Lecture

on The Music of Sliabh Luachra

By Paddy Jones

First of all, for the uninitiated, wed have to say where Sliabh Luachra was. Some people think that
Ciaran MacMahuna introduced Sliabh Luachra to the world, with his lovely tough way he says, A few
weeks ago I was down in Sliabh Luachra, and, this music came on the scene and suddenly people
began looking for Sliabh Luachra. And they came into places like Castleisland and Killarney, and they
were asking the publicans in places there, Wheres this village of Sliabh Luachra? And, of course,
the people there knew there was no village, because they didnt know anything more about Sliabh
Luachra. And they said, Yerra, it is over there, around Gneeveguilla or some damned place like that.
And thats about all they knew about it.

But Sliabh Luachra is going back in history a long way. There was a time, when the English, or the
British, ruled the place, and Sliabh Luachra was described as a place where the Queens writ couldnt
run. In other words, twas a vast area of bogs and swamps and forest, with no roads through it, so
that these lawless people they were lawless from the British viewpoint because they were trying
to take back, by daring and courage, what had been stolen from them, legally, in Britains eyes but
they could run into this place and the Queens armies couldnt go in after them. So thats why Mr
Griffith built some of these roads that run through this territory.

Anyway, a time came, after the release of The Star Above the Garter, when Sliabh Luachra became
nationwide, it became one of the most notable parts of Ireland. From a place that was totally
obscure, now it was the leading traditional exponent of Irish music. And people from all over started
learning it. And, from obscurity, it almost engulfed the whole country, as Connie Houlihan said in his
lecture. There was no boundaries to its areas, but it spread and spread, and Connie said, it was in
danger of engulfing the whole country.

So, not only that, but even parts of America Im going to show you a t-shirt here, thats maybe a
little bit the worse for wear, but it was given to me in a place near Albuquerque, and if you could
read the label there it says, Greetings from New Mexico. But it says, Sliabh Sandia. Now, Sandia
is the French for water melon, or the Spanish, sorry, for water melon, but you can see even the
influence, Sliabh. They were used to dancing Sliabh Luachra sets. They called their club Sliabh.

Now, talking about Sliabh, Im going to now read the sleeve notes of The Star Above the Garter.
(Excuse me for all the stooping up and down.) This is the cover of the original LP that put Sliabh
Luachra on the map. And tis a bit the worse for wear, because it is around with thirty or more odd
years. But Im not going to read it because Im a better reader than you are, but Im going to read it
because it makes some very interesting points that need to be made. So, with your permission, Ill
read it.

In the Kingdom of Kerry there are many principalities and many princely lines. We speak here, not of
the aristocracy of blood, for it would be a brave man who could, or who would, draw comparisons
between the proud genealogies of the South West. Our concern is, rather, with the arts poetry and
story-telling and good talk and, of course, music. Even here, or perhaps especially here, one must
tread warily. Only a fool indeed will rush into judgment on the relative claims of greatness of say,
Corca Dhuibhne, and Uibh Rathach. But I believe even the most loyal partisan of Piaras Feiritar
would concede the primacy for poetry to the area known to generations as Sliabh Luachra. For here
was the little fatherland of Aoghn Rathaille and Eoghan Rua Silleabhin who are, by common

consent, the two finest poets that Kerry can claim, and Aoghn, at least, was one of the great poets
of Ireland. But that was long ago, you may say, and since English became the language of Sliabh
Luachra, the high poetry is gone. True. But the music remains.

Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford, his sister, are from Eoghan Ruas own native place, Gneeveguilla,
near Killarney not that Eoghan would have spelt it like that. The link is not just one of coincidence,
as you will so learn if you spend the evening listening to Denis, not just playing the tunes that the
poets sang to, but telling the stories about Eoghan and the others that still live in the place. Its a
place of long memories and there was no better man to keep the memories fresh and the stories
sharp and salty than Pdraig Caoimh, Beannacht D Leat Ar A Anam, who passed on the great
tradition in words and music to his pupils. Pupils we say advisedly, for Pdraig was one of the last of
the fiddle masters, who are the scattered fellows of an unendowed, unhoused, unrecognised academy
of Irish music and tradition for perhaps two hundred years. (We will be dealing with that aspect
later on.) Pdraig Caoimh had many pupils, some of them brilliant, but none more brilliant that
Denis and Julia. Here is their music to prove it. Among the twenty items listed, pride of place must, of
course, go to the airs. Here we have four melodies of great beauty and no little antiquity. The air
Caoine U Dhonaill, the Lament of ODonnell, side 2 band 9, is a deeply moving lament, and along with
ORahillys Grave, side 1 band 7, is a fine example of the tradition we have been discussing.

