The Music Makers of West Clare - Visitor Attraction -
Link: Open Daily 10am to 6pm €5
While visiting the West of Ireland , why not take the opportunity to immerse yourself in this story of traditional music, song and dance.
At our new visitor centre you can read first-hand accounts about our renowned musicians. Enjoy a 8-minute film telling the story behind the music and learn about the origin of the instruments and the people who played them.
View The Session, a specially commissioned 14-minute film featuring some of our most talented local musicians, playing the music most loved by the great musical masters of County Clare.
The Music Makers - Visitor Attraction - Miltown Malbay
Link:
While visiting the West of Ireland , why not take the opportunity to immerse yourself in this story of traditional music, song and dance.
At our new visitor centre you can read first-hand accounts about our renowned musicians. Enjoy a 8-minute film telling the story behind the music and learn about the origin of the instruments and the people who played them.
View The Session, a specially commissioned 14-minute film featuring some of our most talented local musicians, playing the music most loved by the great musical masters of County Clare.
Irish Music in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, Ireland July 11, 2013
Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, Ireland July 11, 2013 During the Willie Clancy Summer School for Irish music.
Milltown Malbay Town, Co. Clare, Ireland
Drive through video of Milltown Malbay, County Clare, Republic of Ireland,
The Willie Clancy Festival 2010 (Lynchs Pub)(Freils) (Miltown Malbay Co .Clare)
Held annually since 1973 in memory of the piper Willie Clancy, the Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy is Ireland's largest traditional music summer school. During the week, students from every part of the world attend daily classes taught by experts in Irish music and dance. In addition, a full program of lectures, recitals, dances (céilithe) and exhibitions are run by the summer school.
West Clare Set
Dancing with the Kilfenora Ceili Band :)
A Street Session in Miltown Malbay
This took place outside our pop-up shop in Co. Clare during the Willie Clancy Week. Check out the legendary James Keane on accordion and Antóin Mac Gabhann on fiddle. Read more here:
The Central Miltown Malbay Ireland
The Central Miltown Malbay Ireland ,Willie Clancy Week 2010
West Clare. Ireland
Spanish Point ,Miltown-Malbay
May 2013
Miltown Malbay Traditional Summer Festival
Co Clare, Ireland 2011
Session in Miltown Malbay
The Malbay
Moroneys Bar, Ennis, County Clare, Ireland
Bridie Cleary's Miltown Malbay Feb 1 2018
Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, February 1 2018
Hillery's Bar Miltown Malbay
Summer Seisiún 2015
DRIVING IN IRELAND: MILLTOWN MALBAY (SPANISH POINT)
Milltown Malbay (Irish: Sráid na Cathrach, meaning street of the stone ringfort) is a town in the west of County Clare, Ireland, near Spanish Point. The town had a population of 575 according to the 2011 Census. Including the rural area around the town it counts 1,580 inhabitants.
County Clare,(The Banner County), Ireland.
North County Clare, The Burren etc.
How did County Clare get its name?
It is often said that County Clare is named after the de Clares. However this is not the origin, rather, the name comes from the Irish word 'Clár', meaning a board or plank. A board was placed across the river Fergus outside Ennis, at a place which was to become known as Clare, (now Clarecastle town). This Clare was a place of some importance as early as the 12th Century - thus predating the arrival of the de Clare family to County Clare.
Why is County Clare often called 'The Banner County'?
The custom of carrying banners goes back a long way in County Clare. There is little doubt but that the Dal gCais carried banners at the battle of Clontarf in 1014 or that the Clare Dragoons carried banners at Fontenoy in 1745 and in the many battles fought by the Clare Regiments on the continent during the eighteenth century. However, the name 'the banner county' would appear to be of far more recent origin. In the last century as population of the county became more politicized the custom of carrying banners to political meetings became widespread. Thus many banners welcomed Daniel O'Connell at the Clare election of 1828 and the freeholders of the county marched behind banners to the Ennis courthouse to cast their votes for O'Connell on that occasion.
