Maurice O'Keeffe, fiddle player

Recently, Christine and I were on our way back to Dingle from Cork when we decided to veer off the main road and drove through the lovely soft Sliabh Luachra country. Sliabh Luachra means rushy mountain. We went through Newmarket where Scully's Pub is located and where they have a great session every Monday night. We then headed for Killarney, but we came to a block in the road and a detour directing us through Kishkeam. We had not planned to go there and I thought it was odd that we were being directed to the very place where my paternal grandfather was born, where the old family farm still stands and where the Murphy family grave is. It was my birthday and thinking that this was some kind of sign, we decided to make a pause.

I enquired at the post office about an elderly musician, well known, and was pointed up the road. Stopping at the crest of the hill by a house marked by a metal fiddle on the wall, we knocked at the door and went inside. There was Maurice O’Keefe who is 92 years old and still playing fiddle and in the Sliabh Luachra style that I love. Christine was given a chair, I was to sit next to the master and we commenced playing while the ban an tí brought tea and biscuits. Christine joined in with her whistle. Maurice was delighted and said it was as though we had been playing together for years. The tunes were very rhythmical and melodious, mostly polkas and hornpipes. He maintained it was a new band. When I told how we came to be there because of the detour, Maurice pointed up and said, the man above had brought us. He also said he would keep playing until his last day, and anyone playing music could not but be happy.

I hope that I have been able to convey, to some extent at least, how special an occasion this was for us. Maurice has a music festival named after him and here is a link to a report in The Corkman newspaper about it.

Winter Sessions in Dingle

After a busy summer, the traditional Irish music scene has wound down to just a few places offering regular sessions. An Droichead Beag (The Small Bridge) offers music all year round and so does John Benny Moriarty and O'Flaherty. Marina Inn continues too with its early Sunday session starting at 6pm and a Thursday evening sessions starting at 9:30 pm.

Very lively session today at Marina Inn lead by Con Durham on uilleann pipes and Tim O'Shea on guitar, and there were 16 musicians in all. In addition to the two mentioned, there were 5 fiddles, 2 flutes, 2 banjos, 2 penny whistles, 2 concertinas including myself and 1 mandolin.

Great Session!

Great session at Marina Inn on Sunday. It was lead by Con Durham on pipes and Tommy O'Sullivan on guitar. We had 14 musicians which is very unusual at this time of year(4 fiddles, 3 flutes, uillean pipes, guitar, banjo, mandolin, bodhran, accordion and harmonica.) The music was first rate and the momentum was amazing.

Maura Begley Musical Evening

On the other side of the mountain, over Conor Pass, there is a very special musical event every Monday night starting at 8pm. The hostess is Maura Begley who opens her 200 year old thatched cottage for a musical happening. Maura creates an atmosphere that is warm and friendly and encouraging for even the shyest person to participate and everyone is asked to play something, sing a song, tell a story or recite a poem.


Maura is a member of one of the leading traditional Irish music families in Ireland. A couple of her brothers are famous box players but Maura herself is up there with the best of them. She plays mostly piano accordion and harp but I have seen her play numerous other instruments. She also sings, mostly in Irish, with a lovely voice.



We have a young woman visiting us from Germany and we took her to Maura's last night so that she could get a glimpse of the kind of social event that once was common all over Ireland but now is very rare. Being the height of the tourist season, the place was packed. There were several families with children and the talent was amazing.


A couple of old timers from nearby Tralee kept us laughing all evening with stories about the old days and the exploits of some extraordinary local characters.

If you are visiting Dingle, it is well worth the half hour trip over the mountain for some great Irish hospitality and entertainment.
As an extra bonus, the scenery on the way is spectacular.

Dingle Traditional Irish Music Maura Begley

An Chonair Bar Session

An Chonair Bar in Dingle has long been a venue for traditional Irish music. A new session has been added every Monday at 9 pm. The location is Spa Road on the way out of town towards Conor Pass.
















The leading musician is piper Con Durham and he is usually joined by various musician friends. I attended the session last Monday and I must say it was fabulous. The atmosphere was warm and cosy with an open fire and the music was great.










We had Con on the pipes, two fiddles, guitar, banjo, penny whistle, harmonica and mandolin.

The customers were very engaged and there were several bursts of spontaneous dancing to the lively music.



Myself with Con

Lively Session at Marina Inn

You would expect things to be really quite now after a busy Christmas in Dingle, and we did start out our Sunday session with just three musicians and three customers. However by the end, we had twelve musicians and the premises was pretty full. The session was led, as usual, by uillean piper Con Durham and Eon Knightley came with his accordion. There were concertinas, harmonicas, fiddles, flutes, mandolin and voice. And the music was great.

