KEVIN
MEEHAN (1923- ) WHISTLE, FIFE & SAXOPHONE PLAYER.
Kevin Meehan was
born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, on the 3lst of July, 1923 to Christy
Meehan and Sarah Morris. They returned to Ireland to live in the
Meehan family home in Rathtarmon, Lisserlough, Killaraght, Boyle,
when Kevin was six months old. Kevin's mother was one of the Morris'
from Abbeytown, Boyle. Her father, John played the Fife, and Sarah
herself played the fiddle, and her younger brother, Simon, played
the accordion. Sarah learnt to read music and play from Mrs. McGee
in Boyle. Sarah could play both classical and traditional music.
She was an accomplished musician and used to play in cinemas in
America for the silent movies. The orchestras would sit in a pit
below the cinema screen and play from a score. She also broadcast
on American radio, in Cleveland, on St. Patrick's Day, 1923. Kevin
remembers his mother could learn tunes easily and could transcribe
a tune after hearing it once. She would then learn the tune from
the written notes. On her return to Ireland, Sarah used to play
with Willy Beirne, from Boyle, who also played reading from a
score, and Mick Kelly, a flute player, living in Kingsland. Kevin's
father, Christy, could also play a few tunes, notably jigs. It
was in this musical atmosphere that Kevin and his two sisters,
Una and Maureen, were raised. Sarah Meehan taught the children
to read music, and Kevin started to play the tin whistle, and
then the band fife. The band fifes were in a different key to
concert pitch and therefore the fingering key was different in
order to achieve concert pitch. There was a fife band in the area
that played, mostly marches. The band was taught by an old man
called Silver, who could teach the particular fingering for the
band fife. Musicians in the area that Kevin recalls from his youth
include Jimmy Gallery, a flute player, his uncle Simon Morris,
accordion, and Harry Connery, a fiddle player. Kevin went to nearby
Killaraght, to school, but only one of his school pals, Oliver
Knott played music, he played the fiddle. By the time Kevin reached
his teens he was travelling further afield, meeting musicians
from nearby Kingsland, Mick Kelly, Jimmy Harlow, Michael Lenihan,
and Eugene Duffy, and in Ballinameen, Paddy Kenny and Jack Flanagan.
The styles between these relatively local areas varied a lot in
those days, as influences did not travel. Kevin believes the identity
of music doesn't hold as well now as then. There was always great
excitement if a travelling musician was in the neighbourhood,
a chance to hear new music and perhaps a new instrument. Kevin
recalls in 1940, a painter called George Walsh, from Ahascragh,
Co. Galway, residing for a while in the area. He was a gifted
accordion player, a novelty in the land of flutes and fiddles.
Kevin cycled with George to Ballygar, to buy an accordion. It
was a two row Hohner and George paid five pounds for it - money
well spent for the enjoyment he brought to the area. The accordion
was only just gaining acceptance as a traditional instrument,
partly due to its popularity at county house dances, where, with
its three or four reeds it was regarded as good as three or four
musicians playing. Instruments, especially good ones, were hard
to come by, particularly during the war years, and due to the
'newness' of the accordion, the difference between 'b and c' and
'c/c# and d' boxes were not recognised, often leading to the procurement
of the wrong instrument. Most music was played in country house
dances and Kevin remembers the fiddle playing of Edgy Lavin, an
uncle of his wife, Maura. Edgy had an unique style, very slow
and definite, with great rhythm. He was also a great dancer, with
his own steps. The gramophone was also popular at the country
house dances, and there would be great excitement when a new record
arrived from America. It was a great privilege to be allowed to
wind up the gramophone, often a privilege reserved for the future
son in-law of the county dance host
The house dances started to fade out in the early 1940' s, when
the law and the clergy went against them. A law was brought in
which demanded so many square feet per person at such gatherings.
Kevin recalls one local man, John Shannon, holding a dance, when
the guards arrived, and John Shannon was subsequently taken to
court. That sounded the death knell for the country house dance,
and in many ways for the playing and dancing of ceili music. After
the demise of the county house dances, halls took over. There
would be a hall at nearly every cross-roads. Kevin recalls Killaraght,
Breedogue, Clogher, Ballinameen and Cloonloo, as ones he frequented.
