*** Saturday Night Concert:
Donie O’Connor’s 60th Birthday ‘Bash’ takes place in St.
Joseph’s Hall this Saturday Oct. 12th @ 8. Donations to
Mayo/Roscommon Hospice and Tommie Simon Fund. Special Guests St. Josephs Choir.
This is sure to be a really cracking night and maybe even a long night.
The Choir was one of the stand-out performers of the July Arts Week programme
with their special music renditions and some popular songs. Director Anne
Kielty has become a Boyle musical icon who seeks the highest standards and
infuses everything she is involved in with great energy and vitality.
Donie O’Connor himself is a hugely talented singer/songwriter with a
number of C.D.s incorporating collections of wonderful songs on various themes
including the famous ‘Boyle Song’ which is a homage to Boyle town and its personalities
in the seventies. There will be many more supporting artists as the music
fraternity are always willing to support one of their own in ventures like
this.
So we look forward to the Donie Bash and it will bring back memories of
two Kieran Emmett inspired great nights one in the hall and the second in King
House.
An EPIC trip to Dublin
The Epic Emigration Experience
On Friday October the 25th I took a trip to the capital. I often think
that I would have liked to have spent a real wedge of time there to familiarise
myself with what Dublin has to offer. That will hardly happen now so it will
have to be explored as per usual in short visits. The most recent visit was
motivated by two things in no particular order. One was the very positive
reports emanating from friends who had visited the EPIC Irish Emigration
Museum.
EPIC in Dublin's Docklands covers the history of the
Irish diaspora and emigration to other countries. Its founder is Downpatrick
born, South Africa raised Coca Cola supremo E. Neville Isdell and it was
designed by the London-based design firm and was voted as "Europe's
Leading Tourist Attraction" at the 2019 World Travel Awards. This is an
outstanding achievement for a tourist destination in its very short existence having
come on stream in 2016. It is now challenging for world recognition through a
voting system.
It is located on Custom House Quay about 7/8 minutes from Connolly
Station. It was formerly a bonded warehouse for wine and this evident by the
vaulted ceilings of the succession of ‘bridge like’ caverns which house
the broad range of emigration themes on display.
The varied themes celebrate the millions of Irish people who have
emigrated to the various parts of the globe and how many of them and their
descendants achieved great things and made enduring impacts on their adopted
countries. I was not taking any notes during my three hour tour as I soon
realised that I would need to revisit the EPIC Centre again to get a better
evaluation of it. There are many connections with Roscommon noted such as
Margaret Cousins of Boyle and her work in India also the painter Roderic
O’Connor. It was in the traditional music area that Roscommon was best
represented. First there was a stirring display of a music session in a pub in London,
The Auld Triangle, and there playing were James Carty Jnr. and his uncle James.
Minutes later in that same vault we heard more traditional musicians and were
introduced to John Carty and Matt Molloy. Nearby were the McNulty family
originally from Kilteevan who were prominent entertainers in New York up to the
1950s’. This area had a hugely impressive tribute to Riverdance and Roscommon
was represented by Michael (?) Donnellan from Ennis the son of Michael from
Ciaran’s Park in Roscommon town. There was also a fine representation of the
GAA also with team pictures from clubs around the world. In the one for a
Perth, Australia team was a friend of ours, Sean Casey, just visible in
the background. Sean is married to Joan O’Gara of Boyle. I figured he might be
visible in any GAA representation so Joan/Séan if you read this you are in
there in the EPIC. As James Cagney’s character Coady Jarrett exclaims in the
film ‘White Heat’…”Made it Ma! Top of the world”. I’m forcing that in there
Sean!
Anyway as General McArthur said ‘I will return’ to the aptly named Epic
anon. If anyone else visits it, who reads this, please let me know what they
think. As part of my China watch I noticed in the queuing at the reception area
A 4 sized laminated pages with the flag of China top left corner. I did not
investigate it further after a guide told me they hadn’t noticed it before or
knew anything of it. The guides are very helpful and would like a stamp of
approval in the evaluation area at the end. There is also a process where you
can nominate a person who you feel should be considered for the exhibition. I
nominated Maureen O’Sullivan as an example. On a practical level thee are also
lockers if you have already done some shopping etc. Also, also, there are
numerous eating and coffee locations in the mall of which it is the basement
part and you can also (again) exit from the Epic for refreshments and return to
the Epic with your day pass. All this information is online of course and as
those seasoned travellers will know to avoid mid- summer etc. etc.
I really recommend the EPIC Emigration Experience and of course I am not
doing justice to it here just alerting you to it.
A Couple of Dublin Streets
The walk from Connolly along Talbot Street to O’Connell St. can be off-putting
with a whiff of intimidation from druggies or drinkers arguing. O’Connell St.
is a major vista with its ‘what’s that about spire?’ and the great Cleary’s
shop swathed in bandages, fast food outlets and a real mix of the good and the
not so good. I have to go to the GPO museum yet. Henry Street looks fine now as
a pedestrian way but is blighted by the seeing of ‘down and outs’ in
doorways at every 80 metres or so. Why an advanced society cannot provide for
these unfortunate people rather than they resorting to this lifestyle is a
mystery to me. (Perhaps we have a touch of it in Boyle as we see some
individuals whose lives are consumed with just traversing the streets from
early morning until night-time.) Down this street I located an in interesting Church
now a restaurant and one I can recommend too.