End of Season

With just 10 days to go to winter months November, December and January, the number of visitors to Dingle has dropped off significantly since the busy summer season.

Most pubs are half empty even on weekends. The sessions generally are fewer and smaller at this time of year.








However Marina Inn has been bucking the trend with lots of musicians. Last week there were 15 people playing, including a group from France that calls themselves The Chums.




It was more like a céilí band than a session. The music was fantastic. This week there were 10-12 musicians. The prospect looks great for the dark winter months.

Chicago Musicians at Flaherty's

A typical session has about half a dozen musicians. I was astonished therefore when I dropped into Flaherty’s Pub a few nights ago to find the place crawling with musicians.

In addition to locals Maidhc Dainín Ó Sé on box, Aoife Granville on fiddle, Deirdre Granville on harp, there were over thirty young musicians from Chicago. They travelled to Ireland to play at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Tullamore and were making a few stops on the way. It is my understanding that they were invited to make a stop in Dingle by Deirdre Granville.

The buzz in the place was amazing and the music was great. They were supposed to leave for Killarney at 10 pm but nobody wanted to leave so they persuaded the bus driver to stay an extra hour.

Willie Clancy Summer School

Popular hangout for musicians

After several years of promising myself, I finally went with Christine to the annual Willie Clancy Summer School for traditional Irish music. It was held in the coastal town of Milltown Malbay in County Clare. It runs for a week, this year from 5 July to 13 July and the events go from morning to night.




Portable classrooms for lessons

The day began with a three-hour music classes for the various instruments, taught by the top musicians in the country. There were classes for whistle and flute, concertina, banjo, harmonica, button accordion, fiddle and harp.

musicians on the go

In the afternoon there were lectures and demonstrations and in the evening, a recital with a focus on a different instrument each evening. There are also singing and dancing lessons with an emphasis on the lovely Sean Nós or old style.

A group of English musicians

There were informal sessions going all day and night in pubs, in restaurants, on the street corner, anywhere and everywhere. It was amazing to stroll through the town and hear music coming from all sides.

Sessions at Milltown Malbay Restaurant

There were five or six different concertina classes and I joined one taught by Hugh Healy. Hugh is an excellent concertina player and a very good teacher too. The class consisted mostly of school age children with a few adults. I learned a few good tunes and some useful techniques.

I had to make do with a Kodac throw-away camera because the battery on my digital camera was flat.

Hugh Healy has a great CD on which he plays concertina together with his brother Colm on box. You can listen to it here.

Bank Holiday Session

Finbarr, Lucinda, Con and Matt

June bank holiday weekend is always a lively time in Dingle and with the great weather we have been having there are lots of people in town. On such occasions it is not unusual to have visiting musicians drop in to the sessions.

At our regular weekly session with Con Durham and Tommy O’Sullivan at Marina Inn last night we were joined by the well-known fiddle player Matt Cranitch. He has a wonderful Sliabh Luachra style and he gave our session a great lift. Matt is the author of The Irish Fiddle Book, one of the most comprehensive instructional texts available to students of the fiddle. He is a member of the group Sliabh Notes together with Tommy O’Sullivan and Donal Murphy.

The Sliabh Luachra style of playing Irish music comes from a loosely defined area in North West Cork, North East of Kerry and the Southern tip of Limerick. It is a very lively style and the music includes lots of polkas and slides. I grew up with this kind of music in our house since my grandfather was a fiddle player from that area.

Kieran Jordan

We were also joined by Boston Irish dancer Kieran Jordan. Kieran is very much a woman by the way and not a man as you would expect from the name. She has a lovely Sean Nós style of dancing. She danced a jig to the great enjoyment of the audience and then was asked to dance again. To everyone’s delight she hopped up on a table and let fly with a reel. Read more about Kieran and see clips of her dancing on her website.


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Dingle Traditional Irish Music Sliabh Luachra

French Musicians at O'Flaherty's Pub

We took visitors from Stuttgart out on Wednesday night to the session at Flaherty’s Pub. You never know who is going to show for a session and that is just what makes it so special.

This was a fabulous session with hosts Fergus and Mazz O’Flaherty and visitors from France brought in by our resident French bodhran player, Eric Marini.

There was Alexis Guterrez on violin, Evelyne on bouzouki and the Petat family playing box and concertina. They had no trouble joining in many Irish tunes and there were some lovely contributions of traditional French music. Check out their Dissidanses page on MySpace.

