Music Makers Transcript
- Getting together to play music is a tradition amongst Irish musicians. My home in County Clare, for as long as I remember, was a gathering place for friends and neighbors to sing and dance and play a tune. Any old excuse at all to get together. Both my parents and their parents were musicians. And my uncle Paddy, he was a fiddle player. And I remember, in fact, the first time that I ever saw a fiddle was during a going away party, or an American wake, as they called it at that time, for he and his wife Nellie as they bid farewell to their friends and neighbors that were setting out and emigrating just as I did for America, but that was a number of years ago. From then on, I wanted to play the fiddle, and I remember my father bringing home recordings of Mikey Coleman, Bonnie Kate and Jenny's Chickens. And, you know, I never ever thought that a fiddle could even sound so good as that.
- Well, I remember Seamus picked up the fiddle first time ever in Shannon Harbor in County Offaly, that's where my father came from and the reason he was up there was we were having a hooley, what they call a hooley or a farewell party for my uncle Paddy, Paddy Connolly and Auntie Nellie who were emigrating to New York. And this party was held in one of the old Guinness stores. And the stage consisted of a couple of Guinness bars and a couple of planks, you know, left on top. And the fiddlers were up there and accordion players and they were fiddling away and everybody danced and at the interval Seamus made his way up onto the stage, if you'd like to call it a stage, and he picked up the fiddle and he went and he fingered it and everybody really thought he was playing. Not so much at that time, but when the musicians came back after the tea break Seamus remained on and he pretended to play and everybody really thought, my God, he's good. But you know, that was really the first time. But from then on, he went on to take an interest in the fiddle, and he began to learn. And in actual fact, my mother, lord have mercy on her, she sent him over to Granny, over to her mother, and I think more or less because he was making so much noise and scraping, she said, go on over to Granny for an hour." And he went over to Granny, and my granny was quite musical and she jigged or hummed a tune. He picked it up that way then nice and slowly. He went on to win the under 14 All-Ireland Championship in 1958. And that was really the start of his career.
- And I remember Seamus, I should well remember him. I was there with his mom and Dr. Courtney when Seamus was born. I remember him coming around, going to school, passing down our place, and he'd be the first little boy to run for a message if I wanted it. Next, his swimming, going to his swimming classes down to the pier head. And then of course his music started off and he playing down in Ryan's Hall and his mom went everywhere with him, and she traveled all over Ireland with him, really, when his musical career started, and always came back with a successful story and her trophies and how delighted she'd be to show them off. But to come back to Seamus, he was a lovely guy. Very nice, very gentle, as he should be.
- When Seamus was 14 years old, he was a young kid, and gee, I was amazed at the way he could play "The Morning Dew." It was a great reel, and I'll never forget the first time I heard it, I played it over and over again. And then I heard his music through Ciaran Mac Mathuna's program, it was an Irish radio program that used to be on every week in Ireland and I got little bits of tapes and I'd hear Seamus every once in a while and I heard how he progressed and the change in his style and his music. But at 14 years old, he was almost as good as he is today.
- I'd say Seamus joined our band in either the late '50s or in the '60s. And I can assure you, we were delighted with him when we got him. I knew since he was a child, I knew what he was capable of, even though he was playing other music in the meantime but I can remember making a tape for him and he having to sit down, we were doing a tour of England and we were rather fussy about who we would have. And I suppose some of our old personnel maybe just couldn't travel anymore, but we made a tape for him and oh, he studied that diligently for a week or so, you know, and learned all our tunes and then played with us every other night. And then, you know, we had so many funny days, and nights more than days.
- Up Kilfenora. Oh, God bless you, Kitty. Of course, I learned an awful lot of music when I was with the Kilfenora Ceili Band. And even going back a bit further than that I remember in the late '50s getting a tape from America of tunes I had never heard before played by the great accordion player Paddy O'Brien from County Tipperary just across the river Shannon from Killaloe, County Clare and Jack Cohen the flute player from Galway. Of course, Paddy made a a great name for himself in the '50s by winning the amateur hour Ted Max Show three times. Of course, he'd never admit to that today. Great man. And then with the tapes going back and forth from Ireland to America and back across the water and the great work that Ciaran MacMathuna did for his American Journeywork series. Ciaran came out to America and recorded some of the great American bar musicians and Ireland heard for the first time these great players as well as many new tunes and styles. Many of Ireland's better musicians settled in New York City and continued there the tradition of playing in each other's homes. The city today is one of the great strongholds of Irish music, and the music is of a very high standard.
