It would seem to be one of those scenarios where it would be bringing “coals to Newcastle” to call over the Atlantic and to New Jersey, in particular, for a couple of musicians to deliver jigs and reels in an area that had no shortage of them in the tradition. 

The East Clare area around Tulla and neighboring East Galway and Tipperary across the Shannon share a bountiful traditional music legacy that has played a large part in making the scene as robust as it is. 

By inviting Mike Rafferty from Hasbrouck Heights and Willie Kelly from Boonton to headline the Tulla Trad Music Festival over the weekend of September 11-13 in Tulla, the organizing committee recognized the continuum aspect of reeling in the music wherever it may have traveled from the banks of the Shannon. 

The lovely music contained in their new CD The New Broom merited a launch here on the opening Friday night and a special place on the Sunday concert slot, and once again added to a wonderful celebration of the music in a county known for waving the “Banner” high for it. 

In fact, it wasn’t really a stretch to have Rafferty and Kelly here as part the Tulla Traditional Music Festival because it wasn’t just their music that had ties to this locality. Rafferty, soon to be 83 at the end of the month, grew up a short distance away in Larraga, near Ballinakill over the Galway border up north.  

Since landing in New York over 60 years ago he has been one of the primary tradition-bearers and keepers of the flame of Irish music from this part of the world, influencing several generations of musicians with his down-home approach to the music. 

Kelly was taught by the Glin-County Limerick legend, Martin Mulvihill (from further down the Shannon) in New Jersey, and though his father Joe was from Mayo, records from the Tulla Ceili Band were worn out on the record player at home.  

Later on he developed a strong affinity for the music of East Galway and Clare through Rafferty, which was further reinforced through his courtship and marriage to Siobhan Moloney of O’Callaghan Mills not far from Tulla, a very fine flute player herself.  

Until this CD came out, his status as one of the finest fiddle players in this style was kept a secret for too long.   So this wasn’t any ordinary CD launch, but more of a homecoming for two of the finest gentlemen in Irish America who are well respected across the generations and the Atlantic Ocean.

Paula Carroll of Clare FM provided the opening remarks about their significance -- and that of Irish music in America -- appropriately enough because she captured it on one of her Kitchen Session programs broadcast from America back in February of this year from Willie and Siobhan Kelly’s house.

The back room of Minogues’ Bar in the center of town was where the CD received its Clare launch some months after it came out in April and was launched in New York City and the Catskills. The lovely pacing and simpatico of the music between the venerable native of Ballinakill in East Galway (Rafferty) and his long-time compadre (Kelly) raised in Dumont, New Jersey was a natural for this festival and further enhanced by the accompaniment of Donal Clancy, Mike’s son-in-law who recently returned to Waterford to live in June with his wife Mary Rafferty and family.  

The room was overflowing with Irish music devotees. Not unexpectedly, that included a number of trad musicians who came along to hear two of their brethren whose music and reputation preceded them. 

It can be both flattering and nerve-wracking to have a who’s-who in traditional music seated all around you and at the back of the hall intently taking in your every note, but once the concert got under way the spotlight was deservedly on the trio who brought their music back to Clare.

They presented most of the CD’s tracks over the first hour of the night, and then proceeded to call upon most of the musical talent in the room to come and join them on stage. They would have shared session seats with many of them over the years, either in New York or Ireland. 

Peadar O’Loughlin and Paddy O’Donoghue, who logged time with the Tulla Ceili Band, joined them along with box players Seamus Bulger and Danny O’Mahony, concertina player Micheal O’Raghallaigh, fiddle players John Weir, Liz Kane and Maeve Donnelly at some point or another. 

Martin Hayes and Timmy Collins were also along for the night, as was Claire Keville of Clare FM (and Galway) who was to release her own CD on the Saturday night in Minogue’s as part of the weekend.

Rafferty, Kelly and Clancy also were part of the special Sunday evening fiddle and flute recital in the historic Tulla Court Hall remade into a wonderful hall in the town square across the street from Minogue’s. The concert was pushed back from the scheduled 5 p.m. start to around 6:45 p.m. to allow people to watch and cheer on the Clare under-21 hurlers in the All-Ireland final that day. The 15-14 victory over Kilkenny along with the brilliant sunshine and warm weather all weekend added to the euphoria of the occasion.

Local All-Ireland champion Vincent Griffin, the chair of Tulla Comhaltas branch who organized the weekend, was up first, accompanied by Tulla native Mary Corry, and like Rafferty, still playing with gusto and flourish well up in his senior years. 

Eileen O’Brien Minogue followed along with Deirdre McSharry as they gave the music of her father Paddy O’Brien another momentous outing, with McSharry moving from keyboard to flute without a bother while O’Brien played the fiddle. 

Rafferty and Kelly opened up the second half of the concert. Hayes was the closing act for the Sunday night concert , a solo act who handled it in his usual low-key fashion despite his world-renown fame maintains that he is just another one of the local people who happens to be a very fine traditional musician.  

Hayes was a very busy musician over the weekend as he worked double shifts on the Saturday and Sunday. Saturday saw him teaching a fiddle workshop (along with Kelly and O’Brien), then playing with his partner Dennis Cahill in concert in St. Peter and Paul’s Church followed with a ceili with the Tulla Ceili Band still going strong which his father P.J. helped found in 1946. 

Also appearing in the concert that night were Martin’s sister Helen Hayes, who is a singer and John Carty’s group At the Racket who also just recently produced a new CD featuring a saxophone in their mix.

The weekend included classes in sean nos dancing (Suzanne Leahy) and steps for sets (Aidan Vaughan), concertina (Micheal O’Raghallaigh), singing (Nora Butler), flute (Mike Rafferty) and Comhra Gaeilge, with Caitlin Ni Mhaoldomnaigh and Sister Eibhlin Challanain, along with the fiddle classes.  

There were plenty of sessions up and down the main street in Tulla over the weekend, as well as an Aifreann Gaeilge that was broadcast on RNG on Sunday morning where I am sure that there were some intentions offered for success at Croke Park for the soon-to-be champion Clare team, who won for the first time in the under-21 category after a brilliant season.

The Tulla Traditional Music Festival is one of those small but endearing events only in its third year that benefited in part from the Comhaltas Development Program largely funded by the Irish government when times were prosperous.   ]Like so many other such festivals, its future is less certain as annual events but not its impact on the preservation and promotion of traditional Irish music, a Comhaltas objective . 

In that vein the Tulla Trad Festival produced a CD launched here by CCE reachtaire Joe O’Connor (from Miltown Malbay)at the outset of the festival on Friday entitled The Humours of Tulla: A Collection of Music, Songs, Stories and Poetry Reflecting the Rich Cultural Heritage of East Clare.  

Linking the past with the present seems to be money well spent and deserving of sponsorship from Comhaltas, the Irish or local government, businesses that benefit from these types of cultural celebrations that are community-based and inspired.  

The white banner provided by Shannon Development, charged with bringing about economic growth in the Shannon Area, that hung in the converted court house hall proclaimed it was “Delivering a Better Future,” and by helping to remember the glorious past this weekend will help further that goal. 

All weekend long the festival events organized by Breda McNamara and her committee paid homage to the musicians who brought distinction to the East Clare community and to those who continue to do today for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.  

For more information on obtaining the CD follow the website www.tullatradfestival.com and link to Custy’s Music Shop.