Maura Mulligan, right, gave a reading of her memoir “Call of the Lark” with accompaniment by Marie Reilly on fiddle. The two stayed on late for a discussion with members of the audience.
By Maura Mulligan
Fiddles, harps, accordions, flutes, bodhráns and whistles all over the place. Small children and teens perched on window–sills, walls and steps all over town busking and practicing for their competitions. Pub sessions and gigs in hotel lobbies giving musicians of all ages plenty of opportunities to hone their skills for the 2016 all-Ireland championship, at the fleadh down in Ennis last month. The atmosphere was magical.
The concerts, a major highlight of the week, featured many of Ireland’s top traditional music stars including Mary Bergin, Frankie Gavin, Noel Hill, and many others. There was New York’s Cherish The Ladies and Billy McComiskey – this year's NEA winner as well as Mick Moloney who got the first ever Flanagan Banjo Award. And that’s just a few. Check out the lineup on the Fleadh website here: http://www.fleadhcheoil.ie
I arrived a week early in hopes of getting tickets for several concerts including Martin Hayes whose concert I was sad to miss at the Feakle festival a week earlier and again at the American Irish Historical Society in New York the week before. A Glór box office staff member in Ennis told me that this concert and several others were sold-out. She also told me that it was useless to add my name to a waiting list for any of the sold-out concerts because the list was already too long. Later on, I learned that there were a few cancelation tickets available at the door for some of them. I did however get a ticket along with 1,999 others for the fabulous concert held at the Shannon Aerodome. Featured artists were the almighty Kilfenora band with singer, Seán Keane and some wild and fabulous dancers.
The Cois na hAmhna center on the Galway road was the place to go for a nightly céilí where you could dance your feet off to the fabulous music of bands like the Tulla, the Kilfenora, Johnny Reidy, Mountain Road, Four Courts, Matt Cunningham, Star of Munster and others. There was also a céilí every night at the West County Hotel. Cois na hAmhna was also the main venue for talks on history and culture and yours truly was honored to present a reading from my book, “Call of the Lark” with accompaniment by New York based Longford native, Marie Reilly on fiddle. I was chuffed that members of the audience wanted to stay and chat about my story long after the reading was over.
The library, courthouse and bookshop were also venues for lectures on culture while the schools and hotels hosted the music and dance competitions, which started at 10:00 am and went on all day.
The céilí dance competition at The West County Hotel on Saturday morning drew my attention since a four-hand reel team from my own dance class in New York qualified to compete. My team was unable to attend the Fleadh this year but Kim Tullagh, Alice Ryan, Silpa Sadhujan and Maryanne McShane will be proud to know that their names were on the official list in the line–up of fabulous competing teams. Also missing were the winners of the mid-Atlantic Four Hand competition, Maura Nolan’s “New York Ladies.” Indeed, overseas teams weren’t the only ones missing. Local teams from Cork and Kerry were also absent but there was still plenty of great dancing to watch and enjoy in both four and eight hand céilí dance competitions. The winning four-hand ladies’ team danced “The Humors of Bandon” and the winning eight-hand, “The Cross Reel.” It was a delight to watch dances like “The Gates of Derry” and “Trip to the Cottage” as well as old favorites like “The High Cauled Cap.”
The set dancing competition was in swing at the same time as the céilí dancing so I only caught part of it. No doubt there will be an account of this competition in the pages of “Set Dancing Magazine.”
The sean nós (old style) dancing competition was what I was most excited about. I was taking part in this and was practicing my steps for a few weeks in advance. I had won a medal last year in Sligo but had no illusions of placing this year once I saw the list of heavy hitters. I knew who would win and I was correct. But it wasn’t the medal I was after, it was the excitement. I practiced in order to remain agile and to build up a level of stamina. After all, a dancer in her seventies is not the same dancer she was at thirty I told myself. But sean nós, because of its relaxed style with feet close to the ground, lends itself to all ages provided one is in reasonably good health. When I took my first class at the Joe Mooney Summer School cerca 2008 I fell in love with this easy-going style of danc, which is the opposite of the step dancing I learned as a child in Mayo and continued to hone at the McNiff School of Irish dance in New York from 1958-1962 when I entered the convent and left the dance world behind. It would be years again before I managed to take a second sean nós class when I found Máiread Casey and Mick Mullkerns teaching a class at the South Sligo Summer school or was the winter set dancing weekend in Malahide? Whichever, this pair inspired me to look for teachers during my summer visits and I was lucky to take a few classes with Edwina Guckian who encouraged her students to create our own steps. More recently I was happy to find sean nós dancer, Siobhán Butler teaching classes now and again in New York and also Kieran Jordan from Boston who came to the Big Apple once or twice a year. These two Americans, both fabulous dancers, had succeeded in awakening people to the sean nós style on this side of the Atlantic. Shannon Dunne came on the scene when she taught a class at the CCE convention in Parsippany and of course, I took her class as well.
The sean nós competition at the Fleadh in Ennis drew a huge crowd. There were several dancers in each age level starting with the under twelve category. Sixteen of us including a dancer from Canada, Lisa O’ Driscall competed in the “over eighteen” group. It was an exciting challenge to take part in this. The winner as everyone expected, was John Joyce of Galway. Second place went to Caoimhe Ní Mhaolagáin (Mulligan) of Dublin and 3rd to Arlene McCarroll of Tyrone.
Results of all competitions are posted on the Fleadh website. The festival will be back in Ennis next year. Book your accommodation and your tickets early.
Maura Mulligan, author of the memoir “Call of the Lark,” teaches a céilí dance class in New York City.
