Céilí Craic

Sunday Céilí

Céilí enthusiasts from all over Roscommon and further afield will be eagerly anticipating Sunday’s Céilí with the Kilfenora Céilí Band. The Céilí commences at 3pm.

Even if you haven’t been to a Céilí before this is a ‘must get to’ event where the craic will be non stop. It’s the most enjoyable form of workout there is, especially after a weekend of big breakfasts and plenty of pints!

To have one major Céilí band in a county is recommendation enough of the strength of traditional music in the area, but Clare has proven itself a hotbed with both the Tulla and the Kilfenora Céilí bands making their own legends.

This will be the best Céilí in the Country this year. Don’t miss it!

From village parties in the early 1900s to bigger dances in the '30s, broadcasts in the '40s, commercial recordings in the '50s, foreign tours in the '60s right down to their current international profile in the new millennium, each new generation slotting seamlessly into the groove of their forebears.

The group can follow its roots back into the late 1800s. At the time, Music was an important feature of life in rural Ireland. Kilfenora boasted a fine brass band, which gradually evolved into a dance band. Its story is the story of Irish music itself.

In 1909, the first formal engagement of the group was a fund-raiser for the renovation of the local church. They continued with similar work over the following couple of decades, gradually developing an identity and a profile. As early as the '30s, the band was regularly venturing far beyond the county boundaries for dances. They did several broadcasts on Irish radio during the '30s and '40s.

Kitty Linnane, the matriarch who steered the group through four decades was sneaked out of a convent as a teenager for her first appearance with them in 1939. She became leader in 1954 and was the figurehead till her death in 1992. Her first two decades of her stewardship were the golden age of céilí bands. During that era, her Kilfenora band dominated the competition circuit. They were All-Ireland champions three times in a row ('54-'56) and again in '61. They performed in almost every county in the Republic and toured Britain on several occasions. A woman of caution, Kitty resisted all efforts to lure the band to the States. Under her stewardship, they issued three albums, now collectors' items.

Kitty Linnane's mantle passed in the '90s to John Lynch and under his leadership, the Kilfenora consolidated their position as one of the world's greatest and longest running Irish céilí bands. They won another three All-Irelands in a row, recorded two top class albums and visited Britain, Northern Ireland, Europe and the U.S. Internationally, they've cornered the prestige Irish dance gigs.

The Kilfenora features fiddles, flutes, banjo, and squeezeboxes, with what "Folk Roots" magazine called "one of the tightest rhythm sections in the world". They brewed up an open-air storm in Dublin on the eve of the Millennium. Their huge gig on Stephen's Green in the Irish Capital on St. Patrick's Day has become an annual event. The visual impact of ten musicians exuberantly driving the dancers on is what sets them apart and makes them unique.

Origins

Kilfenora boasted a fine fife and drum band founded in 1870, which later gave way to an accomplished brass and reed band in 1910. It appears the fife & drum was regarded as a boy's pursuit. The move to the brass & reed was in order to hold onto the musicians into adulthood.

Trumpet player Jim Mulqueeney was a founder member of the céilí band and became a seminal influence on the fiddlers of the area. The Brass & Reed band proved to be a solid foundation for the céilí band that started in 1909.

In 1908, the parish of Kilfenora was in debt. The new priest, Canon Cassidy from Moughana set to clearing the debt and refurbishing the church. At the fundraising dances he held in the schoolhouse, members of the old Brass & Reed band (see above) like John Joe Lynch, (fiddler and drummer) and Jim Mulqueeney (fiddler) were involved, though were deferential in the presence of the senior players such as fiddle master Michael Slattery.

Fr. Fabian McCormack in this following extract describes the atmospheres at those early céilís.

"…My father and mother were teenagers then and both loved those dances. My father complained to me that Canon Cassidy was always present and very strict on any wild "wheeling" or jumping in the set; everything had to be sedate…

The '20s core group consisted of Jim Mulqueeney, Jim McCormack, John Joe Lynch, Austin Tierney and Lynch's sister, Mrs. Brigid McGrath, on concertina. Tom Ward - (fiddle) Lil McCormack, (piano), Paddy "Pepper" Linnane, Tommy Mulqueeney, Pat Madigan (banjo, clarinet, bass), Jimmy Leyden (drums), brother and sister Paddy and Nora "Marshall" McMahon (flute and fiddle respectively) and Maureen Kelly (piano).

By the thirties, there were already a couple of radios in Kilfenora village. The first broadcast by the band was in 1932 from Athlone. The radios were taken out in the open, as the crowd of listeners was as big as when Eamon de Valera came to the village for the Clare election in 1917. There was another broadcast in June 1935 relayed from the town hall in Ennis. They were half-hour programmes and entailed lengthy rehearsal beforehand. On June 30th 1940, the Kilfenora broadcast from the Convent of Mercy, Ennis on Radio Éireann, a prize for winning the Céilí Band Competition at the Ennis Carnival.

