REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT A RECEPTION FOR TRADITIONAL MUSICIANS AT ÁRAS AN UACHTARÁIN WEDNESDAY, 14 MAY, 2003
Tá an-áthas orm fáilte a chur romhaibh go léir go dtí Áras an Uachtaráin inniu.
Both Martin and I are delighted to welcome all of you here to the Áras and to have the opportunity through you to re-pay the considerable debt of gratitude that this country owes its traditional music makers. A big thank you to the team which put this gathering together – Labhras Ó Murchú, Donncha O’Dulaing, Ciarán Mac Mathúna and Liam O Murchú. Go raibh míle míle maith agaibh.
This reception is the first of a series in celebration of the custodians of our native musical heritage. You bring that heritage alive, you keep it alive, you add to it the genius of your own generation, you build new audiences for it and you inspire and teach the next generation of performers. In houses and halls, pubs and clubs, schools and state-rooms, theatres and tents, fleadhs and feiseanna you have opened up Irish music up to countless audiences - you have made them dance, made them weep, made them laugh, made them proud. Wherever Irish people have gone in the world and in whatever circumstances, whether as coffin ship emigrants or computer boffins, Irish music has been their comfort in times of loneliness, their gift to new homelands. Around the globe your music has made many friends and admirers for Ireland.
A heritage so rich, deep and ancient depends on the fidelity of successive generations to its transmission. Thanks to people like you, our remarkable musical legacy is dynamic and full of life. Behind the beauty of the music is a lot of hard slog. Every youngster who sets our feet tapping to the best of fiddle music had to start with a teacher and a sound that only a mother could love. Behind the performance is the practice. Behind the music is the scholarship, the knowledge of old sources, the curiosity about our legacy, the confidence to be innovative, the passion that drives the search for excellence.
During September 2001 when I presented awards at the 50th Anniversary of Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Eireann, I presented awards to two wonderful musicians – Willie Reynolds and Paddy McIlvanny – Willie who unfortunately passed away last week. I believe that before he died he had seen the invitation to join us here today, but he knew that he would have been too ill to come. I have no doubt that he is with us in spirit. I’m sure that Willie and Paddy McIlvanny – a big welcome to you, Paddy - must have faced many challenges over the years since their inaugural meeting in Mullingar in 1951 but just look at how much that great organisation has accomplished not just here but all over the world.
On State visits abroad we always bring with us traditional musicians to showcase to our host countries the very essence of Irish culture at its best. I love the feeling of pride as our musicians lift a formal occasion to intimacy, make participants of spectators and make a party of an audience of strangers. I know the memory of that music will live on for a long time and it will tell a good story of our country and of our people.
Without you we would not have that story to tell. It would be so wrong to take our music for granted, to forget the commitment and the dedication which create, recreate, fill and replenish this powerful resource. You have never done what you did for thanks but you deserve the thanks of an Ireland comforted by music in hard times, showcased by music in these more confident times.
To all of you we say a warm thank you and hope that this day of celebration says that we owe you a huge debt for sharing your many talents with us and for all the enjoyment you bring to people and this reception is by way of saying that we greatly appreciate you.
I hope you will relax and enjoy this afternoon. We have some wonderful musicians for you to enjoy – Mary Kelly who played the harp in the Front Hall along with fiddle-player Cáit Ni Chuis and the musicians here in the State Reception Room - Peig Ryan, Joe Burke, Peter Carberry, Bobby Gardiner and Antóin Mac Gabhann. I would also like to say thank you very much to John Gold from the Civil Defence for keeping a caring eye on us all today.
Relax and enjoy yourselves.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.