Music is ingrained in the Irish identity. Folk songs tell forlorn tales of a people experiencing love, loss and a separation from their homeland. On this side of the Atlantic, St. Patrick’s Day is a day for Irish Americans to preserve and connect with that tradition. Irish Clevelanders turn to a rich community of local musicians and performers to celebrate the culture of their immigrant ancestors.
“The Irish had unique challenges in preserving their culture,” says Doug McKean, singer and guitarist of Boys from County Hell. “That comes across, whether implicitly or explicitly in the music.”
The Pogues tribute band plays up to four shows on St. Patrick’s Day. After a year of preparation, a long day leads to the group’s favorite show on the tented patio of The Harp, a Detroit-Shoreway pub.
“It’s the end of a long day. The band is a little drunk, or at least punch drunk, and ready to leave everything on the stage,” McKean says.
Joe Kilroy, who plays Celtic mandolin and tenor banjo for The Kilroys, plays Irish music by birthright. His seven siblings all play, and the family ensemble grew up parading with The West Side Irish American Club marching band. The Kilroys have performed classics like “Rattlin’ Bog” and “Wild Rover” each St. Paddy’s Day since the ’80s. One year, the band built a parade float that looked like an Irish pub, dubbed “Kilroy’s Irish Pub.”
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“We played from inside and amplified the music with a speaker on the truck pulling the float,” recalls Joe Kilroy. “When we finished the route, we had to run over to Fagan’s in the Flats to set up and do a 5-hour gig.”
For the performer, the music is a way of recognizing the family and friends who first made the trek to America — many of whom have always missed home.
“It’s our day to say to the world, ‘We’re here working hard, having fun and singing songs, playing music and thinking about the old days,’” says Kilroy.
Irish dance is as essential to the Irish music as Guinness is to a pub. The modern style combines tap dancing, gymnastics, ballet and, of course, Irish Dance itself, such as jigs, reels, hornpipe and slip jigs. The basic steps for Irish dance are called “sevens and threes.”
Theresa “Tessie” Burke’s father, Thomas Scott, started one of the first Irish dance schools in Cleveland in 1942. After studying in Dublin, Burke began teaching Irish dance in 1958, founding the Burke School of Irish Dance. She was the first North American woman to take and pass the Teagascóir Choimisiúin le Rincí Gaelacha to become a certified Irish dance teacher and the Ard Diploma Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha Adjudicator test to become a recognized judge by the Irish dancing commission.
“Music makes people happy, helps you to remember events, like when you get married or have kids,” she says.
On her 50th anniversary of teaching, the Irish Dance Teachers Association of Mid America presented Burke with an award recognizing her “outstanding contribution to Irish Dance.” She addressed the crowd by saying, “Irish Dance is all about parts of our lives, whether it be through suffering or joy, just like poetry.”
Patrick Mulloy, who has played with his band Marys Lane for more than 15 years, agrees that music and dance follows the patch carved by Ireland’s great contemporary poets and writers, such as Sammuel Beckett, James Joyce, C.S. Lewis and Oscar Wilde. The vocalist, guitarist and Irish bouzouki player not only performs traditional Irish folk songs but also pushes the legacy forward with original compositions.
“Music is the universal language of joy and celebration,” says Mulloy. “‘Craic’ — the ‘banter’ and storytelling — is something that the Irish do best. The track record is there, and it’s in our DNA.”
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