When ever the role of women involved in Irish traditional music is discussed, Mrs. Kathleen Harrington’s name frequently comes to the fore. Although there were numerally few women actively involved in playing traditional music, the few who were publicly active, were universally respected. The names of Aggie Whyte, Bridie Lafferty, Mrs. Crotty and Tilly Finn spring to mind. Undoubtably there were many others who only played at home but the musicians named above were the ones I was privileged to encounter.
Top from left: Kathleen Harrington, Bridie Lafferty; Tilly Finn; Elizabeth Crotty Bottom left: Aggie Whyte, Bridie Whyte
Kathleen Harrington née Gardiner was born into a very prominent musical family at Corhober, Ballymote, Co. Sligo, on 14 July 1897. Her father, Séamus Gardiner, played the fiddle and flute and taught music in the locality, including training the local fife and drum band in the United Irish League Hall in Ballymote. Michael Anderson the piper from Lisananny, Ballymote, Co. Sligo, mentioned in Francis O’Neill’s Irish music and musicians (1913), was a first cousin.
It was only natural that the Gardiner children took to music. Mary Gardiner (Mrs. Sheridan who married and settled locally in Ballymote, Co. Sligo), Lucy Gardiner (Mrs. Rowland), and James Gardiner, all played fiddles. James emigrated to Scotland and played in a céilí band for many years. Her brother John Joe Gardiner played fiddle and flute was perhaps the best known of the family.
At that time, the Sligo style was predominant in music circles. Kathleen, and her brother John Joe, played with all the great musicians in the area. They were contemporaries of Michael Coleman, James Morrison and Paddy Killoran and had close connections with them over the years. This included receiving private acetate recordings containing music and greetings from James ‘Lad’ O’Beirne and Paddy Killoran.
Kathleen and Lucy Gardiner went to work in Liverpool. While there, they stayed with the McNamara family, a music loving family originally from Co. Clare. Their son, Seán McNamara also played the fiddle and later played with the Liverpool Céilí Band. The Gardiner sisters became involved in the activities of the emigrant Irish community in Liverpool playing music at céilidhe and gatherings. It was at a céilí that Kathleen met her husband, Seán Harrington. Seán was at that time a volunteer in the Liverpool IRA. She herself became a member of Cumann na mBan during that period in England. When Kathleen and her husband returned to Dublin she resumed playing traditional music with her husband’s encouragement.
Katheen Harrington’s sister, Lucy married and settled in Galway where her sons, Oliver and Raymond, became renowned accordion players. They later spent years in London where they were an important part of the vibrant traditional music scene there in the 1950s and 1960’s.
Mrs. Harrington was a good fiddle player and unusually at the time for women, had recorded a solo fiddle 78 rpm disc recording for HMV in 1938, and a recording for the short lived Irish Recording Company (IRC).
Kathleen Harrington recorded with her brother John Joe Gardiner who was an extraordinary musician, equally proficient on fiddle and flute. They recorded as the Gardiner Traditional Trio in 1938 with John Joe on flute, Kathleen on fiddle and Moya Acheson from Dundalk on piano. John Joe was a contemporary of Michael Coleman and his brother, James. John Joe Gardiner taught fiddle players Paddy Killoran and James Morrison before they emigrated to the USA and they kept in touch over the years.
Apart from her 78 rpm disc recordings, as a solo musician, and with the Gardiner Trio, Kathleen was also known throughout the country as the leader of the Kincora Céilí Band.
Kincora Céilí Band
p>The Kincora Céilí Band was formed after the foundation of the Ballinakill Céilí Band, the first céilí band to broadcast and record. Recordings issued by record companies of these two fine groups are a testimony to their brilliance. Their combination of flutes and fiddle in the Kincora Céilí Band produced a sweet and melodious sound reminiscent of the Ballinakill Céilí Band and undoubtedly these two bands must rank amongst the greatest groupings of Irish traditional musicians.
