Press Clips

Highland Villager – May 10, 2006

On the Town

by Bill Stieger

Once the visitor had sobered up a bit, O’Brien’s father, a hardscrabble farmer in County Offaly who also worked in a nearby factory, asked the man to go get his accordion. “He had left it outside with his bicycle,” O’Brien said. “The man came back in with his accordion—I remember it was a two-row Hohner—and when he began to play, I was amazed by the sound of it.”

O’Brien, who moved to the Twin Cities in 1983 and now lives in Highland Park with his wife, novelist Erin Hart, is a torchbearer for Irish traditional music. He was part of the Irish music scene that burgeoned in the Twin Cities in the early 1980s and continues to thrive to this day.

Three years ago, O’Brien formed The Doon Céilí Band. “I was wanting to see if Americans could play authentic céilí music,” he said. “And they can. The guys in The Doon can play as well as the traditional players back in Ireland.”

The septet consists of O’Brien on accordion, Kate Dowling, Laura MacKenzie and Brian Miller on flutes; Jode Dowling and Django Amerson on fiddle; and Sean Egan on piano. On Sunday, May 14, they will mark the release of their new CD, “Around the World for Sport,” with a céilí from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Lowry Theater, 5th and Wabasha Streets.

According to Irish tradition, a céilí (pronounced “KAY-lee”) is a social gathering with music, dance, and storytelling. Its style of music and dance dates back to the 12th century and is believed to have been introduced to Ireland by the Normans. The present-day form of the céilí was codified in the early 20th century by Ireland’s Gaelic League for dance competitions. Like an American square dance, it features a caller who announces the steps, including jigs, reels, slides and waltzes.

“Americans who play Irish music play in a looser style and are less concerned with the music’s traditions,” Miller said. “But Paddy knows so much about Irish music and its history. He puts the focus on getting the music right. Paddy has taught us a lot about being precise with the notes we play in the various versions of a jig or reel.”

O’Brien, who taught himself how to play the accordion, was first captivated by traditional Irish music while listening to a radio show broadcast from Dublin. “The radio announcer would travel all over Ireland with a mobile recording unit,” O’Brien said. “He’d find musicians and then play the recordings on the shows. Sometimes, he’d bring the bands to Dublin and have them play live on his show. That’s how I was introduced to the traditional music.”

The Doon Céilí Band doesn’t play enough gigs for flutist Jode Dowling, who along with his wife and bandmate Kate, teachers at St. Paul’s Center for Irish Music. “We all have different groups we play with,” Jode said. “And Paddy’s trio, Chulrua, tours quite a lot. But the band members get together to rehearse quite often, not only to get the music right, but because we enjoy playing together so much.”

O’Brien has an international reputation among accordionists who play Irish music. He won the All-Ireland Senior Accordion Championship in 1975 and has been named Oireachtas Champion four times. Nevertheless, he said, his instrument has its limitations.

“Céilí music originated with flutes and fiddles and pipes,” he said. “Those are the instruments the music is shaped around. I’d say 99 percent of it. So I’m always trying to adapt the accordion to the earlier instruments. And I find that playing in a larger group like the Doon allows me to work at finding ways to make the accordion take on the voice of the music.”

O’Brien, who played and recorded with Ireland’s well-known Castle Céilí Band, first came to the U.S. in 1978 with fiddlers James Kelly and Dáithí Sproule. The trio used to play at MacCafferty’s, the former Grand Avenue pub and unofficial Irish-American cultural center.

“James Kelly had a girlfriend who lived in St. Paul,” O’Brien said. “That’s how we ended up playing here. We made some appearances on the early ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ as well.”

The Doon Céilí Band clearly knows its music. The sound of “Around the World for Sport” is eerily reminiscent of an earlier time and a distant culture.

“It was different when I was young,” O’Brien said. “Like that visitor my father brought home, almost no one owned a car back then. No one could have given him a ride. Had that man skidded off the road and passed out, he would have frozen to death. Instead, my father took him to our house, and introduced me to the accordion.”

Questions or feedback on this site?  E-mail us!

Logo design: Nick Lethert  www.nicklethert.com 
Site design: Ironheart   Contents of this site © 2008 by The Doon Ceili Band.
No content may be sold, reproduced or used without express written permission of the copyright holder.