The ace and deuce of festivals

THOUSANDS of musicians, dancers and tourists are set to descend on Miltown Malbay this week for the 38th Willie Clancy Summer School.
Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy has long been Ireland’s largest traditional music summer school, held annually since 1973, in memory of the piper, Willie Clancy.
The week is deemed as a must for anyone wishing to improve their musicianship, with expert tuition from musicians seen as among the best in their field. A diverse and entertaining programme of lectures, recitals, céilithe and other exhibitions are also run by the summer school.
This year the summer school begins on Saturday, with enrolment at the community hall, Miltown Malbay between 2 and 6pm. The festival will be officially opened after that by renowned traditional singer and musician, Michael Falsey.
The first lecture of this year’s school is certain to attract considerable interest, when musician, broadcaster and filmmaker, Philip King tackles the issue of the Traditional Arts and the National Economy in the community hall at 8.30pm.
Director of the Willie Clancy Summer School, Muiris Ó Rócháin, said as always he and all involved are very much looking forward to the week’s events.
“It’s hard to believe that this is the 38th summer school. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like that long ago when we were preparing for the first Willie Clancy Summer School back in 1973,” he said.
Muiris, a native of the Kerry Gaeltacht area of the Dingle Peninsula, has spent decades committed to Irish culture, music, folklore and community life and is highly respected in Irish traditional music circles. This year, he was awarded the Gradam na gCeoltóirí – the musician’s award at the TG4 Gradaim Ceoil, showing the high esteem he is afforded by traditional Irish musicians. In 1970, Muiris married Úna Guerin of Miltown Malbay and moved there to teach at Spanish Point, where he has lived since and he has contributed greatly to the tradition and life of the area ever since. He is best known for his Trojan work as overall director of Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy. In fact, it was Muiris, who came up with the idea of holding a summer school as a tribute to his great friend, piper, Willie Clancy.
“The Miltown branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann had discussed a motion about starting a summer music school, which I was aware of. I discussed it with the head of Comhaltas, Lábhrás Ó Murchú, in November 1972. At that point, I hoped that Willie Clancy would be part of the summer school in a teaching and performance capacity but sadly, he died the following January before any concrete plans had actually been made for the first summer school. The idea grew from there, especially after Willie’s death, as we wanted to do something appropriate to pay tribute to the contribution he had made to the area and to Irish music, through his piping. A local committee was formed and it was clear from an early stage that the idea of the summer school and commemorating Willie Clancy merged very well. A number of people were instrumental in pulling the summer school together, including myself, Lábhrás, Martin Talty and Seamus MacMáthúna,” Muiris explained.
He added that the Willie Clancy Summer School was the first of its kind in the world. “Monsignor Pádraig Ó Fiannachta, who was a professor in Maynooth at the time, opening the summer school one year, commented that the Willie Clancy Summer School was the only unofficial university for Irish music anywhere in the world. That is not true today, of course, as there are numerous faculties of Irish traditional music now, which are excellent and open up fantastic opportunities to traditional Irish musicians,” he commented.
Muiris recalled that 80 students enrolled for the first week of the summer school back in ’73, with numbers increasing steadily year on year from then on. In recent years, it has accommodated 1,500 students from 41 countries with 250 tutors on all instruments, not including tourists who come to soak up the atmosphere, music and culture that comes naturally during the week.
From the outset, the organisers were adamant that in order to properly pay tribute to Willie Clancy, the summer school must have a central focus on piping.
“The organisation Piobairí Uilleann had been set up in 1968. Piping in West Clare had begun to weaken, especially the craft of pipe-making. Brendan Breathnach was a great scholar who was over Piobairí Uilleann. He very much came on board with the summer school. We all had one thing in common, we wanted to organise a summer school that would be accessible and enjoyable to as many as possible. We didn’t want to compartmentalise it as a piping festival or a festival of anything and that’s why we developed it as a summer school, with sessions, céilithe and other spin-off events also taking place during the week.
“We always had a lot of pipers involved, which was important to keep that whole tradition alive. We wanted it to be an open house, which was a good policy and it really has worked. We were very conscious of getting great musicians to teach classes, which I feel we have always managed to do to this day. The most important thing, we felt and still feel, was the quality of the music and lectures, as there is such a great richness to draw from,” Muiris commented.
