'The pinnacle is the solo performance': Magic memories of the Munster Fleadh Cheoil

Irish Examiner

11 hours ago

More than 3,000 musicians, dancers, singers, Gaeilgeoirí, lilters, and storytellers will compete at Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan, vying to become Munster champions and qualify for the All-Ireland Fleadh in Wexford.
A total of 176 competitions will be held at Munster Technological University's Bishopstown campus and from the under-12 tin whistle slow airs category to the senior céilí bands, the rivalry will be intense.
The music lessons attended since last September, the long miles travelled through winter weather to dancing classes, Comhaltas groups, and the hours upon hours of individual practice, practice, and more practice: For those who made it through their competitions at the Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Limerick, Clare, or Tipperary county fleadhanna, everything is now distilled into a few fleeting minutes in front of the Munster Fleadh judges.
Few understand, indeed thrive on, the pressure of competition better than Buttevant's Alan Finn, multiple all-Ireland winner in solo, duet, trio, and céilí band competitions and mentor to a string of champion youth céilí bands at Craobh Chrónáin Comhaltas branch in Freemount, North Cork.
Amid the maelstrom of this year's Munster Fleadh performances though, he will showcase a project which though rooted in the Fleadh, transcends the competitive aspect of the festival, tapping into its role as a nexus; a musical meeting point where the ultimate prizes are the bonds forged with kindred spirits in sessions lifting with collective raw energy.
Alan Finn, Joanne Quirke, Paul Clesham, and Fionn O'Hanlon launch their album 'Twas Many a Wild Night during Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan at the Oliver Plunkett in Cork on July 18, 8pm. Picture: Michael Meade
Fleadh friendships are a cornerstone of the new album 'Twas Many a Wild Night, featuring Finn, fellow Cork musician and teacher Joanne Quirke, Mayo multi-instrumentalist and music teacher Paul Clesham, and North Cork bouzouki player Fionn O'Hanlon – all multiple Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann winners.
'How we became friends would have been through the Fleadh. We'd have all met each other at Fleadhs and even competed against each other at times,' says Finn.
'I would have run into Joanne a few times at Fleadhs before she started playing in sessions. She was involved in the groups in Douglas [Comhaltas] and they would have come against my Freemount groups, but then we actually competed against each other one year when we did the miscellaneous [instrument competition]. She played the fife and I played the viola and the two of us went through to the All-Ireland in 2014.
'I knew Paul from judging Fleadhs up the country as well, and our circles would have crossed. Paul went to college in Cork, and myself and Joanne would have been playing gigs together around Cork,' he adds.
'I initially had taught Fionn in the underage bands and groups from Freemount, competing in the Fleadh.
'Myself and Joanne broached the subject of recording – we'd been talking about it for a long time but because we were so busy we never got it tied down.'
The covid pandemic halted all Fleadh practices and gigs in 2020, but the relaxation of restrictions between lockdowns allowed a window of opportunity to work on a recording. After positive feedback from initial airplay,'Twas Many a Wild Night was completed post-pandemic and will be launched during Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan at the Oliver Plunkett on July 18.
Among the tracks are tunes sourced in North Cork from the collections of Churchtown fiddle player 'Boss' Murphy and accordion player John Murphy of Killavullen, as well as 'Scully's Slide' learned in Newmarket from Timmy Connors, who passed away last December.
Tracks from Cork composers Connie O'Connell and Johnny McCarthy feature, alongside a polka written by this year's Gradam Ceoil lifetime achievement award winner Matt Cranitch.
Matt Cranitch, winner of the U18 All-Ireland fiddle competition at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Cashel in 1965.
From Rathduff, near Mallow, Cranitch is a renowned musician, author of The Irish Fiddle Book, and academic, awarded a PhD for his study of Pádraig O'Keeffe and the Sliabh Luachra fiddle tradition.
