From the Clare County Express - December 2011
Preserving our Oidhreacht
For many years, County Clare has been considered a county that preserved its traditional music, song and dance longer than most. Willie Clancy, John and Patrick Kelly, Junior Crehan, P. Joe Hayes, Paddy Murphy, Peadar O’Loughlin, Paddy Canny and Elizabeth Crotty would be close to the top of anyone’s list of the most respected dance musicians, while singers such as Ollie Conway and Tom Lenihan are counted among the best.
Until recently, apart from a handful of CDs, the opportunity to hear these musicians and singers has been severely limited. Now, thanks to a group of enthusiasts from West Clare, an archive based in the heart of the county has been opened to the general public.
Oidhreacht an Chláir (OaC - Clare Institution for Traditional Studies) opened the doors of its headquarters on the Flag Road, Miltown Malbay a couple of years ago, since when it has cataloguing and archiving its impressive collection of recordings to make the sounds of the past easily accessible. In addition, it has gradually developed its website to make information about these treasures widely available.
Director Barry Taylor commented:
“When tape recorders became available in the 1950s and 60s, far sighted people such as Joe Vaughan of Miltown, set out to record local musicians and singers, including Willie Clancy, Bobby Casey, J. C. Talty, Miko Russell and many more. John Joe Healey from Quilty was living in London but regularly came home with his tape recorder and recorded nearly 100 hours of music. In the seventies, visitors to Clare started recording. These tapes have been donated to OaC, which means that we possess probably the largest collection of Clare music and song in the world – and it’s freely available to visitors to Aras OaC.”
In addition, OaC has run study weekends on traditional music and, in the future, instrumental classes, presented by acknowledged masters, will aim to keep Clare’s traditions alive. OaC has a strong partnership with the Willie Clancy Summer School and has published CD collections of performances from concerts, all of which are available on its website, along with a wide selection of CDs and books by such as Edel Fox, Bobby Gardiner, Tim Dennehy and many more.
Barry Taylor again:
“It’s fitting that Aras OaC is next door to Willie Clancy’s old home but we are not just living in the past. We see our archive, and all our activities, as a way of keeping Clare’s traditions alive for future generations. There are more young people than ever playing traditional music and we feel that their playing should be informed by the music of the great players of previous generations – that’s why we do this work. OaC is, essentially, a gathering of people who love the old music, song and dances and we welcome any person to come and join us in our work. Membership is available for just €20 a year, while patron's packages are also available. If anyone would like more details about OaC please email us at eolas [at] oac [dot] ie - we would love to hear from you.”
Oidhreacht an Chláir is a not for personal profit, community-based company. Barry Taylor is currently writing an account of the traditional music and musicians of West Clare.