*****<\/p>\n
There\u2019s this scene at the end of the Looney Tunes 1949 classic cartoon, \u2018Long-Haired Hare\u2019, featuring Bugs Bunny. Having frustrated the classical singer for the entire episode, and with the opera house building falling down around them both, Bugs nonchalantly takes a banjo off his back and strums the opening chords of the four-note American cabaret classic, \u201cGood evening friends\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was it. That was the moment I turned to my mother and said: \u2018I want to be able to play that\u2019. I have an All-Ireland title in banjo playing now and I\u2019m still playing away, but Bugs Bunny was the boy,\u201d laughs Dermot Mulholland.<\/p>\n
Along with his siblings – Emmet, Fintan and Eimh\u00e9ar – Dermot will take to the stage at the Citywest Hotel this Saturday night to represent his club, St Malachy\u2019s Castledawson, the County of Derry and the province of Ulster at the All-Ireland Senior Sc\u00f3r finals (Instrumental Music section).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not bad for a young lad who was initially told he hadn\u2019t any \u2018rhythm\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, the one in school they said wasn\u2019t good enough to learn the violin is the one that now, I suppose, plays the most music,\u201d says eldest brother, Emmet.<\/p>\n
Four siblings, and four musicians in their own right, the Mulhollands are an eclectic addition to the local music scene. They are also a recent addition within the typical timelines of traditional music, as Dermot explains:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d be the first generation of what you\u2019d call \u2018musicians\u2019 in the family I suppose. There are other families we know locally with fourth and fifth generations now playing music seriously, but we\u2019re new to the whole scene I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newness of their entry into the music scene brings with it a fresh approach to the genre. Traditions are there to be explored, not adhered to rigidly.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/MULHOLLAND-FAMILY-5-MML-20150418-223240590.jpg” imgwidth=”800″ caption=”The Mulholland family from Castledawson who will be representing Derry and Ulster at the All Ireland Senior Sc\u00f3r Finals in Dublin this Saturday. Left to right, Dermot, Eimh\u00e9ar, Emmet and Fintan.” credit=”Margaret McLaughlin” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”on”]\n
Rock bands, concert bands, wind bands, orchestras and Samba bands are just some of the avenues Fintan Mulholland has explored.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will play nearly any genre that comes near me,\u201d he declares. \u201cI played in a Samba band at Glasgowbury recently and it was great craic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve all had a go at mashing some of them up together at some point. Making traditional sound more modern, or making modern rock music sound a bit more Irish. You can even make traditional music sound classical, or rocky, if you want; or jazzy. If you take the time to listen to somebody telling you about what it is they do, you can take parts of it and stick it into your own tunes \u2013 ending up with a complete mash-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mash-up is a wonderful phrase the four all understand as underpinning their outlook on music. The creativity and appreciation they\u2019ve evolved is all a far cry from shared beginnings though.<\/p>\n
A blonde-curly-haired six-year-old Eimh\u00e9ar, legs dangling off the end of the chair, and playing happily on a tin whistle is an early memory for the boys who remember Comhaltas sessions together at McVey\u2019s Country House pub in The Loup and farther afield, as Emmet recalls:<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when we were very young going down to Gort in County Galway \u2013 just for the day \u2013 to go to the instrument master-classes at a festival. I recall a couple of rather famous musicians looking at Eimh\u00e9ar \u2013 this little tiny girl \u2013 coming in with a tin whistle. They had a look on their faces that they were expecting a beginner tune and then she blew them away with this lovely wee jig. They were astounded.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/bodhran.jpg” align=”left” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n
Eimh\u00e9ar had started music the youngest out of the four, the others \u2018coming late to the party\u2019. The South Derry trad scene was awash with influences for the family. The Loup\u2019s Claire Doherty provided direction for Eimh\u00e9ar on the whistle, whilst Fintan was heavily influenced by Seamus O\u2019Kane\u2019s bodhr\u00e1n playing. After a mixed experience with classical music, Emmet took up the fiddle with Bellaghy\u2019s Brendan Henry providing master-classes in the art.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started off playing classical music first through the school and then got to the stage down the line where I couldn\u2019t be bothered with it anymore,\u201d says Emmet. \u201cI was going to give it up altogether before mammy said \u2018why don\u2019t you go down to the Irish music workshop in Newbridge \u2013 the rivals! [laughs]. So I went to it, and Dermot went to the banjo class, and hasn\u2019t looked back since.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, none of the four have. A new-found love for playing music in general meant that Emmet kept playing classical music, joining the NEELB orchestra and obtaining his Grade 8 along the way.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a testimony to the local Irish music and culture scene that the attention of four bright young talents has been harnessed and encouraged. It\u2019s a testament also to their parents, Mary and Jimmy Mulholland, who have been a rock of support down through the years – a driving force, in the literal sense, as Emmet explains:<\/p>\n
\u201cMummy and Daddy played a bit of music when they were younger in the Marching Bands; mummy with the accordion and Daddy in the drum core. Apart from that, they didn\u2019t play that much themselves, but they were a big driving force behind the way we all play music today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Involved in the organisation of Sc\u00f3r competitions in the county for many years, Mary and Jimmy Mulholland have clearly instilled a passion for music in their children. Nothing forced, but with gentle encouragement along the way; the trips away and the master-classes paid for, the driving to competitions and fleadhs, and the provision of instruments to the youngsters have all now paid dividends with exciting times ahead.<\/p>\n
