On the other side of the lens

MILTOWN Malbay concertina player Edel Fox has never over-analysed how a traditional music session evolves. The best of them appear to sprout organically but once they’re over, that’s it. There’s no need for a post-mortem. However, Edel has had to be more forensic of late, having eyed a session from behind the camera.
“I’m looking at it as a producer and a director so I’m looking at it much more critically, although I can never remember sitting back after a night in Friel’s or The Blonde’s in  Miltown and critically analysing a session,” she laughed.
Recently, students of the higher diploma in television production at Waterford IT and Nemeton Productions screened their productions to family, friends, industry professionals and media journalists in the SGC cinema, Dungarvan.
One of the programmes screened was a pilot music programme for TG4 directed, produced and presented by Edel, who is now based in Ferrybank, Waterford, where she also teaches traditional music classes. Edel is a former recipient of the TG4 Young Musician of the Year award. Her programme is entitled Croch Suas É and features a number of high-profile musicians, including Caoimhín Ó Fearghail, Conal Ó Grada, James Cullinan, Damien O’Reilly, Nell Ní Chrónín and Dave Sheridan.
A UL graduate of the BA in Irish music and dance and MA in music therapy, Edel has spent the past year completing the higher diploma in An Rinn, Waterford. She decided to feature the Corofin Traditional Festival, which takes place in the village every March, in her directorial debut. The festival is well known for its high standard of music sessions featuring musicians from all over the world.
“A great session is as much to do with the people that are there as with the standard of musicianship. It could consist of two or three people, meeting up, with no one else in the bar and just getting a kick out of playing tunes together for the night and swapping new tunes,” Edel replied, when asked what makes a decent session.
“Alternatively, it could be in the middle of a very busy festival. There could be 10 or 12 people involved and it might just happen to work very well together. But it’s as much about the people, as it is about the music,” she reiterated.
Edel has noticed a marked difference in session etiquette in Clare and Waterford. They appear to magically break out in Clare but are a bit more formal in the south-east.
“The situation here is that sessions are not as plentiful as when I lived in Ennis, where there were options every night of the week. You could wander in with your instrument and you’d always be welcome. Although in Waterford, we’ve ended up having some of the most fabulous sessions we’ve ever had. You know exactly who’s going to be there and we’re all great friends.”
Growing up, Edel was glued to Night Hawks on RTÉ 1 and TG4 music programmes including Shebeen, Bringing Down The Lamp and Geantraí which she guest presented in 2010.
“I’ve had some of the best nights of my life, both musically and in general, at sessions. It got me thinking and I was chatting with my dad about coming up with different ideas for my project. My dad said ‘why don’t you just film a good session?” Edel recalled.
“We went to Crowley’s in Corofin. We were trying to have it come across on screen as natural as possible. The standard of music was fantastic and the audience was amazing, so we’re really happy with how it turned out,” she added.
Although a musician to the core, Edel had to approach things from the point of view of a producer and director when filming in Crowley’s.
“When I’m working on a music programme, I understand the behaviour of musicians, what they would and wouldn’t like to see on screen. However, as a producer or a director, you have to be ruthless as well. When you’re shooting, you have to get the musicians to play a number of times and that is difficult. I don’t like doing that; I like playing a set of tunes once. You have to meet it in the middle, understand musicians and find what will make them feel comfortable but you also have to capture as many angles as you can,” the gifted concertina player noted.
Of course, putting a camera in front of even experienced musicians can slightly alter the natural tempo of a session.
“Once cameras and lights are put in front of people, they immediately assume a different sort of behaviour. However, in general, you’re trying to get as much of it to be as natural as is possible. With the editing process, you’re trying to stay as true to the night as possible but it’s never going to be 100% natural and you have to meet broadcasting standards as well.”
Editor Colm Ó Fearghail from Stonyford in Kilkenny worked alongside Edel on the programme.