Mossie’s C.D. Launch…Humours of Derrynacoosan
Later that night we were part of the second, third or fourth launch
location of Maurice (Mossie) Martin’s traditional music C.D. titled
‘Humours of Derrynacoosan’ . Derrynacoosan is wee townland not far from Keadue
but in Ardcarne Parish. That is the Martin home and where the CD was born and
produced. Mossie is very well known in traditional music circles as they say. I
have known him since he was a boy when he attended St. Mary’s College here in
Boyle. It was as a fine student and as an equally fine footballer that I got to
know him nearly 30 years ago. He played for St. Michaels, St. Mary’s College
and Roscommon U 16 and minor teams. He was also a very good soccer player with
Boyle Celtic. However all along his music developed and has reached a lifetime
goal in the production of this impressive musical treat. Noted musician Michael
Rooney referenced Mossie as ‘… one of the finest exponents of the
music of North Connacht’. John Carty in the introductory notes to the CD speaks
tellingly of Mossie’s love for the music and how evident this is when he plays
or in this instance records the music as in ‘…every sinew of his being, he
infectiously shares with his audience and with his fellow musicians.’ This
Saturday Oct. 12th he will be performing at Strokestown Feile
and on the 25th he will be back in Sitges near Barcelona at the
festival there organised by Carline Wynne of Croghan. A number of Boyle people
will also be there as in previous years.
Mossie is supported on the CD by his dad Tom, and family members Áine
and Brendan and accompanied by John Blake on various instruments. John
also recorded the CD. Supporting Mossie in The Cobblestone were his dad Tom, Dylan
Carlos, from Tulsk and Enda McGreevy from Elphin.
The Dublin launch was in a noted traditional bar called the Cobblestone
in Smithfield owned by the Mulligan family originally from Leitrim.
Roscommon People Shine
Mention of Dylan Carlos above reminds me of Roscommon people who have
achieved in their various field recently. In no particular order starting with
Dylan.
- Dylan
became the first Roscommon man to win the All-Ireland Senior fiddle
competition at the All-Ireland (All-World) Fleadh last summer in Drogheda.
- Enda Smith
Captain of Roscommon Connacht Champions.
- Chris O’Dowd
Emmy award winner.
- Eoin Kennedy
son of Eugene of Elphin Street, Boyle who captured his 10th
All-Ireland Senior handball championship.
- Jack Carty
Rugby international with Ireland in the World (rugby) Cup.
- The wins by
Aoifa and Lisa O’Rourke from Castlerea in boxing.
- Sinéad
Flanagan (father from Elphin) Rose of Tralee 2019.
- Ml. Corrigan
Boyle Celtic on Irish junior soccer team v Northern Ireland.
(Sean Purcell actually captained an Irish U 16 team v England in Longford
circa 22 years ago).
- Roscommon Golf
Club members, Fed Daly All-Ireland tournament winners.
- All-Star
nominations Niall Daly and Conor Cox. If I have missed some other notable
achievements please let me know.
Brexit
I hear that relevant negotiators have moved into a ‘tunnel’ in Brussels
as I speak. It seems as if there is some kind of a breakthrough of sorts in
Brexit negotiations. We can only wait (it won’t be long) to see how that turns
out. Nothing is predictable in this ongoing drama. As the Taoiseach said after
meeting with Boris Johnson some time ago this may only be the beginning of a
huge cycle of negotiations which could last for a decade. As Churchill said
after the battle of el Alamein
“This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, this is
just perhaps the end of the beginning.”
Turkey/Syria @ the Kurds
The U.S. troops have withdrawn from the border area of Kurdish Syria and
now the Turkish army are ‘clearing that area’ of what they see as terrorists
with the unavoidable collateral damage to life and property of the innocent.
There has been the threat of sanctions by European countries and
organisations. What is really interesting is the response of Turkish President
Erdogan who has threatened to send millions of Syrian refugees to the
west. He can facilitate this by opening the gates of the camps in Turkey where
there are some 3 million Middle East refugees . Much of these camps are financed
by the west but if they employ sanctions the refugee card could be played. That
is a big trump card to hold!
Rugby in Japan
The rugby World Cup is encountering climate difficulties in Japan which
could cause an almighty row if say Scotland get scotched from the tournament if
they cannot play their last game.
The World Athletics Championships were held in Doha where
temperatures meant the marathon had to start at midnight and even with this
nearly half the competitors were unable to complete the course due to heat and
humidity inducing illness. Eamon Sweeney in last Sunday’s Independent had a
telling article on these games and the influence of drug cheats and their
apologists and all that. I watched little of it from the sparsely occupied
stadium. The next World Athletics C ’ships are possibly going to Eugene Oregon
the home of NIKE Corporation. So corporations can get major events once the
domain of countries. Was that the case with the Olympic Games on 1996 in
Atlanta home of Coca Cola? The top man in Athletics is Lord Sebastian Coe of
England. Next year the Olympics will take place in Tokyo where it had
been previously in 1964. In 2020 it takes place from July 24 to August 9th
.
The next soccer World Cup will be held in Qatar another hotspot
during our winter and at the height of normal soccer leagues in Western Europe.
The top man here used to be Sepp Blatter our rep. was (is ?) John Delaney.
Nobel Prize for Peace the President of Ethiopia
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace
Prize for 2019 to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali for his or his
involvement in peace initiatives in East Africa especially between Ethiopia and
Eritrea.
It is encouraging that it is felt that a leader of substance has emerged
in that part of troubled East Africa. He joins the small number of African
recipients which include Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu.
Another candidate was the Swedish school girl Greta Thunberg for her
advocacy on ‘global warming’ now being referred to as ‘climate change’…milder
title!
No comments:
Post a Comment