The four haven\u2019t forgotten the support they were shown though. Teaching is a big part of what they now do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all involved with Ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed Luraigh over at An Carn, being part of the committee and teaching,\u201d explains Dermot. \u201cThey [our parents] were a big part in us getting involved in that aspect of things \u2013 passing that knowledge we\u2019d gained onto a new generation. Our parents brought us to so many classes and we\u2019re now trying to give something back to the younger ones through those efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1604824_887213497971720_938162201111196397_n.jpg” align=”right” captionposition=”right” lightbox=”off”]\n
Exciting things are beginning to happen over in Tirkane, and not just from a teaching point of view.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a new venue there where we\u2019re starting to put gigs and things together,\u201d says Dermot. We had a group called Moxie there a few weeks ago. They are fantastic musicians. What they do is play modern poppy, bluesy, jazzy stuff on traditional instruments. There\u2019s a few Irish tunes in there but the way they put them together is so far removed from traditional music.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might have a slide from county cork coming in after dance beats, you know,\u201d interjects Fintan.<\/p>\n
This mash-up, the old and the new, traditional and modern, is clearly where the hearts and minds of the four are at.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all admire Moxie, and they\u2019re all around our age,\u201d says Dermot of their current influences. \u201cIf you\u2019re going up the ladder, you\u2019re talking about L\u00fanasa, who have been doing it for years. They were the first to bring the double bass and the jazz element into it. They were an influence for sure and a band called Gr\u00e1da (Irish and New Zealand mix). It\u2019s just bringing different instruments into Irish music,\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n
Locally, the lads have all been influenced by \u2018Beoga\u2019 and Eamon Murray, their bodhr\u00e1n player extraordinaire, who has personally mentored them. \u201cThey\u2019d have been one of the forerunners of bringing other genres into Irish music around here,\u201d says Emmet.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/RealtaAprilTour.jpg” align=”left” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n
So, what of the future for the four?<\/p>\n
Saturday night in the Citywest is first on the horizon but the weekend won\u2019t stop there. Even a winner\u2019s medal won\u2019t park Dermot Mulholland up for long, as he heads straight back up the road later in the evening to join up with his group, R\u00e9alta:<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the minute, I\u2019m doing a tour with R\u00e9alta, across the North. We\u2019re putting a load of work into that at the minute. The Sc\u00f3r comes bang in the middle of that for me. We\u2019re going back into the studio with Donal O\u2019Connor in Belfast recording our second album. Keep pushing on and struggling on – enjoying it more to the point.<\/p>\n
Likewise, Eimh\u00e9ar will be similarly engaged following the Sc\u00f3r experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Siansa Gael Linn Final is on the following day and it\u2019s something I\u2019ve been involved in before. We all have,\u201d she explains. \u201cI\u2019ve been in it with two different groups over the past three years. Last year, our group, C\u00f3iri\u00fa, got third but we\u2019re back this year with a group called Mearg\u00e1nta. And after that, it\u2019s back to the A-levels,\u201d laughs the St Mary\u2019s Magherafelt final year pupil.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/BxWTaMcIQAAw_n9.jpg” caption=”Sound checking at BBC Blas (via Lynette Fay)” align=”right” captionposition=”right” lightbox=”off”]\n
With Emmet continuing to teach at the Piper\u2019s Club in Armagh, and Fintan putting together several new projects, the four lead incredibly active lives on the local music scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has now got to the stage where we require technology to help keep track of each other,\u201d explains Emmet. \u201cWe might as well have a revolving door on our house as we pass each other going in and out. For Sc\u00f3r it has taken the use of Google Calendar to bring us together. If a practice isn\u2019t put up there, it doesn\u2019t happen. It\u2019s as simple as that and even Mammy and Daddy are on it,\u201d he laughs, before Fintan explains some of their motivation for the weekend ahead:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe initially weren\u2019t going to do Sc\u00f3r this year but Edel and Clodagh Gribbin – who we\u2019ve played together with before in ballad groups – mentioned that they wanted to give it another go \u2013 their uncle Seamus passed away recently \u2013 who always followed it, and followed us, and he had helped the girls through the years. They got in touch with us again this year and asked would we go into it again \u2013 as a last farewell I suppose for Seamus. And we said, sure why not, and look where we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/MULHOLLAND-FAMILY-1-MML-20150418-221655688.jpg” imgwidth=”800″ caption=”Dublin awaits…” credit=”Margaret McLaughlin” align=”left” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n
Come Saturday that will be Citywest, Dublin and the All-Ireland finals. They\u2019ll also be joined by the club\u2019s Quiz team who have also qualified for their national event. It\u2019s been a remarkable ride so far, both collectively and individually, and it shows absolutely no sign of slowing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re nearly past playing fleadh competitions as a group or whatever,\u201d says Emmet, to the agreement of Eimh\u00e9ar.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut together,\u201d says Dermot, \u201cwell, this is more or less all the playing we do together. We do small bits and pieces \u2013 once in a blue moon \u2013 but Sc\u00f3r is the one thing which motivates us to pick a few tunes, work together on them, and to play as the Mulholland family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dublin, be prepared, you are in for an absolute treat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Four of the brightest and best young musicians in the Oak Leaf County travel to Dublin this weekend to take part in the All-Ireland Finals of Sc\u00f3r Sinsir. Before doing so, they took time out to speak to DerryGAA.ie about their musical journey to date.\u00a0Ladies and Gentlemen, let us introduce ‘The Mulhollands’… ***** There\u2019s this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n