Thousands of musicians raising the tone on a glorious weekend in Listowel

A rare glimpse of summer sun gave a benediction to the 51st Fleadh Cheoil, held for the 14th time in Listowel, writes Anne Lucey.

The traditional beat of the all-Ireland fleadh brought the sun to dance on the streets of the north Kerry town of Listowel this weekend. Thousands of performers and music followers thronged the heritage town in rare good weather for the 51st Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.

Last year, too, the fleadh coincided with glorious weather, prompting one reveller to remark: "Other cultures dance to bring out the rain, but the Irish beat seems to bring out the sun." Most of the estimated 10,000 performers were young people, noted Mr Labhras Ó Murchú, director general of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.

"At last, young people have taken ownership of traditional music and standards are going up and up. This is now really a world fleadh with people from numerous countries taking part," he said.

There was a decided international flavour, with visitors from abroad. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann now has 400 branches worldwide, with the biggest one, with 450 members, in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.

Since last year's fleadh, also held in Listowel, a branch was formed in Moscow, via the Internet. At the moment, Mr Bert Griffin, a Listowel man, is in the process of setting up a branch in Vietnam.

The fleadh, with its 200,000 revellers, was worth an estimated €13 million to the town and surrounding areas. The town square was the venue of numerous simultaneous open-air music sessions. Every corner and pub seemed full of musicians.

The windows were removed from some premises to let in the air and allow the music and the pints to flow, and the town was traffic free for most of the weekend. The 51st fleadh had achieved the vision of a small group of people who met in a Mullingar pub 52 years ago, said Mr Ned O' Sullivan, spokesman for the fleadh committee in Listowel.

"Two ideas had been discussed - the first was the founding of an organisation to promote Irish traditional music, the second was the organising of a huge annual festival of Irish traditional music, song and dance. The idea was to promote traditional music and arrest the decline in its popularity. This has certainly been achieved," Mr O'Sullivan said.

Larger towns would hesitate at hosting such a huge event, but Listowel, with its natural squares and town park, was also an old hand at the event. This in fact was the 14th time it was being held in Listowel - a record in fleadh hostings, Mr O'Sullivan said.

Numerous national and international television crews had arrived in town.

"The coverage given by Fleadh Cheoil na nÉireann by RTÉ and other national and international media is of immense benefit to Listowel. For a town with a population of under 5,000 people, the recognition factor for Listowel is very high," said Mr O'Sullivan, who is a town and a county councillor.

Seasoned fleadh-goer Mr Jack Roche, of Rockchapel, Co Cork, praised Listowel as a venue, but sounded a warning note about the direction of traditional music: "I very much regret the disappearance of distinct regional styles. Youngsters may be very well taught how to play music, but they're all playing in the same cosmopolitan way. I believe they should be encouraged to play in the style of their own regions," he said.

Meanwhile, there are strong indications the fleadh could be held in Northern Ireland for the first time. Three towns have applied to stage next year's fleadh - Clonmel, Co Tipperary; Ballina, Co Mayo; and Warrenpoint, Co Down.

"Everyone wants to see the fleadh being held at a Northern venue at some stage and the North deserves it. However, it will be important to monitor the situation very closely and the people up there will tell us when the time is right," Mr Ó Murchú said.

During the 30 years of the Northern Troubles, music had helped bring together both traditions, he said.

"Traditional music is a unifying force and when the fleadh will be held in the North it will be on a cross-community basis. There's already a lot of goodwill there for it and some groundwork is being done. Dialogue is going on," he said.

Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Alliance Party, the Official Unionist Party and the DUP have all written to Comhaltas expressing their support for the event.