Of course Sligo was making its own reputation long before most counties ever dreamt of the part music might play in export values or emigrant ships. Stop any musician from Tubbercurry to Tribeca and they ll gladly share a Michael Coleman or a James Morrison tune. Chance upon the company of Dervish, Sligo s present-day ambassadorial septet, and you ll be bound to encounter another Coleman/Morrison tale or three.
But as well as a thriving traditional heritage, Sligo is currently basking in the glory of a burgeoning rock n pop scene, with a substantial fine jazz presence to be found in the town too. Westlife may be Sligo s latest pop sensation, but they re only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to music for the third millennium.
First things first though. Michael Coleman and James Morrison were the real scene-stealers in the early 1900 s. Coleman was born in Knockraine, outside Killavil where, according to local flautist, Seamus Tansey, he learned the up-bow and down bow treble from his first fiddle teacher, Philip O Beirne. Tansey claims that it was this unusual method of playing that brought Coleman s playing to wide attention when he emigrated to New York in 1914. In fact such was his notoriety as a player of matchless skill, that Tansey compares his influence on traditional music to that of Elvis on rock n roll. Coleman s first instrument was a homemade fiddle, made from blackthorn, ash and bog oak, proof, if it were needed, that he didn t need a Stradivarius to shine.
James Morrison, Sligo s other treasured export, was born in 1893 in Drumfinn, outside Riverstown. Both he and Coleman were taught dancing by Morrison s uncle, Charlie Dolan before Coleman s departure for New York in 1914. Nicknamed The Professor , Morrison adopted a scholarly approach to the music. His musical alacrity was underscored by the fact that he had to re-learn the fiddle, playing it with his left hand, after a domestic incident in which his wife clobbered him over the right hand with a hot poker. Morrison turned the catastrophe into nothing more than a hiccup, and went on to garner as wide and faithful a following as his musical rival and close personal friend, Micheal Coleman.
Paddy Killoran, from Lisananny, outside Ballymoate occupies the third position in the triumvirate of exceptional Sligo musicians. Also a fiddler, Killoran had attached to him an air of romance, operating a speakeasy in the Bronx, and later a music shop. Killoran returned to tour Ireland in 1932 with his Pride of Erin Orchestra, essentially the precursor to the ciilm bands which came later.
Wayward tales and scials of some 44 of Sligo s finest traditional musicians can be found in last year s Bardic Apostles Of Inisfree by Seamus Tansey. Sponsored by Michael Flatley, it s a publication that pulls no punches, unapologetically aligning the traditional music with the political developments of the early and middle parts of the 20th century. Tansey, revered flautist in his own right, and spirited nationalist, tells it like he sees it. For anyone with a particular gra for Sligo music, his book (the first of three chronicling some 150 local musicians) is a must.
The annual Morrison Festival in Riverstown is a reliable thermometer reading of the fiddler s ongoing popularity among contemporary traditional musicians and fans alike. Martin Enright, one of the festival organisers, speaks volubly of the impact of Morrison s music.
It s a way of celebrating his music, Enright offers, and it attracts a plethora of musicians to Riverstown. This is a village of just 4 pubs, an elongated crossroads really, so we re happy enough to keep the festival at a manageable size. People who come stay in local houses, and the concerts are held in the local community hall, schoolrooms and pubs.
Enright reminds us that the great Dublin piper, Leo Rowsome died while adjudicating at the Fiddler of Dooney competition in Riverstown in 1996. After that, the competition lost its momentum, and despite a revival in 1998, it was again discontinued in 1999.
Additional Sligo players of note include: Andy McGann, Roger Sherlock (alternatively known as The Roger in true Ivana Trump style), Alan Ladd O Bierne, John Joe Gardiner, and Kathleen Harrington (late of the Kincora Ceili Band).
The county s traditional lineage is unquestionably vast, and it s a torch that s ably carried these days by Dervish. With a rake of albums under their collective belt and a gabhail of musicians (four of them from Sligo), the band have always championed the music of Coleman country, and now with their lease of Furey s Pub in Sligo town, they re lending a further hand to cradling the local music scene.
Lead singer (and Roscommon woman) Cathy Jordan is quick to put a finger on what attracted her to the county.
I always loved Sligo, she says, and I knew it well from coming to visit my sister who was in college here. I used to visit the town a lot back in the early 80s, and back then there were a load of bands like Those Nervous Animals and Hennigan s Blues Band, and Peel The Grape playing. At that stage, traditional music was seen as diddlyeye music. And the funny thing is that now there s been a complete turnaround: rock music is taking a back seat and trad is huge here.
Seamie O Dowd, one of Dervish s latest additions, is, according to Jordan, a volcano of tunes , learned largely from his father, Joe O Dowd. A multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire (fiddle, harmonica and guitar), O Dowd and the rest of Dervish make sure that they dig up as many Sligo tunes as possible for their live repertoire.
