People play an old time tune like this nowadays, I don't remember what it is called!

'In my darkest hour' composed by Tracey McRory will be performed at a special commemoration in Flanders on Remembrance Sunday. This commissioned piece is dedicated to all the Chaplains who served during World War One.
Tracey's granduncle was a Chaplain during WW1 and served in Flanders and also Mesopotamia. He kept a War Diary and a number of years ago the very Chalice that Fr James McRory used in the trenches was discovered in America. The Chalice was very kindly given to Tracey and is now back in Donegal. 
A little piece of history…… 

Tracey McRory - Violin
Tom Byrne  - Button accordion and Harmonica

In my darkest hour

This was recorded as part of a documentary i made in 1994 about fiddle playing in Donegal.   Pat Mulhern learnt a lot of his music from his uncle James and also got lessons on how to read music from a man called Anderson who worked in the train station house in Ballymagan. Paddy Mc Donald was a travelling travelling fiddle player who made a huge impression at fair days throughout Inishowen. Paddy Mc Donald was also the noted fiddler that played at the quayside in Derry when people were leaving for America. 
Pat Mulhern was 94 years young when I recorded this interview. What an amazing man and full of wit. When I asked him how he learned the fiddle his answer was; ''I just catched it and rattled away til I hit something''.

Pat Mulhern (Donegal Fiddle Tradition)

Music helps to answer questions of who we are, what we stand for and value. It comforts us individually and brings us together collectively. Music helps us to wordlessly understand ourselves and others, to console when there are no words and to create ways to communicate when through disability or other barriers, language alone is not possible. And although you may be ‘’at a loss for words”, not know what to say or when “words just can’t express” your true feelings, music is always there to communicate the inexpressible and to free the mind from the boundaries of speech and ordinary thought and allow it to expand to an alternate place of emotion, rhythm and imagery. Words may desert us, but music is always present – like a heartbeat, linking us to our world and providing a pathway back home.

Pat Mulhern (Donegal Fiddle Tradition)

Tracey McRory

Recent comments

Melanie Curran

Martin McGinley 1

Bernie Doherty

Related tracks