PATSY
McNAMARA (1946- ) FLUTE PLAYER.
Patsy McNamara
was born in Croghan village, on the 2nd of August, 1946 to Patrick
McNamara and Mary Anne Donoghue. Patsy had one brother Jim, now
living in England. He had two sisters, Maura, who lives in England,
and Jane, who now lives in Dublin. The family moved to Lugnashammer,
on the Carrick Road, where Patsy now lives, when the children
were young. His grandfather, Johnny McNamara, who lived in Croghan
village, was a fiddle player and even made three fiddles in his
lifetime. The first, was made from the timber of a tea chest,
and was reputed to give a fair sound. He subsequently made two
more out of sycamore. Johnny learnt to play and read music from
an old man called Godfrey Moran, who lived between Croghan cross
roads and Rathallen cross roads. Johnny had a band in Croghan
called the 'Black Diamond Band'. He would often return home late
at night with a new tune in his head and would then sit down and
write it out. Once he had it on paper he would spend until daybreak
playing it to roars from the rest of the household to 'Go to bed'.
Johnny McNamara's house was a noted rambling house for music and
cards. One of the sycamore fiddles, made by Johnny, made its way
to Patsy's home, and Maura was sent to Leo Beirne's class in Croghan
to learn to play it. Leo Beirne who was from Loughglynn, and was
an excellent teacher. Patsy was handicapped as a child and hence
was considered too delicate to be allowed to venture much from
the home. However, his interest in music from the early age of
five was awakened, and he taught himself the tin whistle. Although
deprived of lessons, Patsy strived even harder to do better than
his sister. Every Saturday night, he would ramble to his neighbours
house to listen to "Ceili House" on the radio. He would
pick up tunes and keep practising them until he had them off,
often having to wait until they were next played to see if he
had them right. Patsy was about thirteen or fourteen, when he
started playing music seriously. He went to Croghan school, although
not very often, and due to his handicap his non-attendance was
overlooked. On days when he should have been at school he would
visit Pat Saddler, a neighbour and a fiddle player. Pat was a
farmer, and also ploughed for hire, and would be working on machinery
with the young Patsy playing away on his Clarkes black 'c' whistle.
Every now and then, Pat would stop working and whistle a new tune
for Patsy to learn, and so it went on. Pat often recounted stories
for Patsy of the country house dances held in their house during
the 1930's and 1940's. The likes of Tommy Flynn, Phil McConnon
and Peter Horan would travel, in those days a considerable distance,
to play in Pat's home. Patsy himself remembers meeting Peter Horan
in Pat's home, on the occasion of Pats' parents fiftieth wedding
anniversary. The music went on from Saturday until Sunday night.
Patsy didn't travel very far when he was young, but recalls the
carnival in Croghan and the Celli held there on the Wednesday
night. Patsy was allowed to go and would sit on the stage all
night listening to the music. He said it would often take two
weeks for a tune to leave his head. Patsy also used to visit an
old fiddle player, Pat Lambert, who lived in Croghan village.
Originally from near Rathallen, he worked all his life for the
county council, and was as good a fiddle player as Patsy ever
heard. Patsy and Pat would play mainly at session together, and
when Pat died it was a terrible loss to Patsy as he had no-one
in his immediate vicinity to play with.
