IT was a sun-drenched day in East Durham for the 17th annual Catskills Irish Traditional Music Festival, now firmly established as the Andy McGann Traditional Irish Music Festival last Saturday, July 21. It put the cap on another historic and extraordinary week for the Catskills Irish Arts Week (CIAW) which was too monumental to be evaluated in the too few hours since I emerged from the mountains. But the highlight of the week would be the focus on the New York fiddling legend Andy McGann on the weekend itself, lionizing the shy, humble but graceful genius who plied the New York dance halls, pubs and house parties for much of his 76 years.

If he was overlooked or underappreciated for far too long both in and out of the traditional Irish music community, it is safe to say that is no longer the case due to the attention given to him in the past couple of weeks.

As you might expect, the ceremonial renaming of the Saturday festival in East Durham in the main pavilion around mid-afternoon was short and tasteful in the manner that would have pleased the taciturn McGann, who passed away in 2004 during the Catskills Irish Arts Week.

Brian Conway led an amazing assembly of fiddlers onstage for the musical tribute of tunes that were closely associated with the late fiddler, whose direct connection to Michael Coleman ensured that the lineage of Sligo-style fiddling in New York would be an enduring legacy.

Conway astutely surmised that the teenage fiddlers that he and his sister Rose Conway Flanagan have taught should lead the way for a few tunes, and then be joined by some of the veteran fiddling tutors on staff like Tony Demarco, John Daly and Sean Cleland.

Since the fiddling faction of the week is the largest in numbers and instrumentally, it was only fitting that it provided the most eloquent statement on the occasion. With Andy's wife Pat and daughter Meghan along with sons Mark, Kieran and Neal and a good number of relatives on hand to witness the impact that McGann's music had, it was a case of the music speaking volumes where mere words would fail.

On the Friday night before the weekend kicked off with an actual CD launch of the new recording of A Tribute to Andy McGann at Darby's Pub made by Conway, Joe Burke and Felix Dolan. Following by 42 years the seminal recording A Tribute to Michael Coleman that McGann made with a younger Burke, his longtime musical friend, this new 17-track CD will only enhance the Sligo-New York legend, and more importantly place McGann foremost in the pantheon of Irish musicians worldwide for the ages.

Indicative of that, the CD was produced in time to have the first Irish launch at the prestigious Willie Clancy Summer School the week before which Burke presided over since he was unable to attend the CIAW this year. Studio work with Conway, Burke and Dolan continued on that Chicago weekend to tidy up tracks for the recording that will be a historic treasure for decades if not longer.

The entire package of the CD and 24 page booklet was later produced back in Galway by Burke at Charlie Lennon's studio in Spiddal just in time for the various launches in Miltown Malbay and the Catskills.

Great credit for the concept and the original live concert that generated it (and produced four tracks) goes to John Daly, the Corkman who is the executive director of the Irish American Heritage Center on Chicago's Northside where the concert was held on April 1, 2006. His introductory essay opens up the impressive and detailed liner notes penned by Jackie Small.

The CD is being distributed on the Clo Iar-ChannachtaTeo (CIC) label based in Connemara which has a distinguished track record (pun intended) for choosing artists at the heart of the tradition and for promoting the Irish language and music so integral to it.

As is their custom, the Irish language is used throughout the liner note booklet, particularly with each track description translated into Irish. The CD can be purchased at www.brianconway.com or through Conway and Dolan directly at any of their live performances and online at www.cic.ie (phone in Ireland 011-353-91-593307) or via email at [email protected].

In addition awaiting me in the mailbox were three other new releases on their label which I look forward to listening to given the musical notoriety of the performers.

Following on their phenomenal first effort of 2005 Fortune Favors the Merry on CIC, Sligo flute master Peter Horan combines once again with the Cork-born Gerry Harrington now living in Sligo for a second CD called The Merry Love to Play.

Sixteen tracks on this effort will undoubtedly confirm what we realized in the last recording and at last year's CIAW that this pairing does indeed make beautiful music together despite coming at the music from a different time and place generationally and geographically.

Two lads well steeped in the music from the west of Ireland in the Sligo/Roscommon/Leitrim area would be flute player John Wynne and fiddler John McEvoy (via way of Birmingham). I have heard some of the14 tracks on this new recording on Aine Hensey's The Late Session radio program on RTE 1 so I know their new recording Pride of the West lives up to their respective talents.

Finally, one of Ireland's finest traditional musicians and composers from Co. Leitrim, Charlie Lennon latest CD called Turning the Tune leads us on a fascinating exploration musically and literally of some well-known tunes and others that he interprets on the 15 track recording.

With some help from guest musicians like Johnny Og Connolly, Brian McGrath, Frank Kilkelly, Brian Lennon, Eilis Lennon Naughton and Steve Simmons, the colorful package is sure to garner some notice among those with the right Irish music quotient.