As the Scartaglin based cultural feast, Handed Down winds down to its natural conclusion it’s really winding up to a celebration of its very existence. Its running purpose was to entertain those with a love of traditional lore and the music that went so hand-in-hand with it in these parts.
It is fairly plain from a lot of what we’ve heard and seen, from a variety of sources, that the music of the Sliabh Luachra area was a very close finisher to the absolute essentials of food and shelter in tough times.
In the sustenance stakes it was away up there and, probably, on top of the pile when it came to food for the souls and spirit of the people who could ‘hear’ it.
This Saturday night, March 14th at 8pm in the Scartaglin Heritage Centre, local musician, Emma O’Leary will talk about her native village and its influence on her honour laden career to date.
She will dwell particularly on her influences and experiences of the late fiddle player, Dan Jeremiah O’Connor (1938 – 2009).
The Handed Down series came about from an idea floated and carried through by PJ Teahan. The Castleisland musician and composer gathered a meitheal of fellow musicians and friends and put his scheme to the people in Scart for the first time last September.
Emma O’Leary will take her audience through a night of music, reminiscences, photographs and film clips in which the late Dan Jeremiah features.
The Handed Down series was always meant as an usher for the Saturday, May 16th weekend to celebrate World Fiddle Day in Castleisland and Scartaglin. We’ll remind you as that time approaches. But there are some prominent fiddlers here at home looking forward to greeting their peers from many corners of this wonderfully round world of ours.
