Inspiration and sparks of encouragement can often be ignited by chance encounters with older tradition bearers who transport a younger player to explore what is musically possible on a deeper level. In the vibrant Irish music scene in London for several decades from the 1960s onwards, Danny Meehan was one of the older players who provided the spark for the next generation such as the fiddle players John Carty, Lamond Gillespie and many more.

In Danny’s own case, the wheel of transmission was greatly enhanced on a winter evening in 1952, when at 12 years old he heard the strains of the reel ‘The heather breeze’ resonating from the home of Master McHugh in the village of Mountcharles in south-west Donegal. Encouraged to enter inside by his uncle, Danny first witnessed travelling tinsmith and fiddle player John Doherty in full flow.

Invited to play, Danny chose a two-part version of the reel ‘Lord Gordon’ before John offered the sound advice to ‘stick with the music, the fiddle is no burden to carry’. At 16 years old Danny took the emigrant boat to England and ‘carried’ his fiddle for over fifty years in London where he thrived among other emigrant musicians such as Bobby Casey, Jimmy Power and his band mates in the group Le Chéile, among others. Nevertheless, Danny often returned to the well in Donegal on visits home and sought out older players, not least John Doherty.

This is the first playlist that will draw on the Caoimhín MacAoidh collection, donated to ITMA in 2024, exploring material that Caoimhín recorded from John Doherty in January 1977. The Danny Meehan material is derived both from Caoimhín’s collection and from the Dermot McLaughlin collection.

This project is possible thanks to funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.