Irish Music Center John J. Burns Library Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3801 www.bc.edu/burns Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival Collection 1990 March 25-26 and 1990 April 19 IMC_M003_1990 Last updated: 2010 May 18 COLLECTION OVERVIEW: AUTHOR: Boston College SOURCE: Boston College and Dr. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin COLLECTION #: IMC_M003_1990 ACCESSION DATE: 1990 April 1 and 1991 January 3 QUANTITY: 0.5 linear feet (2 boxes) LOCATION: Irish Music Archives, Level 1, Room 115, Aisle 8 and Aisle 12 PROCESSED BY: Finding Aid prepared by Jeffery Jones, August 2002; revised January 2003; reformatted January 2008; revised May 2010 LANGUAGES: English and Irish RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS: Collection is open for research. Original audio, visual and manuscript materials are not the use copies; reference copies have been provided. COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: Copyright interests have not been transferred to Boston College. For further information, see the section on copyright in the Burns Library's Rules for the Reading Room. ABSTRACT: On Sunday, March 25, 1990, the Boston College Music Department and Irish Studies Program co-sponsored "My Love is in America," a gathering of sixteen of the finest traditional Irish Fiddle players living in the United States. This collection includes sound and video reference copies of the original DAT, VHS and ¾" videotape recordings, as well as documents and photographic materials associated with the festival. PREFERED CITATION: Identification of item, Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival Collection, IMC_M003_1990, Irish Music Center, John J. Burns Library, Boston College. PROCESSING NOTES: Listeners of the audio CDs may notice a very brief pause each time a CD proceeds from one track to the next. These pauses do not indicate any absence of audio content from the original recordings. Identification of song titles in the inventory listing has been based on the designation given by the performers. Where the audio is unclear, the closest approximation of title has been provided by the collection processor. Music for which the title was not pronounced or is unknown has been designated as unidentified. 2 HISTORICAL NOTE: Festival Background On Sunday, March 25, 1990, the Boston College Music Department and Irish Studies Program co-sponsored "My Love is in America," a gathering of sixteen of the finest traditional Irish fiddle players living in the United States. Festival director and visiting ethnomusicology professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin afforded these performers the rare opportunity to collaborate with other master fiddle players, reuniting old musical acquaintances and sparking new ones. Following an afternoon of informal sessions, the festival culminated in an evening concert featuring the sixteen master fiddle players in various performance combinations, from solo to full group accompanied by bodhrán. Although Green Linnet Records released an audio CD highlighting many of the festival concert performances (My Love Is in America, 1991), the audio recordings at the John J. Burns Library capture the festival in its entirety. A groundbreaking event in many respects, the festival established Boston College as a meeting place for traditional musicians of varying ages and playing styles, inaugurated the Irish Music Archives at the John J. Burns Library, and prefigured the creation of the Gaelic Roots Festival at Boston College (1993-2003). Schedule of Events March 24, 1990 Performer Meeting and Session (circa 11 p.m., probably Gasson Hall) After Mícheál O Súilleabháin meets with fiddle players to discuss Sunday's events, the fiddle players play several tunes together. March 25, 1990 Festival Liturgy (11 a.m., St. Ignatius Church) Irish traditional singer Nóirín Ní Riain with fiddle players and the Boston College Liturgical Choir in a festival mass. Festival Lecture (12:30 p.m., Gasson Hall, Jenks Honors Library) "New Directions in Irish Fiddle Style": an illustrated talk by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin on the music of Tommy Potts (1912-1988). Music Promenade (2:30 - c. 5:00 p.m., Gasson Hall, Irish Hall (Gasson 100)) Along with the invited fiddle players, our guests are the Set Dancers of the Boston branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann under the watchful eye of Larry Reynolds. 2:30 p.m. Fiddle session with invited fiddle players 3:30 p.m. Set Dancing with Larry Reynolds and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann 4:30 p.m. Open session Festival Concert (8:00 p.m., Gasson Hall, Irish Hall (Gasson 100)): Performances by invited fiddle players Kevin Burke, Liz Carroll, Séamus Connolly, Brian Conway, Johnny Cronin, Paddy Cronin, Tony De Marco, Martin Hayes, Eileen Ivers, James Kelly, Andy McGann, Johnny McGreevy, Brendan Mulvihill, Paddy Reynolds, Dale Russ, Martin Wynne, with Mel Mercier on bodhrán and bones. 