A voice that links us back to the best of Irish culture

Writing that Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh stands in quiet defiance against mediocrity, vulgarity and self-regard,  FINTAN O’TOOLE quotes the poet Thomas Kinsella on the experience of listening to a great sean nós singer in Corca Dhuibhne: “The song was Casadh an tSúgáin and the singer Jerry Flaherty . . . Nothing intervened between the song and its expression. The singer managed many difficult things, but the result was to focus attention on the song, not on the performance or on the quality of the voice. It was a special voice, adapted (like a reptile or an insect) to its function. Mere beauty of tone would have distracted, attracting attention for its own sake. And the singer’s act of communication was thoroughly completed by his audience. They sat erect and listened, lifted their glasses and drank, and murmured phrases of appreciation.” (Times) >>>