Mrs. Harrington founded the Kincora Céilí Band in the late 1930s. The Kincora Céilí Band was in typical Sligo style with fiddle and flute to the fore: Kathleen Harrington (Sligo), Pat O’Brien (Sligo), Mick Loughman (Kildare) on fiddles, John Egan (Sligo), John Brennan (Sligo) on flutes and Kathleen O’Connor (Dundalk) on piano. Their first public appearance was at a céilí organised by the Scottish branch of the Old IRA in 1937 in the Round Room of the Rotunda, Dublin. The Kincora Céilí Band was subsequently very popular with dancers and music lovers alike.
At a later period in 1940s, after an illness, she handed over the leadership of the band to piper, Seán Seery, but continued playing the fiddle with them. With this changed band they went on to win the All-Ireland Senior Céilí Band Competition title at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann held at Longford in 1958.
Mrs. Harrington was also a major figure in traditional musical circles and as a member of the Pipers’ Club committee, was centrally involved in the in the development of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ) in the early years, and in the trade union associated with CCÉ, The Irish Traditional Musicians Association for many years. For most of this period, apart from Mrs. Crotty in Co. Clare who was also involved in CCÉ, Mrs. Harrington was one of the very few female musicians actively involved at a national level.
Because of her national profile as a band leader and her family connections, she was a highly respected individual and much sort after as a musician and an adjudicator at the early fleadhanna.
She was a very active committee member of the Pipers’ Club from when it was located in 14 Thomas Street, Dublin and continued to serve as a committee member when they relocated to Monkstown in 1976.
Mrs. Harrington’s days of playing with céilí bands was not finished yet. Her brother, John Joe was living in Dundalk and was the figurehead and inspiration for a new generation of musicians. Rory Kennedy with Patsy and Pauline Gardiner formed the Siamsa Céilí Band and were subsequently three times champions of the All-Ireland Céılí band competition (1966–69).
Mrs. Harrington was a prominent and experienced member of the band. The Siamsa Céilí Band included John Joe’s daughters, Pauline and Patsy and his son-in-law, Brian O’Kane. Mrs. Harrington was certainly an asset to the band as she had the experience of competing and winning with the Kincora in the All-Ireland Céılí band competition in 1958.
Members of the band as shown below:
Standing, back row: Brian O’Kane (piano accordion), Kevin O’Callaghan (drummer), Brendan Gaughran (piano) and Rory Kennedy (accordion).
Front row: Patsy Gardiner (fiddle), John Joe Gardiner (fiddle), Kathleen Harrington (fiddle), and Joe McKevitt (flute).
The Siamsa Céilí Band, c. 1965
Personality wise, she was a lovely dignified lady, always dressed smartly, invariably with a large stylish hat. Over the years she forged a unique role as a recording artiste, band leader, winning several Senior Céilí Band All-Ireland titles with the Kincora and Siamsa céilí bands, a committee member of the Pipers’ Club and an adjudicator at musical events all over the country.
On a personal level, I would like to acknowledge her generosity and encouragement to me and other young musicians in the 1960s. In her own quiet way, she was a role model for female musicians and in that regard, was universally respected by the musical community.
Kathleen Harrington and other surviving members of the Kincora Céilí Band participated in a get together organised by the author to commemorate the Kincora Céilí Band shortly before her death on 4th November, 1984.
Kathleen Harrington and Bridie Lafferty. Image courtesy Mick O'Connor
ITMA and Mick O’Connor would like to extend thanks to Harry Bradshaw who has shared an unpublished recording of Kathleen Harrington to mark #IWD2022.
Recorded circa 1949–50, Kathleen is accompanied by piano, double bass and banjo mandolin.
Mick O’Connor would like to thank the extended Harrington and Gardiner families, and in particular to Brian and Patsy O’Kane née Gardiner, for their continuous support and encouragement over the years.
Special thanks to Harry Bradshaw for his generosity in supplying an unpublished recording of Mrs. Harrington playing Bonnie Kate and the Boys of the Lough.
Images used are courtesy of Mick O’Connor, ITMA Photographic Collection, and Independent Newspapers.