They had a three-year standing contract to play for the céilithe in the Queen's Hotel, Ennis, during the winters of '35, '36 and '37. The regular lineup during the '30s was: John Joe Lynch, Jim Mulqueeney, Tom Ward, Nora McMahon (violins), Paddy McMahon, Jim McCormack (flutes), Jim Ward (piccolo), Paddy Byrt (concertina), Pat Madigan (Sax & Clarinet), Jimmy Leyden (drums).

During the '40's some of the Kilfenora stalwarts played under a different banner. The Corcomroe band was organised in 1942 by, Barry Ward from Northern Ireland, who came as an engineer to the phosphate mines in Doolin, which were opened in that year. According to Jim Ward, this Barry Ward (no relation) played the piano accordion and was "music mad but apparently didn't know much about traditional music". It was his good fortune though, to gather around him some of the finest traditional musicians in North Clare.

The Byrt family featured very much in this band and the photo shows four of them. Paddy Byrt, a founder member of the Kilfenora in 1909 was a gifted musician with an unmatched knowledge of music and traditional lore, which he passed on to his sons, one of whom, John in particular was regarded as one of the foremost fiddle players of his time and according to some of his peers, he possessed more tunes than any other of his contemporaries.

As a young adult, P.J. Lynch (son of John Joe, both pictured above) liked to go off for a few days playing music with his friends and he smelled an opportunity for enjoyment when he heard of the All-Ireland Fleadh to be held in Athlone in '53. He was excited by the concept of a céilí band competition and took part there with a hastily assembled ad-hoc band of musicians he met at the festival.

During the autumn after his return, he assembled a group of musicians from within a five-mile radius of the village. They rehearsed and started playing for céilís every Sunday. They enlisted the assistance of Molly Conole, daughter of Michael Slattery, the 1909 founder, as coach. They duly travelled to the '54 Fleadh in Cavan and a vigorous performance brought them victory.

The Kilfenora obviously had devised a winning formula. Much to the delight of their supporters, they triumphed at the next two fleádhanna, completing the celebrated three-in-a row on home ground in Ennis in '56, The lineup that year was: Gerry Lynch, Kitty Linnane, Frank O'Mahony, PJ Lynch, Gerald O Loughlin, Shamus McCormack, Gus Tierney, Noreen Lynch, Jim Ward and Ita Mulqueeney. (All pictured on the Band picture from 1956 to the left)

The 1958 album The Kilfenora Céilí Band was the only commercial recording by most of that line-up. After that, there were substantial changes in personnel and it was a very different band that won at the Fleadh in Swinford in 1961. .

P.J. Lynch stepped aside and the steady hand of Kitty Linnane steered them through the next three and a half decades. The band was extremely busy on the céilí circuit. They played every county in the Republic. They went on a series of trips to Britain during Lent when demand was quiet at home. It is surprising that caution prevailed in preventing them from accepting the numerous invitations to the U.S.

From the mid-'70s onwards, their work as a full-blown céilí band was greatly diminished. During the early '70s, the band did produce two more albums, Clare Céilí (E.M.I.) and The Kilfenora Céilí Band (Transatlantic). By the '80s, their activities were limited to special occasions of nostalgia. The fact was that set dancing was at that time becoming pub-based and céilí bands weren't getting many bookings till the resurgence of the '90s.

The band members who appeared on the Clare Céilí album were: Kitty Linnane, Paddy (Organ) Mullins, Tommy Peoples, Gus Tierney, Jim Ward, Michael Sexton, Jimmy Leyden and singer P.J. Murrihy.

During the '70s and '80s, the aforementioned fiddler Gus Tierney was passing the music on to the next generation during his classes all over North Clare. Many of his pupils went on to turn professional and several formed the basis of the present Kilfenora band.

With Kitty in failing health, John Lynch, son of P.J. stepped into the breech in '91. He assembled a young lineup to carry the torch. The group (with the help of mentors Phil McMahon and Gerry Lynch) achieved three titles in a row from '93 to '95, forty years after the original achievement.

The band in the past decade has been commercially very active. This is the third album by the current personnel (sixth in all by the Kilfenora). They gig the length and breadth of Ireland and travel regularly to Britain, Europe and the United States. Their performances are no longer confined to playing for céilí dancers and they regularly entertain at the larger U.S. festivals for audiences of thousands.

Lynch has been very careful to preserve authenticity by keeping innovation to a discreet minimum and staying true to traditional instrumentation and repertoire. To date, the band has continued in the style of its predecessors.

Here, their first live album brings the atmosphere and excitement of the céilí to a new generation of dancers and listeners both near and far.