The Mulcahy Family live in concert in the Coleman Music Centre, Gurteen, Co Sligo F56 TF88 on Saturday, 9th November at 8pm.
Tickets €15. To book call:071 9182599 or book online at www.colemanirishmusic.com
When the Mulcahy Family, of Abbeyfeale, West Limerick are involved the music is never ordinary and always close to the heart. That is the hallmark of the Mulcahy Family, as the simplicity of the tunes takes on a new life when blended together with technique and familiarity all wrapped together in honesty and respect for the tradition.
That respect flows from the Mick Mulcahy, 63, originally from Brosna, Co. Kerry where proximity to Sliabh Luachra and Co. Clare assured a firm foundation for the music. A member of the senior All-Ireland Brosna Ceili Band who won the gold in Listowel in 1972, he is a devoted musician all his life seeking out the best sessions and musicians.
Exposure to the likes of trad icons Willie Clancy and Seamus Ennis at August bank holiday weekends in Miltown Malbay set the tone and bar very high in the 1950s and 1960s for traditional music and on Mulcahy’s own development. When he and his wife, Cecelia, settled in Abbeyfeale to raise their family consisting of daughters Louise, 26, and Michelle, 24, it was clear that Irish music would be the family passion and cultural sustenance.
As infants, the girls were regular visitors to the annual Willie Clancy Summer School and All-Ireland fleadhs, later to be students and then teachers.
Their skill-sets on a variety of instruments provide for a tasteful layering on top of the tune that reveals their own sensitivity and natural flair for traditional music. Mostly self-taught, Mick plays a variety of accordions, concertina and melodeon, Louise the tin-whistle, uilleann pipes and primarily the concert flute while Michelle plays the harp, concertina, accordion, fiddle and piano.