Blog editor: Grace Toland
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North Connacht, and in particular South Sligo, has produced a disproportionate number of outstanding traditional musicians relative to its size. From an area measuring approximately 400 square miles, taking in north Roscommon, north east Mayo and south Leitrim, an abundance of outstanding musicians have emerged, most notably fiddle and flute players. Some of the most celebrated and influential traditional music comes from this area, with duets like fiddler Fred Finn and flute player Peter Horan. In an area of such rich musical heritage the three musicians heard here have achieved a special place in traditional music’s Hall of Fame.
Michael Coleman (1891–1945) Kilavil, Co. Sligo.
James Morrison (1891–1947) Riverstown, Co. Sligo.
Paddy Killoran (1904–1965) Ballymote, Co. Sligo.
They became known as the ‘Sligo Masters’ or the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Sligo fiddle players. A combination of circumstances led to this exalted position. All three were musicians of outstanding technical prowess and this fact alone may have served to make their music influential; however, a major factor in their universal popularity and influence was their commercial recordings. All three emigrated to the USA and recorded extensively with the Decca and Columbia labels, amongst others. These 78 rpm recordings were widely distributed in the USA and Ireland becoming hugely popular. Many tune combinations that are still widely played today were first put together on these seminal recordings. Renowned radio producer and researcher Harry Bradshaw has conducted extensive research on this subject and he concludes: ‘No other musician [as Coleman] in the history of traditional music has been so imitated. His influence pervades the entire Irish tradition today’ (Companion to Irish Traditional Music, Fintan Vallely).
Though the eighteen recordings featured here are a mere taster of the music of Sligo’s ‘Holy Trinity’ they illustrate beautifully the vibrancy and lyrical musicality of the music of South Sligo.
Brian Doyle, 1 October 2015
Acetate discs were originally used in recording studios from the 1930s to the early 1950s, before the introduction of tape recording, for making test copies of recordings. They consisted of aluminium plates covered with a thin layer of lacquer, and sound was cut directly onto the lacquer. They were only intended for temporary use and became inaudible after many playings. Acetates were also used in radio work, and some commercial companies recorded performers on acetate disc for a fee.
The eight acetate recordings presented above come from the collection of the late John Brennan, a Ballisodare, Co Sligo, flute player resident in Dublin, and they were donated to the Irish Traditional Music Archive in 2008 by his son John who lives in Denmark, per Peter Sorenson.
John Brennan was friendly with the Sligo fiddle players James ‘Lad’ O’Beirne (1911–80) and Martin Wynne (1913–98), who were resident in New York and whose playing is featured on the discs. Lad O’Beirne, who had emigrated there in 1928, had a homemade acetate disc-cutting machine, and this was doubtless the original source of most of the recordings. Martin Wynne came to the United States in 1948, and seems to have made the first two of these recordings with an unknown pianist in London before emigrating. Lad O’Beirne accompanies Wynne on piano on the latter’s New York recordings. The New York-born fiddle player Andy McGann (1928–2004) is also to be heard on one of the recordings, in duet with O’Beirne on fiddle and accompanied on piano by Jerry Wallace (1929–91). All of these musicians were influenced by the famous New York-based Sligo fiddle player and recording artist Michael Coleman (1891–1945), as can be heard in the repertory and style on the discs.
These recordings seem to have been made in the late 1940s and in 1950. The discs have been heavily used and their sound quality is now poor. The first six have been remastered to the highest level possible by Harry Bradshaw for ITMA; the other two recordings are less audible but are included for their historical and technical interest.
Do you have other acetate discs of Irish traditional music? ITMA would welcome their donation or the opportunity to copy them.
With thanks to record donor John Brennan and to Peter Sorenson for his good offices.
Nicholas Carolan, Harry Bradshaw & Danny Diamond, 1 December 2009
Mairéad and Deirdre Hurley
Drawing from the Well for September 2021, features the Hurley Sisters as they explore connections between tunes, songs and stories associated with the famed “Petticoat Loose” of Co. Waterford.