And the music is still travelling as widely as ever. Dervish have always been known as an inveterate touring band, and last year s trip to Bogota, Colombia was another chance to push the outside of the envelope. Visitors there at the behest of one of their fans, they played to over 5,000 people, and came home all the richer for the experience, with a tiple, a native guitar-shaped instrument with what Jordan calls a high jangly sound . The band is already planning a return visit in 2001. Little fear of the music ossifying when it s in the hands of such vibrant musicians.
Mactmre are a younger trad outfit with a moveable membership of Afro Celt proportions. Anchored by Ray Coen and Rodney Lancashire, they re intent on collecting songs from natural sources and marrying traditional tunes with more contemporary arrangements. Their eponymous debut album contains a dozen highly charged tunes with contributions from a rake of local musicians. Lancashire, from Cootehill, bemoans the shortage of venues in the county.
There are plenty of pubs but few professional venues, he says, so anyone who d open a venue here would definitely make money.
Mactmre s CD was recorded in Sligo town, in Spiral Studios, and released at the end of last month. It was an experience like no other, according to Lancashire.
The day we got all the equipment together was also the day that a building site took off next door, he laughs. So there were kango hammers and drills going all day. That meant that we had to work solely at night, so for 6 months we nearly drove the neighbours crazy with the noise! Mactmre s website can be located at: http://www.welcome.to/mactmre #
Additional Sligo denizens whom we didn t manage to intercept here in The Great Record include James Blennerhassett, bassist, and Jarlath McTiernan, piper, who s been touring with The Lord of The Dance.
As soon as you venture beyond traditional music in Sligo, you encounter a plethora of locals and blow ins beavering away in back rooms, recording studios and front lounges all over the county.
The magnificently named Deirdre Byron-Smith is a Dubliner who moved to Sligo some 8 years ago, and is a founding member of Cadenza. A harpist and lyricist, Byron-Smith also finds time to run a community arts club, Live and Original in Sligo town on the last Monday of every month. The venue is in the back room of McLynn s Pub, and although still in its early days, it s drawn an eclectic mix of writers, poets and aspiring Don McLeans to its hearth. With support from local established artists such as Pat McCabe, Leland Bardwell and Dermot Healy, Live and Original has already established itself as the key venue for emerging talent in the county.
According to Byron-Smith, the club has gradually adopted a very continental atmosphere and it is not unusual to be entertained by performers from all over the globe on any particular Live and Original show. (Anyone interested in participating in the club can contact Deirdre Byron-Smith at 071 47380).
Byron-Smith s other identity, as founder member of Cadenza has already led her to the production of a debut album, Making Waves, due for release in April. The band regularly tours in Europe and are at present in Switzerland where Deirdre is joined by fellow members, Steve Wickham (ex-Waterboys), Gerry Grennan and Anna Houston, a Swiss-born cellist. All of Cadenza s music is original, and they re solidly establishing themselves as purveyors of contemporary music with finesse in the west and well beyond.
Rock music has a colourful history in Sligo. Back in the early 80 s Sligo s favourite sons were Those Nervous Animals, a band that achieved quite considerable acclaim with their quirky, offbeat 3-minute gems. Managed by Bill Whelan, My Friend John was probably their best-known single. We managed to track down founder member, Padraic Meehan, who still has fond memories of those days, despite the fact that the band never managed to produce an album during the course of their long years together.
We did some serious growing up in that band, Meehan declares. Although in 1988 we were sent off by Bill (Whelan) to Nicky Ryan (later to become Enya s guru), to produce an album, we found it difficult to strike a balance between countryman suspicion and total abandonment to trust people whom we encountered in the music business.
Meehan cites the band s series of gigs in The Baggot Inn as one of the big highlights, as well as their memorable performance at Self Aid. Although Those Nervous Animals did manage to release a CD length Rocket Ship, it was essentially a collection of recorded outtakes and singles, rather than a coherent album.
Since then, Meehan went on to form No Liberace with Susan Rowland and Eddie Lee, (Those Nervous Animals bassist) and later The Good Zoo, which continues to enjoy a half-life, or sporadic existence. Meehan casts a calculated glance back over the Animals heyday, and captures the madness and magic of it perfectly:
There was something great and something absolutely awful about the music of the 80 s, he says, blithely. Trevor Horn didn t do any of us any favours, but there were some great songs written back then too.
The aforementioned Eddie Lee casts an ironic glance over his years on the road with The Animals.
We had a colourful history, he avers. We were one of the few pop stars to come out of Sligo before Westlife. And even though we were together for a long time, we always felt there was a glimmer of hope that fame and fortune would come our way.
Now back living in Sligo, Lee moved to Dublin for a number of years, and to his consternation, found that the session music scene wasn t as easy to join as he had anticipated.
When I moved to Dublin I discovered, much to my horror, that I couldn t play the bass very well, he explains. I was locked into my own style so I had to unlearn that, and learn the full range of what the bass was capable of. After that, though, I ended up playing with Stockton s Wing, Dolores Keane, Frances Black, The Pale, Katell Keineg, and Nine Wassies From Bainne, who made one of the greatest albums of all time called Ciddy Hall.
