The faces and names of Arty McGlynn and Tony O’Connell will need no introduction at the doors – front or back – of some of the finest, staged venues on these islands and far beyond.
Both of them showed up in Kate Pats’s Bar door in Brosna for an impromptu session on Monday night.
There to meet them were a pair of local, up and coming musical brothers, Darragh and Gearóid Curtin and the session was on.
Brosna Roots
O’Connell, from West Limerick with strong family roots in Brosna, has played and recorded with some of the leading musicians around today. McGlynn from Omagh in Co. Tyrone has played and recorded with the likes of Christy Moore, Paul Brady, Donal Lunny and Liam O’Flynn. He played as a member of sound-breaking groups like: Planxty; Patrick Street; De Danann and the Van Morrison Band.
Sounding Board
Both men are on a joint recording mission in Kerry and the Brosna session was a useful sounding board for their fine-tuning. Here, ears are keen to the point of split second discernment but there wasn’t a fraction of anything out of place to report.
They were joined on whistle by Uileann piper and composer and award laden, Austrian born, Antonia Wernig for their impromptu session in the heart of Con Curtin Counrty on the shoulder of the now organised, always spirited and tightly-knit Sliabh Luachra Music Trail.
