Feile Freaney

History of the Graignamanagh Ceili Band

By Peter O’Leary

A Long Musical Heritage.

Graignamanagh (also known as Graig) enjoys a long musical heritage. The earliest reference to music in the area can be seen on the High Cross in Ullard Graveyard, three miles north of Graig. The cross which is pre-830 A.D., is uniquely famous for its carved panel illustrating a round-top lyre, a form of early harp.
 
The young monks from the Cistercian Abbey of Bun Dubh Uisce in 1536 fled to Ratisbon (now Regensburg) Germany to escape religious persecution which followed the Reformation in England. It was said that they ‘perpetuated the Irish tradition of singing plain chant’ at Ratisbon. In the 1800’s the Ratisbon form of Gregorian chant became the subject of much contention as to whether it was the original form of Gregorian Chant. One can only wonder to what extent the influence of the Graig monks had in this dispute which was only resolved in 1907 by Pope Pius X. The 16th century manuscripts which they brought with them from Duiske Abbey are probably lying undiscovered in the Abbey libraries of Regensburg, Solesmes or Appledurcombe.
 
From about 1760 there has been a brass band in Graig. At times it included a woodwind section. The band survives to the present day as the Graig Brass Band and it has provided a solid grounding in music theory for many of the young local musicians. Patrick O’Leary, (1855-1931) a member of the Graig Band, was also a traditional musician. He was an avid collector of Irish traditional music, which he gathered from local and travelling musicians. Between 1901 and 1909 he sent 18 tunes and airs to PW Joyce, who included them in his ‘Old Irish Folk Music & Song’ published in 1909. The score of one of the tunes, The Graig Reel, is included at the end of this article along with a Midi arrangement.
 
The Barrow Boatmen.

The River Barrow which flows through Graig has always been a means of communication and transportation. Flat-bottom boats called ‘clerahauns’ were used to carry people and goods up and down the river. They were rowed by Barrow boatmen using very long oars of up to 15cm diameter. Then in 1792 a canal was completed that connected Graig with Waterford to the south and Dublin and the Shannon to the north and west.

There were up to 60 families at one time supported by their men-folk who worked on the canal boats.
Tom Holden and Eddie Hayden, both local boatmen, worked with CIE until 1960, when the canal boat service was stopped. They travelled on the canal boats up to Dublin and down as far as Limerick and they’d bring their button accordions with them to pass the evenings when tied up in little harbours along the way.

They joined other musicians playing Irish music in the many little pubs along the Barrow, the canals and the Shannon.  Through this they met and got to know a young Athlone accordionist, Paul Brock and a young fiddler called Seamus Connolly, and his brother Martin, an accordionist. The Connolly family were lock-keepers in Killaloe.
Eddie and Tom learned the best of Clare tunes and they brought them back with them to play in Graig.
 
The start of the Ceili Band.

 
Front: Willie Wallace, Michael J. O’Leary, Tom Holden,
Jimmy Bolger, Eddie Hayden, Ted Fenlon, Michael. F.  O’Leary.
Missing: Paddy Devine, Michael Byrne, Peter O’Leary
(members of the band at different times).
 
 
In 1960 or so, a great fiddle player from Graig, the late Willie Wallace, persuaded Eddie and Tom to form a ceili band where they could share the fun of playing ceili music and even play for the occasional dance and concert. This led to the formation of St. Joseph’s Ceili Band and they were joined by Jimmie Bolger on drums, Michael Byrne on Banjo and Mickey O’Leary and his two sons, Peter and Michael, on guitar, flute and double bass respectively. Another great banjo player and musician, Paddy Devine, also played with the band at the start.

The band became popular and it was in much demand throughout Kilkenny and surrounding counties for concerts and ceilis. For quite a time it played in the school in Skeoughvosteen every Sunday night to collect funds for the parish.
 
The Daniel McGrath Memorial Hall in Bagenalstown, which had originally been opened in 1945, underwent a facelift and the band was engaged to play on the re-opening night. This gave the band something new and exciting to practise for.
Mrs Shaw-Rea of Bagenalstown used to run dancing classes all over County Kilkenny and she’d engage the band to play for ceilis so that her pupils could put their newly-learned steps to good use. She was a great supporter of the band and a symbiotic relationship was soon formed.

The band needed to amass some capital to buy amplification and new instruments so it decided to run its own ceilis in the Graig Parish Hall. To attract crowds the members hit on the idea of bring in big name artists for guest appearances during the ceilis. These included the ‘Boys from the County Armagh’ singer Eileen Donaghy, the Kieran Kelly Ceili Band (of Brendan Shine fame), singers Nita Norry, Bridie Gallagher and Margaret Barry, the travelling singer and banjo player.
Tom Holden, whose day job was in the local creamery, hit on a great idea. To publicise the Margaret Barry night he attached two tickets for the concert to every milk churn sent out that week. (The tickets were going to have to be paid for when presented at the door). The concert was a sell-out and attracted a crowd of 700.

Sometime later Ted Fenelon joined the band on Accordion. Then later still Eddie and Tom decided that they had had enough of the long journeys and late nights and they left. Willie Flood came in on Button Accordion. Tom Nolan joined up as second fiddle, Christy Bolger as vocalist, Noel Coady joined as Double Bass Player, Matt Doherty replaced Jimmie Bolger for a time as drummer and Michael O’Leary junior moved over to banjo and mandolin.
 
