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.

A Bit of German Culture

Friederich von Flotow

During the past two weeks Christine and I were in Leipzig to see our daughter and family. While there, we took in cultural events not available to us in West Kerry. Leipzig is a great musical town going all the way back to Johann Sebastian Bach who was Kapellmeister at the St. Thomas Church there. We attended the German opera Martha by Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883) in nearby Dessau and a wonderful performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado at the Leipzig School of Music.

I have written about Thomas Moore in a previous post. The melody of his well-known song, The Last Rose of Summer, is the leitmotif of the opera Martha. Introduced in Act 2, the lovely and plaintive melody represents the young lovers’ longing. It seems that popular airs were often introduced informally to operas in the middle of the nineteenth century as show-pieces for the singers. In Martha the custom is perpetuated. There is a beautiful horn solo of the melody, very delicately played for this performance by our son-in-law, Paul Goodman. The song is sung twice, once by the female lead Lady Harriet Durham, soprano and then later by the male lead Lord Tristan Mickleford, tenor.

The Mikado was delightful and I must say that the translation into German worked very well. It was especially poignant for a place that was formerly behind the iron curtain to make a parody of the unbridled power of state officials. We were surprised to find that Sullivan who was of Irish/Italian decent did his musical training in Leipzig and spent several years there.

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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Classical Music in Dingle

It is interesting to note that although Dingle is blessed with so many talented musicians, there are few possibilities to hear classical music here. Recently, we were contacted by our friend Johannes Moora offering to bring a concert to Dingle. The program consisted of Schumann and Mendelssohn songs with piano accompaniment and some short solo pieces for piano.

We found a very suitable venue in Emlagh House that has a beautiful upright piano. Emlaigh, a luxury country house, won the AA Guest Accommodation of the Year 2005.

The singer was soprano Iris Pedroli and was outstanding. She has a beautiful clear voice with a lovely texture. The pianist, Renate Poncette was also first rate. Johannes Moora interspersed the program with interesting extracts of diaries and letters of Robert Schumann.

Here is a copy of the program:

Clck on Program for a clearer image!