Massive turnout for Big Banjo Bash on Dominick Square

An estimated 300 to 400 banjo players took part in the record breaking Big Banjo Bash challenge at Dominick Square, Mullingar, on Friday afternoon, at which Joe Connaire launched the idea of a Mullingar banjo festival for future years.

Joe said that everyone in the area will be sad to say goodbye to Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, but “we might end up having an auld banjo festival here,” he hinted.

“This event is one of the outstanding features of the fleadh for me because I play and love the banjo,” Joe, chairman of the Fleadh organising committee, told the large gathering.

Kieran Hanrahan, banjo player and presenter of RTÉ radio’s Ceili House as well as Dáithí Ó Sé and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, also from RTÉ, were present.

“I have never seen so many banjo players in one spot,” Dáithí exclaimed.

Kieran Hanrahan thanked Maria Lynn McHugh on piano, who kept “all those banjo players in tune”, while Joe Connaire thanked Paul McCool for the sound system and all the volunteers who helped set up the venue.

About 100 seats were set out on the square for the banjo players, but they quickly filled as musicians piled in.

The crowd that gathered for the history making event was so large that Joe had to appeal to them on three occasions to move back to make more room for the banjo players that were still trying to get in.

Among those taking part was Shay Gavigan, son of Andrew and Una Gavigan. Shay is seven years old and started playing the banjo last January. “He loves it and couldn’t wait for this,” Una said. There to cheer him on also were his proud grandparents Paddy and Anne Gavigan from Milltown, where the name Gavigan is synonymous with quality Irish music, and his aunt Johanna.

Among the older participants was Brian O’Shaughnessy from Collinstown, who started banjo lessons last September. He was cheered on by his wife Anne, née O’Malley, originally from Dominick Street, Mullingar.

Many families attended the event, among them Desmond and Caroline Byrne from Ballinderry, Mullingar, with their children Florence and Robert. They were amazed at the large crowds around town.

The fleadh is an opportunity to meet old friends, as was seen when Eugene ‘Mouse’ Keenan, originally from Hopestown, Ballinea, now living in Castleknock, Dublin, bumped into Detti Cornally from Woodlands, Mullingar. They reminisced about their younger days when Detti worked in Eddie Byrne’s grocery on Patrick Street and ‘Mouse’ served his time in Jimmy Daly’s grocery on Dominick Street.

“You worked for nothing when you were serving your time; you got fed and you might get a bar of chocolate on a Saturday night,” ‘Mouse’ recalled.

They both laughed as the remembered the infamous 1963 fleadh when the priests denounced “the debauchery and drinking on the streets” – “how innocent we were”.

Vinny Glynn from Irishtown, Ballynacargy, had attended the fleadh several times over the week and found it “amazing”. He was particularly impressed by the banjo bash.

A man in the crowd was heard to marvel at the number of young people now playing traditional Irish music. Indeed, many children were busy busking along the streets from early in the day.

Mandy Trant, a baker from South Africa, now living in Tralee, was waiting for her husband, who was cycling along the greenway from Athlone. They were travelling around Ireland on holiday and only heard about the fleadh on the radio that morning. They decided to pay it a visit before heading off the next day for Belfast and then home to Tralee. Mandy found the fleadh “fabulous”.

One banjo enthusiast from the USA got so engrossed in buying a new Tom Cousins banjo (at a cost of €5,000) that he missed the bash, but he was happy with his “new toy” and was heading off to try it out.

The Big Banjo Bash was a celebration in memory of the banjo tutor Noel Kilkenny, who passed away in December 2022.