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10An Maistir agusa DhaltaiSee Leo Rowsome's .notes on some tuneswhich are beingincorrectly played.We Intend to Includea number of thesefrom time to time.Information or tunesfrom our readers willbe welcome for thisseries. Write to:An tEagarthoir," Treoir," 6 SraidFhearchair,Baile Atha Cliath 2.Leo Rowsome demonstrating traditional airs for Micheal 0 hAonghusa of Glasnevinand Peadar Mac Cinna, Thomas Street, at the Second Annual Tion61 Pfobaireachta,sponsored by An <strong>Comhaltas</strong> in Longford recently.(photo by courtesy of " I rish Times" )
11SWEET MUSIC IN I(ILNADEEMAI. . h' . h t h'(Le " FEAR NA SUIME" ) ~d It was during t IS time e me ISlovely wife (who was then Kathleen Go 1-Joe Burke, the 29-year-old accordion lins) at a concert in New York.wizard from Loug hrea " like hi~ counterpart KATHLEEN BURKEIn M'Jnster, Paddy 0 Bilen, IS qUiet and Iretiring and is never so fo rceful as whenhe is captivating an audience with hismusical gen ius." What do you think of Paddy O'Srien ,Joe? " I asked directly. His boyish face litup with delight and his prompt reply revealedthe true character of a great musician." Paddy O'Brien is the best pl ayerI know on the accordion." he answered," and the first time I heard him he made atremendous impact on me. "Joe Burke was born on the family farmat Kilnadeema (two miles from Loughrea ),on April 11th, 1939. He was born into amusical family. His father (MichaelBurke) plays the flute and his mother (thelate Annie Burke) was a melodeon player.HIS FIRST TUNEAt the age of four, before he went toschool, Joe learned his first tune on theaccordion from his uncle, Pat Burke, wholived in the house with them. I enquired ifhe could remember the name of the tune." I can well ," he replied, " it was 'Let ErinRemember,' and he taught it to me phraseby phrase. Next evening when my unclearrived Ihad learned a second tune on myown. From there on I listened to recordsof the Sallinakill Geili Band, the KincoraGeili Band, and Michael Coleman andlearned their tunes." "You know," continuedJoe profoundly, " no one has ever improvedon Michael Goleman 's playing.There are qu ite a lot of things written aboutGo le man which aren't factual. I would loveto see the true facts collected and published,and I would help you ." I promisedto take him up on his offer and realisedthat we were no longer talking about Joe-he would much rather talk about othergreat musicians than himself.TWO ROWSJoe played on the one row up to the ageof nine or ten, and then one day MartinGrace (who played with the Sallinakill CeiliBand) arrived for a threshing at the Burkehomestead. Luckily for Joe the day turnedout wet and Martin passed the time playingthe accordion, and Joe noticed he usedthe two rows and followed his example." After Martin Grace I learned quite alot from the Downey brothers of Leitrim(Mick, Maurice, and Jack) and also fluteplayers Jack Goughlan and the late StephenMoloney of the old Ballinakill GeiliBand . I ioined the Leitrim branch of' <strong>Comhaltas</strong>Geoltoiri Eireann in 1956 and I amnow a member in Ballinasloe."LEITRIM CElL! BANDJoe, who also plays the tin whistle andflute, won the senior accordion competitionat Fleadh Gheoil na hEireann in 1959 and1960, but he was reluctant to talk aboutsu ch things, so I brought him back to theLeitrim Ceili Band which Paddy Downey(Jack's son) and himself formed in Downey'shouse in 1955 and which won theAll-Ireland competition in 1959 and 1962." Th ere was Ned Goleman, Paddy Garty,Tony Molloy (flute players) ," Joe told me," Jack Derwin, Paddy Doorly (fiddlers) andSean McGlynn (accordionist) , who is nowin America."Joe himself went to America on a sixweeks tour with Sean 0 Siochain in 1960Kathleen was born in New York of Irishps rents. Her father, Bill, who played the'idcle. came from the Newmarket area of: or l
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