Éigse Mrs Crotty
Concertina Summer School, Kilrush, Co Clare 2005
Report by Shay Fogarty of Dublin
Kilrush with its square thronged with people and a buzz about the place. It could be a fair day in the 1950s or '60s, except for the absence of horses and the presence of cars on the fine majestic main street that sweeps down to the sea (Pic 1).
On the corner of the square Crotty's (Pic 2) would be full and the sound of a concertina or two would be heard and maybe the stamping of heavy boots as a set was danced. Well the heavy boots are gone but the dancing remains and is a popular feature of the éigse. There were céilís in the square (Pic 3) every day finishing on Sun with the great Kilfenora band.
A full list of the activities can be seen on the web at :
http://www.eigsemrscrotty.com/eigse2005programme.htm
Crotty's remains but Kevin and Rebecca who own it have bought the premises next door and turned it into a lovely pub which blends well with the original and is full of nooks and corners where concertinas can be discussed, examined and played quietly.
It was in just such a corner that I found Neil Wayne, Mark Davies and Jurgen Suttner in earnest conversation on Fri evening shortly after arrival in Kilrush. Neil showed me a Wheatstone 46-key anglo in old pitch B flat F which he had. Old pitch B flat is about a quarter tone higher than modern pitch and has a lovely tone. I'm sure a lot of these old pitch instruments have been converted to C/G to meet the demand of the market which is a pity. A photo of the said Wheatstone is attached (Pic 4). It also appears in a group photo taken on Sat lunchtime showing some friends, Eoin Collins,concertina, Maurice Mullen, flute, your scribe, Neil Wayne, Tom McElligot, fiddle and Mark Davies( Pic 5).
To complete the coterie of concertina chaps in conversation, a Chambers entered. Yes Stephen himself, that walking encylopedia of concertina knowledge joined us. There followed much learned discussion on Mr Wheatstone and his concertina and scientific activities. I could only sit and listen at the depth of knowledge displayed on instruments and their inventor.. Later it was onto more familiar territory and plenty of tunes in Crotty's backroom. There was also a session in full flight in the new pub with Michael Rooney leading the way. Due to the skilful design of the extension, one session did not interfere with the other, two for the price of one you could say. Old friends from past years, Roger and Claire joined us on fiddle and Aeola. We stayed late (or is it still early past 2.00 in these parts? ) until all tunes and players were exhausted..
Saturday was bright and breezy and a stroll around Kilrush found people moving furniture up the busy street. Mr Chambers was on the move. Stephen has bought a premises, formerly the Island bar, in which to house his collection of old and wonderful instruments. Some of these are on show in the photos of Stephen's lecture on the Friday (Pic 6). Of particular interest were the very early Wheatstone with the pallets exposed which sounded quite well despite its age. Stephen also has a beautiful amboyna Aeola with gold buttons which is really a work of art. He had a sample of the prototype Triskel model concertina which he has been developing over the last few years which plays really well and would fill a large gap in the market for beginners. Now that he has acquired a large premises lets hope he can get production started. There is no shortage of demand for new instruments or indeed old ones in Ireland. To give you an idea of the popularity of the concertina in Ireland just look at the picture of those attending the classes in Kilrush (Pic 7).
On then to Michael Tubridy's talk on Mrs Crotty in the back room of Crotty's (Pic 8). Michael was joined by his old friend from the Castle Céilí band days, Mick O'Connor who plays flute. Concertina players present were Mark Davies, Michael Murphy, Jackie McCarthy and myself. Jackie's sister Marion also joined in on whistle. (Pic 9)
Michael said he would let Mrs Crotty's tunes do the talking so to speak and began by choosing the Pigtown Fling which was recorded as a reel by the Chieftains in their early days and is normally played as a reel here. This tune is also popular in the US and played as a fling or barndance but not as a reel. Another unusual tune Michael referred to was a jig called The Shady Groves of Piedmount or Peamount. Jackie McCarthy said her late father Tom had learnt this tune from Stack Ryan, a great player from the Kilmihil area. She then played his version of it. On returning to Dublin I enquired about this tune and was informed by Lisa Shields that Peter Laban had a web page about the jig Banish Misfortune from Willie Clancy who had called it The Shady Groves of Peamount. Here is an extract:
(From web page about Willie Clancy's playing of Banish Misfortune, by Peter Laban)"The tune Banish Misfortune is a common three-part double jig. O'Neill gives a version with parts reversed and some overall problems in the notation but Breathnach has a fine version from the piping of John Potts [CRE 1, no 38]. The late Patrick Kelly, fiddle player from near Cree, Co Clare had an elaborate version of the tune, one Willie also played, which he called The Shady Groves of Peamount (Peamount was Ireland's TB hospital during the first part of the 20th century)".