But we neednt go any further with this at the present time . . . of course he mentioned The
Blackbird, a slow air as well. But, these notes were written by a man called Sen Mac Ramoinn, and
certainly this man knew what he was talking about, because in the world today, its almost all,
sessions have become almost reels completely in certain places, and of course in lots of places. But
in Sliabh Luachra the tradition always was the variety: slides, polkas, slow airs, marches. If you look
at some of Caoimhs books youll find quicksteps, two-steps, waltzes, mazurkas, barn dances
youll find all sorts of tunes as well as the reels and the jigs and the hornpipes. So for Caoimh, and
in my estimation, a good fiddle player should be able to play all sorts of tunes.

Now Ill tell you of my own experience of coming to this music. First of all, my father was a next
door neighbour of Pdraig Caoimhs, so he knew Pdraig intimately and had gone to school to him
as a pupil. He was there the day Pdraig lost his school. And later on, he used to cut his hair, and he
knew Pdraig very well and could tell a lot of stories about him.

But, when I was a young lad he used to say, when you heard Caoimh playing the fiddle, you never
again thought anybody else could come anywhere near what he was doing playing the fiddle,
because he had some drocht, was the word. Now theres loads of aspects to music, but the way my
father described it, he had a magic in his playing. And my grandfather, who was known as Old Jones,
he was Tom, he said, When Caoimh plays he says, youre not listening to music, hes talking to
you. And my grandmother they all lived near him and they danced at house dances she said,
The people around here dont appreciate Pdraigs playing she says, but when hell die, theyll all
be talking about him. And she was right.

Now, I have a little word that Ill say about Caoimh himself. I was lucky in that I went to him for
lessons when I was about ten years of age. It was a journey of at least six miles maybe, if not seven,
from the top of Killcushana down to the main road, and from there to Glauntane Cross. And he was
a grand old gentleman at that time. He was nearly seventy years of age at that time. He died in
1963. But he was a courteous and a gentle and a kind man. He didnt take very much trouble in
teaching. He usually wrote out of his head whatever tune he thought was appropriate. And paper,
thats such an abundant commodity in the world today, was very scarce that time. Sometimes he
wrote on the back of calendars and hed draw the lines with a bow, with a pencil. And then hed
write the tune out of his head. And hed play the tune through, maybe once, slowly, and your lesson

was over. The lesson was usually over in about five minutes flat. And you could walk away the six
miles home then again. And it was written in tablature; there was no such thing as staff notation. So
the only obvious problem with tablature does everybody know what tablature is, or must I explain
it? Tablature is a system thats still used in parts of America for teaching 5-string banjo. The 5 lines
you can use the standard manuscript book but the 5 lines are used, and the spaces in between
represent the strings. In other words, the space at the top represents the first string, the next space
down the second, then the third and then the fourth. And whatever number is written in represents
the finger thats to go on that string. Now I have books of it here, and its a bit worse for wear I
wonder, you cant see it very clearly but you can see these are written out with all letters. And
these are all collected. I have collected these down the years, starting from Pdraig himself, and
then when he died, I went to other people and I found a lot of tunes, and I copied them all down in
these books. So I thought Id bring them along to show you this as well.

So, about the stories: one of the stories I used to enjoy was, Caoimh was playing at a ploughing
match one day, down in Cordal, and the people and of course you must realise the standard of
music was very poor at that time and thats not bringing down Caoimh accomplishments but
the story was the people left their horses and ploughs and ran over to hear this music. So, a touch of
Orpheus. Orpheus, in Greek legend, was such a mighty musician that trees uprooted themselves,
and rocks, to follow after him, to listen to him. Yes. So he was a mighty man.

Now there is another funny one. A Greek goddess asked Zeus meaning no disrespect to the
people of the cloth as they say for the gift of music. And Zeus ran to her these are only legends
with the gift. And the gods looking on, when they saw her playing they laughed, because she used
to make faces while she played. Now it wasnt the fiddle, maybe, maybe a lyre or whatever, but the
gods laughed at her. So I notice, myself sometimes, we do make faces, and a few times, a bold
person in an audience might come up after and say, Youre saying something when youre playing
music, and of course, I say I dont like it very much but I dont tell the people that, but I say,
Well now, if you come up, and put your ear up, youll hear something very important. Thats all I
have to say on it.