The music played in these halls was no longer traditional. This
was the start of the Jazz and Dance hall music.
Bands were very much in demand for the new dance halls, and Kevin's
family formed one such band known as the Vienna Band
or the Meehan Band. The band consisted of Sarah
Meehan (fiddle), Una Meehan (fiddle) Maureen Meehan (piano accordion),
Simon Morris (accordion), Kevin Meehan (accordion or drums) and
Eugene Queenan (drums). They would travel around the local halls
driven by Tommy Egan, in a bread van. Tommy would often bring
a case or two of bottles of stout for sale, in the cloakroom,
but as his heart was big and he never made a profit. The band
lasted until the mid 1940's, when Kevin's sisters moved away.
Kevin then joined Jack Flanagan's band for a while, playing the
saxophone. He then lived for a short while in Drumshambo, and
played with Kevin Woods band there, before returning to Boyle,
where he joined the Crystal band. Kevin was much in demand for
his saxophone playing at that time. By the mid-fifties the dance
hall era was drawing to a close, with only perhaps the annual
show dance in Boyle. Rock and Roll took over in the mid-fifties,
the first music, in Kevin's opinion, to split generations. Kevin
married around this time, to Maura Spellman, from the Plains of
Boyle. They had three daughters, Mary, Attracta and Matilda and
one son, Pat. Music took a backseat in the children's early years,
as the hand that rocked the cradle for a few hours wouldn't, awaken
the sleeping infant with a blast from a saxophone. Kevin made
his living mixing farming with lorry driving for Stewards of Boyle,
and the odd bit of music.
According to Kevin the survival of traditional music was severely
tested during the 1940's and the 1950's. He recalls a Ceili which
was held in Boyle in 1943 or 1944 to celebrate Roscommon winning
the All Ireland football title, the team were in attendance and
a big crowd was expected, however, the attendance was very small
attributed to the music not being 'modem'. Kevin believes only
for the MacDonaghs of Ballinafad, the Rids, and the Cryans, of
Ciogher, who kept the music going, it could easily have died during
that era. The I960' s saw a great revival in traditional music.
Kevin attributes this to the formation of the C.C.E. and the start
of the Fleadhs. He also believes the introduction of tape recorders
helped in the resurrection of the music. At the first All Ireland
Fleadh, in Boyle, in 1960, there was only dc current in Boyle
supplied from Stewards, and tape recorders much, to the disappointment
of many, could not be used. By the time of the second All-Ireland,
in Boyle, in 1966, AC current had arrived and recorders were in
full use. The pub scene for traditional music during the 1960's
was also very good. For the first time musicians were being paid
for their craft and pubs were competing for the best talent to
draw crowds. Playing traditional music was once again respected,
and elevated to a new high, out of the doldrums of the previous
decades. This opened the door for the new breed of full time professional,
traditional, musicians who exist today.
There have been very few younger players in Kevin's area over
the last twenty years. Although his own son Pat plays the flute.
He started playing at eighteen or nineteen and is now an accomplished
player.
Kevin himself, is still enjoying music and finds it very relaxing
to listen to a session of ideally, in Kevin's view, four good
players. He is also in demand for playing both traditional, and
Dixieland jazz. Kevin describes the two as first cousins of each
other. Kevin plays a 'C' melody saxophone, which is closest to
proper concert pitch. The fingering on the sax is the same as
on a Boehm system flute and indeed many flute players in the area
were also great sax players. This is a tradition peculiar to North
Connaught. Exponents of the flute and saxophone included, Josie
McDermott, Mick Woods, Johnny German, from Tubbercurry, a relation
of Michael Gorman and John P. Carty.
Kevins musical influences are wide ranging, ftom the classical
teaching of his mother, through to the purely traditional musicians
he encountered locally, such as Kelly and Harlow, Peter Moran,
and Fred Finn, and Peter Gallagher, a flute player from Rock o
Doon, who Kevin admired greatly, and is a man seldom heard of.
Kevin believes the future of the music is assured and that other
fads and fashions come and go on a twenty year cycle, but traditional
music is the only one to have stood the test of time.
