R - Comhaltas Archive

It was most likely because of theirunusual repertoire, and unique style ofplaying, that their music was valued byfellow musi cians and their homebecame, in its own way, a mecca forvisitors including such eminentmusic ians as Matt Molloy and SeanMaguire.It was a great experience to visit theMcDonaghs in their pleasani hospitablehome on the hill above Ballinafad. Anyvisitor who called in connection withmusic was made most welcome. Theywould talk continuously about music, asubject on which they were veryknowledgeable, and as far as playingwas co ncerned, they could keepplaying for a week and never repeat atune. They were very open andgenerous with their music and theynever objected to anybody recordingthem. They got great enjoyment fromplaying and they were always delightedto share that enjoyment with others.The music played by the McDonaghsconsisted largely of short pieces ofdance music, mostly reels, but theyalso include the odd jig" hornpipe,fling and maybe a waltz or two. Theywere also quite fond of O'Carolan'smusic which they played in their ownunique way. They had a portrait ofO'Carolan displayed on the chimneybreast over the kitchen fireplace.A noticeable feature of their playing wasthat they played each tune on its own.They didn't group the tunes togetherlike the musicians of more moderntimes. I have found this on a number ofoccasions among older musicians, so itseems it was common practice, in thepre Coleman/Morrison era, formusicians to play each tune separately.Every tune was played in that lovelyold hearty style which wascharacteristic of their playing. It was asimple style insofar as the melody ofthe tune and the amount ofornamentation used was concerned,but they produced great I ift and heartand vitality, and a wonderful sense ofexcitement in their playing.Larry used to provide a peculiar andinteresting type of percussionaccompaniment to the music,particularly the reels, with his rightfoot. He didn't tap his foot in theordinary way. Instead he lifted the footcompletely off the floor an'd smacked itback again . He tapped the foot four11times to the bar in a reel, as opposed totwice per bar as is normal. He neverwent out of time but he used to missbeats at random. He seemed to have adifferent set of beats for each tune