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Published: September 10th 2007
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Padraig O'Keeffe monument
Daithi playing a tune inscribed on this monument to Padraig O'Keeffe. Thursday, 6 September:
We departed Cork at around 10.30 am and began our tour of the Sliabh Luachra (pronounced SCHLEEVE LOO-kra, Gaelic for "Rushy Mountain") region, which straddles the border of Cork and Kerry Counties. We took a winding (no other is possible in Ireland, believe me!) route through Mallow, Rathmore, Knocknagree, Ballydesmond, Knocknaboul Cross, Newmarket Cross, Cordal, Castleisland, and Scartaglen to look at various places of interest regarding Sliabh Luachra musicians. My favourite of these was Newmarket Cross, the site of the home and school of Padraig O'Keeffe. A monument to him is there also. O'Keeffe was a schoolmaster-turned-traveling-fiddlemaster who taught an entire generation of children in the area to play during the beginning of the 20th century. He walked everywhere, usually traveling 15-20 miles a day.
We went back to Castleisland for lunch, and were given some free time to mill around the town. I went to bakery and got the most delicious dessert - couldn't tell you the name of it, but it was two little sponge cakes held together by a cream filling with a touch of pink icing on the top. I also stopped in a couple charity shops to look at their book
Trad Session
People from our group playing with the locals in Sliabh Luachra selection. We departed Castleisland for the historical centre in Rockchapel, where we had a lecture on the history of music in Ireland. Then some local musicians stopped in to play, a fiddle player and a box (accordion) player. Two young dancers from the area's school stopped in as well to grace us with a couple of demonstrations. After a little coaxing, the musicians among our group got out their instruments and joined the players until we had an 8-person ensemble! I enjoyed this a lot: most music in the Irish Tradition is learned aurally, and I love watching musicians pick up songs by ear.
After a wonderful dinner in Tralee, we went to a (mostly) dance show called Oileain (Island), about the Blasket Islands off the Dunquin Peninsula. I say mostly dance show because there was mime and Gaelic singing, but much more dancing than singing. I very much enjoyed this show, I wouldn't have thought it was possible to convey so detailed a story without me being able to understand the words. I was actually brought to tears in a couple of places.
Then onwards to the hostel in Dingle. I stubbed my toe in the bathroom,
Pretty Pony
Jenn and the friendly pony from the bike ride and cut a big piece off the end, so I was pooling blood in the hallway while everyone quickly figured out that the hostel had no first aid kit. I sat down and held TP on it for about 15 minutes until it stopped bleeding. I only mention this because it is the first of three blood-drawing incidents that happened over the weekend.
Friday, 7 September:
Bright and early, my roommate-for-the-trip Jenn and I rented bikes from the hostel to go around and see some of the country around Dingle. We hadn't counted on the trip being difficult, but there were a few setbacks that led to our trip not being very long. (I may have braked just before a pothole and flipped over the handlebars, slicing a bunch of skin off my right palm and causing multiple bruises.) We did get to see a bit though, and ran into a friendly pony along the way. Later that morning we had a dance workshop with Daithi (one of our instructors) to learn the set dance of Sliabh Luachra. It had six parts, is all I can remember - I have never been so tired out as I am
Blasket Island Centre Window
A beautiful mosaic window I just *had* to share! after just a little while of set dancing!
We set off after lunch to the Blasket Island Centre to learn more about the island in general, but the music of the island in particular. In 1917, the island housed 176 people, but by 1953 when it was evacuated the number had dwindled to just 20. It's not that the people of Blasket were so much worse off that everyone else in Ireland, it's just that they were so isolated and their story has been told in so much detail by islanders that we know the nature of the poor but happy community. The Centre itself was very beautiful, especially this large mosaic stained glass window right as you first come in.
After dinner at the Goat Street Cafe back in Dingle, we went to a Folk Music concert in which our instructor Michelle's husband Tommie was playing. My favourite part of this was the uilleann pipes player. He explained the instrument in detail, which I had only seen from afar before. I think I've got it right, but don't publish me in Wikipedia or anything. In the beginning, there was a pipe called a chanter which shepards used,
Dunquin Peninsula
View from behind the Centre. then they added an air bag to this to improve the flow of air to the instrument. Then they added a set of three double-reeded pipes, then a bellows to fill the bag, which made the instrument no longer worked by the mouth. Finally they added another set of three pipes, this time single-reeded. I love the sound this instrument makes, it's like a set of Scottish bagpipes with a whistle player on top of it.
Saturday, 8 September
We were given time off in the morning until 2.00 pm to chill out and kind of get a bit of rest. However, a dozen of us decided we wanted to go climb a nearby mountain, Sliabh an Iolair (Eagle Mountain), which rises 1600 feet above sea level. Might not sound like much, but when you start off
at sea level it's a bit of a hike. The first forty minutes had us climbing up very rocky terrain. I got altitude sickness very early on in the hike, lucky me. The next forty minutes or so, to the top of the mountain had us climbing through a mixture of rocks and heather. Heather is very tiring stuff to walk
View of Dingle Peninsula
Partway up the mountain here. through, it's like walking through shin-deep snow. I did have a bit of trouble on the way up, but the view along the way and at the top was definitely worth it. Two-thirds of the way down was through a bog, which our bus-driver-turned-mountain-man Paddy explained was full of this antiseptic moss that was green in places and red in places. I later became glad the moss was antiseptic, as I slipped at one point and skinned my elbows and soaked myself from the waist down. The rest of the way down was a nice rocky path.
The first thing on the agenda after this was a walking tour of Dingle, which turned out to be a tour of Dingle Tor (a nice big hill that rises behind the town). Jenn was in danger of sunstroke after the first hike though, so Michelle and I graciously decided to keep her company in a cool and dark pub while the rest went on. We then had a lecture on filmed music in Ireland. I felt so sorry for the lecturer, because we were all so tired from the hike(s) and the sun that sitting in that dark-ish room and staying
Great Blasket
View of the few houses left on the Blasket Island. alert was a near impossibility.
We walked back into town for a lengthy dinner (our last one together!) during which I was challenged to a pizza-eating contest by a guy at my table. Guess he hasn't seen my dad eat. Don't worry, I won with two pieces to spare. Then Jenn and I went back to the hostel and basically fell right to sleep, we were so exhausted. I know a few other people went to a trad session in the Droichead, but we were definitely too tired to attempt that.
Sunday, 9 September:
We left Dingle at 10 am, headed for Killarney. We stopped for about 45 minutes at Inch Beach and I had a good time scrambling over the rocks and taking pictures. In Killarney the bus was parked by an outlet shopping centre and we had two hours for lunch and whatever else we wanted to do. Just a little way out into the town, I found a lovely little shop called the Dungeon bookstore. This place would have been delightful to have had hours and hours to go through it. Books were stacked everywhere, double rowed on the shelves, and were basically just
Thirty Minutes In
This expression says it all, I think. a mishmosh of booky goodness. We ended up back in Cork at around 4 pm, when we all staggered off the bus to return to our various apartments to finally get some rest.
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