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Musical history to be made at Catskills Irish Arts Week

PAUL KEATING

Catskills Irish Arts Week Artistic Director

Published Thursday, July 9, 2009, 10:44 AM

Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:36 PM

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Read more: Culture and Lifestyle, Irish Culture, Catskill Mountains, Irish Ancestry, Andy McGann, Paddy O'Brien, Brendan Dolan, Joe Madden, Entertainment, Music

Gavins listening room session at the CIAW

Photo by Timothy Raab

She comes to share that history in the written word and through the medium of music as a fiddle teacher so that future generations will understand why the Catskills and Irish music go so well together.

Pride of New York Band

Another important link happens a few days later when an Irish American quartet who call themselves the Pride of New York Band (wait a minute, I think I actually called them that when they played in the Catskills back in 2005) will launch a very important self-titled CD on the Thursday night at the Shamrock House.

As individuals, Joanie Madden, Billy McComiskey, Brian Conway and Brendan Dolan have distinguished themselves wherever Irish music is revered, but collectively they have that special something that is the very essence of what being a proud Irish American is all about.

All were fortunate enough to learn their music from direct tradition bearers from the other side or very near to it like native New Yorkers Felix Dolan and Andy McGann.

By osmosis as much as inclination they learned so much more than tunes from masters like Joe Madden, Jack Coen, Mike Preston, Sean McGlynn, Martin Mulvihill, Martin Wynne, Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds, and it went to the very core of their being.

Not surprisingly, they are actively passing on the tradition through their own teaching, recording and performing without sacrificing one iota as they navigate in a very modern world that doesn’t always have time for the traditional arts.

Summer schools like the CIAW serve to reinforce the tradition and keep it not only alive but thriving and as innovative as it needs to be to attract the younger generation.

Important to the growth of the CIAW was not only its wider appeal across the country and in Ireland, itself, but the very proximity to a special geographic locality in Rockland County where Irish traditional music was blossoming as quickly as anywhere in Ireland or America.

The town of Pearl River gave rise to many great Irish American teachers who began to reach hundreds of children in a similar manner to what they experienced growing up in an earlier Golden Age in New York for Irish music education.

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Irish folk music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the entire island of Ireland. Collections of Irish folk music date from the 18th century, but ballad printers were not established in Dublin until the 19th century. By the mid-20th century, Irish folk music had fallen out fashion. Festivals such as the Fleadh Cheoil exposed people to folk. The English folk music scene also gave Irish musicians the chance to find new audiences. With the success of the Clancy Brothers in the US in 1959, it became trendy again to listen to Irish music. Later, the international success of the Chieftains made the folk music of Ireland a global brand. In the 1980s, the Pogues helped fuse Irish folk with punk rock, giving a whole new audience a chance to listen to songs influenced by the folk tradition. Enya achieved international success with New Age/Celtic fusions. Irish music also contributed a subgenre of folk metal known as Celtic metal with exponents of the genre including Cruachan, Geasa and Waylander. Audiences do not just listen to Irish music in concert halls or arenas, but in much more informal settings as well. In recent decades, patrons can listen to Irish folk musicians at pub sessions. Many fans don’t just listen to Irish music &emdash; they dance to it at weddings and saint’s days. When you listen to Irish folk music, one instrument you are likely to hear is the fiddle. The fiddling tradition of Sligo is perhaps most recognizable to outsiders, due to the popularity of American-based performers like Lad O'Beirne, Michael Coleman, John McGrath, James Morrison and Paddy Killoran. Other instruments to listen for include the flute, tin whistle and Uilleann pipes.

Musical history to be made at Catskills Irish Arts Week

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