Sraith Oileán AclaAchill Island Suite

Recorded Live at Achill International Harp Festival

Seasonal Migration to ScotlandIn the aftermath of the Great Famine (1845-51), many of Achill’s clachan settlements evolved into migrant-based communities, forced into economic exile on the potato fields and in the bothies on the west coast of Scotland. During the annual potato-picking harvest season (June to October), each migrant household’s young single males or females, whose ages ranged from eleven to twenty-three, travelled from Westport to Glasgow by steamboat in a group or ‘squad’ under the supervision of a foreman or ‘gaffer’. ‘Tattie-hoker’ was the phrase the local Scottish population gave to the seasonal Achill migrant worker.

A ProphecyA prophecy by Brian Rua Ó Cearbháin in the 17th Century foretold of the coming of the railway to Achill, describing ‘carriages on iron wheels with smoke and fire’ and that the first and the last trains to the island would carry home the dead. In 1894 a group of 32 Achill people drowned in Clew Bay. Their hooker capsized while carrying a full load of passengers to a steamship in Westport that would bring them to Scotland. A special train was brought into operation to transport the bodies of the victim’s home for burial in Achill’s Kildavnet Cemetery, even though the Achill railway extension was still under construction at that time. Forty-three years later, in 1937, another special train operated to return the bodies of ten young Achill boys who perished when their bothy, which they had been locked into for the night, caught fire in Kirkintilloch. This horrific tragedy brought the plight of the island’s young migratory workers onto the national public and political arena.

Achill tattie-hokers in Scotland.

1. Fintan and The Hawk of Achill Lyrics Trad Arr Toolis/Hatton/Gielty/O’Malley Music MacDonald This colloquy, written in Old Irish, is arguably the oldest play written in Ireland. Some

evidence suggests it may have been written prior to the 10th century. Fintan, who was

the sole survivor of the Biblical Flood, possessed the ability to shift shape, changing

from human, to salmon, to eagle, to hawk, and back to human form. In this colloquy

Fintan meets with the Hawk of Achill. They share their life stories and die together.

There are numerous versions of this story in Irish and Scottish folklore.

2. Dumh Acha Do Music MacDonald Arr Hambly/MacMaster/Kelly/Hay A spirited, uplifting tune for the harp, written by Allan MacDonald for Achill’s first

International Harp Festival.

3. Aithris Dínnseanchas Acla Trad Arr MacDonald/Gielty/MacMaster/Hay Compiled by Allan MacDonald in response to his interest in the parallels between

Scottish and Irish Gaelic and place names. A recitation using the place names of

Achill referring to topography, but more than that, it refers to the character and stories

relating to them, as in ‘dínnseanchas’ or ‘lore’. Source: Logainmneacha Mhaigh Eo 3

Paróiste Acla, Fiachra Mac Gabhann (2014); A Map of the Maritime County Mayo, William

Bald (1830).

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4. Achill Air Trad Arr Lynch/MacDonald This tune was published in Bunting’s third and last collection of The Ancient Music of

Ireland (1840), which included a dissertation on the Irish Harp and harpers. With this

final volume Bunting hoped to promote the antiquity not only of the Irish music he had

collected, but also of the Irish harp. The air was given to Bunting by George Petrie in

1839, sixteen years before the Petrie collection of The Ancient Music of Ireland (1855).

5. Church Litany Music, Lyrics MacDonald Arr MacDonald/MacInnes/Kelly Written by Allan MacDonald in Scottish Gaelic in response to the polarisation of

belief systems between the Achill Mission and the Catholic Church in Achill. It is

not intended to reflect a particular style of hymnology relating to either Catholic or

Protestant churches at the time, but it reflects the importance of regular religious

worship amongst the pilgrims through difficult times and in the face of adversity, who

despite everything, sought to truly worship their God. The first edition of the Achill

Missionary Herald in July 1837 claimed that it was the first Missionary Settlement

that had ever been established among the native Irish using the Irish language. It is

believed that Scottish Gaelic speaking Protestants were brought to the Achill Mission,

due to the difficulty of finding Irish speaking Protestants at that time.

6. Michael Davitt Music MacDonald This tune was written to acknowledge Michael Davitt’s major role in improving

conditions for poor tenant farmers in Ireland and Scotland. He founded the Irish

National Land League in Castlebar in 1879, with the primary aim to abolish

landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on.

This period of agitation was known as the ‘Land War’. Davitt visited Achill and the

Isle of Skye in 1886 and 1887. He encouraged the crofters (small landholders) in

Scotland to take control of their land, resulting in the establishment of a Crofters

Commission in the late 1800’s. The gateway to Achill is named Michael Davitt Bridge.

