Whatever road you take to Miltown Malbay in early July, there’s music wafting through the air to greet you
Whatever road you take to Miltown Malbay in early July, there’s music wafting through the air to greet you Bernie Maunsell and Mary O’Connor listen in on a packed singing session in Johnny Burke’s pub at the Armada Hotel.
Come in from Mullagh or Annagh and you’ll hear banjos. It’s harps along the main road from Ennis. At the secondary school in Spanish Point, it’s fiddles.
Then it’s the stomp of set and sean-nós dancers at the Armada and Bellbridge Hotels. In the town, at the bottom of the main street, you’ll hear tin whistles, and at the top, it’s flutes. The concertinas, well, they’re everywhere. If there’s a spare room to be had in the area at this point in July, it won’t be long until they’ve found musicians to fill it.
Ken Early: Referee helps while Tuchel hinders as England sink Norway to move into World Cup semi-finalsNamed in honour of the famous uilleann piper, the summer school has been running since 1973. Musicians, dancers and singers from across Ireland and beyond come to Miltown Malbay each year to be taught by some of the top teachers that Irish traditional music and dance have to offer.
Unlike the fleadhs, there’s no competitive aspect to the week, and 53 years on, the summer school is bigger than ever.
“The Monday morning is always hectic,” says Deirdre Comber, a member of the organising committee, “when we have over 1,500 students descending and they all have to meet their tutors and be sent to their various classes. But the great thing is everyone’s always delighted to be here and they’re always in great humour.
” ‘Go to any reasonably sized town in Japan and you’ll find an Irish pub’: The Japanese fans of Irish culture Such is the popularity of the classes – covering various abilities across the range of instruments; set and sean-nós dancing; and singing – finding space to fit everyone is their only limitation. At the makeshift ‘concertina village’ out by the football pitch, “every shack, shed and síbín has a concertina player in it,” Comber adds.
The community comes out in force to help, offering their time and all types of spaces. The choir gallery in Miltown church, the sacristy in Mullagh, classrooms in local schools, sittingrooms in private houses and even two funeral parlours have been commandeered. While classes take place in the morning, the town has a few hours to catch its breath. For those not attending the summer school, it’s a chance to sample some of the other delights of the area.
Spanish Point beach, a two-minute spin out of Miltown, is in its summer glory, packed with surfers, swimmers, waders and sunbathers. It’s also the temporary home of some of those who decided to lean into the festival feel of the week, pitching up their tents with the Atlantic at their door. A trio of dry-robe-clad sea swimmers are long-time returnees.
One of the women, Columba, first came to Willie Week when her children were young, sending them off to classes. Now, they’re all grown up and she instead comes back with her sister, Brídeen, and they link up with their friend, Gráinne.
“It’s all about getting the rental; snagging it and coming back,” says Gráinne, with Columba adding that she’s been staying at the same house nearby for 14 years. For them, the enjoyment of the week is in the lectures, recitals, concerts and céilithe, and being able to “dip in and out” of the action. By the early evening, it’s standing room only in all the pubs, the musicians finding keen audiences wherever they decide to set up stall.
The younger crowds flock to Cleary’s, Michael A’s and the Forge. Friel’s will often have a session in each section of the long, narrow bar, ditto for Hillary’s. And that’s only a fraction of the offering. Collecting the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1995, Anthony Daly stood on the steps of the Hogan Stand and said: “In Clare, we love our traditional music.
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