Since Noel O’Donoghue first picked up a flute in the 1970s, he has been an advocate for the music of Clare and the North Clare tradition in particular.
Whether performing in groups such as Moher and the Gold Ring Céilí Band, or in informal sessions around the county, he has always brought his own style and the blás of Kilfenora and North Clare with him.
Next Wednesday, Noel will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Corofin Traditional Music Festival.
It is something that he could never have imagined when he began his musical journey under the guidance of Tony Linnane in Kilnaboy School some 50 years ago.
“I was always very interested in music, right from a young age. My uncle played the flute, but I never knew him because he died young, when he was only 23 years old. But maybe it was that, that put the flute in my head, I don’t know,” said Noel.
“But I was always interested in music going back along. My first music teacher was Tony Linnane who was teaching down in Kilnaboy School back in the mid-1970s. After that Gus Tierney started teaching music in Kilfenora School back in 1978 or 1979 and I went to him for a couple of years, and that was that.
“I would have played a lot around Doolin as well, with Micho Russell and Gussie [Russell] and with Willie Shannon. The only one of the Russell’s that I didn’t know was Packie, because I was only about 10 when he died.
“There were an awful lot of older musicians in Doolin around that time, in the 1980s, when I started playing. There was an awful lot of musicians around this area [Kilfenora] when I started playing as well. The likes of Pappy Dooley, Gerry McMahon, John Collins, Michael O’Donoghue, JJ Conway, there was an awful lot of them. They are only the ones that I can remember but there were older ones before that who would have learned a lot of the music passed down by the other musicians over the years.
“You’d always be learning something. When you are playing with different musicians you’d always be hearing something new and trying to bring something new to it.”
Noel will be well known to many from his time playing with the Gold Ring Céilí Band. Formed in 1989, the band included the likes of Michael Queally, John Rynne, Tola Custy, the late Oliver Skerrett, Mick Gainer and Sean O’Dwyer.
“There were six or seven of us involved in that band. We had a great time of it, we went all over Ireland. I’d say we went to nearly every county in Ireland playing céilís in the 1980s and early 1990s,” said Noel.
“It was a great time, I wouldn’t have seen a lot of the country only for the music.”
After the Gold Ring, Noel and Michael Queally went on to form the trad group Moher along with John Moloney, the late Liam Murphy, Pat Marsh and Paul O’Driscoll.
“Moher was more of a trad group that a céilí band. There was six of us involved in that, mainly from Ennis but from the surrounding [North Clare] area as well,” said Noel.
“Moher did a lot, we ended up having a few tours of England and a few other trips as well. We had a smaller group, Michael Queally, Cyril O’Donoghue and myself, and that group went to America, we played in Italy and Spain and in Brussels. We did an awful lot of touring around Ireland with Moher as well.”
Noel is a big fan of the Corofin Traditional Music Festival and the work of both Padraic and Damien O’Reilly. Being involved in the Kilfenora Traditional Music Festival himself, he knowns that there is a lot involved in making a festival a success.
He was both shocked and honoured to learn that he was to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s festival.
“When I heard from the lads, I thought I was getting the young musician of the year award,” he said. “It’s great, it was a fair shock when I heard and it hasn’t suck in fully yet. It wont sink in until about 10 minutes after the night finishes.
“I really do have to thank all the musicians that I have played with down along the years and the musicians that I am still playing with. There are people there that I have been friends with going right back to the 1970s and I’m still playing with them. We go out and we enjoy ourselves and that’s the main thing. You can’t ask for anything more.
“Corofin is a great festival and a lot of hard work goes into it by both Padraic and Damien. I am involved in the festival in Kilfenora [The Kilfenora Traditional Music Festival] and I know the hard work that goes into organising something like that.
“To be honest, I hope that Padraic and Damien are appreciated for all the hard work that they do. It is one of the greatest festivals around. It is always the second big festival of the year after the Russell Festival in Doolin. So people tend to go straight from Russell to Corofin and it’s great to have them at this time of the year especially.
“I think the smaller areas, like Corofin and Kilfenora, have to work very hard to keep their festivals going and they do a great job of it.”
Noel is also keenly aware of the importance of local businesses and the pub trade in particular for helping to keep traditional music, and music festivals in particular, alive.
“The pubs are a very important part of traditional music. Without the pubs, you can’t have a festival. No matter what music you have around, unless you have the pubs, you won’t have a festival,” he said.
The Corofin Traditional Music Festival will begin next Wednesday, February 28, at 8pm in the Teach Ceoil with a night of music to honour Noel O’Donoghue. The event is free and all are welcome.
Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and blogger who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.