Galway fiddler Pete Kelly shows he's still premier

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Pete Kelly and Shannonaires 2009 and guests

Photo by Paul Keating

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One of the fascinating aspects of traditional Irish music is that it is a great magnet for making friends who may last your entire lifetime and band families together with the common bonds it engenders. 

This past weekend certainly was indicative of that as two separate and thoroughly enjoyable occasions came back to back on Friday and Saturday and were worth noting in this space.

On Friday night at the Kerry Hall in Yonkers, a wonderful tribute to Galway fiddler Pete Kelly was organized by the Kerry Association in conjunction with the Michael Coleman branch of CCE and the HOPe charity based there. 

The hall was filled with well-wishers who appreciated the accomplishments of the humble 73-year old musician from Ballymoe who has quietly and most assuredly made his mark on the Irish American music and dance community since arriving on these shores coming up on 50 years ago in 1959.

Classically trained and also a very experienced musician in Irish bands before arriving here, he was well qualified to start his own school of music, teaching Irish music full time to young Irish Americans whose parents wanted them to keep the tradition alive. 

That first generation of students were organized into a band called the Shannonaires who would tour Ireland seven times under his tutelage, and several were on hand to help honor him in Yonkers including my own wife, Deirdre Danaher, who joined Maureen Coyne, Bernie and Bridget Mulligan, Loretta and Monica Egan, Kathy and Mary Normanly, Kathy Brown, Mary Murphy and one of the night’s organizers John Reynolds. 

According to Pete in his remarks that night, 1973 marked the first time that a junior group of Irish American musicians traveled over to Ireland thanks to parents like Bernie Mulligan of Woodlawn and Dan Danaher of Inwood and many others who helped them in their historic efforts. 

Pete’s school produced hundreds of fine musicians, many who still play and teach today, before he gave up teaching full time and suffered some crippling injuries in a bad fall off a ladder.

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