The first Stereo Ceili Band L.P.

The owner of a local Radio and Television shop, Micheál Reddy, used to buy supplies from Connoisseur Records in Dublin. He was also a keen supporter of the band and he had made several reel-to-reel recordings of it. He managed to convince the record company that the ceili band from Graig would be well worth recording. A deal was struck and the band was asked to travel to Gerry Fitzgerald’s Recording Studios in Churchtown, Dublin on Sunday morning October 3rd, 1965, to record Ireland’s first stereo LP of a ceili group. On the night before the recording, at the final practice in the Parochial Hall it was agreed that the band would henceforth be known as The Graignamanagh Ceili Band.  The record was produced in the following year by The Dominion Record Company of Canada and widely circulated in the U.S. and Canada. It was frequently played on local radio stations. Some tracks from the record have been remastered and are included on a recent C.D. entitled ‘The Best of Ceili Bands, Vol. 2’ which is widely available on the Internet.
 
 
First Stereo LP of a Ceili Band. Side 2 – Ceili selections.

 
Radio Eireann’s Ceili House.

On August 6th, 1966 the band travelled to Dublin to play live for Radio Éireann’s Ceili House from the O’Connell Hall in O’Connell Street, Dublin. Sean Ó Murchu was Fear a’Tí and the producer was Dermot O’Hara, conductor of the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra.

Up to 1968 the band played for many ceilis around Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford and Waterford, including one in Portarlington with the famous Sean Ryan and his ceili band, with whom they had a strong friendship.
Travelling long distances to play for up to 5 hours in smoky and poorly heated (or cooled) halls took its toll. Fees paid were very low in comparison to what showbands of the time were able to command. At times we were barely able to cover our expenses. It was very much a ‘labour of love’ and the course of true love never runs smooth. The band eventually broke up although some members continued to play as a small group for pub sessions and special occasions. This lasted up to about 2003 when the group stopped playing altogether.
 
The Band reforms
 

On Easter Sunday 2004 Willie Flood and Peter O’Leary, members of the original Graignamanagh Ceili Band, met after a performance of the Graig Brass Band outside Duiske Abbey. They reminisced on good times past and regretted the fact that the Band was no longer playing, particularly in light of the forthcoming Leinster Fleadh Cheóil which was to be held in Graig for the first time. The Fleadh was being held in Graig to mark the 800thanniversary of the founding of the Abbey outside which we were standing. The seed was sown and a few days later, following an exchange of phone calls, plans were afoot to re-form the Band and to get down to serious practice of a selection of over 50 jigs, reels, hornpipes and polkas, some of which were played by the original Band, others new. Flood and O’Leary managed to persuade two others of the original band, Noel Coady, Bass and Ted Fenelon, Accordion, to join them. Flood then found two new fiddlers, Tom Mackey and Trish Foley, guitarist Johnny Hoare, and drummer Jim O’Dwyer, who had played with the reduced version of the band after the split-up.

Weekly practice sessions took place in the Tigín, normally used by the Brass Band for its rehearsals. On Saturday July 10th 2004, the second day of the Leinster Fleadh Cheóil, the Band made its first public appearance outside the Graig Library. After they had played a few selections an invitation was received from the Fleadh organisers for the band to play on the ‘Gig-Rig’ in the Market Square. The invitation was graciously accepted and instruments were carried down the street and up onto the stage where a sound balance took place. Every instrument was ‘miked’. At a given signal the Fear a’ Tí announced “You’ve waited for 35 years to hear them. Well here they are back again. Ladies and gentlemen, the Graignamanagh Ceili Band!”

Two taps of the Ceili Box from Jim O’Dwyer and the band showed its prowess with Father Kelly’s Jig. Set dancers took to the platform and a crowd of onlookers gathered. An hour and a half went by very quickly as video cameras whirred and the band was put through its paces.
The same thing followed on the next day and it became clear to the band members that their music was ‘hitting the right notes’ among the audience.
 

Front: Christy Bolger, Ted Fenlon, Matt Doherty, Willie Flood, Noel Coady.
Back: Tom Nolan, Michael. J O’Leary, Peter O’Leary, Michael F. O’Leary, Willie Wallace.

Four years later- 2008
 

The Graignamanagh Ceili Band continues to play and provided enjoyment for its members and the public. Sessions are held monthly and the band is called to play also for special events. Fond memories are held of the night that the band was honoured to have been invited to join the Chieftains on the stage of Duiske Abbey for the finale.  There have been many other enjoyable sessions also. The Band usually plays on Liam O’Shea’s Bar but it also performs in other establishments in Graig, St. Mullins, Coppenagh, Inistioge, Dungarvan, Leighlinbridge and other places. It occasionally travels to play near Gorey, Co. Wexford, home of all-Ireland Accordion champion, John Bass. John and fiddler Mary Ryan from Bray are keen supporters of the band and they frequently travel long distances to play with the band for sessions in Graig. Others who play with the band occasionally include Jimmy Spruhan and Billy Tennyson, both good accordion players.