Wednesday

The program for Wednesday morning was a lecture by legendary singer and
song collector, David Hammond. David has been researching the life of
Donegal fiddler John Docherty, who passed away in 1981. He was a very
well-known fiddler within Ireland and taught many, many students in his
lifetime. He was also known as something of an icon as the last of the
breed of musicians who were truly the 'folk' musicians.

David described for us the type of life that Docherty led, as well as
described in detail his fiddling style and played many excerpts of rare
recordings of the fiddler, both playing and talking. One of the most
poignant descriptions to me was how he would live mainly by traveling
from house to house, where ever he could get accommodation in exchange
for giving lessons. For most of his life, he didn't even own his own
fiddle; he would borrow one where ever he was staying, or make a fiddle
out of available materials. At a pub in Donegal there is a collection of
his fiddles made out of tin cans.

Wednesday afternoon there was a bus tour of the west side of County
Armagh, but a few of us -- Dale, Jesika, Adi, Reagh and Kate -- decided
we'd rather go back to Carlingford on our own and spend a little more
time in that charming town. So that's just what we did. It was raining a
bit when we got there, so we had lunch at The Carlingford Arms pub. As
we sat down to order, a couple of gents at the bar struck up a song.
After we ate, we went over and introduced ourselves and asked for
another song. When they heard we were with the Song Festival, one lovely
old gent proclaimed, sticking out his right hand with great enthusiasm,
"I met Tommy Makem once! I shook his hand, in fact." He held up the
evidence, "This is the hand that shook Tommy Makem's hand!" You can
imagine our grins. We invited him to the concert that night in
Mullaghbawn, but he said it was too far to go. So, we sang "Farewell to
Carlingford" for them and went back out into the drizzle. We did some
shopping until the rain let up, then admired the palm trees, explored
more of Carlingford's ruins, and before we left, we were seduced into
taking a walk up the mountain that overlooks the town. It was a
beautiful view and a beautiful couple hours.

Scrambling back to Newry, we just had time to dry off and get ready for
the evening program and concert at Ti Chullain. It was a special night
for the community of South Armagh because the Song Festival dedicated
the night to remembering and honoring the many musicians and poets who
have kept the bardic tradition alive and thriving in the region,
especially through the last three decades of Troubles. The program was
called "They Kept the Fire Lit" and I was struck by just how many names
there were to be honored -- and it was clear those names were just the
tip of the iceberg. Throughout the week we'd been told again and again
how rich the folk tradition is in South Armagh, but for me at least, the
point really hit home that night as the names were read and Slieve
Gullion loomed in the background.

The families of deceased musicians and poets were honored with scrolls,
presented by Peter Makem and John Campbell, commemorating their
contributions to the bardic tradition in South Armagh.

At the end of the presentations, Tommy Makem came forward and presented
one more award to Peter Makem himself, for all his efforts as
coordinator of the Song Festival. He even got a 6-color robe, making him
a True Bard. A reward richly deserved.

The program continued with Eugene Byrne, The Makem Brothers and Tommy
Makem raising the roof. Dub-in-residence, Eugene sang "Dublin in the
Rare Auld Times," "Finnegan's Wake" and a stirring song called
"Immigrant Eyes."

The Makem Brothers next demonstrated their powerful singing and
tightly-woven harmonies with "Brennan on the Moor", "The Old Stone Wall"
and "The Blue Bonnets". Shane's humourous song "La Dee Da Dee Dum" had
us all giggling. (I'm still skeptical about the nose bit.) The Lads also
played a wonderful new, original song that is rumoured to be on their
next album: "I'll Neither Spin Nor Weave on Sunday."

Tommy Makem took the stage then, backed up by Rory, and capped off the
night in fine style. I'm always amazed at his uncanny ability to get an
audience singing. There are some songs that all he has to do is sing the
first few words and then he can hand it off to the audience (be it an
audience of 30 or 30,000!) -- "The Moonshiner" is one of those. Some
might say it's because we've heard those songs so many times over and
over that we can't help but know the words. Personally, I think there's
no greater testimony to his unparalleled bardsmanship than an audience
who sings along with such joy. If we have heard those songs enough to
know all the words by heart, they must be pretty damn good songs, and
Tommy is the one who endeared them to us -- and to at least two
generations of Celtic musicians and music-lovers. From "Red is the Rose"
to "Mary Mack" and all the wonderful stories and poems in between, he
delivers joy and inspiration.

+-------------+
|T. Sands |
|visits with a|
|family member|
|of one of the|
|honored |
|musicians |
|after the |
|concert. |
+-------------+

After the concert, a few of us ended up in the hotel bar again -- those
who could keep their eyes open. Shane, Conor and Rory tiptoed stealthily
by the doorway, heading for well-deserved rest. We nabbed a guitar from
them first, though! A friend of Mary's from the Yahoo Irish Traditional
Music Forum, Chris Caldwell, was in for the concert and stayed to
exchange a few songs before leaving. "The Roaring Baby" (here's a sound
clip in MP3 format) is one he sang that I particularly liked. Thanks for
dropping in, Chris!

Kate Akers
Kate Akers, kakers@chivalry.com
Chivalry Music & Internet Publishing
All photos on these pages were
taken by Kate Akers and Jim Gillespie, ©2000.
Reprinting or republication without permission is prohibited.