Clare fiddle players in competition final

TWO young Clare fiddle players were among the finalists in the inaugural year of a competition in the name of Seán Ó Riada, which was contested in a concert in Cork on Friday night.

Ennis girl Méadhbh Boyd and Tara Breen from Ruan were shortlisted from more than 60 international fiddlers to a group of 15, who competed for the Seán Ó Riada gold medal, initiated by the musician/composer’s son, Peadar Ó Riada, on his Raidió na Gaeltachta programme Cuireadh Chun Ceoil last autumn. The concert was broadcast live on Raidió na Gaeltachta on Friday night.
Dublin fiddler Aoife Ní Bhriain was the outright winner of the award, winning a specially designed gold medal, Bonn Óir Sheáin Uí Riada, and €5,000 in prize money. The competition was judged by an expert panel of musicians, including Clare’s own Martin Hayes, live from New York on video link, as well Seán Keane of The Chieftains and Liam O’Connor, TG4 Young Musician of the Year 2002, who were all present at the concert in Cork.
The winner is the daughter of piper Mick O’Brien and Fidelma, a music teacher, who is also an accomplished fiddler. Aoife, who celebrated her 20th birthday three days ago, began learning classical violin at the age of two and never formally learned traditional fiddle but picked it up naturally from the music she heard played at home.
Speaking after her win, Aoife said she was absolutely over the moon and still shocked that she had won. She is currently studying for a BA in Performance and Musical Arts in Leipzig, Germany, and will return there this week.
More than 60 entrants including musicians from France, Canada, Russia, Australia, USA, Ireland and the UK competed for the coveted award. The 15 finalists for the award were Tara Breen, Méadhbh Boyd, Aoife Ní Bhriain, Ivan Roberts (Sydney), Micheál Cherry (Dublin), Claire Egan (London), Devin Sheperd (Chicago), Rebecca McCarthy-Kent, (Waterford), Armand Aromin (West Warwick, USA), Aidan Connolly (Dublin), Heather Mullen (Chicago), Mairéad Hickey (Cork), Melanie Houton (Donegal), David Doocey (Mayo) and Martin Dowling, (Belfast).
Ahead of the competition on Friday, Méadhbh said she was privileged to have been shortlisted for the award. “I haven’t participated in any competitions for a number of years but this was one which really got my name, given that it’s affiliated to Seán Ó Riada. This award felt different to me. Seán Ó Riada was a visionary. What he did for Irish traditional music was that he changed how people regarded it in the way he presented and interpreted it.
“He was a pioneer in how Irish music was staged. I draw a lot of inspiration from his musical life, particularly from Mise Éire. I feel that this award scheme further enhances his legacy. As a traditional Irish fiddler, I’m happy to align myself to this award.
“I’m absolutely chuffed to be in the top 15 for this award and for me it’s very reassuring to have made the shortlist, chosen by an expert panel of judges. As a musician, it’s a wonderful boost because it means I’m doing something right. I’m not worried about winning the award, just to be involved at his level of the competition is a huge honour for me,” she commented.
Twenty-four-year-old Méadhbh is the daughter of well-known Clare musician Geraldine Cotter, who has released a number of tin-whistle tutor books, and guitar and banjo player John Boyd. She started playing music at the age of four, firstly learning piano with her grandmother, Dympna, and soon afterwards taking up the Suzuki method of learning the violin from her uncle, Vincent McMahon.
“I grew up in a very musical household and there were and still are musicians in my family, so I couldn’t avoid it really. I loved it from a very early age and it is the single biggest part of my life and has opened many doors and given me many opportunities in life so far,” Méadhbh said.
She quickly progressed through all of the grades in music, which gave her classical training in her chosen instruments. At the same time, she was playing traditional fiddle and was learning tunes and styles by “osmosis” mainly. “Traditional music was all around me and I was very much immersed in it and enjoyed playing it too,” she added.
She competed and was very successful in Fleadh Ceoil and feiseanna at all age levels, both individually, in duos (with Edel Fox), in trios (with Edel Fox and Caitriona Moloney) and grúpaí ceoil and bannaí céilí. “The interesting thing about my musical life is that many of the people I met with as a child at competitions, I still have relationships with a lot of them now, both Clare musicians and otherwise. Traditional music is fantastic for networking and many of us have kept the connections going,” Méadhbh added.
These days, she continues to attend festivals in Clare and further afield and has taught master classes at a number of them. She also teaches fiddle, piano and music theory with Deirdre O’Brien Vaughan’s Irish Traditional Music Institute in Newmarket-on-Fergus. She recently completed a Masters in Ethno Musicology in University College Cork.
Méadhbh has also done some composition work over the years, mainly contemporary classical music, and she has also developed a keen interest in songwriting, which she is hoping to develop.
“I’m collaborating with a number of other musicians and preparing sets for a number of different events. I’m also on a recording and a performance with concertina player Jack Talty and double bass and flute player Neil O’Loughlin.
In April, Méadhbh will be presenting a paper on the Sonorous Image and the reconceptualisations of identity in Irish traditional music record covers at the British Forum for Ethnomusicology in Cornwall. “The presentation basically looks at how the sleeves of Irish traditional records over the years have conjured up images of Irish traditional music, particularly looking at how they are packaged for different markets,” she explained.
The other Clare finalist in the competition was Tara Breen, who has become known through her involved with Ciorrus, the traditional Irish group formed by Donal Lunny on TG4’s Lorg Lunny last year. Tara too was hugely honoured to have made the shortlist in the competition.
“Seán Ó Riada was a huge name in Irish music and this was a competition which certainly caught my attention. I was very surprised to be among the top 15 and I honestly don’t expect to win the award, so I’m really honoured to have made the shortlist. It is a great opportunity for me and I see it as a platform for new possibilities and it really isn’t about winning at all. I know there are a number of great musicians among the finalists and it’s a big deal for me to be on the stage with them,” she said before the final on Friday night.
Tara took classical music classes from the age of six. “I began playing the flute at the age of six and took up the fiddle the following year. My family is also very musical. My brothers play the box, the flute and pipes and my father, Martin, is a banjo and piano player,” she said.
Tara still plays the fiddle and the flute, as well as the piano but traditional fiddle is her main instrument. “Music is everything to me really. I’ve been involved in it all my life and have no intention of stopping. Almost everyone I know, I know them through music.”
She is a third-year music student in UCC but on the side is busy playing with Ciorrus. “We played in Gweedore on New Year’s Eve and we’ll be playing at the Temple Bar Music Festival at the end of January and at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow the following weekend. Right after that, we’ll be playing at the UCC Trad Fest,” Tara remarked.
She is also involved in a number of different bands and is the fiddler with Irish dance show Ragús, which has taken her to Los Angeles and France in the past two years. Tara also occasionally plays with the Kilfenora Céilí Band.