The healing has begun

First of all, a big congratulations to Donal Lunny and Hidebow on the arrival of their daughter, Sora-chan, born at 8.10 a.m. on November 1, All Souls’ Day, in Takatsuki, Japan. Donal assures me that both mother and baby are well and thriving, which is brilliant news…

By coincidence, an open letter from Donal to the members of FACÉ (Filí, Amhránaithe & Ceoltóirí na h-Éireann), the Web-based co-operative society for Irish musicians, singers and poets, was delivered to its addressees on October 30. The letter had originally been composed early last summer, following Lunny’s resignation from IMRO (the Irish Music Rights Organisation), both as a board member and as a writer/publisher member, which was widely reported in the press at the time.

Members of FACÉ who had voted for Donal had asked him to write to them explaining the reasons behind his abrupt departure; the delay was due to the fact that the organisers of FACÉ had to await legal clearance before forwarding Lunny’s Email.

While I don’t believe that it would be either constructive or ethical for me to go into the specifics of the case in this forum, I recognise that as the membership of FACÉ currently includes over 200 folk/traditional musicians, singers and poets, there’s been a lot of talk around the scene about the letter and its significance.

I’ve spoken to FACÉ founder Steve Cooney (who’s currently midway through a tour with Tony MacMahon) and to Eamon Shackleton, Director of Services at IMRO, and can confidently report that both parties are eager to work in co-operation with each other and to dispel any suggestion of a row between the two organisations.

“We have a lot of positive issues we need to get going on, and we want to work constructively with IMRO,” Cooney told me a few days ago. Among FACRs current initiatives is the creation of a fund to assist older musicians, as well as a members’ emergency fund.

To raise money for these projects and help to cover the organisation’s running costs, a CD compilation featuring Kila, Mary Black, John Spillane, Mairtín Ó Connor, Peadar Ó Riada, Liam Ó Maonlaí and other members of FACÉ has just been completed and “sounds great”, according to Cooney. Part of the proceeds will be donated to the Irish Traditional Music Archive, and it’s hoped that this will be the first instalment in a regular series.

Future projects include the development of a tour booking agency, legal document library, recording/publishing company to organise the manufacture of compilation CDs and distribution of members’ CDs, a watchdog body for audits of publishing houses, and a worldwide database of venues and promoters that members can use free of charge to book their own tours online.

Cooney is also delighted to announce that four FACÉ members have recently been honoured with awards. Kevin Burke has been awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts – the USA’s highest honour in the folk and traditional arts. Tommy Sands was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Nevada in recognition of his work with gangland prisoners, teaching them to write songs about their lives, which some of them reportedly sang in their own defence in court. May 16 was officially designated ‘Tommy Sands Day’ in Reno, Nevada.

In the TG4 Awards at the Cork Opera House on Saturday, November 16, Paddy Keenan was scheduled to receive the Gradam Ceoil, while Len Graham was to receive the award for Amhránaí na Bliana. Comhgháirdeachas!

Getting back to the subject of IMRO, I’d like to point out that while that organisation’s official remit is simply to collect and distribute royalties arising from the public performance of copyright works (and not, as some mistakenly believe, to administer royalties relating to album sales), it does a great deal more than its international counterparts (notably the US-based agencies BMI and ASCAP) both to assist its members with their careers and to safeguard the interests of folk/traditional/acoustic musicians.

When I first joined IMRO some years ago, after a protracted battle – only now being finalised – to break free from my contract with BMI, I was amazed and chuffed to receive a cheque for £9.60 for a single airplay on RTÉ Radio 1 of a song I’d written – something that could never have happened in a million years back in the States, as the US agencies base their royalty distributions on a sample survey of Top 40 radio stations.

IMRO also provides a free Web-hosting service to its members, and sponsors songwriting workshops, showcase gigs, music festivals, seminars and research projects – all of particular benefit to songwriters working in an alternative/acoustic/noncommercial vein.

As regards Donal Lunny and his concerns, Eamon Shackleton is extending the olive branch: “I feel he is a sincere, genuine man,” he told me. “I would be delighted to see him come back. Donal should not be outside of the tent; he should be fighting his corner from within. There’s no way anything can be resolved by walking away from it.”

For his part, Donal writes from Japan: “I would be delighted to feel I could rejoin IMRO, as a member or as a board member, at some point in the future. At the moment, however, there are too many questions unanswered… Just as my resignation was (hopefully) a signal that something is amiss, my rejoining IMRO may be taken as a signal that things have changed for the better. And the sooner I can rejoin, the happier I’ll be!”

The great uilleann piper Liam O’Flynn recently premiered a new 15-minute composition entitled ‘Endurance’ in the Dominican Church, Athy, Co. Kildare, as part of the opening concert for the Ernest Shackleton Autumn School. The piece was commissioned by the Athy Heritage Centre with support from the Arts Council and the Bank of Ireland, and celebrates Shackleton’s 1914-1916 Endurance expedition to Antarctica.

Fittingly, its first public performance took place just a few miles from Kilkea, the birthplace of the explorer. O’Flynn, who’s just finished recording a CD with nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, was joined on the night by The Pipers Call Band, featuring guitarist Arty McGlynn, Frank Gallagher on keyboards and fiddle, and Danny Byrt on percussion.

Attention all singer/songwriters: the legendary Dave Murphy has just begun a weekly residency on Tuesday nights at The Sugar Club, with a similar format to his much-missed open mic nights at the International Bar. Admission is 5 euro for spectators, free for musicians, and all are welcome. Spread the word…