"to be honest to me it sounds like a vision of hell. thirty kids sawing away on fiddles at the same tune"
EDEL FOX
GRADAM
Pádraig Keane
There are literally thousands of young Irish Musicians playing music to an excellent standard
Edel Fox, apart from being the excellent young musician she is, is now a 'veteran' music teacher, having taught some hundreds of young musicians in this area.
Pádraig Keane is the grandson of our late friend Tom McCarthy, who moved back to Clare from London in the 1990s
His 3 daughters and son all play Irish music to the highest standard, and all their children are now playing.
Pádraig won the Gradam award in 2011
The big breakthrough was when music schools were set up. attracting musicians from all over the world - including many new young players, many of whom became top class solo players.
The scools were based on the older (often veteran) musicians teaching and talking about the music
The second breakthrough came when the musical and arts establishments recognised what was happening and began to promote traditional music for the first time
Nowadays, we have excellent coverage on all aspects of traditional music on the media and, upp to the present economic slump, asking for a grant to research or to issue albums, was pushing on an open door
All this was achieved by building the scene on the existing tradition - this is why arguing against this garbage is worthwhile.
You want to stay where you are - fine, but don't knock what you know nothing whatever about
Jim Carroll