Quiet Town-Lively Music

It is the quietest time of the year in Dingle with very few tourists and many of the locals away in search of the sun. But there was nothing quiet about the session at the Marina Inn in Dingle this evening. It was lead by Con Durham on Uilleann pipes with Tony Small on guitar. In addition there were three fiddles, a penny whistle, a flute and myself, mostly on harmonica but occasionally on concertina or bones.

Con is a regular at Marina and I’ve written about him before. Tony Small, originally from Galway has been playing regularly in Dingle for the last couple of years but this was the first time that I bumped into him. He is a good musician and I enjoyed playing with him. His accompaniment to the uillean pipes was excellent and in addition he sang several interesting ballads with a strong clear voice.





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John Benny's Pub Session

John Benny Moriarty's Pub, generally referred to as John Benny’s, is located on Strand Street in Dingle. They serve food all day and have self catering accommodation. It is one of the primary locations for traditional Irish music in town.

John Benny, a very good West Kerry style box player, frequently leads the session himself. And, if you are in Dingle on a Wednesday night, don’t miss his wife Eilis Kennedy. She plays whistle and timber flute and she has a beautiful voice with a texture that is unique. Eilis has her own website with biographical information, performance schedules and you can listen to selections from her CD’s.

Seán Briggs & Cillian O'Briain

There is a session every night during the season and on weekends and some evenings during the off-season. John Benny's also offers an opportunity to experience Irish set dancing every Monday night. All sessions begin at 9:30 pm.

Pub Session Dingle

Paudie's Bar Session #2

Aina, Eoin and myself
Last night I dropped into Paudie’s to find Eoin Knightly on box, Aina Davis on fiddle and Michael Smurthwaite on guitar in a session and the place was hopping. These guys have a vibrancy that is contagious. Often, they were unable to retain their seats and were up and dancing while playing.

Michael Smurthwaite
The audience was largely American and loved every minute of it. I played along with my harmonicas and with the bones. There was a great interest in the bones and several people wanted to examine them and try them out.


Box and Fiddle


We concluded the night by taking the music around the room with everybody joining in the singing.


Bones Dingle Pub Session

Paudie’s Bar Session

Dingle Bay Hotel

A very friendly and social session can be found at Paudie’s bar in Dingle. There is traditional music most nights during the season and occasionally there is an Elvis evening. Paudie’s Bar is located within the Dingle Bay Hotel on Strand Street.

Rose, Gordon & Tomás

I particularly like Tuesdays and Fridays with Tomás Flahive, Gordon and Rose Saunders. This little group creates a warm, friendly and inclusive session. Tomás is a local box player with a very lyrical style. Gordon plays guitar and banjo and is the singer of the group. This session does have more singing than most others. Rose plays an assortment of instruments.

On Mondays and Thursdays there is a very lively session with Aina Davis, Eoin Knightly and Rob Lowther. The musicians themselves are half dancing as they play.

Eoin Duignan, uilleann piper, usually plays on Sundays. Eoin also runs the concerts at St. James’ Church.

Sessions usually begin at 9:30 pm.

Dingle Music Sessions Pub Sessions

An Droichead Beag Session

An Droichead Beag (The Little Bridge) is the only pub in Dingle offering music seven nights a week all year around. Many the town’s talented traditional Irish musicians can be heard here including John Brown, Bréanainn and Séamus Ó Beaglaoich, Eoin Duignan, Aoife Granville, Michael Herlihy, Jon Saunders and Tommy Sullivan.


You can be assured of a good session any night at Droichead Beag. It is one of the larger establishments in town with several rooms

The Tuesday night session is more relaxed than the busy weekend with a warm and friendly atmosphere. It is lead by Michael Herlihy on box with John Brown on guitar. Michael is a lively West Kerry style box player who owns and operates the music shop, Siopa Ceol an Daingin, on Main Street just up the street from An Droichead Beag. John is well-know for his singing and guitar playing in and around Dingle.


There is a CD available called The Mighty Session that features some of Ireland's leading musicians that have played at An Droichead Beag over time.

Also Aoife Granville who plays violin and flute there on Mondays and Saturdays has a new CD out called Sráid Eoin Shuffle. CD is available from the local music shops or by mail order from Mulligan in Galway.

As with most sessions in Dingle, the music gets started at about 9:30 pm.

