Peggy Hinsman's Blog

Thanks to everyone who attended, volunteered, supported and/or participated in the 4th Annual Eugene Irish Cultural Festival. Please give us your feedback on how to improve for next year by e-mailing Peggy Hinsman at phinsman @ gmail.com.

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Here is a slide show of a trip I took to Ireland for my 40th birthday with three other musicians (many thanks to my husband Mark for this wonderful gift). We landed in Limerick, drove to County Cavan and stayed one night, then drove to Galway and stayed almost a week, then went to Ennis, Killarney and Dingle and back to Galway. We left the US on the first day of spring and expected lots and lots of rain but were blessed with sunshine, beautiful weather and friendly people.

triptoireland2003med.mov

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If you look out over a peat bog, one’s initial reaction might be that it looks quite boring, but if you read about peat bogs I highly doubt that you will ever think this way again. Peat bogs are fascinating. Their ecosystems are incredibly unique and not what most people are used to seeing and experiencing in their back yards, nearby forests, wetlands, etc.

Here is an excellent web site for learning about Irish peat bogs on the Irish Peatland Conservation Council’s web site: http://www.ipcc.ie/informationsheets.html

Sphagnum Moss (in the picture to the right) is the primary component of peat. As the moss grows taller, it blocks sunlight from it’s lower parts, which then die. Most solid material doesn’t decompose in bogs – it gets preserved. Every year where Sphagnum moss thrives, the peat bogs will grow an average of 1 mm higher. Hundreds or thousands of years later, humans dig up the peat, find interesting artifacts preserved in the peat, dry out the peat (which is then called “turf”) and because the Sphagnum moss didn’t decompose, it is combustible, and is used for heating homes and cooking.

Do read about bogs – we have them in the United States and Canada as well.  If you’d like to order authentic eco-friendly turf from Ireland, go to http://www.irishsmoke.ie/.

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The first written form of the Irish language was Ogham, pronounced “AWGH (gutteral g) – um”, which consisted of lines carved in wood or stone. Notice that most of the letters are named after a tree/plant.

When Christianity arrived in Ireland, the monks, brothers, priests, etc. brought to Ireland the Latin alphabet, which was adapted for writing in Irish. The Irish alphabet with Latin origins has only 18 letters. To see these letters, both upper and lowercase, check out this pdf file: tradirishalpha.pdf. Notice the interesting G, lowercase R and lowercase S. Also, other than R and S, notice that all the lowercase letters are simply smaller versions of their uppercase letters. There is no letter K. The letter C has the K sound – hence the pronunciation of the word “Celts” as “Kelts”.

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The workshops this year at the Eugene Irish Cultural Festival. March 3rd at Sheldon High School, will be led by world class musicians who are masters of Irish tradition music. Here are the descriptions:

Irish Flute and Tin Whistle Workshop (3:00 – 4:30 pm)
Catherine McEvoy, from Co. Meath, has been a senior flute teacher for years at the most well known and attended summer Irish traditional music program, the Willie Clancy Summer School. This workshop will be intermediate to advanced level. Bring your Irish or concert flute and/or tin whistle, along with a recording device. Learn a tune, technique and ornaments from this awesome Irish musician who plays Irish flute in the Sligo/Roscommon style.

Irish Fiddle Workshop (3:00 – 4:30 pm)
Taught by two wonderful fiddlers of Irish music, Patrick Ourceau and Randal Bays. Bring your instrument and a recording device, learn a tune with Irish bowing and ornaments from these two world-class fiddlers. This workshop will be taught at an intermediate level, but all levels are welcome.

From the Grand Banks to the Sierras, An Illustrated Seminar on the Cultural History of Irish Traditional Music in North America (3:00 – 4:30 pm)
Presented by Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin, professor of Irish Studies and professor of Music at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and author of the popular book, “A Pocket History of Irish Traditional Music.” This talk features archival and contemporary recordings from various Irish music communities in Newfoundland, Québec, the Ottawa Valley, the East Coast industrial cities (Boston and New York), the Midwest and various West Coast Irish music communities.

Irish Guitar Workshop (3:00 – 4:30 pm)
Aidan Brennan, who lives in Co. Laois, has played backup guitar with Kevin Burke, Susan McKeown, Martin Hayes, Loreena McKennitt, Johnny B. Connolly and many other Irish musicians. Bring your guitar and a recording device. Learn how to back Irish jigs and reels in several different key positions with DADGAD tuning. This workshop will be beginner to intermediate level, but all levels of musicians are welcome.

