Trad music impresario and broadcaster Kieran Hanrahan took one look around at the sea of faces and forest of banjos behind him and declared, ‘I hope we don’t have to pay the band”.
This big banjo bash, as it was billed, was bigger than anybody had expected. The 150 seats in Dominic Square in central Mullingar were taken, banjo players either stood at the back or the younger ones sat in front.
The bash was organised in honour of Noel Kilkenny, a well-known Mayo banjo player and tutor, who died last December and his widow Sonya accepted a commemorative medal from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann director general Dr Labhrá Ó'Murchú.
It has been the highlight to date of this year’s Fleadh Cheoil na h-Éireann in Mullingar surpassing even last year’s weeklong festival which organisers claim attracted 500,000 visitors to the midlands town. Mullingar is the home of the Fleadh Cheoil and hosted the first one in 1951.
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Fleadh chairman Joe Connaire, a banjo teacher and player, said he is revising his expectations upwards to 600,000 people who will attend between now and the end of the festival next Monday. “All you have to do is look around you. The crowds are up 50 per cent on last year and last year’s was a big Fleadh. We have left no stone unturned in this.
“I hope there is enough room in the town for all the people who are going to come here in the next few days.”
The town has been hanging out its brightest colours. Though rain clouds hung overhead, it stayed dry for the big bash. The Joe Dolan statue in the centre of the town is the locus of many performances. Every street corner has a busker or buskers, often families who play together and stay together.
Nine first cousins aged from eight to 15 gathered outside one shop among them three of Michelle Cleary’s children. It’s a family event. She and two of her siblings are camping locally. “In my family there are eight siblings and we all play music. We are passing it on to the next generation,” Ms Cleary explained.
Marcel Sim busked on his own and played a few Irish tunes on the fiddle. Singapore-born, but living in Detroit he flew into Dublin last week to participate in the Fleadh. He knew nothing about Irish music or dance until he saw Celtic Women in 2007 in the United States and was hooked straight away.
“I played classical music from the age of five. After I discovered Celtic Women, I switched. I love Irish music. Everything is so creative and fluid, so different to classical music.”
The overseas reception on Thursday night featured dancers from Japan and Singapore, Ukrainian singers and Argentina outside all the performers from traditional Irish diaspora locations which are well-represented this year as they always are.
At Shaws Hardware store the members of the Liverpool Céili Band took several takes for Fleadh TV to record the Dingle Regatta, a song which involves leaping from the chair while playing the tune.
The Liverpool Céili Band became the first overseas band to win the Fleadh Cheoil, which they did in 1963, a year when a certain other band from Liverpool took the world by storm.
The Liverpool Céili Band won again in 1964 much to the enduring pride of the diaspora for whom the transmission of Irish music through the generations is a critical marker of ancestral pride.
Anita Broderick is carrying on the family tradition. Her father played with the original Liverpool Céili Band. It toured the world bringing a fresh perspective on Irish music. She said many other people associated with the band would have like to come and would have been there but for a family wedding.
Musician Seamus McMahon said the Fleadh is a “must attend” for people like himself. “The competitions are fiercely competitive. The standard of music is phenomenal at the moment.”
