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City celebrates golden jubilee of music
 Liverpool
boasts a proud Irish legacy and music has paid an integral part in that
heritage. JOE MULLARKEY looks back on 50 years of making music on Merseyside.
THIS year the Liverpool branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
celebrates its golden jubilee.
The branch was formed in 1957 and remains a vibrant thriving centre for
traditional music on Merseyside.
In his absorbing memoirs A Life Of Notes Derry piper Tomas O’Canainn
recalls playing music with Kit Hodge for the Bolger School of Dancing
at a concert in Birkenhead.
As they returned to Liverpool by train under the Mersey they discussed
setting-up a local branch of Comhaltas.
Thanks to Ronan MacGabhann — the branch press officer — who
has recently researched the branch’s origins, we are able to record
some of the history of Liverpool Comhaltas.
Kit appointed Tomas O’Canainn as chairman and herself as secretary.
Other musicians were quickly co-opted onto the committee, membership forms
duly filled-out and the branch was up and running. A cultural tradition
had been born in Liverpool.
In the early days monthly meetings were held in Hugemont Avenue in Waterloo
the home of Albert and Ronnie Cruickshank and Peggy Atkins.
Albert was a drummer and Peggy a pianist. Both were well-known musicians
at the céilís held in church halls and social centres around
Liverpool.
The meetings were generally informal and invariably turned into late-night
sessions of music and song.
Meetings were also held in the homes of other members and Tomas O’Cenainn
recalls one in his home in Huyton with the late Éamon Coyne soothing
Tomas’s new baby daughter Nuala on one shoulder while playing a
slow air on fiddle at the same time.
Founding member Séan McNamara also remembers the formation of the
organisation in Liverpool.
He said: “In the early days the whole thing was very small. We held
meetings and played in houses of members.
Band members comprised mainly of musicians and singers who were in the
know or who had heard about us on the grapevine.”
The first competitive involvement for the branch began with the Fleadh
Cheoil in Longford in 1958 when Mick Quinn, Kit Hodge, Séan Murphy
and Tomas O’Canainn entered the competition and won.
On the train from Dublin to Longford the ticket collector borrowed the
mandolin from Séan Murphy and played a fitting reel — The
Longford Collector.
It was only later they discovered he was Noel Strange — a well-known
musician who subsequently became a good friend of the branch.
Those returning from the Longford Fleadh in 1958 were filled with enthusiasm
and decided to enter a céilí band in the Fleadh in Thurles
the following year.
The band continued on the competition circuit throughout the 1960s going
on to win two All-Ireland titles — Mullingar in 1963 and Clones
in 1964.
They also won the Oireachtas Competition in 1962 and 1963 competing successfully
against the legendary Kilfenora and Tulla céilí bands and
making lifelong friendships with the great Clare musicians.
Séan MacNamara reflects: “To win an All-Ireland céilí
band competition is a great achievement but to do so twice with a band
based in Britain was extra special.”
The band produced two recordings on the Polydor label following their
successes and over the years made numerous TV and radio appearances.
Séan MacNamara believes one of the principal reasons for their
great success was because they were playing so often together for céilí
they became well-practised with a great swing and rhythm.
By the 1960s there was a growing and prosperous Irish community in Liverpool.
They gathered in clubs and parish halls throughout the city. A number
of far-sighted people recognised the need to acquire a building appropriate
to the needs of this buoyant immigrant community that would act as a centre
for the different Merseyside Irish organisations.
Two visionaries in particular — Tommy Walsh and Father Michael O’Connor
— were driving forces behind this movement.
Tommy organised weekly fundraising activities including numerous céilí
using the same core of musicians and after some years of hard graft and
ingenuity the fundraising committee was rewarded and took possession of
the Liverpool Irish Centre on Mount Pleasant next to the Catholic Cathedral.
The building was elegant and ornate and became a home-from-home for generations
of Liverpool Irish and their many friends from 1964 to its sad demise
in the mid-1990s.