7. Dol a dh Alba Dul go hAlbain Music MacDonald Written by Allan MacDonald as a positive tune representing the hope and excitement

of Achill people going to work on the potato fields in Scotland. A hope that it would

alleviate hardship, enable debt repayment to the landlords and provide a means to

support their families.

8. The Tattie Hokers Composed Michael O’Donnell Written by Michael O’Donnell from Achill, who worked on the potato fields in

Scotland. The air in this version differs from O’Donnell’s original and came from

Achill singer Fintan O’Malley, who sang it to the air of Lock Hospital from Christy

Moore’s first album. Social activist, politician and writer Peader O’Donnell and Achill

man Michael McHugh referred to in this song, had worked towards achieving better

conditions for Achill and Donegal migrant workers in the aftermath of the Bothy Fire

in Kirkintilloch.

9. Buntàta Móra / Buntàta ’s Sgadain Music MacDonald The Potatoes are Big (Tha’m buntàta mór) is the name of an old early 19thCentury tune in

Gaeltachd na h-Alba, and the second Buntàta’s Sgadain (Potatoes and Herring) represents

the staple diet in the Western Highlands of Scotland where MacDonald grew up.

10. The Old Gaffer of Cabaun Lyrics Toolis A short spoken memoir of Achill man Patrick Toolis, grandfather of Kevin Toolis,

who worked for decades as a gaffer in the potato fields of Scotland. Kevin’s parents in

turn worked in the tattie fields and stayed in Scotland, where he was born.

11. The Achill Widow’s Lament Lyrics Bridie Molloy Music MacDonald Arr MacInnes/Hambly/Lynch MacDonald composed an air for this poem by Bridie Molloy, Achill/Ballinrobe. It

gives a sense of the reality of life for women on Achill during the period of seasonal

migration to Scotland.

12. Keening Composed MacInnes Arr MacInnes/MacDonald/Lynch/McNamara/Gielty A traditional form of vocal lament for the dead. In Ireland and Scotland, it was

customary for women to wail or ‘keen’ at wakes. It comes from the Irish and

Scottish Gaelic term caoineadh (to cry/to weep). This is a vocal lament in memory of

the 32 Achill people who lost their lives in the Clew Bay Disaster 1894, 26 of whom

were women.

13. Suaimhneas Aisling Acla Music Kelly Lyrics J. McNamara Arr Kelly/Gielty/McNamara/MacInnes/McNulty This suantraí, composed by Laoise Kelly, is a lullaby and a blessing for the peaceful

rest of ten young Achill men who lost their lives in the Bothy Fire in Kirkintilloch in

1937. Verse written by John ‘Twin’ McNamara.

Founders of Scoil Acla at Dooagh Hall, Achill, 1913.

Cultural Revival

The early 1900’s brought a new cultural vibrancy, associated with the establishment of the Gaelic League and Conradh na Gaeilge. This was embraced by the Achill community with the establishment of three branches of Conradh na Gaeilge and the establishment of Scoil Acla in 1910. The school was founded by Emily Weddall and Tomás Ó Raghallaigh with the aim of promoting Irish language and culture. Scoil Acla offered classes in the Irish language, dancing, singing and drama. Two of the Irish teachers Proinsias De Paor (An Paorach) and Dónal Ó’Riordáin, also played the Irish warpipes. The school attracted students and artists from all over Ireland and from England and Scotland. The artist Paul Henry arrived in Achill around that time and soon became integrated in the movement. Henry, along with writer/politician Darrell Figgis, produced Douglas Hyde’s play Casadh an tSúgáin in Dooagh Hall, during these first few years of Scoil Acla. While Scoil Acla did not continue after 1915, Achill continued to attract artists from all over the world, including American painter Robert Henri, German Nobel winning writer Heinrich Böll and many more. Scoil Acla was revived in 1985 by John ‘Twin’ and Mary McNamara, Tommy ‘The Boley’ McNamara and Fr. John Cosgrove. The summer school thrives to this day.

14. Éiróimid Feasta Lyrics Douglas Hyde Arr O’Malley/Gielty Douglas Hyde was instrumental in the Irish cultural revival and founded the Gaelic

League in 1893. In this short poem, the harp encapsulates Irish identity and the

culture that Hyde was proud to save, and that would yet again flourish. The horn

introducing this piece referenced in Paul Henry’s book An Irish Portrait as ‘a custom

about the division of seaweed which was very curious’. It heralded a call to community, the

co-operative spirit (meitheal) and the fair division of sea wrack, which was a valuable

manure for potatoes. Horn sound: Emmet Callaghan.

