It was last weekend in 2011 that Castleisland artist / sculptor, Mike Kenny passed away in Kerry General Hospital and at 9:30pm on the Friday night of August 12th.
His memory is alive and well and his legacy to his native town is surviving and thriving.
At the re-unveiling of his painting The Shoemaker in The Shoemaker’s Bar on Friday night, musician, Matt Cranitch spoke of the musical legacy Mike Kenny left after him in the annual Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival and in the spontaneity of occasional musical outbreaks in the area throughout the year.
Long Phone Calls and Loads of Ideas
Before he and Jackie Daly went on to draw the curtain back off the painting, Matt also spoke of the man who was so full of ideas and enthusiasm that phone calls went on for a good 45 minutes – and more at festival planning times.
A fine gathering of family and friends attended the event and full glasses were raised skyward in a gesture and the kind of salute he’d appreciate.
There was a nice atmosphere on the street here on Saturday as the busking competition played its way through the afternoon.
Memorial Perpetual Cup
On Saturday evening at Browne’s Bar, Conor Daly was named as the winner of the Mike Kenny Memorial Perpetual Cup – an award for an emerging, young musician.
The young Rockchapel fiddle player is fully appreciative of the magnitude of the award as he awaits his Leaving Certificate results this week.
On Days We Went Rambling
It was one of Conor’s regular playing partners, Maura O’Connor, the Abbeyfeale concertina player who won the cup in 2016.
Now in its second year, and organised by publican Peter Browne and Ted Kenny – a cousin of Mike’s – it is likely that the event will be expanded to take in events in all quarters of the town next and following years.
That’s something the gregarious man himself did on the days we went rambling and it’s a move he would certainly approve of.
You can contact The Maine Valley Post on… Anyone in The Maine Valley Post catchment area who would like to send us news and captioned photographs for inclusion can send them to: jreidy@mainevalleypost.com Queries about advertising and any other matters regarding The Maine Valley Post can also be sent to that address or just ring: 087 23 59 467. Please Note: A click on any of our adverts will reveal all you need to know about what our advertisers need to tell you.
Copyright Notice: The images and text which appear on The Maine Valley Post site remain the exclusive property of John Reidy, (unless stated otherwise) and are protected under International Copyright laws. Images or text may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without the written permission of the author, John Reidy, in this instance. Use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept or illustration (digital, artist rendering or alike) is a violation of International Copyright laws. All images are copyrighted © by John Reidy 2017 087 23 59 467.