A musical career encompassing Na Filí, Any Old Time, Sliabh Notes, and a partnership with Jackie Daly also included Fleadh participation in Cranitch's early days.
'As a youngster growing up I competed,' he recalls. 'They didn't have the kind of hierarchical structure which they now have with regard to winning the county and then on to the province and then on to all-Ireland. You could compete in more counties and in more competitions. I think it's also fair to say that there were probably fewer people competing at that time, rather than the huge numbers of people who enter competitions now.
'I did compete at all levels – county, provincial, and all-Ireland, and I was lucky enough to come home with the silver from time to time,' adds Cranitch, who won both fiddle and slow airs all-Ireland honours.
'I played solo, duet, and trio. I recall winning an All-Ireland with Tomás Ó Canainn and Tom Barry - we later became 'Na Filí'. I also competed with one or two céilí bands at county level – the Domhnall Ó Mairtín Céilí Band – and I think our Cranitch family band entered at some stage.
'But for a lot of musicians the pinnacle is the solo performance – it's also the hardest because you're on your own totally,' he adds.
'There are mixed views about competitions and whether they are good or bad. I suppose you gain a certain recognition, in that you become known, and the fact that it's a stimulus to improve one's playing and to practise, which brings you up in standard… and we all like to get accolades.'
Máire Ní Chéileachair. Picture: John Murphy
For Cork sean-nós singer Máire Ní Chéileachair, entering her first Fleadh Cheoil was a milestone, not least since she didn't pluck up courage to do so until she was over 40. When she did take the plunge, the decision paid off not only in terms of competition success but in opening up a new world of singing sessions and musical community.
'My first Fleadh was 1996 and I was nervous because I hadn't ever done it,' she says. 'We're all nervous about being judged, no matter what age we are.
'I didn't know whether I had the talent or skill or the style. I would not have had the confidence and been able to judge, had I a traditional style of singing, but when somebody else says it to you and writes it down on a sheet of paper… and to be given a prize gave me great courage to continue singing.
'It was also very exciting to be singing and taking part. The first time I got through Cork [Fleadh] I won the all-Ireland and that was amazing,' adds Ní Chéileachair, who followed her all-Ireland sean-nós singing title in 1996 with the English singing prize at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 1999.
She went on to lift the Corn Uí Riada at Oireachtas na Samhna and receive a TG4 Gradam Ceoil, as well as passing on the sean-nós songs of Cork's Múscraí Gaeltacht to young singers under the Aisling Gheal scheme, from which she retired this summer after 25 years.
'The other important thing about the Fleadh is meeting other singers,' she adds, recalling her first experiences of Fleadh singing sessions. 'I remember being at the all-Ireland in Clonmel and meeting all these singers and I was in heaven altogether. Micheál Marrinan was there, Paddy Berry and others and I spent all my time in the hotel listening to the singing sessions.
'That was wonderful as well, making friends, all through the years meeting singers at Fleadhs and the fun of meeting those people who you wouldn't meet during the year. To be in that circle of singing is lovely, to feel part of that. You can't put a value on the friendship.'
Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan runs June 12-19. See munsterfleadh.ie
Fleadh Cheoil na Mumhan highlights
Music sessions in more than 30 Cork City pubs July 17-19;
Musicians, singers, and dancers perform at Fleadh Gig-Rig at Elizabeth Fort, July 17-19;
Fleadh concerts with Téada on July 11, Peter Street July 12, Máirtín Ó Connor Trio July 17, and Tara Breen, Pádraig Rynne, and Jim Murray July 19;
Four days of competitions at MTU's Bishopstown Campus begin with dancing on July 16 at 9am and conclude with the senior céilí band contest on July 19 at 7.15pm;
Set-dancing céilí with Hammer the Floor at Douglas GAA Club, July 18;
Fleadh Club at the Crane Lane with Taobh na Mara Céilí Band July 18 and Shandrum Céilí Band July 19;
Oíche Scoraíochta, Spailpín Fánach July 17; Scéalaíocht do pháistí Cork City Library July 17;
Singers' Night, Spailpín Fánach, July 18;
Street entertainment competition July 12, 2-3.30pm, Oliver Plunkett St.