Eigse Mrs. Crotty 2002

I'd like to update readers on the activities of the Mrs Crotty festival held on 15/8/02 to 18/8/02 in Kilrush, Co.Clare. First a linguistic note "Eigse" is Gaelic for a festival held in celebration of a person or event. Kilrush is an ideal location as it is in the heartland of traditional Irish concertina playing and the home of one of its most famous exponents, Mrs Elizabeth Crotty. Mrs Crotty died in 1960 but was recorded by Irish radio and interested enthusiasts so there is a living testimony of her playing. This also lives on in the playing styles of the older West Clare players, notably, Tom Carey, Gerard Haugh, Michael Tubridy and Gerdie Commane. For more information on Mrs Crotty readers can access the web site: www.eigsemrscrotty.com. For an example of the style of playing there are a number of recordings: "Clare Concertinas", "Tommy McMahon and Bernard Sullivan", "Kitty Hayes" Michael Tubridy's "Eagles Whistle" and of course the CD of Mrs Crotty herself.

The highlights of the weekend for me were the talk by Michael Tubridy on Sat afternoon in Crotty's pub (once owned by Mrs Crotty's husband Michal but now run by Kevin and Rebecca who do a great job not only in helping to run the eigse but also generously look after the musicians). The talk was very informal, as Michael explained, it was more a celebration of her music than a biographical lecture. Mrs Crotty's two surviving nieces were present to give some background on how she learnt tunes and some of the characters who passed on tunes, like the postman and the teaman. These would have travelled the region dispensing letters and tea but also passing on tunes by whistling them to the musicians. Crottys was a well known haunt for visiting musicians since Mrs Crotty loved to meet other players, not only concertinists, and learn new tunes from them.

The assembly include the great Tom Carey who like Michael Tubridy played with Mrs Crotty back in the 50's. It seems like an awful long time ago but Michael and Tom carry the years very well. Their playing is as strong and vibrant as ever. It would make you want to get up and dance which is as it should be as musicians back then played a lot for house dances. There were seven concertinas in all including yours truly, going full blast for about 4 hours, playing mostly the West Clare tunes that Mrs Crotty played. Wonderful stuff altogether.

On Sunday morning walking into the square, I met Mark Davies from the UK and Kevin Rickard from Howth, Co Dublin, just having a tune on the street. So I joined in. Mark has a concertina made by Pierre Hooft of Australia who some may have heard of. Apparently he's a retired silversmith who has made 4 concertinas and to judge by Mark's, has done so really well. It's a copy of a Jeffries and plays well, not as good as a Jeffries or good Wheatstone, but better than a Lachenal.

Kevin has a new Suttner and a good number of these were in evidence over the weekend. I must take my hat off to Jurgen Suttner, he's making really good quality concertinas with a nice tone and great response. Most of the concertinas on display were in fact Suttners which is testament to their quality. The next most visible was Jeffries with some Wheatstones also about. There was also one nice Dipper, which prompts me to remind Colin if he sees this to expedite my order.

Back to Sunday and a lunchtime afternoon session in the sun outside Crotty's. This has become a feature and any one can sit down and play. Luckily I had brought my B flat/F box so could play with Pete Laban who has a flat set of pipes. He is the same person who has supplied photos of Clare concertina players to the site. Unfortunately he had to put the pipes away as the sun became too hot. A very rare occurrence in this wet and windy summer of ours. Steve Chambers also turned up with some of his prototype student concertina. These are being made in East Germany and are based on the Wheatstone Mayfair model but with accordian reeds. They are very playable and would suit a beginner, especially as the price wouldn't give your bank manager a heart attack. I think they will be sold for about €650 which is about $600, so they are reasonably priced.

I stayed on to Sunday night for a session with Tom Carey and friends which turned out to be about 10 concertinas, and other instruments. What a blast! A mention here for Claire and Roger from Devon who always seemed to be playing somewhere or other over the weekend. Claire has a lovely Aeola English and they play a variety of music, English, Blugrass, Irish, anything really. I should mention too the mandolin player with them whose name escapes me, just in case he reads this. (Sorry for the amnesia.)

So another great weekend is past and I'm already looking forward to next year. It really is a must for concertina players so make a note in your diaries for August next year. You can access the website around that time for more up to date information.

Happy playing

Shay Fogarty
30/8/02