Long recognised as one of our finest musicians, Jackie Daly was last night named Traditional Musician of the Year, writes Siobhan Long
'I've never had so much fun without laughing," Jackie Daly says, echoing the words of the infamous Kerryman returning from his honeymoon. Sliabh Luachra's finest accordion player was last night named the 2005 TG4 Gradam Ceoil Traditional Musician of the Year. Born in Kanturk, Co Cork, and now living in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, Jackie Daly is a musician's musician. A player in thrall to the tunes, but not to the spotlight; entranced by the driving rhythms and swinging melodies of the polkas and slides of the Rushy Glen, and a veteran of some of the finest ensembles heard in traditional music. He has added to the wealth of musicianship in De Danann, Arcady, Buttons and Bows and Patrick Street, and is currently enjoying yet another successful tour with Patrick Street in the UK.
"I'm absolutely delighted," he offers, sheepishly, "because this is something I never expected to happen. The music of Sliabh Luachra got me going, and I learned an awful lot from a great fiddle player called Jim O'Keeffe from Ballydesmond." Mick Williams and the Duhallow Trio, Johnny O'Leary and Joe Burke each exerted significant influences on the young Daly's evolving playing style.
"I always loved what was called the 'depress and draw' style of playing from Sliabh Luachra," Daly explains. "Comhaltas weren't into it; they were more interested in what was called the 'B & C' style, so I was pulled in two directions, and I couldn't enter competitions with my own style. I had to learn the 'B & C' style. I won the all-Ireland in 1974, and straight after that, I packed it up and went back to my own style of playing. It's one that suits slides and polkas a lot better, because it makes the music bouncier."
Daly is sanguine about the role of competition in the world of traditional music. "As a musician, it gives you a great incentive to perfect your playing," he suggests, "but kids can get pushed far too much for competition too. Some players pack it up as soon as they leave school. The biggest factor in playing is the love for it; you can't really teach it until someone comes to love it."
Daly has enjoyed a long-time association with fiddle players Seamus Creagh and Kevin Burke. The acoustic affinity between the accordion and fiddle has always kept him in thrall, he admits.
"Sliabh Luachra's style is based on the fiddle, and I love the sound of the fiddle. It's the most important instrument in Sliabh Luachra music." He has never tired of the road, although he commits to it with a certain note of caution these days.
"I used to travel for a lot longer periods when I was younger, but I still like to have a trip now and again," Daly says. "As the tailor says in The Tailor And Ansty, 'The man who knows his own back garden knows more than the man who travels the world.' You don't have to travel all over to get knowledge." Patrick Street, formed in 1986, is still a thriving ensemble. Daly is unsurprised by the band's longevity.
"It's the love of the music we all play. Apart from playing on stage at all, we love to have a tune together anyway. It's not like a band. It's like a travelling session, in a way." With an increasing number of young traditional players adopting regional styles, Daly is optimistic about the future of the music he's loved all his life.
"A regional style offers a player a different way of saying things," he suggests. "There are different inflections in the playing, and a player might feel a greater affinity with the music of the region you were brought up in. Of course that doesn't stop you playing in other styles too. As the old saying goes: 'If a dog was born in a cupboard, you wouldn't call him a set of ware.' So if you come from a certain place, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to have a certain identity. You can be who you like." THIS YEAR'S YOUNG Traditional Musician Of The Year is Dublin piper Seán McKeon. At just 19 years of age, McKeon has been attracting the attention of veteran and novice as a result of his passionate and pristine playing style.
"I'm overawed by the news, to be honest," he offers, with the reluctance of a musician unaccustomed to the spotlight. "It's a huge honour to get an accolade like this, because you never think of yourself in that kind of way. But to have older musicians appreciating the younger musicians coming through is very important, because after all, the tradition is all about passing on the music."
McKeon is certainly not a player weighed down by the long history of the tradition. Balancing a musical inheritance with a healthy appetite for innovation is crucial to his musical sanity.
"I always keep an ear open to the music that's gone before, but in another way, you have to find your own inspiration, and put a lot of yourself into your music. It's impossible not to be influenced by your own contemporaries. It's just part of life."
The TG4 Gradam Ceoil concert is on in Cork Opera House on Nov 12, and will be shown on TG4 at 9.30pm on Nov 20