IrishMusicInfo
The Sunday Tribune Weekly Traditional Music Column by Fintan Vallely
990328
Lannigan's Ball. Last week a CCƒ statement urged 'relevant Government departments' to consider the recommendations of the all-party Oireachtas committee's February Report on Traditional Irish Music . It refers to this as "the first major official endorsement of traditional arts". Ethically this seems unsound. For the statement is issued by CCƒ's (waged) DG, Senator Labhr‡s î Murchœ. He it was who wrote the report, and, according to Clement Mac Suibhne, CCƒ's (voluntary, elected) President, was also on the CCƒ delegation of three people which was the only group invited in to make submissions on the issue. Indeed, the Oireachtas committee have effectively put his report on ice following critical objection from the Traditional music sector. The document is considered to be so seriously unrepresentative (risking flawed conclusions) that the body of fourteen TDs and five senators has in fact taken the unprecedented step of calling for further public submissions (closing date 7th April) to attempt to right its omissions. Senator î Murchœ is still a member of this committee, and presumably agrees with the spirit of its conclusion. But does his using the report as a basis for lobbying not laugh in the face of an all-party decision? Such makes it all the more emphatic that this document should be urgently, officially, withdrawn. One of the most interesting books this decade is Nicholas Carolan's meticulous A Harvest Saved, the study on the life to the Cork/Chicago music collector 'Captain' Francis O'Neill. Known mostly for his tune books, O'Neill's however had many lives and faces. Renowned as 'anti-corruption' in his police force, he presided over 3,300 officers of whom the Chicago Citizen newspaper reckoned 2,000 were Irish. Obliged to support his city's employers in explosive action with the many strikes which typified the Chicago of his day (and, no doubt, produced songs) he does however seem to emerge in moments as fair, particularly when in 1902 he controversially ordered the arrest of the Meat Packing Co.'s guards for carrying concealed weapons. He is reported here as having a cross-class decency and charisma, and if eventually a propertied man of wealth, it is the disposition this in the publication of Irish music which is his legacy. We do not know how much his books actually cost, or in what numbers printed, but Carolan imparts with intelligent deduction their cultural impact. For O'Neill's work motivated several generations of Irish music exiles in Chicago, broke down the barrier of music literacy, and preserved for future consideration hundreds of tunes which undoubtedly would have been trampled in their day. Like Coleman and other recording stars, his work had huge practical and psychological impact in Ireland too, the effects of which can be observed not just in present-day collections, but in the fact of music revival and popularity. Beautifully presented with scores of rare period illustrations, for £10 this is a gem.
©Fintan Vallely, IrishMusicInfo.com
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