Reeling in the years with Aos Óg

IT’S over 30 years since this group of top traditional musicians played together in Paddy Con’s Hall for the Aos Óg concert. This week, they come together again for a celebrity concert, billed to be the highlight of this year’s Fleadh Nua events.
This year’s concert is a tribute to Brian Prior, who passed away last December. Brian worked for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann as a projects officer since 1998 and was very involved with Fleadh Nua.
The concert line-up includes Kieran and Mike Hanrahan, Paul Roche, Helen Murray, Vincent McMahon, Geraldine and Eamonn Cotter, Mary and Josephine Nugent, Cyril O’Donoghue, Séamus McMahon, Noel Hill, and his daughter, Aisling, Eoin Ó Riabhaigh, Conal Ó Gráda and Colm Murphy.
“Ennis was a hive of traditional music activity in the ’70s, with the result that Fleadh Nua benefited greatly from the sterling efforts of local families – both parents and children – like the Hanrahans, the Murrays, the Roches, the Cotters, the McMahons and the Nugents from Barefield. When Fleadh Nua first came to the town back in 1974, the Aos Óg concert was one of the highlights – as it continues to be to the present day. Consequently, it is our privilege and pleasure to welcome some of these artists back to the fleadh for this year’s celebrity concert,” Rory Casey, PRO of the Fleadh Nua, which is being held in Ennis this week, said.
Well-known banjo player, Kieran Hanrahan from Ennis who presents RTÉ Radio 1’s Céilí House on Saturday nights, is one of the musicians who has fond memories of the Aos Óg concerts in Ennis. He subsequently went on to play with a number of high-profile, popular traditional bands, including Stockton’s Wing, Inchiquin and the Templehouse Céilí Band.
“When I was in my mid-teens, there was a gang of us in Ennis, including my brother Mike, who palled around together and played together in the Ennis branch of Comhaltas, so when it came to fleadh time, we played together in the Aos Óg concerts. We regularly played with the Murrays, the Roches, the Cotters and the McMahons. It was a great chance for us to perform in front of audiences and gain confidence in playing. At that stage, I played tin whistle and banjo. A number of us had been successful at fleadhs and All-Ireland competitions,” Kieran said.
“I’m really looking forward to the concert and playing again with some of these lads. I’ve only happy thoughts of those concerts and I’d say it’s going to be a mighty session again this time. The last time I played in Glór was in 2006 at a tribute concert to Ciarán Mac Máthúna. It will also be the first time that Mike and me play together in Glór,” he added.
Kieran has been living in Dublin since 1980 and as well as his radio show, he teaches in the DIT College of Music and plays at session regularly, sometimes with Tommy Hayes.
“I’m still in contact with many of the group who will be playing at the Aos Óg revisited concert but I would say that most have us haven’t played together since the ’70s. It hardly feels that long ago at all,” he explains.
Kieran believes that the appeal of the Fleadh Nua over the years has always been its family friendliness. “There was something for people of all ages and you would see whole families from toddlers to grandparents out at gigs. Much of what has been organised this year, between outdoor céilís and a good variety of sessions around town will lend itself to that,” he commented.
He recalled how the Fleadh Nua always attracted a large contingent of English musicians. “Because the weekend of the Fleadh Nua at the end of May is an English Bank Holiday, it has always suited English Comhaltas groups to come. I hope it’s still the same,” he said.
He said that so far there’s no definite programme for the celebrity concert but all of the musicians will play in different groupings along with some solo pieces. “We will all play on stage together during the concert, which will be mighty. There won’t be any major surprises in the concert – the only real surprise is that we are all still playing all of these years on. I’m really looking forward to it, to playing with this crowd again and to looking back on our teenage years playing together at the fleadh. It will definitely be a memorable night,” Kieran said.
He has played at the Fleadh Nua almost every year. “I don’t think I’ve missed many of them. I often stay for a few days and join in at other sessions too, which I probably will this year as well,” he added.
The celebrity concert this Saturday at 8pm in Glór is just one of the many events of this year’s Fleadh Nua in Ennis. For a full programme of events see www.fleadhnua.com.