This past week I was up in Massachusetts to see a pair of concerts put on as part of the inaugural “Tunes on the Charles” traditional Irish music festival. These shows, called “Drawing from the Well,” are part of the Irish Traditional Music Archive’s concert series and organized with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport. Presented at the Somerville Theater, in Somerville, Mass., a spacious 800+ seat venue with a long history, these concerts were truly outstanding events that celebrated the musical relationship between Ireland and America and showcased a living tradition on both sides of the Atlantic. The sense of shared purpose in the room gave the concerts a “watershed moment” sort of feel.
Boston is on fire, musically speaking. As I wrote at the beginning of April, it’s thriving there in a way that I’m not sure I’ve ever seen in the United States. The number of young musicians and sessions is surprising, the dedication and understanding of the pub owners (some of whom are musicians themselves) is inspirational, and the support for music and dance events is stunning. “Tunes on the Charles” in its entirety is striking evidence of this.
The festival’s two Drawing From the Well concerts took place on Thursday and Friday nights and both were completely sold out. Thursday night’s show featured Aiofe O’Donovan (singer/guitarist); Hannah O’Brien (fiddle); Joey Abarta (uilleann pipes); Johnny Óg Connolly (button accordion), Pádraig Ó Dubhghaill (guitar), & Clíodhna Costello (banjo); Conor Connolly (button accordion) w/Ó Dubhghaill; Edwina Guckian, Caitlín Nic Gabhann, and Aidan Vaughn (dancers) supported by Tommy McCarthy (fiddle) and Louise Costello (banjo); Cormac Begley (concertina) alone and with Liam O’Connor (fiddle). (Aoife Ní Bhriain was scheduled to attend, but could not because of the now all-too-common “visa issue.”)
Each of Thursday night’s performers was excellent. O’Donovan opened the show with some lovely songs, paying tribute to her father, the great Brian O’Donovan, whose efforts to build Irish music in Boston led to these concerts in a very real way. Boston’s own Abarta followed and was excellent. Guckian, Nic Gabhann, Vaughn’s dancing with McCarthy and Costello’s accompaniment was delightful, as was Begley and O’Connor’s music.
The Friday night concert built off Thursday’s high standard. It featured Séan McKeon (uilleann pipes); Tommy McCarthy, Louise Costello, Rose McCarty (fiddle), Harry Giles (fiddle) & Peadar Giles (uilleann pipes); Caitlín Nic Gabhann (concertina) & Ciarán Ó Maonaigh (fiddle); Matt Molloy (flute) and Ó Dubhghaill; Andrew Caden (fiddle) & Diarmuid Ó Meachair (button accordion); Doireann Ní Ghlacáin (fiddle and vocals); Edwina Guckian (recitation); and Noel Hill (concertina), alone and with Liam O’Connor.
These performances were just as superb as the night before. McKeown’s piping was dazzling, as was Caden and Ó Meachair’s feature. McCarthy and gang had a lovely feel. Guckian’s talk about the great Ellen Byrne DeWitt was fascinating. Nic Gabhann and Ó Maonaigh made beautiful music and what can you say about the legendary Molloy and Hill. Such a privilege to be able to hear them play in person.
The evening closed with something called the “Cake Dance,” which was a dance and music competition in which people vie for a…well, a cake. I’m not quite sure who won, but there was some great dancing by Guckian (to singing provided by Ní Ghlacáin), Bridie Flaherty (to music provided by Ó Meachair), Rebecca MacGowan (apologies for forgetting who was playing for her), and Aidan Vaughn (to music provided by O’Connor). It was a beautiful, creative way to embrace Irish tradition while at the same time showcasing all the talent that had assembled for the occasion.
There was so much going on over the weekend that it was easy to miss things. As my time out of state and away from home was limited, I was only able to attend the “Drawing” concerts, which meant I was unable to make it out to the events on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunate, because there was a lot going on I would have been very excited to check out. (The social media posts I’ve seen all weekend did a great job of teasing the quality of these events.)
On Saturday, for example, the “Tunes from the Archive” lecture, hosted by Ó Meachair, Seamus Noonan, and Christian Dupont, was of particular interest, as was the launch of Will Woodson and Caitlin Finley’s album “Once Through the Hall” (which I will be writing about here soon). It would have been great to see the fiddle recital that featured Liam O’Connor, Ciarian ó Maonaigh, Doireann Ní Ghlacáin, as well.
Lots of interesting things happened on Sunday, including a sean-nós singing session with Máire Uí Cheíde, a dance celebration hosted by Edwina Guckian & Jackie O’Reilly called "This is not a Dance Competition” (the posts I’ve seen of this looked really cool), a lecture by Liam O’Connor about connecting artists with archival materials; a recital of free reed instruments with Caitlin Nic Gabhann, Conor Connolly, Cormac Begley, Diarmuid Ó Meachair, Liam O’Brien; Noel Hill, Séan McKeon, and others; and a screening of Ó Maonaigh’s film “Farewell to Hughes’s Pub.” There was just so much to see.
Congrats to the organizers and to everyone who put the time in to make the concerts – and the weekend as a whole – such a smashing success. What I loved most about the “Drawing from the Well” concerts in particular is that they presented traditional music and dance at their highest levels, across generations, in a very relatable and enjoyable way, while at the same time acknowledging the music and dance that happens here. That they were driven by an archive whose mission is preservation was the cherry on top. The entire weekend was a landmark moment for Boston, but an important moment for traditional music in general. I hope to see a lot more moments like this in the future. To learn more about ITMA and the weekend, visit the Irish Traditional Music Archive at https://www.itma.ie/ and Tunes on the Charles at https://www.crirish.org/.
