The reminiscenses will no longer be of the time when there was no electricity, of the time when there was no other entertainment than the music itself. That is what will soon pass. That is the world that shaped our current understanding of the tradition. Yes, there will be continuity of a sort, but it won’t be from the last generations of the old lifestyle. It will be from a new lifestyle, and a new perspective. Naturally, the music will change profoundly from this, but for the recordings of the last few who lived in those days.
Tough life indeed, we had to play all sets of tunes three times so they could get different camera angles. I wasn’t so bad off though, Brid O Donohue and Claire Keville were sitting almost in the fireplace and positively looked like they would catch fire from the sheer heat coming form it at some point.
I don’t know David, these things have a long life, I have received first hand stories from Martin Rochford about Johnny Allen, who gave tunes to Capt. O Neill in Feakle in 1911. I have these stories and am able to pass them on again. Kitty Hayes tells me stories about Gilbert Clancy playing with her father, Junior Crehan in his young days knew people who had things to tell about the night of the Big Wind and stories like that tend to linger.
Peter, I hope you are recording these good stories somehow/somewhere. These are the only pieces of the puzzle that will be left to open a window on that world. I don’t mean to sound overly negative, but these reminiscences will become second-hand, then third-hand, etc. The stories will change with the telling unless they are written down, not just the stories themselves, but especially the impressions of the people who lived them. I know you record things in a way already with your camera, so I think you might understand what I mean.
