Luke Kelly epitomised the ‘heart and soul of Ireland’, Dublin festival hears

Luke Kelly epitomised the “heart and soul of Ireland” and had a “powerful influence” over how the country evolved in the 1960s, crowds at the first ever festival in honour of the late musician were told.

The Dublin City Council Luke Kelly Festival was held in Dublin’s Smithfield Square on Sunday and included a mixture of discussions with his older brother Paddy, Kelly’s niece Paula McCann, biographer and friend Des Geraghty and was chaired by writer Dermot Bolger.

Kelly was one of the founding members of the folk band The Dubliners which included Ronnie Drew, Barney McKenna and Ciarán Bourke in 1962 followed closely by John Sheahan and Jim McCann.

Damien Dempsey and former Dubliners member Sean Cannon sang some old favourites from The Dubliner’s back catalogue. There were crafts, workshops and talks about Kelly’s love of football with hundreds of people of all ages in attendance.

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Paddy, older than Luke by three years, travelled from Coventry in the UK to honour his brother and the legacy he has left.

The 86-year-old said it was, “always a mystery to him” how his brother actually started in music professionally despite having grown up in a family where singing and dancing was very much part of their lives in Seville Place along Sheriff Street in inner city Dublin.

But he explained that his younger brother Luke moved to the UK, as he was living in Leeds, in his late teens, as Paddy was “about to marry”. Luke worked at numerous jobs in London, Leeds and Birmingham while honing his skills at banjo playing and singing with others such as folk singers Ewan MacColl and Peter Sayers.

“Luke was my best man and after that I lost contact with him for about 12 months. I was working, had a house and had to pay the mortgage. Luke was travelling around so much but we knew he was getting involved with folk music especially from singers in London and learned a lot of songs from those lads.”

Paddy revealed that on a visit home in the early 1960s is when he first realised what an influence his brother was having in Dublin and Ireland.

“We were home on a visit to Dublin about two years later just before 1962 and there was a concert in The Gate Theatre ... The Dubliners featuring Luke Kelly. Featuring Luke Kelly, I thought, my goodness. So I had never heard him singing on stage in my life.

“So obviously we went to the concert and really and truly he blew my head off. I could not believe what I was watching. He was singing songs that I never heard before and singing them well and singing them loud. I just thought where in God’s name did he get all that music and talent plucking away on a banjo. For me that was the beginning of Luke’s career and obviously the story is still going.”

Paddy sang a rousing rendition of Red Haired Minstrel Boy, at the end of the hour-long discussion, adding: “I’m getting emotional now. I never stop thinking about poor Luke. Long may his songs be sung around the country and abroad. He deserves every credit he’s ever had. Luke Kelly was a genius, Luke Kelly was a genius.”

His niece Paula McCann explained that all of Luke’s siblings grew up listening to their father Luke Senior always “singing” to them when he came home from work in Jacobs factory. “Even after they moved from Seville Place to Whitehall the Kelly hooleys, especially on Christmas Day, were legendary.”

Ms McCann pointed out that her uncle always made sure that he never thought of himself as being more than The Dubliners: “He was a member. It was never Luke Kelly and The Dubliners.” She said that her uncle played for Home Farm football club in his early teens alongside well-known former footballer and TV pundit Johnny Giles.

“But he loved every type of sport, cricket and golf. He took up playing golf in the UK but said he couldn’t play it in Ireland as he was afraid people would think he was a snob.”

Des Geraghty added: “He was a type of Frank Sinatra in the UK as he was into Jazz originally. Indeed he said himself he was a fanatic of Sinatra,” explained Mr Geraghty.

“Who could imagine now that a song as innocuous as Seven Drunken Nights was banned by RTÉ yet became a best seller and part of Top of the Pops in the UK and Ireland selling tens of thousands recordings?

“He was the heart and soul of Ireland and he helped to modernise it. He was a pioneer and ploughed his way along. One just has to look at the influence of his music and how the late Sinéad O’Connor was captured by it,” he noted.

Those gathered to hear the discussion heard that Luke’s music “brought a new repertoire of songs to the Irish traditional and folk music scene which greatly expanded its vision and relevance in a society crying out for change. He was part of a social revolution.”

The crowd were told that Kelly was a “quiet and well read man” who gave of his time freely to help Travellers, the unemployed and helped finance the Focus Theatre where renowned Irish actor Gabriel Byrne got one of his first starts in the acting world. The Focus Theatre opened in 1967 and closed its doors permanently in 2012.

The singer, who has two statues erected to him, one in Linear Park, along the north end of upper Sheriff Street designed by sculptor Vera Klute and the John Coll’s on South Kings Street.

Kelly died aged 43 in 1984 after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. He had collapsed during a performance in the Cork Opera House.

Alice Gorman, originally from Dublin but who now lives in Kildare explained that she could not miss the festival. “Luke Kelly, he’s a legend. I’ll spend the day here enjoying the music and entertainment.”