The final Handed Down session of the current series will take place at Scartaglin Heritage Centre on the coming Saturday, April 21st. at 8pm sharp.
“On the night, Bryan O’Leary will welcome special guest Billy Clifford to Scartaglin and we will hear about the legacy of music he inherited from his mother Julia, father John and his uncle the great Denis Murphy,” said series co-founder, PJ Teahan.
Young Musicians
Guest musicians on the night include: Aidan Coffey ex De Danann and Eoin Ó Riabhaigh ex Stokers Lodge.
“Our singer is Nora Rice from Camp and we have young musician Kirill Healy from Kilcummin and Templeglantine sisters, Emma and Marie Flynn.
“This is our last fundraiser before World Fiddle Day on Saturday, May 19th.,” said PJ.
This is Bryan O’Leary’s second time coming face to face with a figure so immersed in the life, lore, and music of Sliabh Luachra.
Expectations High
He did a great job on Jimmy Doyle on the same stage just over a year ago and expectations are high for this Saturday night’s explorative chat with one of the gentlemen of the genre and style.
Three instruments with great histories and one of them with a near incredible story will be on display and will be played in the course of the night.
Two of them certainly played together many times before: Johnny O’Leary’s accordion and Denis Murphy’s fiddle will sound together again in Scartaglin for the first time in God knows how many years.
Playing Together
Denis and Johnny had been playing at Dan O’Connell’s Bar in Knocknagree on the night in 1974 when Denis died at home shortly after they parted.
And the instrument with the story: A fine set of pipes belonging to the famous music collector, musician and Ventry native, Church of Ireland, Canon James Goodman was buried with him at his request in 1896.
Go to Waste
Feeling it was a shame that such a fine instrument would go to waste in a grave, a good friend of his dug him up and removed the pipes and eventually passed them on to a man who spoke to the late Bill O’Herlihy on Frank Hall’s ‘Newsbeat’ on RTÉ in 1966.
PJ Teahan sent the link below through which you can learn all about the pipes before hearing and seeing them in Scartaglin on Saturday night.
Start at 8pm Sharp
It is customary that the Handed Down sessions start at 8pm and this Saturday night will be no exception. admission; adults €8 and children U-12 €3.
http://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/0329/778019-taylor-uileann-pipes
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