Memorable week of culture

Ceol Binn The Ó hÉalaí family from Castlebar entertaining the crowds. Grianghraf: Cormac Ó Cionnaith

Memorable week of culture

Westport made a lasting impression as host of an eventful festival

Denise Horan

TIRED eyelids never lay so gently on tired eyes as did this music on the spirit of the people.
It was a perfect start to a memorable week in Westport: the local mixed with the national, the experienced coupled with the novices, finely-tuned instruments alongside perfectly-pitched voices. The Halla an Bhaile in The Octagon doesn’t host many events like this anymore, and if it stands for another hundred years it probably won’t have sweeter sounds bouncing off its walls than it did last Wednesday night. John Joe McDonnell’s whistling – surely the most endangered of all Irish cultural forms – was a rare and pleasant treat, whetting the appetite of the packed house for the higher-octane acts that were to follow. None disappointed. From Laoise Ní Cheallaigh’s mesmerising harp-playing to Matt Molloy’s familiar flute, from the simple beauty of Tomás Ó Máille’s lament for Tuar Mhic Éadaigh to the synchronised rhythm of the Ó hÉalaí siblings from Castlebar, this was an epic event disguised as a mere appetiser. Throw in Cora Smyth’s rousing fiddle playing, Céide’s unfailing liveliness and Astrid Ní Mhongáin’s haunting melody and the €10 entry fee seems an embarrassingly paltry price for such riches.
But as a starter it worked to tantalising effect, leaving all present longing to come back for the sumptuous courses that were to follow all week long around the town.
Just hours earlier the young people of Mayo and Ireland – members of Óige na Gaeltachta, Spleodar and Cumann na bhFiann, among others – had kicked proceedings off with a Hallowe’en parade through the streets of Westport, as part of the youth festival that ran in tandem with the Oireachtas, Scléip na hÓige. This was youth culture, as Gaeilge – bold, bright and bursting with energy. As announcements of the arrival of a festival go, it scored highly, causing crowds of late shoppers, early evening drinkers and Friday night diners to abandon their respective activities for a few minutes in order to catch a glimpse.
Arriving in The Octagon to be greeted by Minister for the Gaeltacht, Éamon Ó Cuív, seemed to be the icing on the cake for the hundreds of participants who gleefully chanted Irish slogans, half-songs and rhymes as they marched. Compliments delivered, the Minister was then whisked inside the nearby Wyatt Hotel where he declared Oireachtas na Samhna 2007 officially open. And so with the ministerial blessing given, the fun began in earnest.
A full week off work would have been required to sample all the delights from Wednesday through to Sunday, but any one of the individual gigs, competitions, debates, discussions or sessions offered something for the seeker of real Irish culture in action. One in particular is worthy of special mention in the view of this writer – the performances of John Spillane and Louis de Paor in Hotel Westport on Saturday night. I had long wanted to see this duo in action and, while it was worth the wait, I certainly won’t be waiting as long ‘til my next viewing. Deliberate, measured and thoughtful in every word uttered, they held the audience rapt for over two hours. Time didn’t matter, drinks didn’t matter, conversation didn’t get a look-in. Poetry is always best appreciated when read by the poet and in the case of de Paor, with the most beautiful Cork Irish imaginable, once you’ve heard him I would venture that you would never again want to merely read him.
The radio and TV coverage – compliments of Raidió na Gaeltachta and TG4 – brought the national spotlight on Westport for many of the events (and indeed on the TF in Castlebar for the sean-nós dancing competitions on Saturday), but the greatest benefits of all in Westport’s bid to get the Oireachtas back to town in the future will accrue from the positive word-of-mouth testimonies that are likely to circulate in the days and weeks to come.
The willingness of the ‘Oireachtas crowd’ to immerse themselves in the myriad events spoke volumes both for the prestige of the festival and the quality of the wide-ranging programme. Even at Sunday’s Aifreann an Oireachtais, which was also broadcast live on RnaG, the chorus of Irish responses throughout attested to a large visiting crowd (although locals too entered into the spirit of things), while several busloads of that same crowd travelled to Achill immediately after the Mass to witness the unveiling of a memorial to a lifelong supporter and promoter of Irish culture, Donncha Ó Gallchobhair. Whether they knew him or not, they seemed to appreciate his legendary status – and that was enough to draw them.
Piaras Ó Raghallaigh – an excellent Fear an Tí on the night – remarked at the interval in the ceolchoirm that a man had said to him minutes earlier that this Oireachtas was the best he had ever been at – and it had scarcely started! He told the story jokingly, but with satisfaction, sensing no doubt, even at such an early stage, that the week was going to bowl people over. If the smiles on the faces, the talk on the street and the reaction of the many appreciative audiences all week can be considered a measure of success, then his hunch was right. And Westport and Mayo will reap the benefits for a long time to come, le cúnamh Dé