While he admits that they had no ambitions about how long the school would survive, they were serious about making it very strong.
“We knew what we were doing and because of the people we all knew in music circles, we attracted some great people, including John Kelly, Seán Reid, Martin Talty and several more. It’s hard to list the people who have been involved because, inevitably, someone will be forgotten, so suffice to say we have had many excellent and committed musicians involved in the summer school over the years. I can say without a doubt that all of the people who become involved and stay involved in the summer school are highly creative and would only want to be involved with something of quality,” he added.
He explained that from the start, the Willie Clancy Summer School has been non-competitive. “We were offered money at some stages to include competitions in the Willie Clancy Week but we always steered clear of that. There are many other festivals, including a number in Clare, which revolve around competitive music but what we do is very different. We aim to offer high-quality tuition in a range of traditional instruments, in singing and in dance,” Muiris said.
He also noted the importance of the annual event to the general economy of West Clare. “An independent survey carried out by Fáilte Ireland determined that, in modest terms, the Willie Clancy Summer School is worth several million to West Clare. That is based on what people spend in the area when they come to Willie Clancy events. Roughly 25,000 people come to Miltown during the week to attend classes or sessions,” he added.
Last year, over 1,200 enrolled for classes in the summer school. “The biggest section every year is fiddle and we have over 50 fiddle tutors. We had expected it to be much quieter last year due to the recession but that didn’t happen. We had 12 concertina tutors last year and due to the amount of students who enrolled for concertina classes, we had to get four more. The same happened for piping classes,” Muiris remarked.
This year, over 35 cyclists from all over Europe are cycling from Dublin to Miltown Malbay to raise funds for a new uilleann pipe-making course and facility. They will all take part in the Willie Clancy Summer School. Their cycle has been dubbed Reels on Wheels. The journey of over 170 miles has been organised by Na Piobairí Uilleann, the society of uilleann pipers dedicated to the promotion of the instrument and traditional Irish music. A spokesman for the organisation said that due to the growing global interest in the music of the uilleann pipes, the supply of quality instruments has not kept up with demand to the extent that there is a backlog of unfulfilled orders representing over €7 million in sales. The aim is to set up a new pipe-making course over an initial five-year period, which is set to create 30 additional jobs and re-establish the craft in Ireland.
“Based on the trend of uptake of new players over recent years, Na Piobairí Uilleann anticipates that the demand will continue to grow to such an extent that within a short number of years, annual sales will reach €5 million per annum. By providing the much-needed training, we believe it can reverse the trend of the craft being lost to Ireland and can provide sustainable economic activity and a minimum of 30 additional highly skilled jobs.Apart from the economic benefits that will accrue to the Irish economy, the resultant increased supply of quality instruments will enable young people to realise their desire and potential to play and enjoy the music and the instrument,” he added. The cycle will include pipers from Bulgaria, Belgium, Denmark, France and Germany, as well as pipers, Seán Potts, Seán McKeown and Peter Browne.
Another new element of the Willie Clancy Week this year is an art exhibition by four musicians.
“Mick O’Connor, his daughter Aoife, John Kelly and Peadar O Riada, have come together under the banner of Na Péintéirí Ceolmhara to exhibit some of their paintings in Adharc an Chláir in Miltown,” Muiris said. The exhibition will be opened by director general of RTÉ, Cathal Goan, on Monday evening and will run daily through the week from 2.30pm to 5.30pm.
For the first time this year also, melodeon is being added to the list of classes on offer at the summer school, led by Johnny Connolly.
As always, there will also be a wide range of sessions in the afternoons, evenings and well into the small hours of the mornings. Céilithe and set dancing will once again be another very enjoyable part of proceedings. The Tulla, Kilfenora and the Four Courts Céilí Bands will all provide music for céilís throughout the week. Some members of these bands also teach classes during the day at the summer school.
The Willie Clancy Summer School starts this Saturday and will end with an Aifreann i nGaeilge with Cór Chúil Aodha in commemoration of Seán Ó Riada, in St Joseph’s Church, Miltown Malbay at 10am on Sunday, July 11.