Archive News
Blues on menu as Eric Bibb returns with new album
Date Published: {J}
Eric Bibb, one of the finest practitioners of American roots music, returns to the Róisín Dubh on Saturday, May 29 having built up a loyal fan base here thanks to the sheer joy he takes in performing. Bibb turned to one of his heroes as the inspiration for his latest release, Booker White. The album is named after the legendary blues musician who was championed by the American folk movement in the 1960s.
Eric Bibb had been listening to White’s music since he was a child, and decades later he was given a chance to connect with the iconic bluesman.
“I had a wonderful experience a few years ago when a fan came up to me and offered me the opportunity to see and play Booker White’s guitar,” Eric recalls. “He met me at my hotel and brought forth this instrument that BB King called ‘the Holy Relic.’ BB King is Booker White’s younger cousin, so he was familiar with this instrument. And there it was, in the north of England, right before me.”
Playing White’s guitar stoked a fire in Eric that he had to make a record of.
“I had a chance to spend some time playing it,” he says. “It was just an amazing link to a whole other era which I really admired. It inspired a song and sometime later I sent the lyrics to the man who owns the guitar and he said ‘well, I’ll put them in the guitar case so the guitar can get to know them’.
“That in turn inspired the idea to make a whole album of – mostly original – songs describing the era and my heroes from an earlier time.”
What is it about White’s music that Eric finds so inspiring?
“He was a very robust slide player with a lot of passion in his playing,” he says. “I just always felt he was somebody who really had a heartfelt expression. A couple of his songs really knocked me out. There’s one called When Can I Change My Clothes?, a song about some time he spent on a prison farm. Like another singer before him, Leadbelly, he was able to use his skills to get released.”
Many blues musicians make their living reprising the work of the greats. Does Eric find it difficult to write original work in a genre that is so steeped in history?
“It’s probably more challenging to place yourself in the first person in another era,” he says. “But having listened to so much music from that era and loving it as I do, I basically just surrendered and waited for some inspiration. I didn’t force it all but I will say that writing an older blues type of song is, in some ways, more challenging than writing another kind.
“Once I got started and found the key – and Booker’s guitar really was the key – I felt very connected,” he continues. “Through the experience of playing his guitar, of seeing his set list taped on the side – this is something that really absorbed a lot of this man’s Mojo.”
An Eric Bibb concert is a truly memorable experience. Although blues aficionados will love it, this is a show for everyone. Eric’s exuberance is contagious; it’s a rare thing to leave a venue feeling this happy.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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Date Published: 29-Jan-2013
Athenry FC 1
Kilbarrack United 2
(After extra time)
For the second year in succession Athenry were done in extra time in the FAI Junior Cup as last season’s beaten finalist’s came from behind to snatch an excellent game in Moanbawn on Sunday afternoon.
On a heavy pitch that was only playable following extensive groundwork by club officials all morning, the home side were by far the better side in the opening half, but failed to take advantage of a number of opportunities that came their way.
An Alan O’Donovan penalty gave them a merited advantage just after the restart, but thereafter were on the back foot as Kilbarrack took over, but for all their pressing, the home rearguard were dealing comfortably with their forays.
However they were struck a body blow just six minutes from time, as big striker Keith Kirwan was left all alone at the far post to head the equaliser and from that point on the Dubliners were the better side.
They started off the extra time in the ascendancy and enjoying all the momentum before striking for a good winning goal on 104 minutes. A strong bench allowed them to make some necessary changes and it was not a facility that was available to Athenry manager Gabriel Glavin.
With Gary Forde and Gary Delaney out through suspension following their sending off against OLBC in the previous round, and Seamie Crowe injured, it left their bench rather threadbare with just a number of young squad players available.
Playing with the aid of the slight incline and any wind advantage going, the home side had a Connor Cannon effort on target in the opening minute, while John Meleady was just over with a flick at the other end.
Meleady then tested Andrew Walsh who saved comfortably, before the goalkeeper pulled off a brilliant double save on 14 minutes.
Firstly he went full length to push away a Meleady shot and was then back on his feet to parry David Jackson’s close-range rebound.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.
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