What
is Comhaltas?
In
January 1951, representatives of the Thomas Street (Dublin)
Pipers' Club went to Mullingar for a meeting with traditional
music enthusiasts from County Westmeath. Two ideas which
had already been mentioned amongst traditional musicians
were discussed at this meeting; the first was the founding
of an organisation to promote Irish traditional music while
the second was the organising of a great annual festival
of Irish traditional music, song and dance. A further meeting
was held in February, and at this meeting it was decided
that, in conjunction with Feis Lár na hÉireann
(a Gaelic League Feis which had been held in Mullingar for
many years), a Fleadh Cheoil would be organised in the town
in May over the Whit weekend.
In
the years before the Fleadh, although the ordinary people
of Ireland loved traditional music, the thousands of traditional
musicians in the country were largely unappreciated in
popular social and intellectual circles. The aim of the
Fleadh was to promote traditional music and to arrest
the decline in its popularity. The cream of traditional
Irish musicians attending the Fleadh played a major role
in furthering this aim.
Fleadhanna Cheoil gave traditional musicians a platform
where they could play to an appreciative audience and
where traditional style was the criterion. That first
Fleadh Cheoil in 1951 attracted only a few hundred patrons
- a small but enthusiastic crowd. Within five years, however,
this annual gathering had grown to become a great National
Festival attended by thousands of traditional musicians,
singers, and dancers from all parts of Ireland and overseas.
On
October 14th, 1951, at Árus Ceannt, Thomas Street,
Dublin, the first standing Committee of Cumann Ceoltóirí
na hÉireann was elected. At a meeting in St. Mary's
Hall, Mullingar, on January 6th, 1952, the title of the
organisation was changed from Cumann Ceoltóirí
na hÉireann to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí
Éireann.
Branches
of Comhaltas were formed all over Ireland, organising
classes, concerts, and sessions at local level. Soon there
were County and Provincial Fleadhanna, and later came
the Fleadh Nua, the Tionól Ceoil, Seisiún,
and the Scoil Éigse.
In
the past 50 years, the Fleadh and Comhaltas have grown
together. Irish exiles have played an active part, such
that musicians from Liverpool, Birmingham, London, and
New York often take their annual holidays to coincide
with the Fleadh. Comhaltas now has more than 400 branches,
established in every Irish County, in Britain, the US,
Canada, and worldwide in places such as Japan, Hungary,
Sardinia, and Australia.
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