Madam, - I read with interest Anthony Garvey's Irishman's Diary of December 28th concerning Percy French and his low profile in modern Ireland.
I remember well listening to Percy French's songs during my childhood. There were several LPs at home of Brendan O'Dowda, so frequently played that I knew all the words of the songs intimately. My father loved the music and, being also a Roscommon man, he was extremely proud of Percy French's achievement. Among his prize possessions were two of French's Swiss watercolours.
My father could certainly recognise a good song when he heard one and Percy French's songs were so memorable; my own was Gortnamona, with those sweet haunting lyrics added to the excellent music by Philip Green. In recent years, those songs have become very unfashionable, being regarded by some as the essence of Paddywhackery. Perhaps they were sentimental and nostalgic, but I think they were none the worse for that as a reminiscence of an Ireland that has all but disappeared.
Was French, like Thomas Moore, a true-hearted Irishman? Surely he was as Irish as the rest of us and indeed proud of it. It is really extraordinary in this golden age that we as a nation still find it hard to embrace figures such as French and celebrate them as they should be celebrated, for we have yet to waken up to much of our cultural history.
If we had an archive of Irish composers in this country which actively preserved such music it could also provide a focus for Percy French's songs, and indeed that of countless others, by promoting them in the modern world. Surely too, there is a spin-off for the tourist industry in celebrating our famous music figures of the past, many of which remain surprisingly unknown.
The Cavan County Museum must be congratulated for taking an interest in Percy French, but, as Mr Garvey said it is in dire need of money to really do him justice and provide a more fitting memorial. - Yours, etc,
Dr UNA HUNT, Marlborough Road, Dublin 4.