Two-day party to celebrate 10th year of renowned trad music pub

Date Published: {J}

It might seem like an impossibility, but one Galway publican has set himself the task of getting people to put the recession on the back burner next month – if only for a couple of nights.

Galway city’s popular Irish traditional music pub, Tí Choilí was 10 years in business recently and, to mark the occasion, a two-day party is being held on March 2 and 3 with lots of fine music from top trad artists, as well as free drink and plenty of sociability.

“We celebrated the first, second and third birthdays and then it kind of stopped,” says Colie O’Flaherty, who established the pub in October 2000. “I wasn’t going to have one for the 10th but then I looked at all the crap around and said ‘let’s have a hooley’, and for a couple of nights, let’s forget!”

And so, on Wednesday, March 3, the legendary Arty McGlynn will be joined by fiddle player Cathal Hayden (Four Men and a Dog), accordion player Donal Murphy (Four Men and a Dog and Sliabh Notes) and special guest, singer Don Stiffe, who is currently enjoying huge success in the All-Ireland Talent Show.

On Thursday, singer Matt Keane from Caherlistrane will be joined by his daughter Orflaith, also a singer and by banjo and mandolin player, Colm Naughton. Special guest for that session will be the Inishbofin singer Desmond O’Halloran, described by Colie as “the special one”.

While some of the participants – such as Cathal Hayden and Donal Murphy – live in other parts of the country, all have a strong connection with the pub, says Colie.

“I wanted to keep it local,” he explains, adding that he had also invited Sharon Shannon, who played for previous birthday parties, to participate. Unfortunately for revellers, she is playing in the Irish embassy in Saudi Arabia and can’t take part this year.

A 10th birthday is no small event, and especially in the current climate. Things have become more difficult, especially in the last few months, says Colie, but adds, he isn’t unique.

“It’s tougher for everybody. “Everyone is basically trying to keep their wage at the minute.”

When he started off 10 years ago, there was no water and refuse charges. Now there’s a private waste collection and water is metered.

“In the 10 years there have been an awful lot of add ons and we are still paying rates [to the City Council].

“It is tough times,” he feels, but adds that he’s lucky to be based in the city’s so-called Latin Quarter. “Anyone that comes to Galway for the weekend will give us a twist.”

Location might be one advantage, but his genuine love and respect for Irish music is a huge reason for the success of Tí Choilí. From the beginning, there were two sessions every day in the pub, something that has continued in bad times as well as good.

And while the pub regularly attracts top names from Sharon Shannon to Paul Brady to John Carty to Frankie Gavin, Colie insists that it’s the regular session musicians who attract the tourists and who have given the pub its renowned status.

It certainly is on the tourist trail – on a recent Thursday evening visit with two friends, there were busloads of French and English tourists there, all gathered around the musicians at the top of the pub.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.