 | Last year, I put up a few blog posts about plaques to musicians and those involved in the arts that I had seen on my trips to Kerry. War memorials, particularly War of Independence, are regularly observed on my travels but musicians were not that often spotted – until recently. In the last two months, I must have seen five or six different plaques or statues – generally to Irish Music musicians – while out and about. |
Edmund Keating Hyland (Cahir)  Notice in Braille  |  I would have no grounding whatsoever in Irish Music so these names are all generally new to me. They have each in turn become my ‘learn something new today’ action – so expect to see some more appearing here in the near future. This statue to Edmund Keating Hyland was spotted in Cahir when I decided to travel off-motorway – such roads are much more likely to provide treasures for this sign-hunter. I understood the Irish Music tradition to be substantially oral/aural, that it was not written for very many years. What surprises is that there is a record of him having written a tune 215 years ago – The Fox Chase. My web searching also revealed that he was used by Sinn Féin in the recent European Elections – I suppose it is a good photo-opportunity that is likely to be picked-up by the local media, a photograph at a local statue. I now know a little about The Fox Chase – an improvement on previously knowing nothing.  |