3 March 26, 1990 Festival Interviews (Monday morning, Burns Library, Irish Room): Johnny McGreevy, Andy McGann, and Johnny Cronin individually interviewed by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (with musical interlude by Dale Russ). April 19, 1990 Festival Interview (Boston College Audio-Visual Studio): Paddy Cronin interviewed by by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin. 4 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: Fiddle Players Kevin Burke was raised in London by Sligo-born parents and has always returned to his root- inspiration-the early pioneer American 78rpm recordings of the three great Sligo fiddle players: Michael Coleman, James Morrison, and Paddy Killoran. Currently a member of the group Patrick Street, Kevin's extensive discography includes much-acclaimed solo albums (If the Cap Fits, Up Close), as well as recording with the legendary Bothy Band, Micheál Ó Domnhaill, Jackie Daly, and many more of the great figures in Irish musical tradition. Sligo at heart, but global in scope best describes this musician's energy. (From M. Ó Súilleabháin's My Love Is in America Festival Program) Liz Carroll was born in Chicago and much influenced in her youth by the Irish button-accordion player Joe Cooley, celebrated for his robust and driving style, and by fellow Chicago fiddle player and festival participant Johnny McGreevy. Liz's own style is a personal reworking of these and other Irish influences, and its unique power may owe something to that fact. Recordings include A Friend Indeed, Kiss Me Kate, and an important release on the Green Linnet label entitled Liz Carroll. (From M. Ó Súilleabháin's My Love Is in America Festival Program) Séamus Connolly hails from Killaloe, East Clare and immigrated to Boston in 1976 with a string of National Fiddle Competition Awards to his credit. Already influenced by the 1920 recordings of Coleman, Killoran and Morrison-and by his time spent with the famed Kilfenor and Leitrim Ceili Bands-Séamus' brilliant fiddle technique has been widely heard on all three national tours of the "Masters of the Folk Violin," as well as at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife and other prestigious events. His creative energy has recently found expression in two much-awaited solo recordings-Notes from My Mind released in 1988, and in the recently released Here and There (both on Green Linnet). (From M. Ó Súilleabháin's My Love Is in America Festival Program) Brian Conway inherited his sense of fiddle tradition from his father Jim-himself a fiddle player- and from Martin Wynne, fellow New Yorker and festival participant. Another major figure, the late Martin Mulvihill, provided the opportunity for Brian's initial traditional music experience, and the Conway house in the Bronx where Brian was born and raised provided an excellent environment for hearing the best of New York's contemporary Irish tradition-including the fiddling of Andy McGann, another festival participant. In common with those among our guest fiddle players who have entered the round of competitions, Brian has distinguished himself by winning the All-Ireland 1985 award. Recordings include The Apple in Winter (with Tony De Marco) on Green Linnet Records. (From M. Ó Súilleabháin's My Love Is in America Festival Program) Johnny Cronin was born in Gneeveguilla, Co. Kerry, and, as a result, he and his brother Paddy have inherited the rich Sliabh Luachra tradition carried by blind fiddle player Tom Billy Murphy, itinerant fiddle-master Pádraig O'Keeffe, and legendary fiddle player Denis Murphy. Johnny has nurtured this inheritance in New York where he has lived now for more than thirty years. Shanachie Records released a recording of his music entitled Cronin and Burke on which he 5 features with banjo player Joe Burke. (From M. Ó Súilleabháin's My Love Is in America Festival Program) Paddy Cronin has been living in the Boston area for over forty years. "I was born in the village of Gneeveguilla. That's in East Kerry, and takes in part of Cork. It's famous for its musicians and characters. I was taught by Pádraig O'Keeffe. He was the greatest. Pádraig was across the fields maybe three or four miles away, and then Denis Murphy. Why I could go to the window and see Denis' house, and Pádraig was on the opposite side again, just over the hill. So the three of us were very close" (from notes to Paddy's album The Rakish Paddy as quoted in the Festival Program). Paddy was recorded at the age of twenty-four for the London BBC archives, and his first commercial recording, entitled Music in the Glen, was released by Fleetwood Records in the fifties. (From M. Ó Súilleabháin's My Love Is in America Festival Program) Tony De Marco grew up in an Irish-Italian parish in Brooklyn and was drawn from an initial interest in American country fiddling into the sound-world of the New York-based fiddle players Paddy Reynolds, Johnny Cronin, Martin Wynne, and Andy McGann. Successive trips to Ireland, in particular County Sligo, led to a deepening of Irish roots which was nurtured by an important musical relationship with Paddy Reynolds. Attendance at the weekly session in Jim Conway's house in the Bronx led naturally to a musicale friendship with Brian Conway which is recorded on The Apple in Winter (Green Linnet Records).