- Celtic started up here in this country around 1955, '56, or in the early '50s anyway sometime. And I happened to go to a meeting one Sunday, I didn't bring any flute or anything with me, and I bumped into Paddy O'Brien. And Paddy hadn't, he didn't bring any accordion with him either and there were only a few people there so, Paddy got the loan of an accordion from somebody and I got the loan of a flute from somebody and we played for about an hour together, and that was the beginning. Now, I promised Paddy that I would visit him sometime and that we would play a tune or something. And he said, that would be great. So I think I didn't meet him again for close to another year. And I bumped into him at a fest in Kingsbridge Road, United Irish County's Fest, he's coming out one gate and I happen to be going in. We both had gotten married since we had met before. And I said, "Hello, Paddy." And I was between minds, should I say hello or should I not say hello? Because I had only met him the one time. And to me, he was the greatest thing I ever heard playing. So I said hello anyway, I took up courage and I said hello. And he says, "Hello, Jack, I'm still waiting for that visit." So I went up and I thought Paddy might play a tune. And he says to me, did you bring the flute? No, I says, I haven't been playing the flute. You know, he really told me off good for stopping. And he says, if everybody did that, he says, this is a brand of music that would die. And he says then, there's a style of music, he says that you have, he says, that you could pass on to somebody. So he says, don't ever stop again. So I didn't.
- Let's try that . Again. Again, once more. Once more. Great. Since coming to America in 1976 I have come to know many of my musical heroes, men and women from whom I learned my music. But there's also a whole new generation of young people who understand the value of their heritage and who through music lessons and many hours of practice have reached a very high level of competence.
- Let's try the whole thing together now, one, two. Short strokes. Great, good job. The one we were playing the other night.
- Yeah.
- It's in G. That's it, that's it, that's it, yeah.
- In the back of your mind, when you play a tune that you heard off a record of Michael Coleman, there's a certain sense of that I'm carrying on, I'm playing this guy's music and he died 40 years ago. Maybe someone will learn it from me and do the same.
- (Ciaran Mac Mathuna After the Civil War in America, when the country opened up again for entertainment, the Irish were very much part of that new phase of entertainment, and the Italians, and they played all over the place, right down even in south, down to the Mississippi. But then for some reason, later on, they went back into their own communities and their own ghettos and played just for each other and for one another in their own houses and at little community halls. Then in the '60s the whole thing broke out again and you have a wave of Irish music, which has swept across America, and it's getting better and better and more and more people are playing it. And there are young Americans who have never been to Ireland, who are playing great Irish music. ♪ I wanna wash that soap right outta my hair ♪
- In the early 1950s, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí, or, if you like, the Traditional Irish Music Association was formed. Thanks to a small group of people who came together for the purpose of saving the music, which at that time was at very low ebb. But today the music is more popular than it's ever been and it's played throughout the world. One of the major events organized by Comhaltas is the annual music festival, or Fleadh Cheoil, where thousands of people come together to play the music and listen to the music and participate in competition.
- Today we're gathered here at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil, and there's anything from 100 to 150,000 people. I think what's important today is that the young people are taking an interest. They're very fortunate to be able to learn music and classes from other musicians, particularly people like Seamus Connolly, who's continuing the work abroad but he also did it here in Ireland. So you have now thousands of young musicians who are very capable in so far as musicianship is concerned. And I think also have a great reverence for older musicians. Sometimes you find a generation gap, but not in a case like this. They go along, they listen to the older musicians, and they try to pick up the techniques and the styles of that music making as well.
- [Seamus] Andy, you're the king of the clans.
- [Brendan] You see everyone following you up, when they call your name, all their eyes are on you. But then once you start playing all that nervousness, it reaches a peak right then, and then starts to fade away. You get very comfortable when you start to play.
- And in first place for 1990, from Boston, Brendon-
- Recording, teaching, performing with other musicians are all elements in keeping the tradition alive. But I think it's when I play with other musicians that I feel most connected. How are you, I'm Seamus Connolly. How are you?
- [Seamus] There are certain themes that seem to come up in traditional music, as they do in all folk arts. Themes like birth, love, sense of place, immigration, religion. But then of course, music is the universal language of mankind, it speaks straight to our hearts. It stirs us, it puts noble feelings in us, and sometimes melts us to tears. Whether back in Ireland or here in America, our heritage is a living tradition. It must be kept alive. Those of us who are lucky enough to possess God's gift should be forever grateful. Remembering always, we are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams. Where's your big smile? Come on, that's it, big smile. So, where did you learn that tune now?
- [Son] I learned it after my father.
- [Seamus] You did?
