SMITHFIELD is clearly a happening place. Photographer/ musician Christy McNamara and writer Peter Woods chose to celebrate the publication of their book, The Living Note, at the Cobblestone Bar in North King Street, in a room thronged with traditional musicians aged from seven to over 70 - a great mix of generations.
Appropriately, music historian and producer Philip King did the honours, praising the cadence of Woods's writing before lashing into a soulful Appalachian lament. The book tells the story of Irish music from the 1920s to today, following the lives of three generations from Clare to building sites in London, New York and beyond, incorporating stories of family tradition, emigration, work, displacement, community.
The family is fictional, the photographs are of real sessions in Clare and in London. The pair has already sold the book to a US publisher as well as to the O'Brien Press.
Christy McNamara's band, Durra, took over the proceedings with Eamonn Cotter (flute), Claire Keville (concertina) Liam Lewis (fiddle), Paul Stafford (guitars and vocals) and Christy on button accordion. Raidio na Gaeltachta's Seosaimhin Ni Bheaglaoich was called upon to sing a tune, Paul Kelly from the Fleadh Cowboys - was there as was the singer Nelly Weldon, the piper Neillidh Mulligan, broadcaster Liam MacAniomaire and Nicholas Carolan of the Traditional Music Archive. Two new beers were introduced to the Cobblestone on the night - Beckett's Dublin Beer and D'Arcy's Stout - ensuring that the music flowed on and on.