Iomar Barrett has many strings to his bow. A former champion footballer, retired teacher, and part-time auctioneer, the Mountbellew man is also a talented musician and composer. But because he doesn’t write down his tunes, many have been lost. His friends Chris Kelly and Proinsias Kitt were determined to record some for posterity as JUDY MURPHY learns.

During Iomar Barret’s younger years, back in the 1960s, legendary musicians like Paddy Moloney (Chieftains) and music collectors including Garech de Brún of Claddagh Records and RTÉ presenter Ciarán Mac Mathúna regularly visited their family home in Mountbellew. The Barretts had a pub and ballroom where traditional music was played and nurtured, and Iomar has many fond memories of those days and nights.

His father Paddy (PV) Barrett, originally from Killimor near Portumna, was a talented fiddle player who was involved in setting up a branch of Comhaltas in Mountbellew, along with other local Irish music enthusiasts.

But while PV played fiddle and Iomar’s mother, Philomena, played piano, Iomar says that it was his first music teacher, Tommy Mulhaire, who gave him a real grá for the button accordion and the tradition generally.

The legendary composer and fiddle player Paddy Fahey from Kilconnell was another major influence on the young Iomar even if he didn’t realise that until later.

Like Paddy Fahy, Iomar is also a composer and his second CD, Sweet Mountbellew Town, is being launched next week in Galway’s Town Hall Theatre, with the legendary Máirtín O’Connor doing the honours. The event is a fundraiser for COPE,

This album was recorded with conjunction with Mountbellew guitarist Chris Kelly, while Castleblakeney man Proinsias Kitt also features.

Nobody could accuse Iomar of rushing his second album as it’s been 25 years since his debut offering, Fresh Notes, with Chris Kelly having played a major role in its creation too.

Like most traditional musicians, Iomar wasn’t trained to read music and while he composes lots of tunes, he doesn’t commit them to paper.

If he gets an idea for a tune, he’ll pick up the accordion and start composing on the instrument.

“Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it’s middling and sometimes it’s awful and you throw it out,” he says of his creations. “If something is good enough it’ll stand the test of time.”

By that, he means a tune will remain in his head until he’s familiar with it.

And music isn’t his only talent. In his youth, Iomar shone at sport, playing football at club and county level and winning a Minor All-Ireland football medal with Galway.

His day job was as a maths teacher in Ballinasloe’s Garbally College until he retired, and the family had a hardware business in Mountbellew. These days, Iomar “does a bit of auctioneering”. He never wanted to play music for a living but it has always been central to his life.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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