The centre was fully utilised by numerous Irish interest groups such as
John Mitchels GAA Club, Finn Harps Soccer Club, the Irish Centre Youth
Club, Bolger Irish Dancers, the Golf Society, Over-60s Club, Irish Community
Care and the Liverpool Pipe Band.
All contributed to a sense of community solidarity.
Sunday night was showband night, Monday night was session and sing-around
and on Friday and Saturday nights top Irish acts such as the Furey Brothers,
Mary Black and Stockton’s Wing played to huge appreciative crowds.
This was a place where young people met, love stories began and marriages
were made.
When the centre first opened the Liverpool branch of Comhaltas was able
to grow their activities.
Kit Hodge and her daughter Deirdre started weekly music tuition classes
for children.
This proved to be a hugely popular and successful move and gave hundreds
of Liverpool youngsters the opportunity to learn music from great and
dedicated musicians including Kathleen and Frank Hudson, Peggy Peakin,
Kit Hodge, Éamon Coyne and Sean McNamara.
These music lessons were vitally important in keeping the traditional
music flame alive on Merseyside.
Many of the traditional groups and session players in the northwest today
cut their teeth at the Liverpool Comhaltas Sunday lessons in the Irish
Centre at Mount Pleasant.
Indeed the branch was so successful that Liverpool Comhaltas bands won
four All-Ireland titles at junior level.
Sadly the Irish centre in Mount Pleasant closed its doors for the last
time in 1995.
The branch transferred to premises in the Eldonian Village near to the
city centre before a new home was established at St. Michael’s Parish
Centre.
While the current centre may lack the grandeur and elegance of Mount Pleasant
the sense of community remains as strong as ever.
St. Michael’s acts as a hub for the Irish community and hosts the
Bolger Cunningham Irish Dancers, Finn Harps GFC, John Mitchels GAA Club,
the Liverpool Pipe Band and the Comhaltas monthly music session.
Liverpool Comhaltas continue to hold music tuition on Monday nights at
a time when the first generation Irish population has dropped.
However the number of young musicians currently attending classes is at
an all time high with more than 40 junior members registered.
These are taught by a dedicated team of experienced musicians including
Séan McNamara, Paul Gee, Laura Beagan (fiddles) Nathan Carter,
Siobhán Morrison (accordions), Claire Nugent, Ursula Burke (whistle),
Sue Howlin (flute), Chris Roche (bodhran) and Ian Shaw (banjo) all under
the watchful eye of Mary Mc Andrew.
At the time of writing the Comhaltas branch currently has two All-Ireland
champions — Nathan Carter (singing under-16) and well-known Liverpool
singer/songwriter Bruce Scott.
The branch recently hosted a very successful concert at Crosby Civic Hall.
One section of the show entitled Generations was of particular interest.
Bruce Scott sang a song celebrating the links between Liverpool and Dublin
supported by his granddaughters Melissa and Jessica playing a beautiful
slow air on whistle and flute.
Séan MacNamara and his young granddaughter Sarah played a stunning
fiddle rendition Napoleon Crossing the Alps.
Michael Coyne also duetted with his daughter Claire to sing the haunting
famine song Skibbereen.
On stage that night were three generations of Liverpool Irish musicians
who have grown-up with a love and a talent for the music — a tradition
that is nurtured by their family’s participation and support by
Comhaltas on Merseyside for the past half-century.
This year to celebrate 50 years of Comhaltas in Liverpool and its unique
place at the heart of the Liverpool Irish community the branch are hosting
a weekend of music song and dance for members new and old on Saturday,
November 3.
Members from Britain and Ireland are expected to attend the Solna Hotel
in Liverpool’s Sefton Park in large numbers.
Ronan Mac Gabhann said: “The emphasis will be on the informal with
plenty of good fun and good music combined with a great Liverpool Irish
welcome guaranteed to all who join with us in this beautiful rambling
hotel echoing to the sound of the Liverpool Céilí Band.”
n If you fancy a great weekend of music, meeting old friends and maybe
making a few new ones contact Mary McAndrew on 0151 922 3503, Séan
McNamara 0151 722 7508 or Ronan MacGabhann at e-mail: kathrynmac
gabhann@btinternet.com. |