But poor Pdraig, he finally died. And, it was amazing. The people, that knew his life was very
limited in resource, they were all surprised that this man its amazing the amount of people I met
that told me afterwards, We thought this man would never die. In fact, my mother had a picture of
De Valera on one side of the fireplace and a picture of the Pope on the other, and these were her
two heroes, but when Caoimh died, herself and my father, it used to come up in conversation, and
they used to say, That man should never die. He was the only one, except one more. There was
another man that died, Joe Cooley, he was a box player from Peterswell in Galway, and the same
thing, when he died, the story was, That man should never die. So you can see how important
musicians were to the people of Ireland.

Now, were talking now about the music itself: why had it such an effect on the people? You know, I
mean, music is such a common thing in the world today. Why did it have such a profound effect on
those people? Its very simple when you think about it. If Van Gogh or Salvador Dali, who could
easily have been living around the locality, were there, and he made a great picture, the people could
come and look at it and say, Oh, thats beautiful. Or a great sculptor, he could do something, but
what would it have done for the people? It would be great art, and of course it has intrinsic value in
itself, but from the world viewpoint its value is that its a collectors item. But the music was where
the real treasure-house was, and for several reasons. Now, Im going to introduce you to a man
again, and people could say, Well he has nothing in the world to do with Irish music, and he hasnt,
but he is a beautiful gentleman, Yahudi Menuhin. He was one of the worlds greatest fiddlers for

years upon years. But in a little sentence here, he gives the answer to why music was so important,
not only for the people of Sliabh Luachra but for everybody.

Now to take these in little sections we have to use our imagination a little bit, because Im taking this
from the end of a paragraph here, and it says, The refinement to which I believe we all aspire is
genuine only so long as it contains a levelling of spontaneity and a sense of common humanity.
Music, which exhibits this, remains in touch with the emotions and desires of more, rather than fewer,
people. On the other hand, art which turns its back on the often bleak life which very many people
endure, simply cannot last.

So now, when you think of the people of Sliabh Luachra, well go back to that in a minute, but Ill
maybe just, as I have the book in my hand, Ill read another note that may be pertinent, and its on
page 12 here, it says, The violin is the poor mans instrument, but it is strangely enough also the
instrument which offers to the individual the greatest and most immediate means of expression. It
enables a person, a people, to speak for and of themselves. I recall visiting a museum for folk
instruments in Moscow, and I could not believe my eyes when I saw hundreds upon hundreds of
varieties of violins. Every conceivable size, shape, design, form some of them did not even look like
violins yet all were played on four strings, with a bow, and were made by the village carpenter, or
village handyman, and could be carried about the place. These hardworking, hardwearing fiddles
were rustic folk instruments of infinite resource. Such an instrument was sturdy; if it got wet or
damaged it could easily be repaired or replaced. So now, when were talking about the music of
Sliabh Luachra, I thought that would be a good point, because were basically talking about violins,
you know, nearly all the time, in whats related to what Im presenting here tonight.

Now, like Jesus himself, Im going to use an analogy, or a parable, because He was the greatest
teacher of all time. So I am going to use the analogy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and
people could look up and say, Whats that got to do with Sliabh Luachra music? Well it has,
because when you think that this little princess all of a sudden found herself inside with these seven
dwarfs. And if we believe the story as it was told, it seems that she washed and cooked and looked
after these they werent seven dirty old men they were seven filthy dwarfs! And they went out
every morning down a mine, so they came in fairly rough and ready, and you know, I wonder was the
story true? Well, Walt Disneys take on it was a way better altogether. Walt showed that she didnt
do the work at all. This little princess got all these dwarfs, Grumpy and the whole lot of them, to do
the work. But they worked with such a will, because they were delighted that this beautiful feminine
being was among them. And the work became light. You couldnt imagine Grumpy saying to Snow
White, Snow White, you must dig the spuds today at 12 oclock, and you must weed the turnips! It
would hardly happen. But Walt Disney got it, when you saw that all of a sudden these people had
something beautiful to come home to, and they had something to get up for, they had something to
live for, and she made them laugh and she got them to work. Now, the music of Sliabh Luachra did
exactly the same thing. These were a people that were oppressed. These people had one real worry
when they got up in the morning, and that was where the next morsel of food came from. Because if
you didnt look after the potatoes, or you didnt look after the pit of potatoes, and turnip, well when
the spring came youd have nothing to eat. So these people were constantly working. And even as
romantic as saving hay seems, looking back on it now, the weather then was basically the same as it
is today; if you didnt make hay while the sun shone, you were working very hard.

