Crotty Éigse promotes concertinas and dancing

Traditional music band Patrick Street will be the headline act for this Saturday's Mrs Crotty Memorial Concert being held as part of the annual Éigse Mrs Crotty festival in Kilrush, Co Clare, which begins today.

Continuing until Sunday, it commemorates Elizabeth Crotty, a noted Kilrush concertina player in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

The Éigse is the only festival dedicated to promoting the playing of the diminutive instrument, although other traditional instruments as well as an array of related pursuits such as set dancing, and traditional and sean nós singing, are also featured.

It is appropriate that these other art forms have crept into the festival as they formed part of the legendary after-hours sessions once held in Mrs Crotty's kitchen at the back of the pub she ran.

"Set dancing has gone through the roof," said Rebecca Brew, a festival organiser and current owner of Crotty's Pub. "We are teaching the set dancing and the sean nós because we have been asked."

She added that along with classes for students of the concertina, fiddle and flute, a series of clubs are also being run in local pubs to encourage players to perform in public.

"The idea is to bring them into the community. It is more than a session, it is more of a performance. As well as helping the pubs, they are good venues."

Aficionados will also be able to avail of a number of CD launches and purchase a new collection of concertina recordings made in west Clare in the 1970s. "It is a gem of a collection I must say," said musical director and Céilí House presenter Kieran Hanrahan.

For anyone harbouring malfunctioning concertinas, a maintenance and repair workshop is being run by Jurgen Suttner, who makes the instruments in Siegen, Germany, and has a four-year waiting list. About 1,000 pieces goes into their manufacture, including such materials as ebony, mahogany, rosewood and silver, variously used to create the distinctive, highly-decorative end pieces.

Hanrahan said there were various theories as to why the instrument had a traditional association with West Clare, including dark tales of a shipment of them being washed up. "Being a non-concertina player, I never followed up the full story behind that one."

Today, however, and despite costing upwards of €3,000 for a Suttner concertina, it has become a popular instrument throughout Ireland. "It has a distinctive sound.

As an instrument it can combine with just about any other instrument," Hanrahan added.