Dingle, Traditional Irish Music, Music Sessions

Marina Inn Session

The Marina Inn is unique for its early session on Sunday, starting at about 6 pm. Family visitors will appreciate the early session since children and even teenagers under 18 are not allowed in pubs after 9 pm (10 pm in the summer); all of the other sessions in town begin at 9:30 pm or later.

Marina Inn is located on Strand Street in Dingle/An Daingean opposite the Tourist Office. The establishment is frequented by locals and tourists and it is also a favorite hang-out for the fishermen that come into the Dingle Harbor to process and unload their catch. It is not unusual to hear Spanish or Portuguese spoken at the bar. Food is served up to 9 pm in the summer and earlier off season. The specialty is, of course, locally caught fish.

The Sunday session is regarded as one of the best in town and is one of my favorites. It is lead by champion piper Con Durham with Tommy O'Sullivan, guitar player and singer. Tommy who is referred to as "One of the great contemporary folk voices of Ireland" has a wonderful new album called Song Ablaze. Other regulars are Lucinda Cook on uilleann pipes, Phillip Crickard and Mark Crickard both on fiddle.

Last Sunday we had a great session with 2 uilleann pipers, 3 fiddles, 1 mandolin, 1 guitar, and me on harmonica. Claire Horgan joined us to sing a few songs in Irish and it was beautifully done in the old style.

Marina Inn is also home to the Quay Wren, a penny whistle and Drum band, one of the main groups that make up the Wren Day festivities on St. Stephen Day, December 26^th. This group is also guided by Con Durham, who plays the whistle on that day.

In the summertime there is a session most nights but only the Sunday one is early.

Dingle/An Daingean, Music Sessions, Irish Music

O'Flaherty's Pub Session

O’Flaherty’s Pub is located on Bridge Street in Dingle/An Daingean and generally has one of the best traditional Irish music sessions in town. A lively session can be enjoyed there any evening in the summer and on week-ends in the off-season. Visiting musicians are welcome.

The pub is owned and operated by Fergus O’Flaherty who leads the session playing both box (button accordion) and banjo. I have on occasion heard him play tin whistle,
low whistle, mandola, guitar and fiddle.

Here is a recent session with myself on the left with Fergus centre and Tommy Lynch on the box. Fergus' sister Mazz, who runs the local music shop, drops in sometimes to sing a few songs. Other regulars at O’Flaherty’s are Maidhc Dainín Ó Sé on box, Mark Crickard on fiddle, Gus Cero on guitar, Eric Marini on bodhrán and Cillian O’ Briain on uilleann pipes with his wife Bríd on Irish timber flute. Cillian is also a well known uilleann pipe maker.

Fergus also heads up the Green and Gold Wren, playing the fife himself. The band plays and marches through the town on Wren Day, December 26th. This group also makes up a substantial part of the Dingle/An Daingean fife and drum band that plays for various events during the year.

Started in 1846, the pub still has the original flagstones on the floor brought in from Valentia Island. The walls are covered by old posters and photographs depicting the history of Ireland starting in the 18th century with the Gratton Parliament and ending with a facsimile of the Belfast agreement. Flaherty’s is also a GAA hub and this is reflected by the many photos of the teams and personalities of the local GAA clubs.

Music Sessions Traditional Irish Music Dingle/An Daingean Uilleann pipes

Book Launch at Kruger's Pub

Last Sunday there was a celebration for the posthumous launch of the biographical book Are you Going Home Now? by Michael Delaney (Mícheál Ó Dubhshláine.) The event took place at Kruger’s Pub in Dún Chaoin which is said to be the most westerly pub in Ireland. Michael was, until his recent retirement, the principal of Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Gobnait, Dún Chaoin and was once at the centre of a local controversy that became a national issue. It was even featured as cover story for National Geographic at the time. Michael began teaching at the school in an unofficial capacity after the government of the day closed the school in 1970 and local people funded his salary. For more information on Michael go to Gaelport.

One thing I have to say for the people of West Kerry is that they really know how to celebrate- how to make an occasion special. There was a great turn-out for the book launch with poets, singers and musicians aplenty. We even had some songs in the old style (sean nós.)

There is in any case a great session every Sunday evening at Kruger’s with box player Aine Ui Laoithe, whistle and bohran player Eilín Chéarna and fiddler Feargal Mac Amhlaoibh. Although the standard is very high, it is an open session with a welcome to visiting musicians. Aine and Eilín have a very good CD of music and songs of the Blasket Islands called Mná an Oilean.

I will give a source for the book Are You Going Home Now? as soon as distribution is worked out.

Irish Music Sessions