The premiere of “Petticoat Loose: A Wicked Woman of Irish Folklore, Music, and Song” took place Wednesday 15 September 2021. It is now available to view on:
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Our investigation of Petticoat Loose began when, after playing the tune together, a half-remembered fragment of a story came to mind. We searched the wonderful resource that is www.duchas.ie which houses the National Folklore Collection UCD Digitization Project, including the Schools Project. A search revealed multiple stories about Petticoat Loose – we read these voraciously and discovered a real woman often named as Mary Hannigan of Co. Waterford, who committed crimes of varying degrees of severity. A common theme is her death and subsequent return to haunt the locality, before being banished for all eternity to undertake a Sisyphean task, like weaving ropes from sand or emptying a lake with a thimble.
These various tales led us deeper into the world of folklore, finding motifs and symbols such as the spirit of Petticoat Loose crying “Pull the Knife and Stick it Again!” as she is stabbed with a black-handled knife – a phrase we know from the title of a jig played by Matt Molloy on his 1976 recording on the Mulligan Label. We located that tune in the Breandan Breathnach collection Ceol Rince na hÉireann Volume 3, the notes of which directed us to an interesting account by Eugene Ó Curry published by George Petrie in Ancient Music of Ireland (1855) of the Cailleach Bhéil Atha (the Hag of Balla) in Co. Clare.
Petrie’s sentiments match our own to some extent as we have deviated from music into folklore: “And although the subject may be considered as not strictly in accordance with the primary purpose of this work, I trust that few of my readers will object to my securing in this place remarks of so much interest”
The following are some excerpts from O’Curry’s account. There was a belief, strongly held at the time of writing, that the “Tuatha de Dananns…were in possession of a mortal immortality — and that they had the power to carry off from this visible world men and women in a living state, but sometimes under the semblance of death.”
Those taken from the living world were often infants, taken for the childless of the Tuatha de Danann, or else young men or women in their prime, often on their wedding days, to be given to an otherworldly lover, or in some cases, “fresh, well-looking nurses for their nurseries”.
The exchanges happened in different ways – in some cases, those taken were swapped for a sickly looking child, or old man or woman as the case may require. In others, the human subject died to all appearances, but people guessed it was not a real death and began to take steps to rescue their loved ones from the good people (i.e. the fairies). In yet more stories, the human is whipped off the brink of a river or lake, or out to sea by a gust of wind – but then taken down to a “noble mansion and plain, over which the water was but a transparent atmosphere”. It was generally believed at the time that “fairy captives are redeemable within a year and a day, but after that they are lost forever”.
“The black-hafted knife was the only formidable mortal weapon in fairy warfare – a single thrust or stab from it was fatal; but a second rendered the first one harmless.”
O’Curry recounts the story of the Cailleach Bhéil Atha (the Hag of Balla) who would watch from her seat in an old fort between Kilkee and Doonbeg, Co. Clare for a passing gentleman to capture. As she leapt onto the horse of one such candidate, the man plunged a black-handled knife into her left side. “Tarraing agus sáigh arís” – draw and plunge again – said the hag. But the man neither answered nor obeyed, and she immediately fell off the horse and disappeared. In the morning, the man returned to the spot with some neighbours, “where they found the black-hafted knife stuck in a small lump of jelly, resembling what the peasantry call a fallen star”.
This article also gives us an insight into O’Curry’s own beliefs, and those of his family – he tells the story of a priest who was drowned around 1812, and whose mother and brothers “who were sensible and well-informed men, continued not only for a year and a day but for seven years, to put in action the available anti-fairy force of the whole province of Munster for his recovery, and this with a confidence that was sickening to my father and mother, who were the only people I ever knew in that country who were total unbelievers in such doctrines. It is hardly necessary to say that poor Fr. Molony never came back”.
As we looked into the tune Petticoat Loose, we discovered printed versions of the tune from 1748 onwards, but one that we selected to play in our episode of Drawing from the Well comes from a collection by a piper named John Murphy, which was published in Edinburgh in 1809 – you can access the score in the archive of Na Píobairí Uilleann.
We also find a version of the tune in the Canon Goodman collections “Tunes of the Munster Pipers” – one in Volume 1 and another in Volume 2. The tune later published in O’Neill’s Waifs & Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922) is similar to the tune in Volume 1, and is another we selected to perform in our episode.
