Comhaltas Archive

A Tour of Australia?Michael ClearySyndey branch has again lost manyof its musicians. Many have left towork in country districts. The maincause has been the big increase in spendingon public works in the State ofNew South Wales. New dams and townwater supplies, sewerage schemes, powerstations, natural gas pipe lines, roadsand bridges have been under constructionin the State at a record level in recemtyears. Some sites are up to sixhundred miles from Sydney. YoungIrish workers have made work on suchschemes almost a closed shop. Theresult is a scarcity of Irish workers inthe Sydney area except for holidayweek-ends.One stalwart of the music sessionsaccordion player Jimmy Philibin has leftAustralia to live in America. Otherssuch as the Kennedy brothers fromWicklow have returned to Ireland.Jurruny Mularkey and J. J. Noonan havemoved north with their work. JackoKevans seems to have abandoned theSydney area. Other musicians have permanentengagements in Sydney clubsand pubs. Accordion player PhilMurray for instance plays every weekendat a pub in mid-Sydney where Irishpeople gather because of the music.Further set backs have been experiencedby the return to Ireland of bothbranch typists, Amanda Stokes of Corkand Liz Neylon of Dublin. If anyfollower of the music sees either ofthose attractive young ladies in Irelandplease remind them that we gave themexclusive rights to all our typing andthey repaid us by running away. Tellthem to come back, all is forgiven butto get a move on as the matter isurgent!NEWS OF OTHER AUSTRALIANBRANCHESBrisbane branch is thriving. Margareto Dowling is secretary for the comingyear. Sessions are held in members'homes for the present until a permanentvenue is obtained. Members are involvedin the community radio programmefor the Irish. Recently the branch tookon the presentation of a full hour's programmeand they made an excellent jobof it. This community programme is acommunity effort in the best sense ofthe phrase. Those involved have a verygood knowledge of Irish culture and aninterest to match. The programme is of60 minute duration and is heard onEM Radio at midday every Saturday.Melbourne Irish have a similar F .M.community radio programme. Unfortunately,for Sydney there is no equivalentprogramme at present.Perth branch, our nearest neighbourson the west of Sydney, had a change ofofficers recently and Trish Cahill retiredas secretary. She was responsible forthe formation of the branch - and thenew secretary is Ormondo Og Waterswho has taken up responsibility with accompanyingnew ideas.ST. PATRICK'S DAYSt. Patrick's Day 1985 in Sydneyproduced the usual flood of items ofIrish interest on radio, T.V. and in newspapers.It also produced a flood of IrishSt.. Patrick's Day postcards which apparentlycaught Irish and Australianpostal services by surprise as most cardsarrived a week after the event.The radio and T.v. publicity washelped by the presence of an Irish T.v.team who were in Sydney for twoweeks before St. Patrick's Day recordingprogrammes for Irish T.V. The officialradio and T.V. stations, the A.B.C. gaveIrish events during the week before the17th valuable pUblicity. Their Irish contributionsto music selections were nottoo bal;!. Whilst at times it is hard to understandthe persistent ignorance ofcommentators as to what Irish musicreally means, this year the periods ofembarrassment were down to a tolerablelevel.AUSTRALIAN BI-CENTENARYYEAR 1988Australians will celebrate their Bicentenaryduring 1988 in what promisesto be the biggest display of festivity witnessedon this continent for the pasttwo hundred years at least. There maybe doubt and controversy as to what weare celebrating and groups such as theoriginal owners may wonder why theyshould be asked to celebrate at all, butdespite such question marks 1988 inAustralia should be a great year for allits fifteen million inhabitants.People of Irish origin here will alwaysequate festival spirit with music anddancing. The same music and dancingshould be as near as possible to that ofthe period being commemorated. Themusical instruments should be of thesame type as those used two centuriesago and dances should, if possible, showthe same authenticity. This may seemto be far too difficult to accomplish,and with some groups who were representedat the landing in 1788, it couldbe virtually impossible.It is reassuring to know that the Irishtraditional music of today is the actualmusic played two hundred years ago.The type of instrument is the same. Nothinghas changed except the performers.The chain of musical traditionhas not been broken. The entertainmentin many places in Ireland today isthe same as it was when the first fleetlanded in Australia. It is logical toassume that the organisation most capableof supplying the authentic musicalculture of the period being commemoratedin Australia is CCE. Havingaccepted this, the best means of displayingthe culture of the period would bea concert tour of Australia similar tothose carried out in the USA every year,and which represented Ireland in EuropeanYear of Music 1985.Since many proposals for the festivitiesfor 1988 are already under discussionIrish group~ in Australia should bepressing for a full concert tour by CCEduring Bicentenary Year.Jl