So, these people were now, they were oppressed by religion as well. With all due respects, these
people were given to believe that we were living in the vale of tears, or a valley of tears. Its not true.
We are living in a place of incredible gifts and goodness. Now, with all due respect to the Church,
they meant well, but sometimes the message got a bit garbled and they tried to curtail people who
were coming together, to have a dance or something, as well. So unfortunately, that is the history.

And the thing is, the people worked so hard, and while they worked they had this music to sustain
them, and this looking forward to the night of the dance or the wedding. So thats how, in a sense, it
became like Snow White in their imagination.

Now, my mother used to tell a story and Ill just elaborate on that point a little bit. Up from where
my mother lived in Knocknaboul, there were a family of Tarrants, and these people used to try to
rush through saving the hay with one express purpose, of getting it shot with, to go in to practice
music. And also, Paddy Cannon, Paddy was a grand fiddle player from County Clare, and his
neighbours used to talk about Paddy because Paddy would bring his fiddle out to the meadow, and
of course for neighbours he wasnt a very practical man. If Paddy was learning a new tune, that hed
heard someplace, hed bring out his fiddle, you know, to play in the meadow. Peter Horan loved the
music so much that his farm fell into disrepair a little bit, because the fiddler is often away making
people happy when he should be at home minding his own business.

So this was our Pdraig. Pdraig was the same. My father used to say he was the laziest man he ever
saw. He was so last that hed put the pint down, he wouldnt even move it from one place to
another. Hed just pick it up. So, the poor man. Well talk about him later on, but he had a big
problem with drink. But you can think of him, you can think of all these people, as loving the
princess, loving the music. Now of course it wasnt Sliabh Luachra music above in Sligo, but they all
loved music so much that it became the focal point of their lives.

Now, they lived unaware of themselves. It was only afterwards, looking back, that its been sort of
glorified. But these people lived in the real world and they were totally unaware of themselves. And
they were as joyful as children, and they enjoyed their life. But theres a story that Ill tell you that
actually proves that. Theres a woman, Id say shes only 4 or 5 fields away, she was, her name was
Molly Myers. She came from behind, the top of Farranfore, Killeagh, a place called Killeagh between
Farranfore and Cullane, and she was a student of Tom Billy Murphys. And she didnt have much
time for Pdraig. She thought Tom Billy was a way better musician, and of course I think Molly was
judging more from the moral standard than from maybe the musical standard. But she told a story
where she was at a wedding one day, and Pdraig and Denis were the two fiddle players playing at
the wedding. And of course Pdraig was a very astute observant man, and my father used to say
that, watching people at dances, he could tell who were going to get married eventually, and he was
very good at appraising people, so he probably knew the people very well even before he went. And
he was the kind of man that if refreshments didnt keep coming on a fairly regular basis, he wouldnt
be so happy. And in fact my mother used to say that hed slow down and he wouldnt be playing so
well unless he got encouragement. So, Molly used to tell that at the wedding anyway, she hated him
for it, He was a terrible man, she said that that day he decided to leave the wedding. And not only
that, she said, he got up and did his best to take Denis off with him as well! But Denis was such a
lovely courteous man that Denis didnt go. But Molly had a very dim view of Pdraig because of that
day. So, as far as the people at the wedding were concerned, these were two run of the mill
musicians that were a penny a dozen. It was only afterwards, looking back as we say, that theyve
become famous.

Now, Ill tell you another episode that exemplifies how important this music was. Pdraig had an
uncle called Cal Callaghan. Now Cal was a very famous man in his own right, because Cal must have
been born sometime after the Famine. You see people have the concept that the Famine was a long,
long time ago, but the Famine wasnt so far back at all. I knew a man for thirty years in other
words, I was thirty years old when he died but his father had to be born near the time of the
Famine. Hard to believe it, but it is true. He was my grandfather. He lived to be almost a hundred
years; he was only five months short of a hundred when he died. But, he was born in 1878, and he
died in 1977. So his father had to be born near the time of the Famine. Yes, thats how near it is. So,

