Lots to write about this week! First off, I want to congratulate Caitríona Fee (concertina) and Colin Kadis (accordion), the two yanks who were among the 15 finalists in this year’s Bonn Óir Seán Ó Riada Competition!
Established by Peadar Ó Riada in 2010, the Bonn Óir Seán Ó Riada is an annual event that each year celebrates a different traditional music instrument or set of instruments. Entrants are judged on the character and spirit of their playing, which sets this competition apart from others and this year, the competition’s focus is on “metal reed instruments,” which includes the accordion, concertina and harmonica.
The Bonn Óir Seán Ó Riada is one of the most prestigious Irish music competitions at the moment. Past winners include well-known folks from Ireland like Cormac Begley, Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn, and Aoife Ní Bhriain, but U.S.-based musicians have fared well over the years, with Joe de Georgeo (fiddle, 2023) and Seán Gavin (flute, 2015) both having taken top honors in the past. This year, the Seán Ó Riada finals will take place on Jan. 23 in Cork with the judges being Mary MacNamara, Johnny Óg Connolly and Danny O’Mahony. Best of luck to everyone competing!
Speaking of Danny O’Mahony, I was over at the Irish Arts Center recently to see “Bellow,” a theater piece in which he stars that “explores the weight of tradition, the capriciousness of memory and the artist's need to express their true self.” Done in collaboration with the experimental theater company Brokentalkers , it’s an incredible production that not only documents O’Mahony’s sometimes turbulent life in music, but cuts to the core of what traditional music is all about.
O’Mahony, who is from Ballyduff, North Co. Kerry, is one of the great button accordionists in Irish music. Although not an actor, he has a natural wit and subtlety that drives his performance and gives it remarkable depth. Gary Keegan, his on-stage foil, acts as the show’s “guide” and plays a particularly problematic character from O’Mahony’s life with chilling effect. The two share a great chemistry. Dancer Emily Kilkenny Roddy rounds out the cast. Roddy, who spends much of the show wearing a child’s mask as “young Danny,” was particularly impressive, her brilliant choreography doing a great job of evoking O’Mahony’s various emotional states.
“Bellow” is a piece I think everyone should see, not simply because it’s an unvarnished look into the life of a traditional musician but because because the story it tells is nuanced and complex. O’Mahony’s life is truly one that developed inside the music and its striking is how hard and often times how lonely it’s been. What I found particularly noteworthy were the reactions of the musicians from Ireland who saw it, each of them reporting a very strong sympathy for O’Mahony’s experience and how realistically it was portrayed. Congrats to O’Mahony, Brokentalkers, and the Irish Arts Center for this outstanding production – definitely one to see if you have the opportunity.
Speaking of great button accordion players, the day after seeing O’Mahony’s show, I was over at the New York Irish Center in Queens to see Diarmuid Ó Meachair play with fiddle player Andrew Caden, and pianist Matt Mulqueen. Ó Meachair and Caden are an impressive pair, and together with Mulqueen share a searing musical energy that was evident as they roared through some great jigs and reels, with an emphasis on tunes from the 1920s. It was the first night of a short tour for the trio and they played for a packed house.
Ó Meachair, Caden and Mulqueen were presented as a part of Don Meade’s Blarney Star concert series. Meade has put on concerts for decades now, and the shows that he’s been doing at the New York Irish Center reflect the great good taste of someone who really knows what he’s doing. There’s a lot to look forward to as the season there continues, with Dylan Foley (fiddle) and Brendan Dolan (piano) there on Feb. 13; Niall Mulligan (fiddle) and friends on March 6; and Seán Gavin (flute) and Caoimhín Ó Fearghail (uilleann pipes) on April 17. I definitely recommend getting out to these shows, it’s always a good time!
Finally, some sad news to report: the great singer Sean Ó Sé has died. From Ballylickey, Co. Cork, Ó Sé was born into an Irish-speaking family with a long tradition of singing. As a young man, he performed with the Blarney Céilí Band, but it was winning the traditional singing competition at the Feis na Mumhan in 1959 that led to bigger and better things, among them an invitation to join Seán Ó Riada’s seminal group Ceoltóirí Chualann in 1961. Ó Sé went on to become a star of radio and television, and later, a presenter, most notably for RTÉ’s “An Ghaoth Aneas” program.
He visited the United States, Canada, China, and Cuba as a member of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann’s touring groups and made a number of notable recordings, many with Ó Riada, and many on his own, with “Seán Ó Sé Sings” (1973), “Babaró” (1975), “Banks Of My Own Lovely Lee” (1977), and “One Day For Recreation” (with Na Filí, 1978), among them. However, it’s his 1962 recording “An Poc ar Buile” with Seán Ó Riada and Ceoltóirí Cualann for which he’s probably best known: it became a radio hit and was the source of his nickname “the Pucker.” In 2021, he was given the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Amhránaí na Bliana/Singer of the Year award, a well-earned measure of recognition for a life well lived. Ó Sé’s death is a major loss for the music and he will be missed by all.