These days Lee holds court in a jazz session on a Sunday in The Garavogue from 5-7pm, and on Monday s in Carr s pub. He s also a member of The Cafi Orchestra, which sees him on the road more than off it.
There s a plethora of live bands plotting and planning for the big time these days. Petronella, a three-piece fronted by Toddy Callaghan are an outfit with their sights set on the bright lights if their single, Drowning is anything to go by. Named after a Swedish dance, a Scottish dance and a local girl one of them fancied (take your pick), Petronella purvey a self-described cheeky cocktail of sweaty rock n roll , and to prove it, they ve already garnered a Millennium Rock 2000 accolade.
According to the ever-self-effacing Callaghan, Petronella are a living, breathing, throbbing entity. A thunderous rhythm section provides the equivalent of the heart, lungs, and skeleton, while the evocative guitar and vocals flesh out the rest of the being. This is alive not synthetic!
For an even more technicolour spin on the band, check out their website at: http://www.petronella.webjump.com #
Fiction are another four piece with an eye on the great elusive rock n roll prize. Fronted by Carthage Carroll, the band released their debut single, A Test Of Time last year which charted in its first week. The band has taken the indie route as far as possible, making their own video and garnering considerable media attention in the process. Their second single, Plastic Pop (no prizes for guessing its subject matter) is due for release in May, and meanwhile the band are busily securing a management deal which will take them to the UK/USA markets.
Redrum are another Sligo band with attitude. Consisting of Keith, Ronan and Fergal Mulligan, along with bassist David Mullen, they ve recently recorded a demo in Dublin and are hell-bent on causing a riot wherever they go. One of the band s claims to fame is that they are the proud owners of a guitar once possessed by none other than John McEnroe. Keith is quick to add credence to their claims to being riot boys:
There was a mini riot at the end of our gigs in which seven people were arrested. Ironically enough, the song we were playing at the time was Killing in the Name by Rage Against The Machine and the chorus goes: Fuck you I won t do what you tell me . Our first taste of revolution!
Sligo s also jumped on the pop band phenomenon with a twist of late. Ladies First are an all girl trio, who in keeping with all other boy/girl bands, have a penchant for first names only. Tara, Aisling and Trisha are currently basking in the glory of their first live gig in the Hawk s Well Theatre. This month they plan to work with James Blennerhassett in his own studios to produce a four track CD. At Easter they will travel to France to partake in a festival where they will headline at least three shows. Later this year they hope to tour nationally.
Not content to let bands and musicians ferret away in isolation, praying for the big break, Sligo distinguishes itself by its exceedingly healthy attitude towards nurturing musicians locally. George Gorman is a project worker on St. Ann s Music Skills Department which is a project part-funded by the Peace and Reconciliation fund, where classes are taught in dance, and in all instruments, as well as in recording. Westlife launched their first single there, and the youth centre s facilities are a boon to people across the entire North West.
The centre takes in over 100 applications a day, and employs 10 teachers. It s a thriving and vibrant addition to the music scene in the county.
George Gorman is also a songwriter. His song, Shine , sung by Lisa Stanley, came third in this year s National Song contest.
Kevin Conlon runs the Rainbow Recording Studios in Collooney. It s a 24 track digital studio which has recently tapped a niche market in dance production. A long-time musician himself (playing guitar, banjo and a plethora of other instruments), Conlon reports that recording has become a very competitive business, with so many home production studios springing up all over the county. Rainbow Studios was officially opened before Christmas, and is making its mark quietly in the music scene.
With pop, rock, jazz and trad thriving in the county, there s still plenty of room for classical music. Con Brio is a voluntary group of musical enthusiasts who promote concerts and recitals of classical music in Sligo. John Buckley, one of Con Brio s founders, explains its origins in January 1999:
It all started when we wanted to bring together a recital for Elaine Canning, a local 21-year-old soprano from Rosses Point, and so far we ve organised 12 events in total, including lectures on opera, and trips to the Metropolitan Opera in New York. But our core work is in bringing local and visiting musicians to play in Sligo.
The Vogler Quartet have enjoyed a residency in Sligo which involves both performance and local music education. It s a model of innovation that many other regions are looking on with envy, according to Mary McAuliffe, County Arts Officer.
It s an imaginative collaboration between Sligo County Council, Sligo Corporation, Music Network and the Arts Council, trumpets the press release. Running for a period of three years, the residency is likely to help break down the barriers between professional classical music and local musicians who might otherwise never encounter classical music at such close quarters.
And then there was Westlife with three of the five members from Sligo: Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Shane Phelan, they ve been quick to put their stamp on the band. But their stories can be found all over the press and Internet so best let them tell it themselves. Die-hard fans can find them at their official website:
http://www.westlife.co.uk
With thanks to Orla Hearns of The Sligo Champion who lent her invaluable local knowledge to the research of this article.
Siobhan Long