Dick Gaughan in Miltown Malbay

'What's the use of two strong legs 
If you only run away 
And what's the use of the finest voice 
If you've nothing good to say'
              D Gaughan

No applause greeted  Dick Gaughan at the Malone's Market Tavern, Miltown Malbay last night. Instead an expectant silence prevailed as the  legendary Scottish troubadour stepped onto the small stage , took off his leather jacket,  and picked up his guitar to deliver a quietly ferocious set of songs. The list included  his own songs mixed with a selection   by Robbie Burns, Ewan MColl, Johnny Cash and contemporary Scot Brian McNeill.  Interlacing the set were monologues where he shared his trenchant  opinions on a range of topics including Scottish history, politics, social injustice and his education. A sense of outrage was tempered with humour,  ironic understatement and wit, all supported by  fine finger picking guitar skills. There was a  gentler moments when he sang Burns Now Westlin Winds which you can hear in the video clip above.. A small detail but it pleases me to report that he wore blue suede shoes.


'I think I know everybody here' declared Gaughan as he faced patrons in  the packed intimate venue.  The audience included several well known singers , songwriters and  folk musicians, some of whom had travelled some  distance to renew old  acquaintance or memories.  I spoke to one man  who said 'It is 30 years since I've heard him- he is like an aged Scottish malt , smoother  but as potent as ever'



Gaughan continues his tour with a performance in Dolans Limerick on Wednesday 8th May

The Singer and the Song at Willie Clancy Week

Young Buskers Miltwn Malbay - photo Cathy Desmond

I'll roam the deserts of wild Abyssinia And yet find no cure for my pain I'll go and enquire on the Isle of St. Helena No there we will whisper in vain Now tell me ye critics now tell me in time The nation I'll range my sweet linnet to find Was he slain at Waterloo or at Elba on the Rhine If he was I shall never see him more

     The Green Linnet

The Willie Clancy Summer School, held annually in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare  is celebrating 40 years of activity dedicated to the memory of the influential uilleann piper. The format of classes, ceilis , lectures and concerts has remained reassuringly  unchanged over the years and on Friday I heard the afternoon of 'Traditional Singing in Irish & English' at the Community Hall.

Traditional Singing fromSean Garvey at Miltown Malbay Hall an Pobail

The singers in turn offered two numbers each from their sean nós reperoire of unaccompanied song. Pauline Hanley from Donegal was followed by Mary Smith from Isle of Lewis who sang lullabies in Scots Gaelic. Sean Garvey from Kerry gave us the Napoleonic song,  The Green Linnet and a song of emigration from Valentia by Sean Murphy . Representing the younger generation, Nell Ni Chrónín. a Cork singer in her early twenties had a lovely warm delivery in her lilting song. All gave short introductions to set the context and the provenance of the song. Young Scottish singer, Griogar Labhruaidh's  charming introduction to a song of cattle rustling in the Scottish Highlands was  as long and as much a part of the performance as the song itself. A piper himself, his vocal style imitated that instrument at times almost like scat singing.
What a pleasure to hear Ulster Singer, Len Graham, surely one of the most authoritave voices in the sean nós tradition . His powerful  delivery of The Wee Lass on the Brae and a North Antrim version of The Parting Glass were a highlight of the afternoon. Mike Flynn represented Clare and closed the proceedings with his rendition of The Rocks of Bawn

Gown and Parchment for late Muiris O Rochain cofounder 

This was music stripped to its barest elements, a solo voice unsupported by any instrument telling  stories.  Perhaps the most notable aspect of the afternoon was the intensity with which the audience of locals and international visitors listened to each singer to catch every nuance in the lyric. It was the same intensity which surrounded me in an audience  in a packed French Theatre last week for a new opera production at the prestigious Festival d'Aix. While the forces and scale may have been different, the impulse of storytelling through song and the eagerness to listen were the same in the  Grand Theatre de Provence and Halla an Pobail , Miltown Malbay

Here's to the next 40 years of Willie Clancy Festivals in Clare. Long may it prosper.

Shop Window Ben Lennon Fiddler centre

Other related posts you might enjoy The Raw Bar Festival of Singing in Clare

For the Great Gaels of Ireland are the man that God made mad, for all their wars are merry and all their songs are sad.

Ger Wolfe at the Market Tavern Miltown Malbay



 



Shaken by low sounds Kevin Murphy on cello

Three generations of Malones at the Market Tavern

Paul Frost's Airline Friendly Bass

There was a mellow vibe to the set offered by Ger Wolfe and his quartet at the intimate space of Sean Malone's Market Tavern, Miltown Malbay, Co Clare  in Friday night .  Essentially  backed by a string band with the unusual low string combination of cello and double bass ,Wolfe himself on guitar made  occasional forays on fiddle. Richard Lucey on accordion  leavened the string sound .   There were occasional solo dance tunes on accordion and fiddle but just enough to give respite to the voice and it was songs we had come to hear delivered in Wolfe's distictive Leeside  tones.  Paul Frost on bass added solid rhythmic support and Kevin Murphy on cello added sympathetic understated   accompaniment to the songs.  It was a winning combination with the tempos and metres nicely varied.  With a cello in the line up , solo  opportunities might have been exploited more. In this environment it would have been as welcome to hear a slow air as reels and slip jigs and the former would have served just as well to give vocalists a breather.

The Market Tavern  on the mainstreet of Miltown Malbay offers a convivial performing space for visiting acts  and attracts a loyal band of regulars to the historic building  in a village whose name is synonomous with traditional music. The stage backdrop is an impressive  mud  brown cast iron structure which Sean informs me is some form of weighing scales from market days of old  offering  a  pleasing resonance with the past.