For along with all the myriad classes they could take to hone their musical or dancing or artistic skills, they could also settle into late afternoon lectures or master classes by faculty members or invited guests to glean so much more about the history of traditional Irish music from many perspectives.
Whether it is a multi-media presentation or an oral history project laced with musical interludes to make certain points, the success of these offerings speaks a lot about the quality of the presenters and the knowledge they bring to their craft, but even more so about the discerning audience who turn out to find out even more about the native music of Ireland and the role it plays in a worldwide community historically.
In 2009 there are a number of wonderful presentations that are open to the general public as well as the CIAW student body during the week of July 13-17 in East Durham, either in the Weldon or the Shamrock House.
On Monday afternoon in the Weldon House the lecture series will begin fittingly enough with a screening of From Shore to Shore: Irish Traditional Music in New York, from the updated DVD version released a few years ago.
On hand will be Pat Mullins, who was the producer of the important historical documentary that captured the Irish music scene as it existed around New York City in the last decade of the 20th century working with Becky Miller and Marion Casey and the Irish Arts Center to bring it to fruition.
Some of the film’s highlights include live performances from the center’s valuable Snug Harbor concert series which raised the consciousness level of New York City’s trad music community as it bolstered the esteem and value of many of the older musicians who brought their music over from Ireland to the Big Apple.
In my opinion, the impact of the Snug Harbor festivals led to the development of the Catskills Irish Arts Week, so it is well worth revisiting it with the man who helped give us some context for the music at the time.
Dubliner Paul deGrae, a frequent tutor at the CIAW, takes a turn at the lecturn at the Shamrock House giving some more insights into the lesser known aspects of Captain Francis O’Neill, whose prodigious efforts collecting Irish music in America saved much of it from extinction.
On Tuesday, we turn to two members of the CIAW faculty to present two pet projects. Martin Donohoe, from Co. Cavan, will talk about the musical history that he has compiled over the years as the producer of a four CD collection, A Call from the Musical Heart of Cavan, and the NYAH festival which takes place every March throughout the county.
Teacher Eileen O’Brien Minogue will launch a new book and CD containing information and compositions of her late father, box player Paddy O’Brien, who lived in New York for a time and was a member of the New York Ceili Band back in the 1950s and is still very fondly remembered.
Seamus Connolly, who recorded with Paddy O’Brien and Felix Dolan, who was a member of the New York Ceili Band with Paddy, will also be on hand to share some personal memories and tunes with Eileen.
On Wednesday, Irish music maven Don Meade, who has done so much for Irish music in New York City and the Catskills (he served as artistic director of the CIAW until 2000) will profile 82-year old Mike Rafferty of Hasbrouck Heights and Ballinakill, Co. Galway and his many contributions to Irish music in America at the Weldon House.
Over at the Shamrock House, the CIAW will explore Mrs. Crotty’s legacy and the concertina in Co. Clare led by Edel Fox, Caitlinn nic Gabhann and Kate McNamara, and also Dr. Gearoid O hAllmhurain on the day.
On Thursday, a trio of Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh residents will give a special workshop on songs from Northern Ireland at the Shamrock House. Len Graham and Patricia Flynn are teaching singing classes at the week, and they are bringing along 82-year-old Mick Quinn, who sings and recites some of his own compositions.
All of them appeared at the 2007 Smithsonian Folk Life Festival when it featured Northern Ireland and received a warm reception, so it will be a treat to expose them to the Catskill Mountains this time.
Earle Hitchner, one of the leading writers on Irish music in America, will lecture on “Unskirting the Issue: Irish and Irish American Women Who Turned Irish Traditional Music History Into “Herstory” at the Weldon House. The audience will see vivid examples of how woman came to the forefront in Irish music in America and beyond from a historical perspective right up to the present day in the Catskills.
On Friday the featured lecture of the week will be given by Brendan Dolan at the Weldon House, summarizing much of the research that he did for his master’s degree in Irish studies at New York University last year under a scholarship grant from the New York Irish History Roundtable.
Dolan’s topic will explore the Irish attraction to this part of the Catskill Mountains, and how music played such a critical role in its development down through the years. The discussion will tie in how the Irish Catskills fate was closely connected with the Irish immigrant community in New York City, and its economic status chronicling the rise and fall of the historic Irish American resort area as those indicators changed.
Concurrently over at the Shamrock House accordion player James Keane will join fiddler Antoin Mac Gabhann in a musical conversation about some heady musical times in Dublin in the early 1960s and the influence of the Mrs. Crotty Club.
Once again the lecture circuit will be well populated with knowledgeable presenters all week at the CIAW, adding to the sum of knowledge for those in the know already and for those who are just finding their way through the fertile musical pastures of Irish traditional music.
These lectures are complimentary to registered full and part time students and open to any and all who wish to attend who are in the area for a nominal admission fee to help defray the cost of running the summer school now celebrating its 15th year in East Durham.
They take place at 4 p.m. running until around 5:30 p.m., but check with the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural and Sports Center to confirm final lecture schedules as changes may be necessary to avoid programming conflicts with the evening events. The website is www.irishvillageusa.com (email is irishartsweek@gmail.com) and phone is 518-634-2286 for further information.