by Juergen Gier, a German fellow who attended the school as a pupil
The 3rd Frankie Kennedy Winter School was held from 27. Dec 1996 - 1. Jan 1997 in Dunlewy, Co. Donegal. First of all, a big "thank you" to the "organizer in chief" Gearoid O'Mooney and all who assisted "backstage" for making this possible (and a good job they did indeed). The only major drawback were some rooms for the workshops. The advanced fiddle one took place in the restaurant of Dunlewy Lakeside Centre which was at the same time open to the public. The ambient noise was not exactly helpful. The fluters had a similar experience, their workshop (actually two of them simultaneously) being held in the local pub.
The concerts were excellent. Matt Molloy was ill and was last-minute-replaced by Mayo fiddler Sean Smyth & band (Alan Kelly, piano accordion; Donal Hennessy, guitar; John McSherry, uillean pipes). This was THE event of the festival for me. Sean and John are terrific players and both their solo spots and their interaction were a joy to listen to. While Alan's playing was as "dry" and tasteful as most would expect only from box players, Donal's near rock music style was the perfect match for John's wild piping. I didn't regret one moment keeping the "Molloy" ticket. Their support act was Gary Hastings (flute) & Ciaran Curran (bouzouki) with Gabriel McArdle stepping in for alas only one song.
I attended the second of two Altan concerts. It was the first time I heard them with Dermot Byrne and my impression was that his box, though superbly played, blended too well with the two fiddles. The instruments sound just too similar. One of the "edges" of the sound that Frankie had provided for is lost and some transparency as well. For me, the best moments were the solo spots. The rest was (reluctant to say this) a little too perfect.
Their support was the Scottish duo Ian Smith (guitar, vocals) and Stephen Campbell (Scottish-born Donegal resident fiddler). Though Stephen didn't show much there (they played mostly songs), I was lucky enough to have played with him (or rather listened, to be honest) in the session the night before. Though he seemed to have had a lot of classical training, his playing was not the least spoiled by this. He managed to combine the classically trained mastery of technique with the spirit of traditional music, which cannot be said of too many.
Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill made for an impressive contrast. For those who know Martin's playing, what is there to say? And for those who don't, words cannot describe his unique jazzy East Clare style anyway. By the way, his tune selection included a fair amount of reverence to Donegal. And Dennis Cahill did a superb job, actually the best guitar accompaniment I've ever heard, as if one person was playing both instruments.
Later that day, the New Year was brought in with Cooney & Begley and many guests musicians: Paul O'Shaugnessy, Liz Doherty, Maire Breathnach, most Altan members, Gearoid O'Mooney, Luka Bloom and some more. The vast hotel bar was absolutely packed, you could hardly breathe. For those who needed some oxygen there was always at least one session going on in the foyer. What a night.
The sessions were all on a very high level and mostly extremely fast. Though speed is not a problem for me I am considerably lacking repertoire and had quite a hard time picking up tunes. Don't know why there was no intermediate or beginner's session (maybe they were just elsewhere). One of the most relaxed ones as regards speed was the "welcome session" on Friday night, interestingly the one with all the "stars" involved.
Getting lifts (or owning a car) was essential, since the workshops and most of the concerts were in Dunlewy while the sessions were in the Ostan Gweedore hotel in Bunbeg. That would be No. 2 on my wish list (next to the workshop rooms): to have it all in one place, if at all possible. But it would certainly not stop me from coming again (and again).
Oh, by the way: the An Oige hostel in Dunlewy was open. I arrived on 27th without reservation but didn't have any problems getting a bed. But carless as I was, lodging in Bunbeg could have saved me some taxi fees after the sessions (forget about hitch-hiking at 4am!).
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