| Another off-Motorway journey, another musician whose name is new to me. This plaque to Jack Mulkere is at Crusheen which has returned to village status from traffic nightmare with the opening of the Motorway from Ennis to Gort. Once again, the web is my educator. An informative article on page 7 of Comhaltas magazine. Good to see one of those who gave so much receiving credit, even if after death. “In the twentieth century an important connection to the distinctive musical traditions of south and east Galway was maintained by the fiddler and teacher Jack Mulkere from Gort in Galway who married and settled outside Crusheen. Jack performed in the early Aughrim Slopes Céilí Band in 1927 and taught traditional music to generations of influential musicians between Athenry and Ennis between the 1920s and 1970s. Mulkere’s students included Frank Custy, Tony MacMahon, Paddy Fahy and Kieran Hanrahan and he was the first teacher of traditional music employed to do so by a state agency. He ran classes for Clare Vocational and Educational Committee.” | Jack Mulkere 1898 – 1982 MUSICIAN TEACHER NATIONALIST PIONEER OF IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC EDUCATION ‘DO DHEARCAS’, AR SÍ, INA RÍ-BHRUGH CEOLMHAR, POIRT AR SHRUITIBH DÁ SEINM GO CEOLMHAR, STARTHA DÁ LÉAMH AG LUCHT LÉINN IS EOLAIS AOGÁN Ó RATHAILLE 'I SAW’, SHE SAID, IN THAT PLACE OF MUSIC HARP TUNES PLAYING MELODIOUSLY HISTORIES READ BY THE LEARNED AND THE WISE |
