n ill . 1 - Comhaltas Archive

More documents

Recommendations

Info

TREOIR Well Done Japan CCE The traditional St. Pat rick's Day parade, now in its 11th year, has become more and more g'randiose. This year the weather was especially g'ood. The rain and cold which menaced previous parades was nowhere to be seen . Aitog'ether, in our g'roup about 'to people participated, including' musicians, dancers, friends and relatives. We manag'ed to perform on stag'e for the Tulip Festival, before charg'ing' to the parade. Bag'pipes and marching' bands were followed by various g'roups of people with props and costumes. They seemed to enjoy escaping' everyday life and becoming' cheerful Irish people for a short time. In order to avoid last year's problem (because there was some distance between dancers and musicians, the dancers couldn't hear the music), we made thoroug'h preparations, but unfortunately, because of the waves of people, near the end, our rows became confused. In spite of this, it was a fun (crazy) event. Even thoug'h our rows became confused and the music faded in the crowd, everyone just smiled and kept on dancing'. The spectators at the side of the road joined in the fun by applauding' and shouting'. Well done, everyone! A few days after the Shamrock Festival, we received a friendly messag'e from a founder of cd: Japan, Eamon O'Keeffe. With his permission, we are publishing' his letter here: Hello there. For several years I have been qUietly monitoring' the prog'ress of the cd: branch in Tokyo via your website and friends still in Tokyo and I would like to tell you all how proud I am to be associated with the Tokyo branch and how rewarding' it is to see you continue to flourish. This is a credit to all of you on the committee and I would like to cong'ratulate you on doing' such a g'reat job, especially since you are all volunteers. Last Christmas I went home to Ireland for a vacation. While there I met Labhras 6 Murchu and he was very excited to tell me about the continued success of cd: Japan and he considers you one of the org'anisations "jewels" - so well done to you all. Ag'ain my cong'ratulations on keeping' the cd: Branch "alive and kicking'" and I would like to send my encourag'ement to you all to continue your g'ood work. I hope cd: will continue to be part ofTokyo and Osaka's artistic offering'S for many years to come. I also hope to return to Japan ag'ain one day either on vacation or for business (my company has a factory in Yasu) and I would love the opportunity to meet you all some time in the future. Best Reg'ards and keep up the g'ood work. Eamon O'Keeffe, Founding' member, cd: Japan, cd: Japan Newsletter HAND CRAFTED VIOLINS Restored Older Violins Quality repairs to: Violins, Violas & Cellos Efficient Bow Rehairin~ Service, Bows, Cases, Strin~s & Fittin~s, All other strin~ instrument repairs Kevin Sykes, Killeen, Ballyvary, Co. Mayo. ksykes@eircom.net www.kevinsykes.com Visiting Galway weekly by appointment
I would like to con~ratulate Joe O'Siorain in Treoir Iml. 33 uimhir 2001 No. 79000'tx. for his wonderful article - "Whither the Traditional Arts of Ireland". I don't believe that I am alone in ali~nin~ myself with so many of his critical reflections of the Arts Council. Like life support systems provided by nature, the cultural traditions of people everywhere have never been ~iven the honour and ~ratitude they deserve by the modern and post modern world. On the contrary, the extin~ushment of tradition is ~eneral synonymous with the onward march of modernism. Unfortunately, it is too often for~otten that had cd: not emer~ed in Ireland half a century a~o what is now a rich livin~ tradition would have become yet another curiosity in some museum or archive and as AK. Coomaraswamy has so very well said: the art forms of peoples in museums are no more then the funerary rites of what was once a livin~ and relevant tradition. Arts departments are ~enerally not the friends of tradition, they have always been and still are a vehicle for "displays of bour~eois elitism." The primary source of their "inspiration" has always come from an overarchin~ desire to be avante ~arde and individualistic. The latter always shows an implicit hatred of traditional ~enres and is almost always hostile to them. The manifest absence of fundin~ for the traditional arts and abundance offunds available for the ballet and opera for example arises out of a belief in the innate superiority of the latter and this belief is in part a consequence of the equally false ideas of hi~h and low culture: ideas that ~o hand in hand with so many other modern aberrations. I should point out, thou~h, that whilst I believe I share a common purpose with the author Joe O'Siorain I nonetheless find myself just a little at variance with some notions. Defenders of traditional cultures must ~uard a~ainst bein~ drawn into employin~ a lan~ua~e that in its nature diminishes the plenary position of the traditional. To demolish notions of hi~h and low cultures I accept without reservation primarily because low culture is usually reserved for traditional ~enres and hi~h culture for ballet and opera and the like. But let me say without hesitation that I refute outri~ht the assertion that there " are no criteria which elevated one art form over another or jud~ed one cultural activity superior to another." (p.50). So many traditional peoples, their lan~ua~es and their arts and crafts have passed into oblivion in the wake of just such " democracy". It is a misplaced ma~nanimity and it is so often used as a smoke screen by people who at bottom so not believe in it for a sin~le moment; the better to serve their own purposes. It has to be insisted on that the very word traditional will lose all its relevance if it is placed alon~side anythin~ whatever with no reco~nition of a quality that sets it apart. The point I wish to make here is; if it is accepted in advance that traditional expression is the fruit of a particular ethnic ~enius then the very primacy of the tradition must be due to the fact that it is imbued with criteria and therefore values of a pre-eminent nature. The stamp of a ~iven tradition does not fill the space-time of a people arbitrarily. It is there in its particular mode because it must be there and not simply because it mi~ht or could be there and this is what 2
Page 2 and 3: Irnl 34 Uirnhir 3 2002 I SS No 790
Page 4: As we go to press, the new Arts Bil
Page 7 and 8: ;:;;;';;' __ The Oondllf ~ NewIt eI
Page 9 and 10: BILL McEVOY The recent visit to Lon
Page 11 and 12: TREOIR O'Dwyer's Hornpipe This tune
Page 13 and 14: It's a cool crisp evening in late N
Page 15: TREOIR hornpipes, were pretty enoug
Page 18 and 19: TREOIR For his and for Ireland's sa
Page 22: Ever since his untimely death on 20
Page 25 and 26: Ceist a cuireadh orm a spreag an pf
Page 28 and 29: The passing of Paddy Fallon at his
Page 30 and 31: TREOIR Na Cleaganna 6 Shean 6 Liath
Page 32 and 33: TREOIR President of Comhaltas 1982-
Page 34 and 35: GAA Urged to Drop Ceili M usic at I
Page 37: 5eamus 6 Dubhthaigh is one of Irela

n ill . 1 - Comhaltas Archive

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?