Ireland - Comhaltas Archive

TREOIRA CELEBRATION OFCULTURAL HERITAGEJimmy Deenihan, TDThe Kerry Literary and CulturalCentre in Listowel opened in May ofthis year, celebrates both theextraordinary literary achievements ofour Kerry writers, and the music, songand dance of the area.According to playwright, ThomasKilroy,"Regional literature, like that ofNorth Kerry, is exceptional ratherthan typical of our times. That is partof the reason why we cherish it. Wealso value it because the mode of lifethat it celebrates is changing rapidlyunder the pressure of modernisationand may now disappear altogether.Readers from the great modernurban centres, then, turn to thewriters of North Kerry with a senseof relief and freedom from the lifeabout them. They find there certainvalues that have been underminedelsewhere."Listowel and its hinterland have aunique literary and cultural tradition,going back for generations. The FourMasters, for instance, in the year 1568,lamenting the death of the thenO'Connor Kerry Chief of Carrigafoyle,describes him as "the living fire brand ofhis race and tribe . .. the sustaining pillarof learned poets, and of respectableprofessors of the different arts."In the "Kerry Pastoral" which takes theform of three poems, which waspublished in 1719, the poet MurroughO'Connor of Ballyline, Ballylongford,displays a deep knowledge of theEnglish language, at a time when theeveryday language of North Kerry wasalmost exclusively Irish. The late John F.McMahon referred to the "KerryPastoral" in the following glowingterms "This work is in excellentEnglish, the metre,rhyme and rhythm areextraordinarily goodand pure and itabounds in lines ofsuch flawlessness andlyricism, as'My well strungharp shall passaway the nightWhene'er the rooks do homewardsbend their flight,There we can talk of battles wonand lost,Desmond invaded by a Danish host:The literary tradition of North Kerrycontinued to flourish throughout the18 th and 19 th Centuries. The areaproduced distinguished poets likePadraig Liath 6 Conchubhair, Lisselton;Sean 6 Braonain,Abbeydorney; and D.C. Hennessey, Listowel. The 20 thCentury witnessed the flowing of anextraordinary literary and intellectualendeavour in North Kerry with theemergence of some of the greatestwriters Ireland has ever produced,including George Fitzmaurice, John B.Keane, Brendan Kennelly, BryanMcMahon and Maurice Walsh, allnationally and internationally knownand respected figures. The Centre alsohonours the Blasket and Sliabh Luachrawriters such as Peig Sayers, Tomas 6Criomthian, Aoghain 6 Rathaille andEoin Rua 6 Suilleabhain.The rich musical tradition of the areawill also be celebrated in the Centre.In "The Kerry Pastoral" we find anumber of references to music, whichhas always featured very prominently inthe lives of Kerry people right down tothe present day. Since 1970 thirteenAll-Ireland Fleadhanna Cheoil havebeen held in Listowel.As far back asthe 16 th Century North Kerryproduced renowned musicians. In theCork Archaeological Magazine, Volume9, we find an interesting reference to adistinguished harpist from Rattoo,Ballyduff,~~!~II~~~fl "As to the harp-playing,Ithe said Country couldwell brag of having thechiefest master of thatinstrument in the Kingdomat that time, NicholasPierce of Clanmaurice, notonly for his singularcapacity of composinglamentations, funeraladditions and elevations,ete., and also by completingsaid instrument with morewires than ever before thistime were used:'The favourite instrumentswere the harp and the bagpipes. In1843 the editor of "The KerryPastoral", T. Brofton-Broker,commenting on the harp "upon thisfamous instrument at the period whenthese lines were written {Le. "KerryPastoral"} almost everyone played." Wealso learn in a Royal Irish AcademyManuscript that in the late 17thCentury, Eoin McEoin, a visiting Ulsterharpist to North Kerry, was thesubject of many satires on his style ofplaying such was the level ofconfidence and pride in their localharpists: one of the bitterest being byTadhg 0 Conchubhair, a local poet.Mention must also be made of ThomasCarthy, Ballybunion, who died in 1904,at the age of 102 years, and who wasregarded as the most accomplishedplayer of the Uilleann Pipes thatIraghticonnor ever produced {Article -Irish Independent, 26 th January, I 972}.There was always a close associationbetween music and poetry in NorthKerry.As John F. McMahon said, "Likethe old Greek Chorus, poetry andmusic always went hand-in-hand, eachenhancing and heightening the value ofthe other:' We hope that this synergybetween music and literature proves tobe one of the real dynamics of the newCentre.36