Kilfenora CŽil’ Band marks new chapter with Town Hall concert

Date Published: 11-Apr-2012

The strong sense of history that prevails among the members of the famous Kilfenora Band isn’t surprising given that the group marks its 103rd anniversary this year.

But there’s also a sense of innovation in the legendary group and Galway audiences can experience that when ‘The Kilfenora’ visit Galway’s Town Hall on April 22 to promote its new album, Chapter Eight.

Flute player Gary Shannon and accordion player Claire Griffin explain that the band recently expanded and now has 11 core members, including four fiddle players, one of whom plays the viola.

There’s a bass and cello on this album as well and the whole combination has given a string quartet feel to Chapter Eight.

That mix of instrumentation allows them to do more in terms of the music and gives it a depth it didn’t have before, says Gary, a brother of well-known accordion player, Sharon Shannon.

The Kilfenora Céilí Band was founded in 1909 to perform for dances. It went through peaks and troughs in the years since, but since the early 1990s, when it was reformed under the leadership of John Lynch, it has gone from strength to strength.

Because of the road the band has gone down in recent years – performing in concert as well as for dances – there needs to be a greater variety in its music, Claire and Gary feel.

But, they add, experimentation is nothing new for this band, despite the fact that the members have a huge respect for its history and their role in its continuity.

In the 1960s the band had a saxophone and double bass. It may seem unusual, but there was always a dichotomy in music in the North Clare area, says Gary.

“American big band music was always very popular there; it would have been brought in from the States. There was a brass band tradition as well and that would have informed their traditional music.”

The current line up has “conservative and innovative leanings”, and as a result “the band is in constant creative tension”, laughs Gary.

Clare agrees. “The skill is in finding the balance between keeping traditional dance music, but also pushing the boundaries,” she says.

The Kilfenora Céilí Band still keeps the traditional dance band format, and retains the lift and rhythm of a dance outfit, but it’s more innovative within the structure of the tunes, says Claire.

And members are always aware of their place in the scheme of things.

“We can’t morph into Stocktons Wing,” says Gary. “There is 103 years of tradition and John, as band leader has a responsibility to all the people who went before us.”

It’s hard to measure how the current line-up is appealing to new audiences says Claire, but the fact that they have filled major venues, such as the National Concert Hall, the INEC in Killarney and the Concert Hall in the University of Limerick shows their popularity.

“And if we were doing the same thing as 30 years ago, they wouldn’t be coming.”

Their concert is a show, with songs and dancing as well as top class music. The Galway show will feature Michael Donnellan, who was lead dancer with both Riverdance and Lord of the Dance as well as local set dancers, while there will be songs from Galway singer-songwriter Don Stiffe.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.