15. Píobairí Acla Music MacDonald Arr MacDonald/O’Malley/Lavelle/Lynch Written by MacDonald as a tribute to the vibrant piping tradition in Achill. The

first pipe band, Keel Pipe Band, marched on St. Patrick’s Day in 1946, followed by

Dooagh in 1947 and Dookinella in 1948. The pipe bands replaced the tradition of

fife and drum bands. There are now five pipe bands in Achill, with the addition of

Pollagh and Tonragee, as well as an Achill competition pipe band. The Scottish pipes,

Great Highland Bagpipes (a’ phíob mhór’), are the most common pipes played in

Achill bands.

16. An Cailín Deas Óg Lyrics Patrick Carr & The Timony Collection Arr McNulty/Kelly/Gielty/McNamara/Lynch This song was collected from Patrick Carr, Pollagh, Achill by Michael Timony

from Laherdane in the late 1800s. It was published in his collection of songs

Amhráin Ghaeilge an Iarthair in 1906. The script music was sourced in a private

collection in Milltown, Galway. The words are attributed to The Timony Collection

and Patrick Carr. It is sung here by 16 year old Róisín McNulty.

17. An Rógaire Dubh /Ag Scabhtáil in Acaill Trad arr / Ag Scabhtáil in Acaill composed MacDonald An Rógaire Dubh was played by the first fife and drum band in Dooagh, Achill in

1882, formed in response to a call from the local clergy to celebrate Saint Patrick’s

Day. This went on to shape the culture and tradition of marching bands that

survives and thrives up to the present day. Allan MacDonald wrote the second

tune, a slip-jig. It means ‘frolickling in Achill’.

18. The Piper’s Cave / The Barren Rocks of Aden Trad Arr Lavelle/Lynch/MacDonald/O’Malley The Piper’s Cave was one of the tunes played by Achill’s first pipe band, the Keel

Pipe Band, on their first outing in 1946. The Barren Rocks of Aden, another Scottish

tune, was also a popular tune in first few years of the Achill pipe bands. In turn,

as emigration continued in the 1950’s the first Irish pipe band in Cleveland, The

Shamrock Pipe Band, was set up by founding members of Keel Pipe Band.

19. Teanga Bhinn ár Máthar Lyrics Séamus Ó Maoildhia Music John ‘Twin’ McNamara Written by Séamus Ó Maoildhia (1881-1928) from Clonboo, Co. Galway, this was

published in the Gaelic League publication ‘An Claidheamh Soluis’ in 1903 and was

part of a collection Dánta agus Amhráin by Séamus Ó Maoildhia (published 1940).

The original name was Amhrán Feis Mhaigheo, but it was found more recently at NUI

Galway by John ‘Twin’ McNamara from Dooagh, Achill, with the title Teanga Bhinn

ár Máthar. McNamara composed the air for this poem and amended the words of the

last verse, with reference to Achill. Kathleen MacInnes had it translated to Scottish

Gaelic and recorded it on her second album Cille Bhríde.

20. Teanga Bhinn ár Máthar / Tha Mi Choma Music McNamara / MacDonald A reprise of Teanga Bhinn ár Máthar followed by Tha Mi Choma, composed by Allan

MacDonald, inspired by the opening phrase of the song ‘Teanga Bhinn ár Máthar’

and continues into a four-part reel.

Music arranged in collaboration with all Sraith Oileán Acla artists, except where noted.

L-R: Allan MacDonald, Kathleen MacInnes, Kevin Toolis, John ‘Twin’ McNamara

Sraith Oileán AclaAchill Island Suite

Thanks:Thanks to all the artists and people of Achill who contributed so much to the programme and performance;

to Brian and Eithne Vallely, Kieran O’Malley, Sheila McHugh, Tommy Johnston, Seán Molloy,

Bridgie Johnson, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, Freda Hatton, Etain O’Connor and Stephen Cooney.

Thanks also to Anthony Lavelle (Wavecrest), Mark Cantwell, Charles Perpoil, Scoil Acla,

Irish Traditional Music Archive, Achill Pipe Band and The Arts Council.

Front L-R: Cian McNamara, Seán Lynch, Róisín McNulty, Diarmuid Gielty,

Siobhán McGinty, Laoise Kelly, Gráinne Hambly, Mary MacMaster, Donald Hay.

Back L-R: Allan MacDonald, Michael Lavelle, Seán O’Malley