A major musical event in Dublin will celebrate the life of folk hero John Breen, writes Siobhán Long.
Benefactor or Renaissance man? Impresario or plain lover of music? The late John Breen was many things to many people. He was a singer, an accomplished dancer, a lover of literature, a fine golfer and a man with an unquenchable lust for life. He packed enough into his six short decades of living to fuel a handful of existences, turning his attentions from championship Irish dancing to membership of The Raparees band (with his brother Noel), forging a path into the then-uncharted waters of music promotion with the Harcourt Sessions, the Lisdoonvarna Folk Festival and the revivified Sunday night folk club in Slattery's of Capel Street.
Then there was his appetite for scholarship and his penchant for acting. John studied English Literature and History in Trinity and worked as an assistant director in Ardmore Studios. And somehow, he found time to manage a pub in Ennis which proved to be a magnetic attraction for any musician within whistling distance of Clare. Breen was a man who left his mark on musicians and music lovers all over the country.
"He gave me my first gig when I came to Dublin," recalls Gerry "Banjo" O'Connor, recounting his greenhorn days in Dublin, after he left his home place of Tipperary. "He revived the Dublin Folk Festival, took it out of the pub environment and put it into the National Concert Hall. And it was John who brought Emmylou Harris, Martin Carthy, Jackson Browne, Linda and Richard Thompson and John Renbourn to Lisdoonvarna too. He wasn't judgmental about music. He loved it in its entirety."
Johnny Moynihan, bouzouki player, founder-member of Sweeney's Men and veteran of De Danann, had cause to encounter Breen on a regular basis.
"John was someone who seemed to be around forever," he recalls. "He was one of life's great enthusiasts, with a great, humorous slant on life. From an early stage, he revealed his talent for organising - and there wasn't too much of that around back in the 60s and 70s. I benefited from his advice on several occasions: on the matter of the sort of music I was playing and with whom."
Breen's uncanny ability to marry so many of life's diverse pursuits is still a matter of some envy among his friends. He was a multi-tasker par excellence, before anyone even conceived of the notion.
"John never liked to be too far away from a golf course," Moynihan notes, "and he organised outings which combined the playing of traditional music and golf - not at the same time, mind you!"
Breen quietly nurtured the seamless melding of music and life in general, and Moynihan was just one of the many musicians who benefited from his generosity of spirit.
"His finest hour, for me, was when he was managing a pub in Ennis," Moynihan recounts. "I remember calling there during the Fleadh Nua in '76, and John had made an upstairs room available for a lie-down to any musicians who played in the pub. This meant that musicians could peel themselves away from a session in the pub, but the session kept going for at least 36 hours in the room upstairs. Some people would leave and others would join. I thought that was a wonderful thing."
ABOVE ALL, IT was John Breen's boundless love of humanity that lured him in so many directions, all of which strengthened his connections with and his love for Irish culture, says Gerry O'Connor. "He was a benefactor of Irish culture in all its forms, and that didn't exclude Irish schools, the written word, poetry, sean nós and ballad singing. John loved them all."
Philip King, MC for Vicar St Spraoí and a member of Scullion, recalls Breen in all his visceral energy, enmeshed in the Dublin music scene of the 1970s.
"I remember his presence," King recounts with his customary gusto. "He was the man with the cap and the moustache and the white Afghan coat. He was always an enthuser and an advocate for folk music. He reached out to the music community like nobody else.
"And, on the odd occasion, he was induced to sing himself. He was a 'fear fíor tradisiúnta'. He was larger than life, a great personality, and someone who made a very valuable contribution to the world of traditional music, in the broadest sense."
Breen's activities were fuelled by passion, plain and simple, and not for monetary gain, which is an increasingly rare phenomenon, King suggests. "Voluntarism is almost a dirty word these days," he says. "Everybody's on the clock. John Breen always had plenty of time. He was redolent of that Ireland when people had time to sit and talk, and swap a yarn and have a pint, and not be too vexed by the clock. A lot of great Irish music flourished in that atmosphere. Personally, I miss him greatly."
Vicar Spraoí, a tribute concert to John Breen on the occasion of the first anniversary of his death, and a fundraiser in aid of Ranelagh's Gaelscoil Lios Na NÓg takes place tomorrow at 8pm in Vicar Street, Dublin. Guests include Liam Ó Maonlaí, Scullion, Johnny Moynihan, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and Macalla, with MC Philip King. Tickets €22. Tel: 0818-719300