A completely unrelated tune entitled Petticoat Loose can be found in O’Neill’s 1001 Dance Tunes of Ireland – we enjoyed listening to Dermot & Joe McLoughlin playing this tune in this YouTube clip. This is similar to the tunes The Rooms of Dooagh, Brian O’Lynn, and The Maiden that Jigs it in Style; however, it’s the version of this tune that’s found in the P.W. Joyce Collection ‘Old Irish Folk Music and Songs’ under the name ‘The Banks of Glenoe’ that really struck a chord with us – the interactive score can be accessed on the ITMA website here.
We had a great chat with James Kelly about the origins of the title for the reel he calls Petticoat Loop on his 1989 recording Capel Street, a tune he says came from Johnny Doherty. That investigation proved inconclusive in terms of relationships with Mary Hannigan or any of the jigs we’ve previously discussed, but one thing we know is that there is a tune also called Petticoat Loop in the Grier Collection, also in 4/4 time.
More recent recordings of the tune we commonly think of as Petticoat Loose include Conal O’Gráda’s rendition on his 1990 album The Top of Coom – we enjoyed his sleeve notes in which he says “The tune is also known as Strop the Razor. I learned it from Séamus Glackin, a member of the fiddle playing family from Dublin, when we shared a caravan at the All Ireland Fleadh Ceoil in Ennis. This was long before either of us had use for a razor or any knowledge of petticoats, loose or otherwise.”
Further immersion in the many books in the ITMA Reading Room led us to uncover the mention of a song, along with the lyrics, in an article on Petticoat Loose by Professor Pádraig Ó Macháin in An Linn Buí, Iris Ghaeltacht na nDéise, Uimhir 5. The song was listed as being in manuscript 23 E 1 in the Royal Irish Academy from the James Hardiman collection – collected by an unnamed scribe for Hardiman, likely in 1834, but no earlier.
The lyrics of the song place it in Dromana, a few miles from Cappoquin, in County Waterford. It features many recognisable elements of the story from our earlier explorations of the Schools’ Collection. Petticoat Scaoilte is represented as a handsome, well-dressed pub landlady, with an appetite for drinking and dancing. Her ‘layabout’ husband sits at home, awaiting her return, and when he enquires as to her whereabouts for the night, she replies ‘I’ve been drinking and revelling, and I’ve paid the reckoning!” Our priest figure features here too, and we’re told that there isn’t a brother, priest or clergy in the land who wouldn’t dearly love to absolve Petticoat of her sins.
We were delighted to learn about this song, and even more so when we got access to the Royal Irish Academy to uncover a further manuscript which combined lyrics and printed music for ‘Peticóat Sgaoilte’. This revealed that the song was sang to a melody very similar to the tune first printed in London as Petticoat Loose in the mid 1700s. It is unclear whether the tune originated there, or was perhaps brought to London by travelling Irish musicians, but at the very least we can see that this melody of Petticoat Loose was conflated with the story of the wild, wicked Petticoat Loose in Co. Waterford by the early 1800s.
Over the course of our research, we noted the many parallels between the ways the tunes and folklore have varied over time and in different regions. While hugely indebted to those who worked to preserve our tradition, any understanding we can piece together today is also undoubtedly shaped by the influence of the collectors and scribes of our oral tradition.
We thought that a good place to end this reflection might be with some words from Micho Russell, found in the introduction to his book of tunes ‘The Piper’s Chair’:
“Anybody learning these tunes is free to play them their own way. I’ve given you what you call the bones of the tunes, but everybody is free to make up different versions. You can doctor it up yourself. Just be sure you use the correct time”.
Mairéad & Deirdre Hurley – September 2021
Click here to view a zine featuring Petticoat Loose, created by Mairéad Hurley, including illustrations by Ríona Ní Riagáin.
Sisters Mairéad and Deirdre Hurley grew up in a musical household in Ballymote, Co. Sligo, and were immersed in the music of their locality from a young age.