Cal Callaghan was a famous fiddle player and he went to America and it seems Donal, I think
Patricia, had more knowledge on this than anyone Donal was actually from the townland of
Doonasleen, which is between Kiskeam and Cullen, and some other village as well, I think, but Call
became a buffalo hunter at the time of the slaughter of the buffalos in America, and he met a lot of
Scottish and Irish fiddlers. And if you listen to a lot of the Kerry polkas and even theres one,
Farewell to Whisky Farewell to Whisky was composed by a fiddle player called Neil Gow, he was
the most famous Scottish fiddler, and theres a picture of him here you can look at all these things
after oh dear, he got lost somewhere along the line, Im afraid. Anyway, I have a picture of Neil
Gow, he could be going back to, I suppose, 17-something, thats how far back. He composed some of
the tunes that were played for Bonnie Prince Charlie and the march south into England. But he
composed Farewell to Whisky as a slow air, as a lament, because one night, having drank too much
whisky at some get-together, he sat on his fiddle on the chair and broke it. So that was why he
composed it. But in Kerry they changed it to a polka. Now, several of the polkas, if you examined
them, youll find that they actually began life as Scottish marches and they were changed, and
theres a good chance that Cal Callaghan would be the prime agent in that, because Cal came back
from America and lived out the remainder of his life in Doonasleen. And when Pdraig was a young
man, he was reared in Doonasleen, for quite a while before he moved back to Glauntane, where his
father and mother finally built a house. So the story was that these men were hard-working farmers,
and they used to go up to a shebeen that was not far from their place of residence, and their fiddles
were hanging behind the counter, and they used to take down their fiddles, I wont say every night
but maybe a lot of nights per week. And the story was, sometimes if their hands were very cold after
working, digging ditches or whatever for the day, when theyd make mash for feeding cows they
used to hand-make mash out of bran or whatever stuff with boiling water theyd warm their
hands in the boiling water so that they could actually go up and play their fiddles. So, Pdraig grew
up with that. They used to take him up there to the shebeen, and of course they trained him to have
a little drop of drink as well, when he was young. So unfortunately the problem escalated.

Now the story though like Micho Russell I digressed a little bit one of the uncles happened to
be in Knocknagree at a fair one day, and of course the fair was a great venue that time because
travelling musicians came, and the people went, and they might hear a new tune. So Cals brother
was there and he heard the travelling man playing some nice tune, and he was trying to get it in his
head, and of course he drank too much and he stayed too late. And coming home, he fell in a ditch.
And when the time went too far that he should be home, he hadnt turned up. So they finally went
looking for him and they found him in a short cut. It was easy enough to find him, because he would
have come home this way, so they found him inside in a ditch, and they started to pull him out, and
he said, Hold it a minute! he said, I nearly have it. Hold on a minute! Wait! I nearly have it! So
the poor man, the music was so important to him that he wanted to be let rest where he was.

Now, well let the princess rest for a while, as well. Well come back to her later. But its an
interesting analogy, so think about it. Now, as Jesus used to say, Then the Kingdom of the Heavens
became like a man that found a rare treasure. So Im going to use another parable again. So people
say, Whats that got to do with Sliabh Luachra music? Well it has. There was a lovely writer called
Hans Christian Andersen and he wrote a beautiful story called either The Nightingale or The Emperor
and the Nightingale. Twas so long ago I cant remember, but it was to do with a nightingale. And
theres a very interesting line in this Im talking about The Nightingale that Pdraig had a story
about a nightingale. He used to tell this story. Now he didnt tell it to me, but he told it to some of
the older people around Glauntane. Pdraig used to claim that if a true musician went out in the
middle of the night, to an isolated place, on his own, and he played Mrs McClouds Reel, the
nightingale would come and sing with him. What a story! Now, theres a good chance that very few
have tried it, because of fearing the outcome. Maybe they feared the outcome as much as they
feared the dark. So, were not saying that it is true. But, I never heard the nightingale. Did anyone

here ever hear a nightingale? Did anyone ever hear a nightingale? Yes, so there we are. Now, the
cuckoo sings all night long outside where I live. People dont know, but the cuckoo sings every whole
night. I come home from gigs at every hour and the cuckoo sings. And the skylark sings, in the bog,
in the summer-time. But man, if the nightingale is a better singer than the skylark, she must be a
mighty singer. But anyway, this is a very interesting and funny story by Hans Christian Andersen.

