Download the 2009 Fiddle Fair poster!
Archive
Main| Fiddle Fair Presents Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh »
Concert for Seamus Creagh
The Tribute concert for Seamus Creagh is on Saturday 9 May 3:00 p.m. at the Glebe Amphitheatre. For tickets please click here.
--photo by Con Kelleher
I first met Seamus Creagh about 20 years ago when we opened the bar in Baltimore. He had of course been hanging out in these parts long before that after first coming here for a weekend in the late 60s. That weekend turned into several years where amongst other things he worked on the building of a new slipway, fished for Salmon, and famously delivered the post on Sherkin Island. Some of the islanders have lots of funny tales of their fiddle-playing postman but I'm not sure if they could be repeated here.
Although he moved on and spent time in Scotland, Newfoundland, Cork city, and most recently in Rylane, he always came back to Sherkin and Baltimore, and when we started to have live music in the bar he was one of the first people we asked.
He played at the very first Fiddle Fair and I remember many other sparkling concerts with people like Jackie Daly, Aidan Coffey, and Sean O Loinsigh. He was always willing to make the journey down whenever we asked him and with Seamus it was never about the money. His concerts were always packed because many of the locals who mightn't come to a lot of other gigs during the year always came out to see their old buddy. He was huge in Baltimore.
One show that particularly stands out though was when he brought some of his students from The West Cork School of Traditional Music to Fiddle Fair 2001 and he smiled like a proud parent as they played the tunes he had taught them. And it is as a fiddle teacher that many of us will remember him best.
Today all over Cork city and county there are people of all ages playing the fiddle who were taught by Seamus. I'm honoured to say that I am one of them.
I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that he was the most encouraging of teachers. It must be one of the hardest jobs in the world to listen to screech after scrape for hours on end but all you'd ever here from him was "Lovely" or "Christ you're doing grand". And I know he really enjoyed passing on the music of Slaibh Luachra to a new generation.
For me the highlight of each lesson was when he'd play you the tune. The sweetness of his music was incredible and to hear it up close in a classroom was pure magic.
Seamus left us many happy memories and a wonderfully rich legacy and as long as we play the tunes that he taught us, he will never truly die.
I hope to see you Saturday the 9th of May at 3:00 p.m. for a tribute concert by Any Old Time to our beloved teacher and friend.
Declan