Folk That: Singers' Enclosure

I’ve already highlighted the gargantuan effort that’s going into this year’s Fleadh, being held in Co Cavan. Now organisers have announced an event which is almost another mini-festival in itself. Packed into three and a half hours in an upstairs room of the Cavan Crystal Hotel on Friday August 20, with capacity limited to 60, there will be a unique celebration of Irish singing in the traditional style.

Funded through the Arts Council Deis scheme, this Traditional Singing Recital is not just for enthusiasts. It should awaken the curiosity of anyone who would like an insight into how this style of music has evolved and been preserved, and how the old songs have been adapted and moulded through the years as they pass from one area to another, one generation to the next.
The evening will be hosted by Cathal Lynch from Tyrone who has been instrumental in maintaining a singing tradition in that county.
Whether its Rosie Stewart or Gaby McArdle from the northern end of the island, or Paddy Berry or Johnny Mháirtín Learaí from the south and west respectively, all of these singers have a common desire to share their songs with the listener. It’s not by accident that many the ballad begins with “come all ye” or words to that effect. Every rendition of a song lives in the moment, and must be heard as well as sung.
Singers gracing the event include Rosie Stewart from Fermanagh, whose three albums, The Rosie Drops of Dew, Adieu to Lovely Garrison, and The Leitrim Mountainside, solidified a reputation that has also seen her win the TG4 Singer of the Year Award, Jim McFarland from Derry who along with Inishowen singer Jimmy McBride, co-authored ‘My Parents Reared me Tenderly’ (1980), Róisín White from Down who sings in a great Ulster Style, influenced by the likes of Paddy Tunney, Geordie Hanna, Sarah Anne O’Neill and Eddie Butcher. Look out, too, for Clare native Seamus Mac Mathúna, a fantastic singer and a flute player who is highly regarded as a strong advocate of the Irish language and culture in song and Tyrone singer Ailish Hanna, daughter of the late Geordie Hanna, a legend in the tradition.
Ailish sings with true heart and feeling, proving that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Gabriel McArdle from Fermanagh will also perform, as will Down man Jackie Boyce who, in the late 1970s, began a mission to track down every song that emanated from his native county. Others on the bill are Paddy Berry from Co Wexford, Frances Rodgers, a long established singer from Co Down, Mick Quinn from Armagh, a wonderful storyteller as well as a singer. John Kennedy from Antrim is a veteran fife and flute player as well as a singer, and he brings a true cross-community dimension to the recital. There too will be Carna man Josie Sheáin Jeaic Mac Donncha, a justly recognised master of the sean-nós tradition, neighbour Johnny Mháirtín Learaí Mac Donnchadha who, along with Josie Sheáin Jeaic, is a winner of Corn Uí Riada, the prestigious annual sean-nós singing competition at Oireachtas na Gaeilge. Plus, there's singer and lilter Séamus Brogan, living for many years in London; Catherine McLoughlin from Co Fermanagh; John Tunney, the son of another great singing legend, the late Paddy Tunney; Antrim singer and whistle player Mairéad Walls. "Special guest" will be Fermanagh singer and flute player Cathal McConnell, founder and anchor member of the legendary Boys of the Lough.
Side by side with the event is the launch of Rita Gallagher’s new CD, The May Morning Dew, a collection of 20 traditional songs in English. Joining Rita on the night will be a who’s who of traditional singers, many of whom, appropriately enough to the setting, are steeped in the rich Ulster strain of balladry.
Away from Cavan, Music Network brings together fiddler Matt Cranitch, accordion dynamo Jackie Daly and John Faulkner on guitar, bouzouki and vocals for their Living Stream tour in mid-September.
That most esteemed commentator on Irish traditional music, the New York Times, once described Jackie Daly as ‘probably the best accordionist in Ireland’ which strikes us as stating the obvious. He is steeped in the Sliabh Luachra tradition as is Matt Cranitch, and the interplay between them should be magical. Adding John Faulkner to the mix should send things in a plethora of different directions. He has traded lines with the likes of Ewan MacColl, Dolores Keane, Arty McGlynn and John Prine.
The tour starts in Dublin, at Music Network’s headquarters in Dublin Castle on Tuesday September 14 and continues on Thursday September 16 at the Source Arts Centre in Thurles. The following evening, Friday September 17, the trio will be in the Conary Community Hall in Avoca. Co Wicklow. On Saturday September 18, the tour wends its way to the Ionad Culturtha in Baile Mhuirne and Sunday September 19 finds it in Tech Amergin in Waterville. The trio make their way up the west coast as far as Clifden where they perform in the Station House Theatre on Monday September 20. After a well earned day off they’ll be back in action at the Aras Inis Gluaire arts centre in Belmullet on Wendnesday September 22 and the tour winds to a close the following evening in Mullingar Arts Centre.