This Emperor lived in a country, long ago, and a man said to him one day, Your most excellent pre-
eminence, he said to him, it says here in a book that there is a bird that sings in one of your woods
in your property, the best songster in the world. And the Emperor said, What? he says, and Ive
never heard her? Well, has she been presented at court?
No.
Well, shell have to be got.

So they set out looking for her, and they were looking for the bird. And people said to them, What
are you doing? Youre going looking for a nightingale in the middle of the day? Thats a total waste
of time. Youll have to search for the nightingale at night-time.

So they started to go out at night-time and they went through fields and they slipped on cow pats,
and one of them fell over a cow, and the cow gave a moo, and he shouted, Oh, he said, thanks be
to God we finally found it! he said. What a strong voice she has! And another man turned. He
said, Will you be quiet! he said. Thats only a cow, you eejit! he said. Youd nearly think it
happened in Ireland, wouldnt you?

So, it happened that a little girl worked in the kitchen, and she lived away in a remote place. And she
had heard the nightingale. And, as luck would have it, the people found out through this girl that
there was such a bird, and they went with her. And the whole army, with nets, they finally captured
this nightingale and brought it back. And it was hard to make it sing for the Emperor, because she
didnt like to be put in a cage. And the Emperor thought she should sing every time he told her. And
people said in the finish, The nightingale only sings at night-time. So, he finally heard the
nightingale sing, and man, it was such a beautiful thing to hear the nightingale sing. And the
nightingale was very, how would I say, contrary. The Emperor thought she should sing any time he
wanted. So people said, Look, the nightingale has to sleep and she has to rest and she has to get
exercise. So he appointed twelve footmen to take her for walks in the park, with a rope tied around
her leg, during the day-time.

And this went on for a while anyway, but there was a very clever man looking at all this happening.
And this man happened to be a jeweller and a watch-maker. So, he thought of a great idea. He
worked day and night for weeks and he finally made a toy nightingale. And he put jewels in it, jewels
for its eyes, and it was brightly coloured. And through influence, he finally got introduced to the
Emperor. And the people were amazed to see this beautiful bird. Oh, its so beautiful! Its far more
beautiful than the real bird. And, not only that, but he put a key into the side, and he wound it up,
and it sang a song. Ah! The people, they couldnt contain themselves. And during the whole
hubbub, all the people rushed in to hear this bird, the toy bird now Im talking about, and the real
nightingale escaped back into his wood where it belonged. So that was fine. The Emperor said,
Well, shes a very ungrateful bird to run away like that, after all I did for it. But now he had a bird
that he could wind up any time he liked, and it would play. And after a while everybody knew the
tune that the bird was playing. They played it over and over again. And the only trouble was that
after a time the people got kind of fed up with the same tune, and the clockwork began to wear
down a bit, so that they could only play it once a year. But the real nightingale was back in the wood
where she belonged.

Now, what has that got to do with Irish music of Sliabh Luachra? Well it has, because Sliabh Luachra
wasnt heard of until this record was released, around 1971 or 72 maybe, Im not certain of the date.
It doesnt say it on it. But I remember I was coming through Limerick city from up the country
somewhere, and I saw this in a music shop. And of course the cover grabbed my attention. And
theres a fiddle player and his daughter is now drawing this picture, and children can draw so
beautifully, she can capture the essence of this lovely psychedelic sort of a picture. But, at that time
I left out a point from my story at that time I hadnt much appreciation of Sliabh Luachra music,
because when I had gone to London, I went down of course to Fulham Broadway, to a pub called The
Kings Head, and there Sean McGuire was playing two or three nights a week. And man, Sean
McGuire I suppose was the greatest exponent of technique, fiddle technique, of any fiddle player
anywhere in the world, in Irish music anywhere. So I was thinking to myself, Well now, what do the
boys in Sliabh Luachra know about music compared to what this man can do? I was right, from what
I knew at the time. And of course this idea persisted for years upon years, until this record came on
the scene. And when I started listening to this record for a while I thought, Whats happening?
What kind of music is this? And after a while I began to see what my father had been telling me
years and years before, that there was a magic that happened in this music that didnt happen in any
other music I ever heard. Now, thats a very strange fact. As far as technique goes, I mean, Im not
going to fault the technique of these musicians, but technique never entered into their concept of
music. It was something that was by-the-by. The music itself was what counted to these people.
And thats what happened with this record. So it was then, for the first time, that I understood what
my father had been saying a long time before that.

