Home » Tag Archives: Willie Clancy

Tag Archives: Willie Clancy

‘Don’t settle for the skim milk when the cream is at hand’

The interview conducted by Harry Hughes and Muiris Ó Rocháin with Willie Clancy for the first volume of Dal gCais was hugely important and is now a priceless piece of folk history as the great exponent of the art of piping talked about his music, great pipers of the past and the state of Irish music in the early 1970s. Q: Willie Clancy, you are considered one of the greatest living exponents of the art of piping. Can you give us some idea of the background to your music? A: I come from a very musical family, our family was part of the musical tradition of West Clare and that tradition included Garret Barry the blind paper from Inagh. Garret was a personal friend of my father and he influenced him to a certain degree. My father in time passed this knowledge and appreciation on to me. Apart from this, I came under the direct influence of the Travelling piper …

Read More »

Building the legend and legacy of the great Willie Clancy

Fifty years after his death, this week in 1973, Willie Clancy’s legacy and name has never been stronger, writes Joe O Muircheartaigh, who spoke to the driving force behind the festival in the great piper’s name, Harry Hughes WHEN Harry Hughes saw Willie Clancy for the first time it was in his carpenter’s overalls when he walked around Miltown Malbay, with the rule that was one of the tools of his trade in the breast pocket of the dungarees he wore — he was going from one job to the next, or else up to his house on the Flag Road. There he was — the renowned musician, that Harry saw before he ever heard him on the uilleann pipes, or before he spoke to the man who 50 years after his death is revered as one of the professors emirati in the sky when it comes to the pipes. Because you can trace a line from Willie through to …

Read More »

Live radio from Willie Clancy Summer School

RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta will be broadcasting almost twenty hours of programmes live from the Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, this year. The live shows kick off on Sunday 7 July, with the Éire ‘s Alba concert, featuring top drawer musicians from Ireland and Scotland, and joined this year by musicians from Wales as well.  They will include Iain and Mary MacGillivray, Maighread Stiùbhart and Murdo MacDonald, Shona Donaldson and Paul Anderson, Ceri Rhys Matthews and Julie Murphy, Ceri Jones and Elsa Davies, Laoise Kelly and Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn, Thomas Mc Carthy, Catherine McEvoy and friends.  The concert starts at 8 pm and will run until 10 pm, presented by RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta Music Editor, and musician, Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha. Then from Monday to Friday, 2 pm to 4 pm, Seán Ó hÉanaigh will present Binneas Béil live from the Ródaí outside the hall in Miltown.  The programme will feature interviews, live music, song and …

Read More »
Judith Spencer Merrill and Barry Merrill, who have commissioned the life-size statue of Willie Clancy, with the Willie Clancy bust that was also sculpted by Shane Gilmore. Photograph by John Kelly

UL and Willie Clancy team up

THE Blas International Summer School at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in University of Limerick (UL) is linking up with Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy to offer students an opportunity to extend their immersion in traditional music studies. Students attending Blas from June 19 to 30 can also enrol in the Dúchas an Cheoil/Scope of Irish Traditional Music course at the Willie Clancy Summer School from July 1 to 9. This collaboration will offer students an accredited programme based at UL and Miltown Malbay. This initiative will enable students to earn university accreditation worth three undergraduate credits. Students wishing to pursue accreditation will be required to complete both the second week of Blas and the Scope of Irish Traditional Music Course at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy. Over the past 40 years, the Willie Clancy Summer School has attracted thousands of students and followers of Irish traditional music from all over the world. On average, 40% of the annual …

Read More »

Supporting the arts in Clare

The Arts Council has awarded a total of €97,750 to help bring three high quality festivals to the people of Clare this year. The festivals include Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and Ennis Street Arts Festival, which both took place last week, and music from Clare Memory Orchestra which takes place in late August. The festival funding is additional to the substantial monies that the council allocates every year to various arts events, artists and companies in Clare. The Arts Council issued the details as they launched ‘Arts On Your Doorstep’, a new public information campaign to help raise awareness of specific arts events in local communities. Part of the Arts Council’s public service remit is to deliver arts events to the regions, so that people all over the country can experience world class arts events on their doorstep. Director of the Arts Council, Orlaith McBride, said, “If you live in Malin Head or on the Ring of Kerry, you should …

Read More »

Willie Clancy boost for Miltown

MILTOWN Malbay business person Maureen Kilduff has said that commerce in the town is hugely dependent upon the annual Willie Clancy Summer School, which begins today (Saturday) and runs until Sunday, July 12. “Most people would say that 20 to 30% of the year’s turnover in the service businesses are done in the 10 days of the Willie Clancy festival,” Maureen stated. “What makes a good year is the number of students booked in. Each student brings a parent or a friend with them. There isn’t a bed to be found from Lahinch to Quilty on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night of next week,” she revealed. Another boost in terms of visitor numbers is the fact that many primary-school teachers are availing of the Department of Education and Skills approved courses at the summer school. Meanwhile, four visual artists, Lorraine Callanan, Mary Moran, Bairbre Geraghty and Edel Hogan are set to launch an a project called CeA/R/T in Miltown …

Read More »

Arts Council invests in Clare

The Arts Council today (Wednesday) said it would invest over €210,000 in Clare-based organisations with a proven track record of delivering great arts experiences for people all over the county and beyond. A total of four organisations successfully applied for funding. Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy is a nationally significant event, involving the transmission of all aspects of the traditional arts, with an emphasis on high quality tuition. It also provides multiple opportunities for the public to engage in the traditional arts. Glór Irish Music Centre is an arts resource for Ennis and Clare. It produces work with network partners and hosts multi-disciplinary touring work. It organises a programme of arts engagement with the community. Clare County Council will also receive a grant of €63,000 for its arts service. In addition to this support, the Arts Council will be making significant funding available throughout the year for touring, projects and bursaries for talented artists. The Arts Council, the government agency tasked …

Read More »

Clare culture on TG4

TG4 music and magazine series, Féilte will visit Clare on its journey of discovery along the Wild Atlantic Way on this Thursday at 8.30pm. TG4’s Féilte programme continues its nine-week tour of the hidden treasures along the Western seaboard, following the Fáilte Ireland-promoted 2,500km Wild Atlantic Way.The tour began on the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal and ends in Kinsale, County Cork. The programme, which will be aired this Thursday, sees presenter, Síle Ní Bhraonáin come to the Banner County. The show will feature the finest traditional music, song and dance, local cuisine and adventure activities. Síle discovers some of the secret gems in the towns and villages along the route, as well as some spectacular scenery. Síle drops in to Friel’s, also known as Lynch’s pub, in the Willie Clancy festival town of Miltown Malbay, where entertainment is provided by renowned musicians, Edel Fox, Therese McInerney, Marian Curtin, Deirdre O’Brien and Cian Talty, who all come from local families …

Read More »