If Draíocht (magic) could be defined then it isn’t Draíocht anymore – it becomes reality – and they do say that reality is only for those who lack imagination.
Cordal born fiddle player, Paddy Jones dwells on the magic or Draíocht that some people feel while playing or listening to great music.
This is in the course of a video chat and tune with Eoin Stan O’Sullivan, Musician in Residence with Cork, Kerry and Limerick County Councils.
An Expert Insight
Paddy, one of Patrick O’Keeffe’s few surviving pupils, provides an expert insight into what some people find so indefinably moving while listening to music being played by one who loves and understands it.
I was delighted to hear him putting the likes of the simple and simply beautiful, local polka, Mary in the Wood on a pedestal and explaining how ordinary musicians would play it as opposed to its treatment by the likes of Patrick O’Keeffe, Denis Murphy and their very few equals.
Sliabh Luachra Polkas
I met Paddy outside a pub in Miltown Malbay last year and out from the innards of the pub came the Draíocht of a couple of Sliabh Luachra polkas.
As it hit me I said to Paddy: ‘Isn’t it beautiful music all the same.’ Paddy looked at me and I knew straight away that, in another moment of weakness, I had stated the obvious and he replied: ‘Christ of course it is and when it’s played like that,’ he said turning and pointing in the door of the pub.
Mary in the Wood
One night in Brennan’s Bar in Killarney Road, during the late Jackie Dan Jerry O’Connor’s 70th birthday party and a night of great music and merriment, there was an oasis of Draíocht.
At one point Jackie, who brought the Draíocht with him where ever he went, and his sister, Sheila McGovern and his sister-in-law Betty O’Connor played a couple of those polkas. And because they got into such a roll with Mary in the Wood they played it a few times.
You’d want to be an ash-tray not to be moved by the Draíocht they created by their pure, laid back, inherent creativity.
End the Struggle – Dance with Life – It’s Draíocht
Well done Eoin Stan on the creation of the video and to Paddy for being so generous with his take on the music and for being just so himself.
You could read books on the music and plumb the depths in your search for a greater understanding of what happens to us when the music of our area hits us.
Listen to Paddy and you’ll know that there are times when the magic just happens. But it’s all the more special when it’s wrapped in an teanga áitiúl le focal álainn mar, Draíocht.
See the conversation, hear the tunes with a click on the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqoc4Kx6ToY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0VJp9Z5YRmZOnq_yBQaH4HhTl-hru-FEJr-KdRkhpfFJrK9JlEkzKF8j0
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 2019.