Now, records. So now, the story of the nightingale is beginning to unfold a little bit now. The people,
with the Emperor, they had the wind-up music. They could hear it, they could turn it on whenever
they liked. So this is what happened. The people of Sliabh Luachra are no longer there, but they can
hear this music. And of course, theres drawbacks to that as well. Now Ill tell you a funny story
about it. This happened. One night Pdraig I call him Pdraig OKeeffe, the old people used to call
him Patrick or Pdraig he called to a house, Paddy Connells (theres none of the family here) and
the man of the house was Paddy Connell. And Paddy had got a record that had come across the
ocean from America, of maybe Michael Coleman or James Morrison or Paddy Killoran playing Irish
music, and for the first time this had happened. And Pdraig said, Can I see that, Pat? Paddy
Connell used to love to tell this story. Pdraig caught the record and Paddy Connell said, he put his
thumb like that and broke it. You know, Paddy used to tell different versions of the story, you know.
Why did he do it? Paddy thought sometimes that he did it out of envy, and he thought other
reasons, but what take had Pdraig on it? What do you think?

Anyway, well come back to it later. Well talk about records now for a minute, because this is where
the subject is going. So, this record wasnt the only record that came across the ocean. Around the
mid-forties, and on up along, until the fifties, some people that had relatives in America received in
the post maybe these records. Now, I should have explained better about Pdraigs records though.
These records were made from pressed wax. They were 78s. They had to be spinning at a very high
speed and they were played on the old wind-up gramophones. And you didnt even have to look
crooked at them, you could look straight at them and theyd crack. It happened to me a few times,
you know, so whether it was a mistake or whatever, it could be anything. But anyway, its the
influence that these records had that were interested in here, because now, for the first time,
people in all the regional parts of Ireland, like Sliabh Luachra, were hearing music of a different
calibre altogether, a different kind of music, and of course, this music was of a tremendous standard,
because it was played by the greatest fiddlers that went to America, and it was done with the best
possible resource and studio work that was available at the time.

And of course, very soon it became that only Sligo fiddle players came - Michael Coleman, James
Morrison, Hugh Gillespie, Paddy Killoran, the Dowds would you believe, there was a lot of those. I
didnt hear them, because . . . but other musicians around, later on I found that thats how they
learned a lot of their music. But, the downside of it was, and this is what people didnt realise, was
that in the making of these records they had to be speeded up. So the music that was coming across
now was at a far faster tempo than ever had been the case previously. And it was so fast, and in fact
the fiddle players had to play so fast because if they didnt the sound would get distorted in the
recording process. So, this caused a problem.

Comhaltas Ceoltir got on the bandwagon with this music to the point where this was the only
music that was sort of acceptable at any kind of competitions. I remember a time, and I was foolish
enough to be pushed on the stage by a crowd of people I was playing music with, they were all far
older than me, to play in a competition. But I found out that if you played Sliabh Luachra music at
one of these venues, away back in the early sixties, you werent in the running. So thats one of the
reasons why I would never have anything to do with Comhaltas Ceoltir ireann.

Now, theres another thing Pdraig also told all his students, Never play for competitions, and I
would agree a hundred per cent with him, because its totally against the spirit of what this music is
for. Paddy Cronin used to say, The fiddle is best inside in the house, and he was right. You know,
with these records, what happened was it became a rush for technique. Technique and speed
became the primary thing with this music, from these records. And consequently it has gone on
today and of course the whole human thing is speeding up, whatever, it may be the electrical
influence of radiation or whatever it is, but the world isnt getting faster, its getting frantic, and the
music is getting frantic as well. Now, Pdraig would have been furious, because he loved music
played slowly. In fact, dancers didnt like him because Pdraig always wanted to play music for the
beauty of listening to him, but the people wanted it a bit faster.

