Musicians feature on new radio programme

A NEW RTÉ radio series is showcasing the traditional music of North and West Clare through the stories of three talented musicians. They’re Not All Gone is airing on RTÉ Choice, one of RTÉ radio’s eight digital radio services, in a three-part documentary series, which began last week.

The series tells the story of three traditional musicians from Clare, who are breathing new life into old tunes by passing their knowledge and tales on to a younger generation of traditional music enthusiasts.
The first in the series was aired last Thursday and featured 88-year-old Mary Ellen Curtin, who lives in Doolin. On her 80th birthday, she received a gift of a concertina player. Undeterred by the fact that she hadn’t played since her last instrument broke over 50 years previously, Mary Ellen found that the old tune flowed back. With renewed vigour in her fingers, she now teaches her 18-year-old neighbour the songs that she learned as a child.
Master flute player Des Mulkere from Crusheen features on this week’s programme. Des, who is in his 60s, punctuates his trad sessions with yarns and tales like the one about the time American neighbours woke his friend Joe Cooley in the middle of the night to ask him to play for them or the time his grandfather taught Lady Gregory how to speak Irish or the one about the woman whose husband was run over by a steamroller.
Like Mary, Tommy Browne from Cree, near Kilrush, is a dab hand on the concertina. He also sings and his 75 years have yet to deter him from dancing. Until he retired as a farmer, the cows heard more of his music than people did.
Now, though, young music enthusiasts ferry him around from festival to session. One of these enthusiasts is music teacher Suzanne Leahy. A network engineer by day but also a dance teacher, Suzanne spends her evenings lying on Tommy’s floor, filming his footsteps in an attempt to unravel their intricacies.
The series is produced by well-known Clare woman Paula Carroll. The Scariff woman is an award-winning independent producer of documentaries and features for both local and national radio.
RTÉ Choice is available to listen to online, on digital radio and on UPC channel 941. They’re Not All Gone airs on Thursdays at 4pm. If you missed any of the episodes, you can listen to them again on www.rte.ie/choice