In Ennis most trade guilds had their own banners: bakers, butchers, brogue makers, coopers, nailers, dyers, masons, harness makers, cartwrights, stone cutters etc. all competed to produce the most handsome of banners. At the inaugeration of the O'Connell monument in Ennis in 1865 thirteen different guilds carried banners, each representing the attributes of their particular trade. That this represented a long tradition in the town is not in doubt since, on that occasion, the brogue makers' guild carried a flag that had first been unfurled in 1726.
My own great grandfather, Brian Daly, was the custodian of the Ennis coopers' banner and parts of the banner are still retained by the family. The coopers' banner was not of the two pole variety that one usually sees today but was carried on a long single pole, topped by a small barrel; the banner itself hung down like a picture from a horizontal staff stretched across the top of the pole. I can recall as a child seeing the banner which was then much injured by time; it was a rusted red colour and carried the inscription 'Hearts of Oak'. This banner along with many others were carried along the streets to greet the various dignitaries that visited the town in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Politicians like Parnell and de Valera were greeted by hosts of banners. It is easy to see then in the political excitement of the times how the county acquired the name 'the banner county'. The reason the name stuck with Clare, I would suggest, was that custom of greeting politicians with banners, particularly at election time, survived longer in Clare than in other counties. The Parnellite and de Valera eras coincided with the rise of the GAA and the name soon transferred to the county's hurling and football teams.
Miltown Malbay 2019
A short clip from the Willy Clancy festival in Miltown Malbay Sunday 14/12/2019. Great festival well worth a visit.
The Miltown Cockroach
The Miltown Cockroach
Singer: Con Ó Drisceoil
Album: The Square Triangle by the Four Star Trio (track 9)
Lyrics:
Oh, the West County Clare is a beautiful place
Its people a charming and musical race
'Tis pleasant to view it by car or by coach
But a blot on the landscape is the Miltown Cockroach
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
The Miltown Cockroach is a martyr for beer
His eye it is evil, his aspect severe
He barks like a bulldog and kicks like a mule
And he drinks and he fights and he plays game of pool
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
In Sweet Miltown Malbay one night in July
I retired to my bed as the sunrise was nigh
Established in comfort with grunts and with yawns
I shortly was dreaming of tunes and rabhcáns
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
But I woke with a start after two hours or so
To a loud crunching noise coming from my big toe
This insect most foul then came into my view
On the sole of my foot he proceeded to chew
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
So I jumped from the bed with a terrible screech
Saying Mister Cockroach, of the law you're in breach
On a citizen's blood you may not slake your thirst
Without gaining the donor's approval at first
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
Of the legal position, says he I have doubt
For this blood is at least fifty eight percent stout
So stop quoting law, and lie down again quick
Till myself and my buddies conclude our picnic
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
I tried to sweet-talk him with eloquent chat
Saying, a gourmet like you should know better than that
Look at my carcass, 'tis scrawny and tough
While of plump tender youths there are surely enough
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
Says the cockroach, You speak like a poet and a sage
But truly you don't taste too bad for your age
My friends have decided that here we will dine
While the meat isn't great sure the pickle is fine!
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
So I tackled those insects with brain and with brawn
We struggled and tore at each other till dawn
I fought them with bites and with blows and with kicks
I tried burning and drowning and all sorts of tricks
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
But that offspring of Satan came at me in gangs
Snarling and showing me their venomous fangs
They crawled from the ditches and out of the sewers
Ten thousand or more of them six-legged hoors
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
They covered the ground like a black shiny sheet
Till I knew it was time for to sound the retreat
I turned and ran, full of loathing and dread
And from Sweet Miltown Malbay that morning I fled
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
Oh, the Black Widow spider is not a nice toy
And the African Cobra is one ugly boy
But both of them surely are cuddly and fair
Compared to the man-eating cockroach from Clare
Rally ra fol the doh, rally ra fol the dee
© 1997 the Four Star Trio
Session in Cleary's pub, Miltown Malbay
Session during the Willie Clancy summer school 2009.
Session in Cleary's pub, Miltown Malbay
Session during the Willie Clancy summer school 2009.