Sligo Feis Ceoil

History of Sligo Feis Ceoil 1903-2009

• Liber Bookshop,
• Easons
• The Booknest.

Copies also available by emailing info@sligofeisceoil.ie
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Mary O Hara
Ah, the Sligo Feis Ceoil and memories of it…..

My memories are mostly of nerves I have to admit and the inner dread that descended on me as Easter Week approached. I was sent in for various competitions each year coached for the singing ones by the gentle Mother Brendan at St Anne’s , never daring to say ‘oh please don’t ‘send me in’ again’ . And how very glad I am that I covered up my reluctance because it stood me great stead when later I became a professional performer. A marvellous training for controlling and coping with nervousness (which never left me) that inevitable nervousness attendant on my performances all my professional life – part and parcel of the gift, what I’ve always referred to as ‘the necessary evil’. I am truly grateful for The Sligo Feis Ceoil and the recognised high standards it expected of its entrants in the competitions. We all knew, didn’t we, that it was rated higher that the Dublin Feis Ceoil. All those dozens of songs we had to learn from Schubert “Who is Sylvia” to Hardebecks”The Song of Glendún”
About The Children’s Cup” I’ll have to take your word for it that I won it. I honestly don’t remember having done so. What I do recall is almost winning it the year it was won by a boy whose voice was already on the verge of breaking. Rumour was rife in Sligo that he’d won it because his mother had invited the adjudicator to tea that Sunday before the competition. I don’t remember minding not winning it by that one mark but I do remember the first lines of the set song

A country life is sweet
In moderate cold and heat
To walk in the air
How pleasant a fair
In every field of wheat

Among other things I remember was the time my brother Dermot who had gone in for a recitation competition was recalled but couldn’t be found .He’d fled as soon as he finished his piece and went home to play…sensible boy

John O'Conor Director of R.I.A.M.
When I started teaching I always encouraged my own students to travel and enjoy the warmth of Sligo . I found that their enthusiasm for the special atmosphere of the Sligo Feis Ceoil added so much to their music-making.
I salute the Sligo Feis Ceoil on the great achievement of attaining their 106 year and hope that the organisers continue to receive the support and sponsorship that they so richly deserve.
My warmest wishes to all involved – competitors, adjudicators and organisers.

John O’ Conor