Walking With Giants (3:00 – 4:30 pm)
A very special talk by one of Ireland’s finest button accordion players, James Keane, who grew up in Dublin and started playing accordion at the age of six. By the age of 10, James had become a fixture in the late 1950s Dublin traditional music scene where he literally walked among the giants of music and honed his skills under their guidance and artistry. This talk comes from a series of presentations that have been recorded by the Smithsonian and are being produced as a series of CDs.

Uilleann Pipes Presentation and Performance (2:00 – 2:45 pm)
A presentation with Eliot Grasso where everyone can learn what the Uilleann pipes are, their history, how they work and their unique sound in traditional dance music. Eliot has been playing the Uilleann pipes since the age of 11 and is currently a graduate student of ethnomusicology in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.

Uilleann Pipes Workshop (4:30 – 5:15 pm)
A workshop for Uilleann pipers with Eliot Grasso who has been playing the Uilleann pipes since the age of 11 and is currently a graduate student of ethnomusicology in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. Bring your pipes and a recording device. Learn a tune and ornamentation. This workshop will be tailored for pipers between beginning and intermediate levels, but pipers of all levels are of course welcome.

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Tonn Nua
“Tonn Nua,” pronounced toon NOO-uh, means “new wave” in Irish (actually, to be grammatically correct it should be An Tonn Nua). This name was chosen for this group of teenage musicians because they’re part of the next generation (wave) of traditional Irish musicians.

All five live in the foothills of the Southern Willamette Valley. Four live in Dexter, Oregon (about 10 miles southeast of Eugene) and attend Pleasant Hill High School, and one lives in Eugene and attends Roosevelt Middle School.

They play a wide range of Irish traditional music – reels and jigs, slow airs, polkas, Turlough O’Carolan tunes, and a few vocal selections. Intermixed are also tunes from Scotland, the Shetland Islands, France and original compositions. Their energy and musicianship are fun to list to.

Here is a medley of two reels played by Tonn Nua: JuliaDelaneyTamLin.mp3.

To read more about this group and hear a couple more of their tunes from their new CD, Eye of the Wind, go to www.tonnnua.com.

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Eugene Irish Cultural Festival, March 3rd, 2007

Daytime: Sheldon High School
10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Evening Concert: UO Beall Concert Hall
Doors open at 7PM, Concert starts at 8PM

This will be one of our finest Eugene Irish Cultural Festivals yet – you won’t want to miss it. We have world class masters of Irish traditional music coming to give workshops and perform, several of whom are either coming from Ireland or grew up in Ireland.

Check out the schedule on our web site: www.eugeneirishfest.org

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Peggy’s Version of Colcannon

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish with potatoes, kale/cabbage, onions and milk/cream. It is traditionally eaten in Ireland at Halloween, but it is also great for anytime in the winter — great comfort food. The name is from the Irish term “cal ceann fhionn” meaning white-headed cabbage.

Colcannon at Halloween used to contain a plain gold ring, a sixpence, a thimble or button: finding the ring meant marriage within the year for the person who found it, the sixpence meant wealth, the thimble spinsterhood and the button bachelorhood.

I have changed to recipe to match our family’s tastes (recipe below). For an authentic Irish recipe for Colcannon, check out these web sites: Bord Bia (Irish Food Board), Ireland Now.

Peggy’s Colcannon Recipe

2-3 lbs of Potatoes cleaned and cut for boiling
1 bundle of kale, cut off the stalks into small strips
1 1/2 – 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
milk or cream
~1 Tablespoon rubbed sage
~1 Tablespoon dried rosemary
salt

Boil the potatoes for about 20 min or until they are soft enough to mash. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. When removing the potatoes from the hot water, don’t discard the water. Place the potatoes in an oven proof glass bowl. Use the hot potato water to boil the kale for 5 minutes and then drain the water from the kale. If preferred, remove the skin from the potatoes (I leave the skin on) and then mash the potatoes. Add milk or cream to make the mashed potatoes smooth. Add salt to taste. Add the kale and 2/3 of the cheese to the potatoes and mix them all together. Use a mortar and pestle to grind the sage so its flavor gets released and sprinkle it over the potato mixture. Do the same with the rosemary and then mix the herbs in. Cover the top of the Colcannon with the rest of the cheese and then cover the bowl with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes until the Colcannon is between warm and hot and all the cheese is melted.

Colcannon is good as leftovers and heats up well in a microwave oven.

Enjoy!

Peggy

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