Concert Review—

An International Phenomenon Is Enjoyed In Newtown

By Shannon Hicks

The main floor of Newtown Meeting House has served as a place of worship, a setting for weddings and other formal ceremonies, a lecture location, and even home to annual events presented by a local garden club. On February 3, the main floor of the historic building at 31 Main Street held one of its largest crowds ever, as the pews of the former church building filled with traditional Irish music fans of all ages.

Concertina and uilleann piper Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin (pronounced “O’Halloran”) and fiddler Patrick Ourceau, a celebrated traditional Irish music duo, presented a concert that lasted, with an extended intermission, nearly three hours Saturday night. The duo performed on concertina and fiddle music that came primarily from western Ireland, specifically pieces from County Clare.

A 1997 release by this duo on the Celtic Crossings label is called Tracin’. On the album the duo performs the same vein of traditional Irish music heard last weekend and in the album’s liner notes each song’s title is accompanied by an abridged history and the distinction of whether the song is a reel, jig, barndance, or tune. Because traditional Irish music is so steeped in history, it was a natural step to include such histories with the album, and again to offer the abbreviated histories of the songs performed Saturday night.

The performers not only introduced each selection by name (generally two or three short reels or jigs, etc, were played seamlessly as one selection, which is customary in Irish music performance) but also offered the history and county of origin. Dr Ó hAllmhuráin is a fourth-generation concertina player (a five-time all-Ireland award-winning one at that) who was raised in County Clare, while Mr Ourceau was drawn from an early age to the distinctive musical dialects of Clare and East Galway.

“Irish music is as regional as American dialect,” Dr Ó hAllmhuráin explained by way of introducing one of the evening’s selections. Because Irish songs are so associated to their region of origin, their accents, to musicians and acute listeners, are as noticeable as a Tennessee twang or the lack of Rs in a Bostonian’s brogue.

With Mr Ourceau on fiddle and Dr Ó hAllmhuráin on his concertina, the concert was flawless. A few in the audience were disappointed in what they called “the sameness” of all the songs, but the selections actually offered listeners a chance to hear the accent of one particular area of Ireland.

Before the concert began, the entertainment was already in swing. Patrick Ourceau, who has been teaching traditional Irish music in New York City since 1993 and is also a popular session musician, spent a few hours Saturday afternoon at Fairfield Public Library offering a fiddle workshop. The turnout was light, but encouraging, Mr Ourceau said after the concert that evening. The smaller number of students allowed him to work closely with those who were attending.

At the meeting house, Dr Ó hAllmhuráin drew a few blank stares, and a few truly confused looks, when he opened a 30-minute pre-concert lecture with a few remarks in Irish. Dr Ó hAllmhuráin is one of the world’s leading folklorists on Irish music, and it was from his own reference work — a work in progress since 1973 — that he drew upon in presenting a lecture in which he challenged the audience to consider whether Irish traditional music should be considered a resource or a fossil.

He was being funny with the remarks in Irish, though, and it set the pace for the evening. Dr Ó hAllmhuráin and Mr Ourceau used humor mingled with history to present a concert of music that would have had an audience dancing had they not felt uncomfortable doing so in a former house of worship.

The music maker in Ireland, said Dr Ó hAllmhuráin, is as important as the poet, the corporate executive, the politician, the preacher, or the airline pilot in Ireland, because the music maker not only entertains his or her audience but also educates. The contemporary Irish musician serves as a tradition bearer, folk composer, professional entertainer, and is a cultural, economic, social, and educational resource.

“The spectrum of Irish music is huge,” Dr Ó hAllmhuráin pointed out. Its usefulness is still very much intact.

The appeal of the music performed at the meeting house last weekend was unavoidable. The tunes were primarily lively, and foot-tapping was all but mandatory at the show — it couldn’t be helped, really. From the first song, some of the biggest fans sitting in the front rows of the room started tapping their feet in rhythm. Some hit their canes on the floor, others clapped their hands.

As the show continued, the tapping slowly made its way to the back of the room, and by the end of the evening a few brave souls let their guard down completely and let out a few whoops and yee-haws.

“This strange phenomenon,” as Dr Ó hAllmhuráin called Irish music’s universal enjoyment, was enjoyed in Newtown by the Irish and non-Irish alike.