Now, records, were still on topic of records. Now, well go back to this one again. This record, for
the people that have listened to it and analysed it, and Ive lived with this record a long time, this
record is basically, you have Denis plays some solo tracks, and Julia plays I think maybe one or two
solo tracks, and then they play together. Theres no backer, or theres very, very little studio work
done. So that youre hearing the very basic when you hear this record. And this is the truth of the
matter. Now I have another record here, and it gives a totally false impression of Sliabh Luachra
music Kerry Fiddles. Now these are the only, sort of, two records that are of Sliabh Luachra music.
But when you hear records made today, youre hearing one player maybe, sometimes two, two
fiddles, and sometimes theres a double take on that, and you hear all the artificial use of echo
chambers, and theres a backer, sometimes theres two backers and there may be a piano playing or
a guitar. And theres sound engineering, theres two or three tracks taken and theyre
superimposed, and a lot of the time its speeded up as well. Now some people dont believe this, but
it is true. Ive met a lot of musicians and theyve said, when their music came back it had been
speeded up. Unfortunately, like the man that made the clockwork nightingale, he wasnt impressed
with the music, the people who make these records arent interested in music. Theyre interested in
selling copy, as they say. So, thats why, in most modern records, youll hardly hear any slow airs. If
you go recording, Oh no, we might allow you to get away with one slow air, but I mean it would stop
the sale of the record. So, as far as theyre concerned, speed and technique the faster it sounds,
the more exciting it seems. And thats whats happened. So thats the downside. Now, theres also
a great side, in that if this record had never been made, we would have nothing to talk about. This is
the only proof we have that this man lived.

So, well go back to Pdraig for a minute again. So, when he broke the record, was it out of envy?
Paddy Connell thought sometimes that maybe he thought that Michael Coleman was a far better

fiddle player than he was. So, maybe. What about the real nightingale, I wonder? Was the real
nightingale envious of the toy nightingale, I wonder? Now, there was a great fiddle player in
America, Lad OBeirne and he never recorded, and there were many like him. And they wouldnt
record, for that very reason. They called it canned music, and they kept away from it.

Now, Pdraig could see as well that a time would come when in a place, whether it be a dance, they
could put on a record and they would need no musician. So the musician, by recording, was
becoming the source of his own downfall, in that hed be stopping himself earning a living. So would
you believe even in America, where my friend Joel comes from, theres musicians unions, that when
dancers perform they have to have live musicians playing. So records have their place.

Ill just maybe do one more thing and maybe well leave it at that. Well go back to this man for a
minute. Look at this lovely old gentleman. Have you seen this picture? Yes? Well, its a pity that
this beautiful old gentleman came to such a pass as this. The first thing people from outside Ireland
would say on seeing this picture, This man is a beach comber. Hes standing there. You can see the
haunted look on his face, because this man lived a haunted life. And hes standing here with a bow
with a cork, to keep tension on the bow hair. Yes. So, its a very sad reflection of the society that he
lived in, because this man brought wealth of a spiritual kind to loads and loads of people that heard
him play.

And he brought wealth of every kind, because only for him, some of the most beautiful tunes Ive
ever heard wouldnt be in existence. Theyd be lost completely. And, the poor man, to look at him,
hes well worn. He often slept in hay barns. Thats why I said wed refer to what it says here, They
were unendowed, unhoused, unrecognised, the academy of Irish musical tradition for two hundred
years. This man was tripped by corner boys, he was laughed at and he never retaliated. But see the
haunted face and the haunted look. And not only that, but the house where he lived, at Glauntane
crossroads, is actually falling down. Theres nothing being done about it. Now, some people take
exception to that. They say, and even Donal had a poem written, and it wouldnt be very
complimentary for people in lots of the villages, because this man often came, or got someone to
drive him to the door, and when theyd see him coming they often slammed the door in his face. So
he often walked the roads hungry and wet, and went home to a house with nothing in it.

But he looked forward to a better time, as I do as well. So, I believe better times will come for Irish
music. So this music has become academic, this Sliabh Luachra music. You know that it was a
vibrant, living tradition at one time, when it was danced and sung, and the people lived with it. Now,
its played in pubs and things, but pubs are a very bad venue for it, because the people, first of all
arent interested in it, they arent listening, and theyre talking so loud it cant be heard. Pdraigs
take on it would be, they arent talking at all, but braying.

So whats going to happen? The future. Well, I believe that with venues like this thats why I love
the idea of this venue, Patricia, and we must thank Patricia for opening this home for these kind of
venues that maybe that people will come to realise and appreciate the real art of living music, by
live performers, right among them, in their presence, rather than the record, thats prepared with all
the art of the studio and the record makers. Looking forward to this time, Im going to quote one
little piece of Irish, with your permission, and then I will say good-bye. Thinking of the time to come,
and it says,

Aithchim ar Mhuire s ar osa

Go dtagaidh s ars chughainn sln,
Go mberdh rinnce fada gabhil timcheall,
Ceol fidil is teinte cnmh,

Go dtgfar an baile seo r sinnsear,

Cill Cis bhregh, ars go hrd,
s go brath n go dtiocfaidh an dle
N ficfar rs ar lr.