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Send us your review:
Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Musician: Tony Corcoran
Location: Newcastle, Tyne & Wear
Instruments: fiddle
Music: Irish folk
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HOW I CAME TO THIS MUSIC听听听听听听听听听听WHERE I PLAY听听听听听听听听听听A FAVOURITE SONG |
  
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 听听Listen (2'56) to Carrick Fergus, a slow air performed by Tony Corcoran on fiddle.
听听Listen (2'15) to a set of jigs & reels performed by The Tony Corcoran Band at the Ceili in the Irish Centre, Newcastle.
听听Listen (1'27) to Tony Corcoran talk about his music.
'Every Sunday night our home was transformed into a 'ceili house'. My mother played the piano and a fellow would arrive with a melodeon to accompany our singing'
How I came to this music:
I was born into an Irish family in Maudsley, near Preston in Lancashire. My grandfather emigrated back in the late 1800's from the village of Glen Hast, County Mayo in the West of Ireland. Lots of Irish people came over then to work in the Lancashire Woolen Mills, particularly after the famine of 1879 which affected the West coast fairly harshly.
 Every Sunday night our home was transformed into a 'ceili house'. My mother played the piano and a fellow would arrive with a melodeon to accompany our singing. The repertoire ranged from Thomas Moore songs to the 'come-all-yes' including a few rebels numbers. Kevin Barry and Sean South were firm favourites.
There were also lots of fiddles hanging in the house, left behind by my Grandfather and my uncle Dominic who emigrated to America. They'd all played in the North West Mayo tradition as pioneered by Eamonn Walsh. So naturally I took up the fiddle when I was 8 years old. My mother actually wanted me to learn the piano but I started classical violin lessons with a Miss Dorothy Thornton in Stockport. She lived at 'The Loft House' in a very posh part of town. I'd have to get the bus at 7.30am for an 8.30 lesson but there was no bus back to my village until 1.30 in the afternoon, so I'd go over to wait at my Granny Corcoran's in the heart of the poor working class area, a real contrast to Miss Thornton's. Granny played the melodeon and mandolin so she'd mischeviously prod me about what I'd learned at my 'violin lessons' and then she'd entice me to play a few tunes like Resin the Bow or The Geese in the Bog to ensure I was learning the real tradition!
Back in 1950's Lancashire, it was possible to pick up a clear reception for Radio Eireann, the Irish national radio station so their traditional Irish music programmes were an equally rich source of musical inspiration.
Another important influence came through regular visits to the home of our friend, Mary Cleary. She ran a boarding house in Seymour Street in Liverpool. It was a big four-storey building with a huge basement kitchen and dining room full of Irish dockers and drivers passing through the port. Come the weekend, it was a great meeting place for Irish folk so there'd be music and dancing the whole night through.
I didn't play at all through my university years at Newcastle. Then at 28, I took up my bow again after being involved in the Anti-internment Committee through the renowned 'Bridge Hotel' in the city. It was one of the earliest folk clubs and hosted everything from balladeers like Luke Kelly and Christy Moore to cultural and political happenings. It's still going strong today.
Eventually music took over more from my politics. Through friendships forged with the flute player, John Doonan and the songwriter, Alex Glasgow, my mate Peter Kelly and I were inspired to start playing at Irish Feiseanna (set dancing festivals) in the mid-70's. I haven't stopped since. Around that time, I also started the Newcastle branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, the network for Irish traditional musicians and events.
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