Traditional Irish music festival, Tennessee

[Paul Groff]

Hi all,

 

I haven't played much concertina in recent years but I was asked to come up to the Nashville TN area this month to join a small festival that celebrates the East Galway musical tradition. I believe this festival was largely organized by Éilís Crean, a very nice fiddler who I knew in Boston and who learned her lovely music from the fiddler and composer Eddie Kelly. I expect to be playing some guitar and piano, but will have a concertina along and if any of the attendees would like a concertina workshop I'm available to teach. I'm not Irish myself but have spent some time listening and playing traditional music, and as Éilís knows I especially love the beautiful tradition associated with East Galway. . . the early 78s of the Ballinakill Traditional Dance Players, the wonderful flute music that came out of that band and their heirs, other fluters such as Jack Coughlin, Gabe O'Sullivan, Jack Coen, Mike Rafferty . . . the soulfull fiddling tradition of Paddy Kelly, Paddy Fahey, Eddie Kelly and more who composed their own beautiful tunes and reworked traditional tunes to suit their ear . . . the genius of Paddy Carty on his fully-keyed Radcliff flute . . . the tunes brought into that tradition from among the compositions of Ed Reavy, Sean Ryan, and others . . . This should be a wonderful weekend for listening and soaking up a great tradition within Irish music. Many of these tunes are beautifully suited to the anglo concertina; I know a few myself and will be hoping to learn a few more over the weekend. Here's the festival website:

 

http://www.aicegaelic.com/tcaif.html

 

Here's a little more on Eddie Kelly:

 

http://irishtunecomposers.weebly.com/eddie-kelly.html

 

I can be contacted here if you have any questions. Please be patient as I work fulltime outside of music these days:

 

groffco@gmail.com

 

PG

[des tracey]

Hello all,

 

I think Paul is somewhat modest in stating that he has spent some time listening and playing traditional music. The truth is Paul is a wonderful musician and teacher whose teaching and playing contributions helped keep concertina music vibrant in the Boston area for a number of years as well as playing and hosting traditional sessions in that city.

 

He is also a mine of knowledge on various instruments historically and technically, particularly concertina.

 

He is a patient and dedicated teacher and I would encourage anyone intent on improving their abilities on that instrument and who might be attending the festival to take advantage of a workshop with Paul.

 

East Galway music is well worth getting to know and I hope all those attending enjoy the experience.

 

Unfortunately, I am a little too far removed from Nashvile (Dublin Ireland).

 

Des Tracey

[Paul Groff]

Hi Des,

 

Thanks for such kind words. The truth is I don't play much concertina these days, and since I was asked to participate in this festival on fairly short notice I figured there would be more local interest in guitar and/or piano workshops. Jim Higgins will maybe work with the piano backers though, since he plays piano as well as being a brilliant bodhran player. But just in case there are any Tennesseans with an interest in working on the concertina, I thought I would put out the offer here on c.net that we can offer a concertina class at the festival. Eilis asked me to bring up the concertina and as I mentioned, the East Galway style and tunes really suit that instrument.

 

PG

[jggunn]

Greetings, Paul. I wish I could be in Nashville to say hello.