A Milltown Miscellany
Evidence of a distinctive Irish music and dance has existed for over a thousand years. Thankfully it is in rude good health at the moment and ling may that continue. It has also travelled well and influenced American Country and Western, Bluegrass and Rock. While Milltown is no Milltown Malbay or Sliabh Luachra, it has played its part in preserving and disseminating Irish music.
My mother came from the townland of Laharn which is about three miles from Milltown. A few hundred yards from her home was ‘Geata Salac’, where set dancing took place on Sunday evenings. She used to recite the Sceilig list to us when we were children. This was an old tradition where boys and girls were paired off in verse to be taken to the Sceiligs and eventually married.
“Mikey John then came along
And well can he do the blarney,
With his hands well placed round the nice smart waist
Of his darling Bridie Barney.”
“Be quick Johnny Sean, make off Molly Bawn
Fair Katie is waiting for you;
Her looks are divine, I mean Katie Lyne,
Her love is constant and true. ”
She would also sing an old song, ‘The Gaol of Cluain Meala’; This song, by James Callanan, dates from the 1820’s.
“Next Sunday the pattern at home will be keeping
The lads of the village the fields will be sweeping,
And the dance of fair maidens the evening will hallow
While this heart once so bold will lie cold in Cluain Meala.”
While I was growing up in the 1940’s and 1950’s, Irish music was on life support. However, several factors combined to keep it alive. These included ball nights, the Biddy, the Wren and the Strawboys, ceilis, schools of dancing, public houses, radio and musical families. Two families in particular kept the spark of Irish music alive in Milltown. At one end of the village, adjacent to the present Spar supermarket, was the family of the late Tom O’Neill. Tom used to sing and play the concertina and I can still recall his rendition of ‘The Dear Irish Boy’.
“The war being over and he not returned, I fear that some envious plot has been laid;
Or some cruel goddess has him captivated and left here to mourn his dear Irish maid.
Smiling, beguiling, cheering, endearing, I have listened all day for my dear Irish boy.”
His daughter Mai played the piano and violin and used to give music classes in Castlemaine. His son Donie played the fiddle and when he began to play the Chúillfhionn, all the goldfinches and canaries in their cages joined in creating a sort of symphony orchestra in the house.
At the other end of the village, next to the old dispensary, was his brother, Thady O’Neill. Thady had been in the R.I.C. and when he retired he took up carpentry. His daughter grace Marie used to play the piano accordion. His son Donal used to play bagpipes in the ‘Killorglin Pipers’ and his daughter Angela used to sing.
The Hannifin brothers and Bill Kearns were notable musicians in the Callinafercy district and they took their music with them when they emigrated to America. Danny Griffin from Firies, father-in-law of Paddy Conway-O’Connor, also played the fiddle at concerts in Milltown. Callinafercy also supplied great set dancers. I remember Wednesday evenings when Ger Tim, Thady and Paddy O’Sullivan and Jackie Harmon arrived with their wives for the ceili in the hall. The men went up the lane to the Plough for some liquid sustenance before joining their wives in the hall. The new maple floor of the Muintir na Tire hall was subjected to a severe test as they danced the Siege of Ennis and the Kerry Set.
The wren boys, biddy boys and strawboys also played their part in preserving Irish music and dance. The strawboys would visit the home of a couple on their return from honeymoon. This was called ‘strawing’ and they would entertain them in return for food and drink and a little financial contribution which helped to fund a ball night. The late Michael O’Mahony and I decided to go ‘out with the wren’ on St Stephen’s Day. The route we chose was over the Doctor’s road, through Keelacloghane Wood to the townland of Ballinoe. We had only one song, ‘The Rose of Arranmore’, and we agreed the night before that we would only sing it as far as the line ‘beneath the tropic sky.’
The public house was a haven of Irish music and song. On Sunday evenings there was a long-standing tradition that everybody would sing a song, give a recitation or play an instrument. Two men used to sit in one corner of the bar, diddling. One would go: “Diddle dee dai dee dom dee do/ Diddle dee dai dee dom dee dee/ Diddle dee dai dee dai dee dai dee dai/ Dee dai dee dom dee dai dee doh.”
The other man would disagree with him and say it should have been; “Diddle dom a dai dee doh etc.”
One of them was an absolute purist and if someone were to sing “Mursheen Durkin” or “The Black Velvet Band”, he would always say, “don’t be contaminating Irish music!”
An old man who prided himself in his knowledge of Irish music was crossing the street near Larkin’s Bakery when one of the bakers was deliberately butchering “The Stack of Barley.” The man berated him, saying “young man, if you must whistle an Irish tune, do it perfectly or leave it after you”, before whistling the tune note-perfect himself.
The convent also provided music and dancing lessons and Paddy Sexton gave dancing lessons in the hall. I once attended a concert in the old monastery school. Br Munchin was the M.C. and he announced, “and now we’ll have some dancers from the convent and they’ll dance a four-hand reel.”
One fine evening in June a ballad singer came around Lombard’s corner. He was holding a cardboard megaphone to his lips as he sang “Oh to be in Dún an Rí, with a sweet heart I once knew.” Ballad sheets were also sold on fair days at a penny apiece.
The influence of Radio Eireann was also considerable. Seán O’Síochan presented “The Ballad Makers” on Saturday nights and Seán O’Murchú hosted “Teach a Cheilí.” Walton’s sponsored programme always ended with “if you do feel like singing, do sing an Irish song.” Din Joe’s ‘Take the Floor’ was also eagerly awaited. Here Din joe called out the dances; “advance, retire, for a two-bar strain, keep that rising step repeating, two more bars take you back in place, you’re doing fine, take it nice and steady.”
The establishment of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in 1951 heralded the revitalization of Irish music and dance. Great work was done by collectors like Séamus Ennis, Ciarán Mac Machúna, and in Kerry by Seosamh O’Dálaigh from Dingle. Others who had a major influence were Seán O’Riada and Ceoltóirí Chualann, The Chieftans, The Clancy Brothers and The Dubliners. The music has since gone global with performances like Riverdance and songs like Shane Mcgowan’s “Fairytale of New York ”.
In his poem “The Fiddler of Dooney”, W.B. Yeats puts it well:
“For the good are always the merry
Save by an evil chance;
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance.”
Pat McKenna, March 2018
Pat Mckenna is author of “Gwin for the Blue”, a memoir of his childhood in Milltown.