I am indebted to Lisa for that and of course much thanks to Pete Laban for the original material. (Where were you this year Pete? We missed you on Sat when we had a prolonged B-flat session)
A wonderful lady called May Doyle who is 80+ was picked out by Michael as she has started to learn the concertina and had acquired a 30-key Lachenal from Custy's in Ennis. She played a tune for us with a friend (Pic 10) and made a good job of it. She remembered when house dances used to be held and the likes of Mrs Crotty would play for the dancers. Sometimes however the clergy would hear of the dance and she recalled the parish priest arriving at one house to put a stop to the craic (for the poor misguided man thought it was an occasion of sin). All those in the house, but not of the house, hid under the beds until he was well gone. It's hard to believe that a social occasion such as a house dance could be classed as an occasion of sin. Indeed we could be led to believe that sex did not exist in Ireland before the 1970s!
These were the times Mrs Crotty lived in, when social rules were much stronger and life more ordered in rural Ireland. The fact that she was an outstanding musician gained her respect and recognition both inside and outside her community.
More tunes followed and Tommy Brown , a local man joined us on the whistle (Pic 11). Indeed the music was so good he grabbed Jackie McCarthy and before you could say Linota they were off doing a figure of a set. Luckily I captured this on camera (Pic 12).
Later on I met Mick Coyne, originally from Liverpool, whose father Eamon was one of the mainstays of the Liverpool Ceili band. I used to know Mick when he lived in Dublin for a number of years in the 80s. Mick has lived in Co Clare for many years and I only see him occasionally so it was good to meet him here. There is a good picture of him here taken in full piping mode (Pic 13). He played for a good long time in the new bar early on Sat evening.
Later on Mark Davies, Tom Driscoll and myself adjourned to the back bar and as it was quiet we took out the B flats (Pic 14). Mark plays a John Crabb from 1924, Tom plays a 30-key C. Jeffries and I have a 30-key C. Jeffries with bone buttons. They are all nice instruments- you can even tell from the photos (Pics 15 & 16). What was expected to be a short enough session in flat pitch turned out to be quite a long one since no one joined us all evening. Quite amazing. Perhaps the big concert that evening had diverted people or the session in the other bar? B-flat concertinas are not heard that much these days but if I had a choice I would play it as often as possible. We made up for this lack of playing with a session of about 5 hrs and we were still at it long after the bar closed.
Sunday at breakfast, Neil Wayne regaled us with stories of his days collecting concertinas. Travelling the length and breadth of the UK to search out old historically valuable instruments. This often led to amusing incidents which I'm sure Neil will share with us when he writes his memoirs. He also showed us the extensive record of his collection of instruments which are now in the Horniman Museum and this made fascinating reading.
The B-flat session resumed in Crotty's and we were joined by piper Noel Pocock, Sally Corr on flute and Frank Walsh fiddle but reverted to normal tuning as more joined in. Jurgen Suttner was spotted having a quiet chat in the bar (Pic 17). Tom Carey a stalwart of the west Clare style and a true gentleman called in later on his way to the Vandeleur gardens where he was playing with Michael Tubridy. I got a photo of Tom with Tom O'Driscoll, Mark Davies and myself outside Crottys (Pic 18). We joined them at the gardens and I managed a tune or two before having to leave and go back to Dublin(Pics 19 & 20) .
Neil Wayne very kindly gave me some photos of Scattery island (pic21) which he had taken during a trip there on the Saturday. We show a selection of them here. The Island is in the Shannon estuary and a short boat trip from Kilrush. You can visualise it when playing the Scattery Island slide, a lovely tune. Try the version in C as played by John Kelly senior, it has a lovely bounce to it.
As last year Lisa Shields has accommodated me by putting a large selection of photos of the weekend on her website. These include the ones listed above and can be found at http://homepage.eircom.net/~shields/.
I hope you find these interesting and perhaps we'll meet at next year's éigse.
Shay FogartyDublin 2006
Web page by Lisa Shields, created 28 March 2006