Mairéad was the winner of the All-Ireland senior concertina title at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2006. She has performed on stages and taught concertina master classes in Ireland and the UK, as well as in various locations across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. In 2014, she was the resident Irish music tutor at the Gaelic Club in Sydney, Australia. In 2016, Mairéad, John Blake and Nathan Gourley released a trio album entitled The Truckley Howl, the name coming from an enigmatic phrase uttered by legendary piper Séamus Ennis.
Deirdre has also performed extensively at home and abroad, including appearances in Áras an Uachtaráin, Liberty Hall and further afield in Switzerland, Lithuania and Slovakia. She appears on The Thursday Sessions album released by The Cobblestone Pub, where she has been a regular feature on the session scene for a number of years. She has also made appearances as a singer at NPU’s Session with the Pipers, as well as at the Frank Harte and Sean-Nós Cois Life festivals.
Both sisters have made numerous television appearances, and performed together as part of Slí na mBeaglaoich on TG4 in 2021.
Drawing from the Well is a monthly series connecting artists with archival material to inspire new art. It is supported by Bank Of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund in partnership with Business to Arts.
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Sisters Mairéad and Deirdre Hurley grew up in a musical household in Ballymote, Co. Sligo, and were immersed in the music of their locality from a young age.. Mairéad was the winner of the All-Ireland senior concertina title at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2006. She has performed on stages and taught concertina master classes in Ireland and the UK, as well as in various locations across Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. In 2014, she was the resident Irish music tutor at the Gaelic Club in Sydney, Australia. In 2016, Mairéad, John Blake and Nathan Gourley released a trio album entitled The Truckley Howl, the name coming from an enigmatic phrase uttered by legendary piper Séamus Ennis.
Both sisters have made numerous television appearances, and performed together as part of Slí na mBeaglaoich on TG4 in 2021.
Michael is primarily a flute, whistle and fiddle player who has lived in Ballymote, Co Sligo, for the last 35 years.. He is 2nd generation Irish raised in Leeds, UK. His father, also Michael, was a flute player from Kiltullagh, Co Galway, who was a contemporary of Paddy Carty and the Brodericks. His mother, Eileen, is from Aughamore, Co. Mayo, and has also music in the family.
Michael and his 3 brothers; Des, Kev and Drew, started music lessons in the Irish Centre in Leeds in the early 70s with the newly formed Leeds branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. Locally, his main influences in the Leeds sessions would have been musicians from North Connacht, in particular Mayo, the men who rebuilt England after the 2nd World War.
When the first record player came into the house it was the records of Seamus Tansey, Joe Burke, Finbarr Dwyer, Brendan McGlinchey, the Shaskeen, and the Tulla Ceili Band, which were the biggest influences. In the golden era of Traditional music in the mid to late 70s, Matt Molloy and the Bothy Band, Planxty, Frankie Gavin and De Danann were all tremendous influences. About the same time, Roscommon fiddle player, Paddy Ryan who was then living in Birmingham gave the family a cassette tape of old 78 records of Michael Coleman, James Morrison and more of the 1920s and 30s greats, pure musical gold.
There was a thriving folk scene in the North of England at the time. Many young people came to study at Leeds University and became involved in the Irish music scene. At school, Michael played in Folk and Folk Rock groups, and later a bit of Country and Irish, which was popular in the Irish pubs and clubs. Thankfully, no known recordings exist from this era.
In 1987, Michael, his young wife Patricia and 2 infants, Mairead and Dermot, moved to Ireland. This was for a better quality of life in “the land of saints and scholars”, but also a land of emigration, depression, and comparative poverty. They decided to buy a business – a newsagent’s shop in Ballymote. Before he left Leeds, he recorded a cassette tape with his brother Des, called ‘Over the Water’.
Michael had not been playing many sessions before the move, but the session scene in South Sligo Coleman Country was vibrant at the time, so he felt compelled to go out almost every night to play and support the music.
Some time later he was asked to do some music teaching and after receiving the TTCT music teaching diploma from Comhaltas he went on to teach all over South Sligo in both National Schools and CCE branches. Many of his pupils went on to become All Ireland champions. He has coached many groups and ceili bands with considerable success. After selling the shop in 2004 he took up music full time. He was awarded a ‘Ceannródai’ at the Sligo All Ireland Fleadh in 2015 in recognition of his services to Irish Music teaching and promotion.
