Newsletter
of the Buffalo Irish Arts Society (Martin Wynne Chapter of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri
Eireann) June 2004
Jigs and Reels
Make Your Picnic Reservation Now!
We return to
878-3020.
For the picnic, please bring a dish to pass and anything
you’d like to drink, alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Glass bottles are not allowed in the
park. We will provide iced tea and
lemonade, but last year, we had too many leftover pop cans to deal with. Hot dogs, hamburgers, and veggie burgers will
be available along with the fixings.
Dave Johnston and Deb Andrasko are purchasing the food but would
appreciate help cooking and cleaning up.
When RSVPing, please indicate if you would be willing to help. Oh yes, don’t forget your instrument and/or
dancing shoes either!
New Chair and
Secretary Needed
It may seem far off into the future, but after our June
meeting (and a brief one at that), the election of officers is only two
meetings away. After serving as
Secretary for the past four or five years, Diana Straube is minuted out. Who can blame her? Diana will write her last set of minutes in
October.
I am now finishing my second term as chair, which will be
my last. Serving as chair is a major
responsibility, one which I feel should be rotated among the members. My major criticism of non-profit
organizations in general is that you always the same faces in positions of
leadership. Part of this is because many
members are unwilling to become officers, but those of us in office enable that
by continuing to run. So I’m not. I’ve given myself a two-year term limit. I would hope there are other members who feel
so strongly about the importance of Traditional Irish Music and Dance in
I also think our branch would be stronger with two Public
Relations Officers: one to handle
external publicity such as news releases and flyers, and another for internal
communication, primarily the newsletter.
This suggestion has not been discussed at a meeting yet, but I feel my
successor should not have put out a newsletter every month unless he or she wants
to. The newsletter editor needs to be
someone who attends meetings and activities and knows what is going on.
There is no pre-ordained successor for either of these
offices. If you haven’t attended any of
our meetings, don’t let that stop you.
After the picnic, our next meeting is on Sunday, August 15th
at
Summer Dancing
While the Thursday night set dancers are breaking for the
summer, the Innisfree Ceili Dancers keep going every Tuesday at
Late Summer &
Fall Events
Our musicians and dancers will probably be taking part in
the annual Buffalo Irish
Festival as usual, between August 27 and 29th at the Pier. We’ll have the specifics in our August
newsletter. Planning is also underway
for the annual Famine Mass that same weekend.
Contact Margaret McGrath (margaretmcgrath@msn.com)
for more information.
No rest for the wicked come
September. The
Recent Activities
Thanks to all our members who helped make our recent events
so successful: the concert with Chulrua
on May 12th, the ceili on May 15th, and pub nite on May
21. Look at Jim Lonergan’s
photos
of Chulrua!
We had enough people for two sets at the ceili, not bad given the major
dance weekend in
We had fewer musicians than usual, but thanks to Tim &
Diana Straube, Marian McLellan, Jim Lonergan, and Bill Raffel for guiding us
though the evening. We’re grateful to Kathy
McLuckie and Mary Klier for running the raffle and to Jean Devlin for putting
out all the goodies and cookies. Thanks
to all the bakers. This ceili
demonstrated that we are more than capable of putting on an excellent dance with
different people at the helm. Not that
we didn’t miss our usual crew, but the more people who can do it, the
better. (Thanks to Margaret McGrath for
dancing with a tipsy, out of control Englishman!)
Brendan & Glenda Brown, Bob Williams, Mark Warford, Tim
& Diana Straube, Sheila Peel, and Bill Raffel all played at pub nite.
Congratulations
Sinead Gaynor took second place at the Regional Fleadh in
Cincinatti playing the button accordion, while Sinead, sister
Brady, and friend Callahan McBride took third place for their trio! We had a chance to sample their talents at
our April seisiun. Congratulations to
the girls and Sinead & Brady’s mother (and teacher) Colleen!
New
Donna Kerr is a music teacher who recently joined the
Tunes of the Month
Diana Straube has
outdone herself with her tune selections for this month. The Maids of Ardagh is a great polka championed by the great Johnny
O’Leary of
Diana’s other selection probably wins the award for having the most alternate names: Austin Barratts, Austin Barrett's, The Chicago, Dust On The Windowsills, Dusty Windmill, The Dusty Windowsill, Harding's, The Hiccup (love this one), John Harling's, Johnny Harling's, Mulvihill's, and The Trip To The Highlands. But you can just call it The Dusty Windowsills.
Proposed Statement of Principles
What do we stand for
as the Buffalo Irish Arts Society? That
question has been popping up more frequently, albeit indirectly. So at our May meeting, we began discussion
this question. I brought a proposed
statement and music policy forward, which was tossed around a bit and some
changes made. This was not formally
approved; it’s still a work in progress.
We are not planning to discuss this at the picnic, but all members
should be aware of it and share your feedback with officers and other
members. This first part is a
description of who we are, a statement that recognizes
the Buffalo Irish Arts Society works with other groups but does not control
them, and some “Beattitudes” about working with
others in the community.
Proposed Statement of Principles
- In keeping with the Bunreacht of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, our Primary Aim and Objective is to promote Irish Traditional Music (dance tunes, sean nos songs, and newer compositions in keeping with these traditions), Country Dancing, and Language.
- In Western New York, we acknowledge that Irish traditional culture is not as fully appreciated by the Irish Community and the population at large as we would like, making the accomplishment of Principle #1 more difficult to achieve. We strive to help all who are interested become more proficient Irish musicians, dancers, and speakers.
- While promoting traditional Irish culture, we must be careful not to put down other styles of music, Irish or otherwise. We like traditional Irish culture because we enjoy it and are inspired by it. If others find similar enjoyment from different musical genres, we should not look down upon them, lest we be called snobs.
- Our members actively participate in seisiuns sponsored by the G.A.A.A. and others, dance with the Innisfree Ceili Dancers, and study the Irish language with Scoil Cultúir na hÉireann. Many of our musicians also belong to separate bands, while others have no such affiliations.
- We must all work together in furtherance of the first Principle. Our model is that of the traditional Irish seisiun: everyone seated together in a circle, striving together to produce the best sound. While some may have more advanced talents, everyone’s contribution is valued equally. The individual ego should be secondary to the cohesion of the group. While we function as democracy with potential arguments and debates, we must not let disagreements fester to the point of tearing apart the organization and making the achievement of Principle #1 more difficult.