Ancestral Imprints: Histories of Irish Traditional Music and Dance

9. Radio and Regions in Irish Traditional Music

9. Radio and Regions in Irish Traditional Music Daithí Kearney 128 Recording and broadcasting have had an enormous impact on the development , dissemination and popularity of Irish traditional music. There are a variety of aspects to the study of the geographical impact of radio and recording technologies, and I am here concerned with the perception and construction of regions in Irish traditional music. Recording and broadcasting are at the centre of the single greatest paradox in the discourse on regional styles: recording and broadcasting are considered homogenising forces, yet without recordings and broadcasts musicians may not have become aware of the regional diversity within the tradition. The most prevalent issues concerning recording and broadcasting relate to choice: who was recorded and broadcast; where these recordings were made; and the impact of these choices on processes of homogenisation or musical change. This paper examines the role of Seán Ó Riada and his programme Our Musical Heritage (1962) in the geographical imagination of Irish traditional music. It is divided into three sections: the making of Our Musical Heritage and the trips made by Ó Riada around Ireland; the contents of the programmes; and the legacy of Our Musical Heritage, including a book of the same title. Athea, 1962 There was a change in how radio programmes were made in the late 1950s with the development of the outside broadcast unit and the process of recording musicians in their local areas. Thus the radio became an increasingly influential factor in the evolution of Irish traditional music at both local and national levels (Breathnach, 1971). While Séamus Ennis and Ciarán Mac Mathúna were foremost amongst those who presented music and musicians from various parts of Ireland with varying remits and geographical reach, Ó Riada sought to examine more closely the stylistic 9. Radio and Regions in Irish Traditional Music 129 differences in the music of different regions and provides the concept of ‘regions’ as a framework through which to develop a greater understanding of Irish traditional music. Reflecting on Our Musical Heritage, Peadar Ó Riada notes a desire to develop a vocabulary to describe Irish traditional music that existed at the time as being part of what the programmes were about (The Rolling Wave, RTÉ Radio 1, 26 December 2006). He acknowledges that, by the time his father had finished the series, ‘he had a much clearer picture himself about the subject that he was speaking of’. Ó Riada reflected on his journey around Ireland in preparing for Our Musical Heritage, stating: While preparing these notes, I made several trips around the country collecting material. I found great enthusiasm everywhere, the kind of enthusiasm which attaches only to something felt to be of the greatest importance. (Ó Riada, 1982: 80) The enthusiasm that greeted Ó Riada is part of the memory of these occasions . I focus on an event in Athea in west Limerick in 1962, informed by the memories of Timmy Woulfe, a former schoolmaster in Athea, and uilleann piper Seán Ahern of Moyvane, who recorded for Ó Riada on the night. Timmy Woulfe was the man in charge of organising the event in Athea. Woulfe was very good friends with another Athea man, folklorist Kevin Danaher. A few years previously, Woulfe had visited Danaher in Dublin. Danaher had an appointment with Ó Riada but had to meet with somebody else. In his absence, Woulfe went for a few drinks with Ó Riada in a nearby pub, where they talked for a while. Woulfe believes this meeting and the influence of Kevin Danaher motivated Ó Riada’s trip to Athea in 1962. Danaher was also involved in recording Irish traditional music, notably including the only recordings of the uilleann piper Johnny Doran, recorded in Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, in 1947 for the Irish Folklore Commission (Bradshaw, 2002). While the network of activity that includes Séamus Ennis, Ciarán Mac Mathúna and Kevin Danaher creates an overarching national context for investigating Irish traditional music, local networks and social geographies are integral to understanding regional diversity in Irish culture and society of the time. Woulfe wrote a letter to Ó Riada, sent prior to Ó Riada coming to Athea and now part of the Seán Ó Riada collection in the Boole Library at University College Cork. The letter highlights the social geography of rural Ireland at the time and the importance of local figures in supporting the work of collectors, broadcasters and the Folklore Commission (BP/PP/OR/171/1). The letter reads: [52.14.150.55] Project MUSE (2024-04-25...