Hammered Dulcimer EXR
Adventures with 'other' instruments...
When I was hitchhiking in Ireland in the late sixties, I was picked up by this guy and taken to a fleadh cheoil in New Ross. When I got into the car he asked, "Are you goin' to the fleadh?"
I said, "What's a fleadh?" He explained and I said,"Yes, I'm goin' to the fleadh."
He asked me if I knew what a dulcimer was. I said that yes, I had recordings of Jean Ritchie and Richard Farina. It soon became clear that we were talking about two entirely different dulcimers. He pulled the car over and took out his dulcimer and played me a few tunes.
He asked me if I knew what a dulcimer was. I said that yes, I had recordings of Jean Ritchie and Richard Farina. It soon became clear that we were talking about two entirely different dulcimers. He pulled the car over and took out his dulcimer and played me a few tunes.
Andy Dowling, (pronounced Doolin) was one of the more memorable characters that I met on my trip. We spent the whole day together. I took this photo in a parking lot in New Ross of Andy playing his hammered dulcimer. I had never seen, nor even heard of a hammered dulcimer before this.
That's the case of the dulcimer by the trunk (or boot as Andy would say) of his car.
A bit of Googling reveals that Christy Burns said, in her excellent thesis, of Andy:
"Andy Dowling lived in Clonmeen, Errill, County Laois until 1991 when he died at the age of 92. Many knew him for his dulcimer playing, as he was always active in the local traditional music events and organizations.
Before receiving his first dulcimer, which was purchased in Dublin by his brother, Andy was a fiddler. He admits to giving up the fiddle in favour of playing the dulcimer.
In an interview with David Kettlewell in 1976, Andy said, “You want to be playing an instrument all the time, that's the way it is with music... it becomes part of your life; 'twas never like that with the fiddle...”
Much like John Rea in Co. Antrim, Andy Dowling was pleased to appear frequently in public with his dulcimer. He would play at parties, fleadhs, and also played on both RTÉ and BBC radio. The movie, “Lock Up Your Daughters,” was filmed in Kilkenny and featured Andy with his dulcimer. By the time Andy passed away in 1991, his dulcimer playing had developed such a reputation that it seemed perfectly appropriate to have dulcimer music at his funeral."
The fleadh cheoil in New Ross was a trad music festival that took over the whole town. There were fiddles, flutes, concertinas, accordions and bodhrans in every pub, church, school house and street corner. I didn't see one guitar.
This ranks right up there as one of the best days of my life. Andy told me so many stories and played me so many songs. I went to see "Lock Up Your Daughters" three times. It wasn't a fabulous movie, but I loved seeing the townsfolk dancing in a circle around Andy and his dulcimer in the closing scene.
A couple of decades later I married a hammered dulcimer player.
Maggie and me at the Gore's Landing Community Hall
Maggie and me at the Gore's Landing Community Hall
I got no complaints from the purchaser which I took to mean he is a better musician than me.
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