schedule becomes more jam-packed with every passing year.
Elsewhere, there appears to be some sort of unwritten rule about the younger generation of Irish bands including the syllable ‘da’ in their names. Danú released a new album featuring solo performances by its various members; Téada brought out a CD and then announced a new lineup, with flute player Damien Stenson replacing John Blake. Gráda were signed to Nashville’s Compass Records, which looked after the release of their new album The Landing Step. And the latest crowd to join the fray were Cork’s Nuada, who launched their debut CD Open The Door For Three, in April. More recently, Nuada doubled in size and sound with three eager new recruits: Michael King, Steven Markham and Seán Leahy, who joined existing members Daithí Kearney, Padraig King and Jeremy Spencer.
Bucking the ‘da’ trend were new arrivals Beoga, an ebullient four-piece from Counties Antrim and Derry, with their debut A Lovely Madness, and the recently-formed South Sligo band The Border Collies – who won the Comhraigh Ceol competition at the National Concert Hall, thereby earning recording time and CD duplication costs. Their debut CD Unleashed was released in the autumn of 2004.
On a sadder note, the year saw the passing of three iconic figures of the traditional music world: Sliabh Luachra melodeon player Johnny O’Leary, New York-based fiddler Andy McGann, and Mary Ellen Begley – singer, dancer, and mother of the musical Begley clan. All three will be much missed.

TOP 20 FOLK/ TRAD ALBUMS OF 2004:

1. LUKE KELLY Best Of Luke Kelly [Celtic Arts]
2. EOIN DUIGNAN Lumina [Duigo Music]
3. PLANXTY Live [Sony Music]
4. GARRY O’BRIAIN Cat Won’t Fly [Own Label]
5. NOLLAIG CASEY The Music Of What Happened [Old Bridge Music]
6. LUNASA Kinnity Sessions [Compass |Records]
7. THE BLACK FAMILY Our Time Together [Dara]
8. SUSAN McKEOWN Sweet Liberty [World Village]
9. JIM MALCOLM Live In Glenfarg [Beltane Records]
10. ROESY Only Love Is Real [Blue Cloak Records]
11. SOLAS Solas [Shanachie Records]
12. MAURA O’CONNELL Don’t I Know [Sugerhill]
13. WATERSON CARTHY Fishes And Fine Yellow Sand [Topic Records]
14. TIM DENNEHY Between The Mountains And The Sea [Sceilig Records]
15. BEOGA A Lovely Madness [Beoga Music]
16. FRANK HARTE & DONAL LUNNY The Hungry Voice: The Song Legacy
Of Ireland’s Great Hunger [Hummingbird Records]
17. BROCK MCGUIRE BAND Brock McGuire Band [Ferndale]
18. GERRY O’CONNOR Journeyman [Lughnasa Records]
19. PAULINE SCANLON Red Colour Sun [Daisy discs]
20. CIARÁN Ó MAONAIGH Ceol A’Ghleanna – The Music Of The Glen
[Claddagh Records]

Archive Album of the Year:
CHRISTY MOORE The Box Set 1964-2004 [Sony]

Honourable Mentions:
JOHNNY McEVOY The Collection [Dara] GEORGE MURPHY Dreamed A Dream [Sony] MARY McPARTLAN The Holland Handkerchief [Temple Records] GERRY O’CONNOR No Place Like Home [Myriad Media] GRÁDA The Landing Step [Compass Records] David Munnelly By Heck [Fréa Records] Mick Hanly Wish Me Well [Townsend Records] Mozaik Live From The Powerhouse [Hummingbird Records] THE BORDER COLLIES Unleashed [Own Label] THE WEST OCEAN STRING QUARTET Unwrapping [Wren]