Home from Oz for the Fleadh!

“We’re loving the Fleadh!” says Frank O’Dowd who is home in Mullingar from Australia, to play with his band Mollimór.

“It’s great just to walk the streets and hear the music, stand for a bit and listen. There are competitions on, recitals, there’s so much on you’d either want to be highly organised or take it as it comes, and we’re taking it as it comes.”

Frank, on vocals and guitar, has been joined for the Fleadh Cheoil by two band members, Kate Haines (accordion) and Ben Sim (fiddle, vocals).

Mollimór play a mix of Celtic music from all around the world, including Galicia, Astoria, the Isle of Man, Brittney and Scotland, with the main vein being traditional Irish.

Originally hailing from Ginnell Terrace in Mullingar, Frank who is the eldest of eight, says it’s a treat to be home.

“We left here 34 years ago. We’ve returned many times over the years but it’s great to be here for the Fleadh,” adds Frank’s wife Dolores, who originally hails from Printinstown, Delvin.

“This is the first time in 17 years that we’ve been home together. We used to take it in turns to come home because of the family, so it’s really special to be here together,” continues Dolores.

Frank and Dolores left Ireland for Australia with their two young children in the midst of the economic uncertainty of the eighties.

“We have two Irish born children, Lisa and David, and two Australian born children Frank Jnr and Sarah, and now four grandchildren,” Dolores explains.

“When we left, I didn’t have any preconceived ideas about what Australia would be like, but when we did arrive in Traralgon, I think the reason I settled because it was very like this town, it was about the same size as Mullingar.

“There were no high-rise buildings or anything, which I don’t know if I would have really settled in.

“We got the kids into school and we were very happy with very everything and most of all we were treated very well. We landed on our feet.”

Change

“Mullingar’s streetscape is still the same but lots has changed. The cinema has gone, obviously there’s been a population increase, and roundabouts – when we left for Australia I had never seen a roundabout in the town. There were no traffic lights in Mullingar when we left either,” laughs Frank.

“The other thing that has changed here is the roads infrastructure,” interjects Dolores.” The road out to Delvin, I travelled out there the other day, and it’s a fantastic road.”

“I remember the Beehive out there and sure we also to drive home with a few pints in you as well,” adds Frank.

Based in a town called Traralgan, which means ‘little fish’ in Aborigine, Frank says the weather had a big impact on the family settling in Australia.

“It may seem inconsequential, but the weather has a big impact. Although the winters are cold, I love the summers, it’s nice and balmy.

“The reason we went to Australia first was the economic uncertainty at the time here. We’re both mental health nurses so there were other colleagues who had gone over, and they were advertising here at the time looking for consult staff to go out there.”

Dolores: “Frank had looked for a job, I had the kids to think about, so I wasn’t planning to work straight away when I went out there but within six or eight weeks, they found out I was a nurse as well, and I’m still working, while Frank retired last year,” she smiles.

“I have the dinner ready now – you have to do your bit,” adds Frank.

“Australia is a long, long way away, and it’s expansive to come. We were there for two years before we got back, and it was another two years again and then a gap of four years, so it’s really nice to here to catch up with family.”

“Frank is the eldest of eight, and I’ve a sister and two brothers living around here, and another brother in Galway, but we’ve five weeks to meet up with everyone, so it’s a nice time.”

Trad not just for the Irish

Traditional Irish music has a big following in Australia, particularly in Gippsland, Victoria the region where Frank and Dolores are based.

“Gippsland is about have the size of Ireland an in that area alone, there’s about 50 musicians who play traditional Irish music,” says Frank.

“Personally I know one lady who is German, and another two ladies who are of Indian heritage, who are terrific traditional Irish music players.

“The Irish music, the Celtic music, it’s a reminder of your home, your culture, and it’s great to be able to express it and play it in Australia.”

Classically trained Ben Sim, who joined the band when he was 13, and is now director of music in St Paul’s Anglican Grammer School in Victoria, is on his first trip to Ireland and his first trip overseas.

His grandmother was from Northern Ireland and he still has family there.

“It’s been a wonderful experience so far and coming to Ireland is a nice way of linking up with some of the family and putting a context to the music that we play,” Ben tells the Westmeath Examiner.

“The Fleadh Cheoil is fantastic, there’s nothing like it back home. Not to this extent, nothing of this competition focus and the world class acts that it brings in.

“The kids out playing on the street, they’re playing tunes that we would be very happy to play in the sessions back home and be incredibly happy to play at that standard, so it’s quite amazing to see.”

Mollimór are playing over the weekend in Mullingar Arts Centre and Wilfs.