He has been a regular tutor at many festivals and summer schools including the South Sligo Summer School, Tubbercurry, Joe Mooney Drumshanbo, Seosamh Mac Gabhann Summer School Kilmovee, the O’Carolan School, Keadue and Scoil Eigse.
Ceili Bands have always been one of Michael’s passions, as a band member and a trainer. In 1992, chatting to PJ Hernon after competing in the senior band competition, they decided to form a band to actually play for céilithe. Set dancing was getting very popular at the time and so the Swallow’s Tail Ceili Band was hatched. The original members with Michael and PJ were – John McHugh on fiddle and Maria Lynn on piano, Michael Sheridan on drums, joining soon after was Jim Corry sharing keyboard duty with Maria. PJ left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Tom Doherty from Foxford. They continue to be one of Ireland’s top bands for dancers playing classy, rhythmic, melodious West of Ireland music.
Michael is also a founder member of Ceoltoíri Coleman, which is the in-house music group of the Coleman Centre in Gurteen, where Michael works part time as a teacher and resident musician. He played in the group, ‘Misneach’, alongside PJ Hernon, Declan Folan, Junior Davey and Brian Lofthouse, which itself grew out of Ceoltoiri Coleman.
Michael has toured extensively all over Europe and the USA.
His most recent project was the compilation of a book of tunes for the Coleman Centre called ‘Where the Owenmore Flows’ , 100 traditional musical gems from North Connacht and beyond. The collection comprises lesser-known tunes from local musicians, using the extensive resources of the Coleman Centre archive. The book and accompanying CDs was launched in Summer 2022.
Michael and Patricia have 5 children, Mairead, Diarmuid, Eileen, Deirdre and Sean, all of whom play a small bit of music.
Sisters Mairéad and Deirdre Hurley grew up in a musical household in Ballymote, Co. Sligo, and were immersed in the music of their locality from a young age.. Deirdre has also performed extensively at home and abroad, including appearances in Áras an Uachtaráin, Liberty Hall and further afield in Switzerland, Lithuania and Slovakia. She appears on The Thursday Sessions album released by The Cobblestone Pub, where she has been a regular feature on the session scene for a number of years. She has also made appearances as a singer at NPU’s Session with the Pipers, as well as at the Frank Harte and Sean-Nós Cois Life festivals.
Both sisters have made numerous television appearances, and performed together as part of Slí na mBeaglaoich on TG4 in 2021.”
Carmel Gunning is a composer, a multi-instrumentalist, singer and teacher.. Carmel Gunning was born into a musical family – The Nangles – in Geevagh, Co. Sligo. She is a composer, a multi-instrumentalist, singer and teacher of many well-known musicians such as Liam Kelly and Orlaith MacAuliffe to name just a few. She teaches all year round and hosts The Carmel Gunning Summer Music Classes every August.
Recently, she celebrated 50 years in the music industry and published a book of her own compositions, The Sligo Maid, and a book of songs from Connaught and outside, Shamrocks from Geevagh, to mark the occasion. Her books can be purchased from The Coleman Centre, Gurteen, Co. Sligo, and/or directly from her (see contact details below).
They are very much in demand and many of her tunes are today being taught and learned in many countries. She has also devised her own system in phrasing and breath control for tin whistle and flute which she passes on to all her students.
She also released her sixth solo CD Cathair Shligigh.
She has taught music and singing at many festivals all over the world and has tutored M.A. and B.A. students at The Irish World Academy of Music in Limerick University.
Now living in Sligo town, she is working on more material to be published at a future date and plans some launches in Ireland and abroad when safe to do so.
Flute-player Michael Hurley was brought up in Leeds, England in a musical family with roots in Kiltullagh, Co. Galway and Aughamore, Co. Mayo. He has been living in Ballymote, Co. Sligo now for many years. He is accompanied on some of the recordings of his compositions by his daughter, Deirdre, also a flute player, and guitarist John Blake.
